Christians have all the fun...

...because they do not have to look over their shoulders all the time...wondering...if?It is like keeping the speed limit...or setting the cruise control at the legal limit. You can drive with ease without having to constantly keep an eye scanning the highways for patrolmen. You do not have to look over your shoulder. There is a freedom in always doing the right thing as you best understand it.

Christians are the ones who are having all the fun!! They never experience "mornings after" - those mind-destroying, conscience-plaguing, emotion-damaging, fearful bouts of regrets.

It is like always telling the truth - even if it is embarrassing - even if it costs you - even if it diminishes you in any way. You never have to stop and consider if what you presently are saying matches a previous statement, IF you make it a practice to always tell the truth. You do not have to look over your shoulder.

It is like having "no skeletons in your closet"...that your private life and your public life are the same. There are no worries that a relative or old friend will "spill the beans" on you. You do not have to look over your shoulder.

It is like not cheating at anything. Cheating and lying are twins, and the former is no better than the latter just because it is socially acceptable in many forms in some circles. A Christian has the constant peace that he has been fair and impartial as best as he knows. He never spends time looking over his shoulder.

It is like honestly trying to do ones best day in and day out...and refusing to allow Satan's accusations cause us to measure our best after the fact. We always "can do better" in review, but we can equally do our best at the time. Christians need not look over our shoulders even in review, knowing that if we knew to do better, we would and will!

This is one more plus for following Christ!

What the Angels Know

There is but a thin veil between what we can see and what we cannot. What we see is not real, for what we can see is here today and gone tomorrow. What is real is what endures. What is real is what remains when everything else slips from our earthly view. What is real is what stays on our records when earthly recognitions fade, and human memories grope, and reputations dim, and achievements and accolades diminish.

What is real are facts - those actualities that are known only to us... and to our God... and to His ministering spirits, the angels... those incredible beings who are Divinely commissioned to serve and observe the saints while we live and labor here below. Paul goes so far as to state that we are "a spectacle to angels," and our Lord said of His humble servants that "their angels do always behold the face of the Father," and Peter records the fact that "the angels desire to look into" this saving, cleansing and keeping grace.

So, as the Holy Spirit might help us, we ask Him to briefly open our minds as we slip behind the veil of our present, visible lives and reflect upon what the angels know, realizing that what they know is free of distortion and error.

The world we cannot visibly see is the realm of angelic beings commissioned to minister to us, and help us, and enable us as we fight the good fight of faith. They are silent witnesses to our unseen world in which we momentarily pray and ponder and reason and choose.

Though materially unseen, it is nonetheless our world of reality where there is no pretense or supposition or manipulations or coverup or rationalizing. It is an environment of such pure truth that even embellishments and nuances are absent. "Advantages" and "edges" and "inside tracks" are as foreign to the angelic realm as lying - their better known parent.

The serious Christian pulls down such heavenly integrity into his earthly, everyday living with the realization that it is not the standards and values of men that measure us at all. It is not this world's standards that judge us at all, for the saints live by a higher law - the law of grace. Serious Christians spend much of their time and thought endeavoring to reconcile the two, that is, what is important to God compared to human behavior - ours and that of others around us. Serious Christians always place God's Word as the final authority in their minds and souls.

It is here suggested that what the angels know about us should clamor for our attention. While we do not pray to angels, it helps us to know that they are rooting for us, fighting for us, and that eyes that behold the face of God are also watching you and me. Since they are constantly and actively involved in all who we are and do, our conduct in their presence should seek investigation. What do they know about you and me? Among the dozen or so issues that quickly come to mind, we take time for just one - our talking - to other, earthly persons and to our heavenly Father.

Are we known in the unseen realm as a frequent visitor? Is our voice regularly heard among the angels? Is our name commonly confessed there? Are we well known in heaven's throne room? Are we known as someone who stubbornly sits at His feet and keeps knocking at His door? Is our personal presence at the Father's throne of grace so consistent that the angels have heavy duty as we - in company with, and led by, the faithful Holy Spirit - confront the "spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms"? Have the angels come to count on our intercessions? Can they "set their watches" by the time we are on our knees? Years ago I heard the daughter of a godly man say of her father, "Daddy's wick is always lit." I hope that our children and grandchildren and close friends can say that about you and me.

The angels know. They know whether we have been, and are remaining, true to "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." They know if we have kept the faith, and if we are still keeping it. They know whether we are clinging to the unchanging truth as it is left to us in God's Word. They angels know if we have accepted responsibility personally, or if we have left it for someone else to protect and maintain.

