STRETCH YOUR SOUL (1)

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STRETCH YOUR SOUL

There is a story often told about Martin Luther, the Father of our Protestant faith, of how he had been moping about for more days and nights than were good for him and those around him.

Finally, his wife appeared one morning dressed totally in black. “Katherine,” he asked, “Why are you dressed as if in mourning?”

“Someone has died,” she replied.

“Why have I not heard? Who was it?” asked Luther

“It seems,” his wife responded, “that God must have died.”

Luther got the point.

No, God is not dead, but we must be alive to that fact.  Stretch our souls in the workout room of the spirit.  Because a soul flabby from lack of use cannot bear the burdens that inevitably come to all of us.

 

If someone were to ask you, “What is my soul?”  How would you answer?  Your soul?  Oh, you could give the dictionary description, “the immaterial essence of an individual life.”  But that’s about as satisfactory an answer as feeding on boiled cardboard or fried cellophane.

So then “What is the soul?”

Well, first and foremost, it is the eternal you.  It is not captive to the calendar by any way or means.

It is like a great ear as it reacts to all it hears from sources here on earth and from the heaven-sent voice of God.

It has muscles in the sense that if not used it shrivels and almost dies.  I say almost because it is never too late for a man or woman to begin a workout program for this most important part of our being.

Secondly, one very special quality of our souls, they are color blind.  For all our earthly foolishness, ultimately we are brothers and sisters beneath the Fatherhood of our living God.  To argue otherwise is to create a world of fenced-in ruts.  In God’s world where stretched souls live, there are no neighborhood restrictions because the world, the whole world, is our neighborhood.

One isn’t very far into the book of Genesis before the subject of the soul leaps off the pages, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

We are further into the first book of the Gospels when Matthew warns us of the soul’s importance, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  (Matthew 16:26)

Indeed, have you ever noticed that men sell their soul to the Devil?  But give their soul to God?

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FORIGIVENESS, WHAT'S THAT?

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     It’s been sixty years but I still remember the story.  It was all over the newspapers at the time.  A man and woman had begun early in the evening to argue.  At 3 AM, weary and worn, they were still bickering.

Finally the man went to sleep.

At which time the woman got a gun and shot him dead.

Her first visitor in jail was the father of the man she had killed, and his first words were, “I forgive you.”  The next day it made the front pages.

Had he stood on the jail house steps and vowed vengeance, it might have made the last page of the newspaper or buried opposite the obituaries.  Or received no notice at all.  But Christian forgiveness under such circumstances?  Well now, when a Christian acts like it - that is news.

The agnostic H. G. Wells wrote the following, “Christianity will never work because Christ is too big for the little men and women he must work with.”

The sad fact is that many people never really expect Christians to act like it.

 

The Prodigal Son finally got it right.  Filled with remorse.  Finally able and willing to face what he had become and what he must undo, he simply said, “Make me even as a hired servant.  Make me everything but what I was.”

One modern day philosopher put it well, “As a Christian, it is not your job to “whittle” sticks.  You are called to build temples.”  (Edgar De-Witt)

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THE GALILEE GALLERY

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The Galilee Gallery and other· NEW TESTAMENT CHARACTERS You OUGHT To Know BETTER

To better understand Jesus and the early world in which He lived, it is important to know those around Him.

THE SHEPHERDS (Luke 11: 15)

In the time of Jesus, shepherds carried around a bad reputation for dishonesty and little respect for the Tomb. It is interesting to note that it was com-I mon practice for sheep to be put under cover from November to March, except around Bethlehem where they were outside year round. This would explain the Biblical account "keeping watch over their flock by night."

Of one thing there is little doubt, it must have been a monumental experience for those simple men on the side of a hill. Angels from on high proclaiming a heavenly birth. It is little wonder the shepherds fled in wonderment to see for themselves what they had been told.

Like the Wisemen, once they paid homage to the Christ child, they are written out of the story. And while there is no biblical comment to the fact, one would imagine that they certainly were unable to. keep their experience a secret.

THE WISEMEN (Matthew 11:1)

Only in Matthew do you find the wisemen mentioned, and even here, though we think the number three, no specific number is named. If logic is served, three gifts can make the claim there were three wisemen. However, the number is not significant.

