“The United States is a spiritually dark country,” said the man.  What made the statement leap out at me, was the felllow making it; a missionary to Colombia for over 20 years.  Colombia is a mess; a country ripped apart for decades by civil war, drugs, and corruption.  He himself had been kidnapped and held for ransom by guerillas.  Yet he had the nerve to come to our relatively safe and prosperous country and make a comment like that – in the rural Midwest Wisconsin, no less.   

    “Cindy, you’ve just got to trust God to take care of your problem.  He’ll do it.” 
“You’re right,” Cindy replied, as she turned to walk away.  And she believed what she said.  But anxiety still haunted her the next day – which added guilt to her worry.  What kind of Christian was she if she didn’t trust God?

“But how do I know that I really believe in Jesus?” said the woman.
 “It’s not about emotions,” I replied, “Believing in Jesus is an act of the will.”
“What does that mean?” she asked. I stood there silent.  How does one explain “an act of the will”?  This is a phrase you’ve heard me use in a number of essays, covering a wide range of spiritual topics.  “Your will is in charge, not your emotions,” I frequently assert.

            But what does it mean? 

  As some of you know, one of my passions is memorizing the Bible.  I do this by setting it to music.  One day, quite a while back, a fellow pastor seemed puzzled by my obsession with Scripture.  While he certainly respects and values the Bible, in his tradition, apparently, the “Word” with a capital “W” is more emphasized.  For those who don’t know what this means, “Word” with a capital “W” refers to Jesus, as referred to in John 1:1, which says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

English, like any language, has its strengths and weaknesses. This week I want to talk about an English word I consider awkward – the word “selflessness”.  “Selflessness” is a term meant to convey a beautiful character trait – the ability to thoughtfully put the needs of others ahead of our own.  If you’ve ever met a person who does this well you know how uplifting and helpful they are to be around. 

The point of connection between believers and non-believers has moved.  The frontline for sharing Christ is now mostly outside of the church building.  Unbelievers are not entering our sanctuary doors.  We must increasingly go to them where they are.

            One of the most common places of contact between Christians and non-Christians is work.

“Are you saying that only Christians will go to heaven?” asked the person indignantly.  “What about people who didn’t grow up in a place where Christianity was taught?  What about people who have never heard the name of Jesus or at least had Him explained well?  Are they condemned to eternal suffering?  How is that fair?!”

 When we become a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, our relationship with millions of other human beings  abruptly undergoes a dramatic metamorphous.  In Christ, we who were separate are now joined .  The Bible uses all kinds of metaphors to try to describe the relationship of believer to fellow-believer.  We’re the bride of Christ (Rev. 19:6-9), the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) and brothers and sisters in God’s family; (John 1:12).

There are a number of verses in the New Testament which have long fascinated and frustrated me.  Let me quote a couple of them for you.  John 14:13 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Matthew 21:21 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

  I’m big on the Bible.  If you’ve listened to these podcasts or read my blogs you know that by now. I’m constantly memorizing and quoting Scripture.  Yet you might be surprised, though, to hear that I also listen to and read from sources outside of my conservative Christian circle – even sources antagonistic to my faith.  I find this helpful in a number of ways. This leads to our first question:

   I spend a few minutes most days scanning Facebook.  Videos are among the most popular re-posts.  A simple phrase sometimes appears under a video which always captures my attention: the phrase “Wait for it.”  This is a phrase usually freighted with a sort of mischievous delight.  It tells me that, in a rather ordinary video, say people fishing in a boat, craziness is about to erupt – like a whale suddenly breaching three feet away, scaring the fishermen silly.

  The TV preacher appeared on a beautiful stage.  He was a handsome man, with a slender physique, a full head of hair and a winning smile.  In other words, he wasn’t me.  I tried not to hate him for it.  Just kidding.  He was fun to listen to, and he spoke to a huge, enthusiastic crowd. One could see why he attracted so many.  Later, when I had time to digest what he was saying, the essence of it was this: “God wants to bless you; to make your life good.”

  So much of the spiritual life involves trying to gain control over and maneuver invisible spiritual attitudes which influence the invisible entity we call our “spirit”. For me this often feels like trying to position air. Take Paul’s command in Colossians 3:12:           

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12).

 Paul says, in 1 Timothy 6:6, that "godliness with contentment is great gain." The context here involves money, but I've been thinking a lot about the broader context. What is the value of godliness in this life? As a 61-year-old man, who's been seriously seeking the Lord since early 1970’s, I sometimes wonder what it's accomplished in my life.

 ’m in the market for a new English word.   The only term I can find that comes close to what I want to say, says too much.  I always have to explain, in fact, to over-explain;  to state that I only mean this but not that. 

 Last week I asked the question:  How can I maintain a healthy separation from sin?, and listed three suggestions. Let’s continue to suggestion #4:

 Many years ago two Christian friends and I were listening to comedy on a Steve Martin record.  I had heard it before and knew that some of it was racy, so I monitored the volume knob, muting out what I considered to be the bad parts.   This prompted one companion to glance at me with incredulity and laugh.  She thought it odd that I would try to spare her from hearing Steve’s blue humor.  That’s when I realized, that in some people’s eyes, I was a card-carrying member of the Christian “fuddy-duddy” club. 

  “It’s okay to tell someone else what you believe as long as you don’t say that what they believe is wrong.”  The person who shared this with me, calmly and thoughtfully, was a Christian.  We went on to have a good-natured  conversation about her statement and what it implied.  This sort of belief is common coin in our culture today. 

 Last week I told the story of a young man, raised as a Christian, who was concerned that his faith was just a placebo – that he only saw evidences of the truth of Christianity because that’s what he’d been told to expect.  If he’d been raised differently, say as a Hindu, or an atheist, he would instead be seeing evidences for their truthfulness.  It was a legitimate concern and one that actually contains some truth