Sidled Through the Door at 74

Actually, the catchy title has only incidental reference to the matter to consider.

I am 74, and had some firewood in my arms, and a slowly closing door through which to walk. The thought flitted through my mind, "Yes, I can slip through it and do it quickly if I move somewhat sideways." It worked fine as thoughts of athleticism mentally applauded the smooth effort.

But it was the method of the move that alerted my senses, and not the actual act. It was not "my kind of a move" at all, but that of one of my dearest pastor friends. Many times, over the years of our working together, I had seen him make just such a "smooth, sideways move" through a narrowing space.

It was the thoughts that followed that quietly rocked my mind. Jim's three boys all made those same smooth, sideways moves, and they do so today though they are in their late forties and early fifties. Their body language, bearing, facial expressions, soft-spokenness and much of their conversations are "Jim all over again."

The truth is that we become like those persons with whom we spend large amounts of time - those with whom we talk a lot, and especially those whom we admire.

The conclusion here is as certain as heredity and environment: the more we spend time with Jesus and His teachings and His Word, the more we are like Him

I love the truth of two heavily-lined verses in my Bible, and long ago made them guiding stars in my own quest for my Lord.

Matthew 10:25a: "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master..."

and also,

John3:29: John the Baptist said, "...the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands by and listens to Him, rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."

We Can "Control" God

Not in the sense that we tell Him what to do... or change His mind... but there are things we can do that guarantee a response from Him.

Moses did. Jonathan did. David did. Daniel did. Elijah did. Hezekiah did. In fact, many, if not all, biblical personages did.

The woman with the issue of blood did when she touched the hem of Jesus' garment. His healing virtue was "on demand" to her trusting request. As best as we can tell from the reading in Matthew 9:20, there was no deciding, Divine permission that occurred in the transfer of healing virtue from Jesus to this woman's need.

I realize that this is poor grammar, but God does not do nothing in a great many, personal ventures into His grace and power. We "control" God when we surrender to Him. We "control" God when we line up our wills with His will. He does not do nothing when we do.

God does something when we yield to Him, and when we obey Him, and when we get on His side of any issue or matter, and when we yearn to see things His way, and when we search and pry into His nature and heart and thoughts and attitudes.

God does something when we love Him, and when we set ourselves to sit at His feet and hear His words.

This is an irrefutable fact as (SEE Luke 10:4) Mary discovered when she chose to sit at Jesus' feet and hear what He had to say. The weeping woman (SEE Mark 14:9) "controlled" Jesus with her contrite brokenness as she lovingly poured her expensive perfume upon His feet. Her love drew a concentrated, personal, immediate, Divine response as others who watched missed it!

For most of my ministry this verse from Isaiah 57:15 has had a prominent place on my study walls: I dwell...with the person who has a contrite and humble spirit...", and another from Isaiah 66:2: "...to this person will I look, even to him who is of a poor (one who claims nothing) and contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word".

There are "automatic" responses from God anytime we enter His presence via His throne of grace. He is there! He is never not there! He is never unreachable, or untouchable, or unavailable. There are no office hours at the throne of grace. Admittance and advocacy are assured through the death of our Savior on His cross of Calvary. If and when we go there, He is there!

Why Are We Here?

Our humanity and our mortality are the results of God's grace. I mean by that that when we realize how extremely different and opposing humankind is from God, we wonder why He has the slightest interest in us?

When we view how we treat God, how we treat one another, how we treat ourselves (especially how we generally abuse our minds and bodies), and how we treat our environment, and how we treat our potential, there just is no other explanation for our having being than the grace of God. No being known to us is so selfish, so arrogant, so wasteful, so insensitive, so hateful and vengeful, so hurtful, so domineering and so repressive as humankind. We enslave the weak, impoverish the unsuspecting, take advantage of the trusting and poor, trash the planet and curse God all the while. Why would God...why did God...give us being? If most of us were God, we would have doomed and destroyed us long ago.

The saintliest and the nicest and the wisest and the best of us are a sorry lot when we take any honest look at our myriad imperfections. I am constantly puzzled at how any person could call himself a god...and then try to sell that idea to any other rational being.

The smartest people I have ever known have done some very stupid things. All of us spend way too much time eating crow, getting feet out of our mouths, and wiping egg from our faces to be gods.

If humankind is God's crowning creation (and we are), we have to look beyond the present product to discover why God did it.