Dig deep in non-Biblical sources and a cornucopia of information comes pouring out They were of a sect of Medes who were students of astrology. From the seventh century on there seems general agreement that their names were Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar.

There has been much speculation about what the star was but Matthew wrote that the star went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was." Why would these men follow such a star? However, why would they not since they were knowledgeable about a divine Redeemer to be born in Palestine?

From where did they come? Since it is written only that they came from east of Jerusalem, most scholars would answer, Persia. In those days it was the center of occult learning. One thing is for ~it was a difficult journey of close to 1000 miles that led them across the Syrian desert through the passes of Moab into Jericho where the Dead Sea and the River Jordan meet, on to Jerusalem and finally to Bethlehem.

DEATH BY ENVY

 

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Are you obsessed with another gal or guy - that they might have more than you; that their talents might be recognized more than yours are recognized?  Christianity constantly speaks of thinking of the other person more than yourself, but not in the manner Envy does.

 

 

Well now, we’ve spent enough time in this series defining and explaining envy…now let’s look at some ways to get rid of it.

 

 

Switch from envy to gratitude.

 

 

Don’t allow another person’s success to rob you of the pleasure your own achievement.  I remember in college we had one fellow on the track team who broke every record from the mile through the marathon.  I knew I could never beat him, but I could always beat my own best time, which I continued to do right up till I graduated.

 

 

That other person has more wealth?  Be grateful you are not living in poverty.

 

 

Andrew Carnegie was a multimillionaire in a day when it was equal to being a billionaire in our time.  And what did he say of his wealth that so many envied, “Millionaires who laugh are rare.  My experience is that wealth is apt to take the smiles away.”

 

 

Henry Ford, the automobile king, said, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

 

 

John B. Rockefeller wrote, “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on three dollars a week.”  Broken in health, constantly afraid someone would steal from him he never went anywhere without an armed guard.

 

 

That other person sings with a better voice?   Be grateful you have any voice at all. 

 

 

The other person has twenty/twenty vision and even with your glasses you’d like to be able to see better.  Ever hear of a woman named Helen Keller?  Remember, she was mute and deaf and blind.

 

 

Learn and remember and repeat jokes about envy and jealousy.  They will let you laugh at yourself and who wants to be the object of self ridicule.  By way of example…there was the man who said his wife’s jealousy was getting ridiculous, “The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.”

 

 

Keep your mouth shut.  Don’t constantly be putting other people down as a way of lifting yourself up.  

 

 

Get to know better the person you are envious of.  As you do, try to appreciate and admire the trait or talent you have envied them for having.  Admiration is better than envy any day in the week.

 

 

And ask your self this question, “Why do I always have to be number 1 in everything?”  For yes, any time you are envious, it is because you feel you are in second place. 

 

 

Intellectually I’m sure you know you can’t be in first place in everything, so again…ask yourself, “Why do I always have to be number 1?”

 

 

Since this is an impossible yearning, instead pour your energies into loving God enough to be content.  Loving your fellowman enough so as not to envy.  This is a double dose of Christian sanity and well worth all your efforts to achieve.  

 

You know what envious people do on a regular basis?  They walk into a room and in a sense announce, “Ta da!  Here I am.”  And then …if those gathered do not kowtow and genuflect, they feel unappreciated and unloved, and they fuss and they fret and they frame their discontent and hang it on any nearby wall.

 

Exodus 20:17 – “You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

 

Would you rid yourself of the curse of being envious?  Then pray not to be covetous.

 

Do you really want to rid yourself of envy?  Just remember, that person you envy, for whatever reason, also has wants and needs that are not getting fulfilled and never will be.  They may look like they are getting everything they want…but they aren’t.

 

Nobody does.

 

So they need your understanding and your love and perhaps also your help in some areas it not others.  What they certainly don’t need is your rancor.

 

There is an old Latin proverb, “He who covets is always poor.”  And so is the person who is always envious - the more they envy, the poorer they get…in mind, body and soul.

 

Would you rid yourself of Envy?  Then pray to be content with what you have and who you are.  Do this and you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

 

And meanwhile remember, Envy does not always announce its entrance but it will never leave without your consent.