Down through the changing, challenging eras of church history, we have the ageless, comforting words of our brother, Paul, "Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Scripture references: Hebrews 1:14, I Peter 1:10-12, I Corinthians 4:9, Matthew 18:10, Ephesians 6:12, Jude 3, I Corinthians 15:58

Ittai, a Philistine Man of God

In recent years, Ittai (pronounced It-tay-eye) has become one of my favorite biblical personages.

2 Samuel 15:13-31

And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.

And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.

And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.

And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, which were concubines, to keep the house.

And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and tarried in a place that was far off.

And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king.

Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile.

Whereas thou camest but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us? seeing I go whither I may, return thou, and take back thy brethren: mercy and truth be with thee.

And Ittai answered the king, and said, As the LORD liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be.

And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him.

And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness.

And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites were with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God: and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city.

And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation:

But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.

The king said also unto Zadok the priest, Art not thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar.

See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.

Zadok therefore and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem: and they tarried there.

And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

That he was a Philistine believer at the time of the scripture reading, holds our minds in enough fascination, but to discover that he was also the son of Achish, king of Gath, and that with his immigration as a Jewish proselyte he brought 600 Philistine warriors and their families with him, his conversion is incredible.

His appearance in Jerusalem scant days before David's hasty departure as his son, Absalom prepared to overthrow David's reign and assasinate him in the process, would seem on the surface to be the worst possible timing for Ittai. Actually, as always with God, Ittai's coming was Divinely and perfectly timed, and he would prominently figure into David's "salvation" and Absalom's military debacle.

Unquestionably, David and Ittai would have met, and formed a "Jonathan-like" alliance during the two or three years that David had spent in Gath, running for his life from an apostate Saul, and serving Achish (the king of Gath, and Ittai's father). At this time, Ittai had witnessed the presence and character of David's God in him, and at some point, became a believer, also planning at some time in the future to migrate to Israel when David eventually became king.

When he came, with 600 "Gibborim" (a Phistine word meaning "heros; mighty men") and all of their families, it appeared on the surface to be a most inopportune time, a time of Absalom's deception and mutiny, with David's life and throne on the line.

When David offered a "free pass", a honorable way out, to Ittai, his reply was a personal testimony of his conversion ("As the Lord God 'yahweh' lives"), but also an instant commitment of his life and that of his 600 warriors to the protection and honor of David! "Wherever you go and are, I will be right there by your side". My admiration knows no bounds to this kind of devotion! To God and to David! What a God Who provokes such brave devotion and selfless courage! He continues to dwell in the hearts of godly and devout men today!

By W.L. Boone

Halos for Hookers

(This is a true story in every detail, but names are substituted for real persons)

Some years past at the dinner table, our daughter, "Thelma", a bank teller at the time, uneasily said, "Papa, I need to talk to you privately - not as a father, but a pastor." Here was her dilemma:

That day her manager had closed the door for privacy after a summons to his office. "This will come as a surprise to you," he said, "but 'Jane' has requested that you be her personal teller." The fact was that this was only the first of two unexpected surprises. The second came close to the level of shocking when he identified "Jane" (a new, but regular customer) as the manager of three, local, well-known massage parlors. "She wants the same teller to handle all of her transactions and has personally asked for you." And with this he amusingly observed that, "Out of all of my tellers, she would have to ask for the preacher's daughter!"

"Thelma" quizzically searched my eyes in earnest expectation, certain that her pastor would bail her out of this seemingly compromising situation.

After a few thoughtful moments, my logical response was that she - and all of the other tellers - regularly received deposts from far more unsavory women than an avowed hooker, but just did not know about it. I observed that "Jane" was admittedly and openly a "professional" who sold her body for money, and, while generally considered a social blight, was at least not a hypocrite. She was what she was known to be - a hooker.

Far worse were the cheating, unfaithful wives (or husbands) who daily came and went from the bank in robes of public respectability, but were in truth carrying on deceitful, adulterous liaisons behind their spouses' backs. Immorality on any level reaps a horrible harvest, but sinks to it's lowest when robed in deception.

Even in a world of admittedly declining morals, nearly all of us value and respect integrity, and reject hypocrisy. In most cultures of the world we regard genuineness as the most desired trait in any person, and insist that only in honesty can true relationships occur and endure.

A puzzle about illicit lovers persists to any thoughtful mind. How can a cheater be trusted?

Copyright by W.L. Boone