There can only be one answer: it is because of His grace. It is only discovered in His grace. The Lord is gracious! God is a giver. He is a sharer. This is what makes Him gracious. It is grace that He does not need me for anything - though I need Him for everything - yet, He seeks me. He wants to let me know Him.

He constantly seeks for my attention so that He may communicate with me. Whatever He gets from our relationship enlarges me and not Him! His relating to us is all of grace.

Copyright by W.L. Boone.

(Anyone desiring the entire message entitled "The Face of Grace" from which this article is gleaned may receive it by e-mailing me at lesboone@juno.com with your PO mailing address.)

Just How "Personal" is God?

Whatever is occurring between you and God is as personal as God with Moses. Whatever it is of God (which is grace) that results in creativity, involves Him with you and me, and that personal involvement is more generative and creative than it is historical. What is meant here is that His relationship with you is original and unprecedented. It is brand new. There is no other like it. I repeat that whatever is occurring between you and God is as unique as it was when He conversed with Moses. God plows ground with you that is eternally virgin, for God is essentially generative in nature...especially in His relationships. His dialogues with you are as creative as a new galaxy or solar system.

It needs to be repeated that "God's involvement with you is more generative and creative than it is historical", and what we see here is that His gracious approach to you and me personally is not a re-run. It is not a repeat. It is not a replica. It is not predicated upon any previous dialogue with any other person...even Moses. His relationship with you and me is not the "cookie cutter" kind where He sort of stamps out another one that He has used from a schematic a few millions times before. It is as personal as personal can be.

The greatest value to be found during one's lifetime must be in the relationships we form and maintain, while the greatest fact of humanity is potential. God graciously extended to each person both possibilities as He reached out to us in Jesus. He is a blank check when it comes to knowing Him, and "the sky is the limit" in our pursuit of Him.

Copyright by W.L. Boone.

(Anyone desiring the entire message entitled "The Face of Grace" from which this article is gleaned may receive it by e-mailing me at lesboone@juno.com with your PO mailing address.)

The Boldness of Moses

Numbers 12:3: "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men which were upon the face of the earth."

Moses said to God in Exodus 33:13 for Him to "...show me Thy way, that I may know Thee". Mankind has never produced a more daring explorer than Moses. The Phonecians and Norsemen and Magellans and Columbuses and Pilgrims and Lindbergs and Yeagers and Glenns and Armstrongs must all reverently bow before this meekest man of all men as he dares to present himself before the heavenly holy of holies, and boldly asks God to "...show me Your way. Show me Who You are! Show me what You are like! I want You to show Yourself to me! I want to know You. You tell me that I have found grace in Your sight, and yet I do not know Who You are! If I have found grace in Your sight, reveal Yourself to me."

Imagine that! Talk about nerve! Let it never be said that meekness and boldness cannot co-exist, for Moses obliterates such a myth at this point in his relationship with God. And there is not even a hint of reprimand from God to Moses' impassioned demand. In fact, in this instance with Moses and God, as with a good many after it, God seems to invite and reward such bold excursions into His nature. I think that we need to draw a bold line under the statement that God portrays great desire to make Himself known to individuals. He is the God Who ever beckons us to come closer; the God Who invites scrutiny; the God Who wants to reveal Himself; the God Who seeks to share Himself with humankind.

God's immediate response to Moses' impassioned demand is as incredible as the request when He replied, "I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for you have found grace in My sight."

It is obvious that this is a private dialogue between God and Moses. Can you beat that? I do not know what an almighty God does as a regular matter, but it has to be wondrously complex and universal in nature.

I say this as reverently as I can, But God has a universe to run, and billions of human beings to care for, and here He is hunkered down and locked into a private chat with a mere mortal who knew how to ring the doorbell of heaven's resident Deity! Sinai's Mountain groaned and writhed in a blazing, jolting, pounding, smoking, quaking cataclysm as He touched down on a fragile, trembling earth. The elements constricted in transformed convulsion as His presence arrived at this untimely summons from a yearning mortal! But He came...and He stood...toe to toe and face to face and heart to heart with a frail mortal who hungrily asked Him Who He was!

Whenever God communes with a mortal...this is grace. When He stoops to communicate with us...this is an act of infinite grace. When He allows our finite, limited minds to meet with His mind, and match our thoughts with His thoughts, and reason with Him...this is an exercise of grace!

Copyright by W.L. Boone.

(Anyone desiring the entire message entitled "The Face of Grace" from which this article is gleaned may receive it by e-mailing me at lesboone@juno.com with your PO mailing address.)