 

Are you obsessed with another gal or guy - that they might have more than you; that their talents might be recognized more than yours are recognized?  Christianity constantly speaks of thinking of the other person more than yourself, but not in the manner Envy does.

 

 

Well now, we’ve spent enough time in this series defining and explaining envy…now let’s look at some ways to get rid of it.

 

 

Switch from envy to gratitude.

 

 

Don’t allow another person’s success to rob you of the pleasure your own achievement.  I remember in college we had one fellow on the track team who broke every record from the mile through the marathon.  I knew I could never beat him, but I could always beat my own best time, which I continued to do right up till I graduated.

 

 

That other person has more wealth?  Be grateful you are not living in poverty.

 

 

Andrew Carnegie was a multimillionaire in a day when it was equal to being a billionaire in our time.  And what did he say of his wealth that so many envied, “Millionaires who laugh are rare.  My experience is that wealth is apt to take the smiles away.”

 

 

Henry Ford, the automobile king, said, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

 

 

John B. Rockefeller wrote, “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on three dollars a week.”  Broken in health, constantly afraid someone would steal from him he never went anywhere without an armed guard.

 

 

That other person sings with a better voice?   Be grateful you have any voice at all. 

 

 

The other person has twenty/twenty vision and even with your glasses you’d like to be able to see better.  Ever hear of a woman named Helen Keller?  Remember, she was mute and deaf and blind.

 

 

Learn and remember and repeat jokes about envy and jealousy.  They will let you laugh at yourself and who wants to be the object of self ridicule.  By way of example…there was the man who said his wife’s jealousy was getting ridiculous, “The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.”

 

 

Keep your mouth shut.  Don’t constantly be putting other people down as a way of lifting yourself up.  

 

 

Get to know better the person you are envious of.  As you do, try to appreciate and admire the trait or talent you have envied them for having.  Admiration is better than envy any day in the week.

 

 

And ask your self this question, “Why do I always have to be number 1 in everything?”  For yes, any time you are envious, it is because you feel you are in second place. 

 

 

Intellectually I’m sure you know you can’t be in first place in everything, so again…ask yourself, “Why do I always have to be number 1?”

 

 

Since this is an impossible yearning, instead pour your energies into loving God enough to be content.  Loving your fellowman enough so as not to envy.  This is a double dose of Christian sanity and well worth all your efforts to achieve.  

 

You know what envious people do on a regular basis?  They walk into a room and in a sense announce, “Ta da!  Here I am.”  And then …if those gathered do not kowtow and genuflect, they feel unappreciated and unloved, and they fuss and they fret and they frame their discontent and hang it on any nearby wall.

 

Exodus 20:17 – “You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

 

Would you rid yourself of the curse of being envious?  Then pray not to be covetous.

 

Do you really want to rid yourself of envy?  Just remember, that person you envy, for whatever reason, also has wants and needs that are not getting fulfilled and never will be.  They may look like they are getting everything they want…but they aren’t.

 

Nobody does.

 

So they need your understanding and your love and perhaps also your help in some areas it not others.  What they certainly don’t need is your rancor.

 

There is an old Latin proverb, “He who covets is always poor.”  And so is the person who is always envious - the more they envy, the poorer they get…in mind, body and soul.

 

Would you rid yourself of Envy?  Then pray to be content with what you have and who you are.  Do this and you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

 

And meanwhile remember, Envy does not always announce its entrance but it will never leave without your consent.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

THE LOST AND NOT FOUND DEPARTMENT

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Have you ever heard of the LOST & NOT FOUND Department?  And what is in that department you might ask. 

All the people who never learned to make up their minds and constantly labor in the throes of indecision and procrastination.

All the people who are always making promises and pledges and not fulfilling them.  Dreaming dreams and forgetting them.  Having faith and letting it shrivel and almost die.

All the people who have no goals in life and therefore no reason for living.

“Men are failures not because they are stupid but because they are not sufficiently impassioned.”  Let me repeat that…“Men are failures not because they are stupid but because they are not sufficiently impassioned.”  (Struthers Bart)

The great French philosopher Montaigne put it this way, “A man who has not directed his life as a whole toward a definite goal cannot possibly set his particular actions in order. 

The archer must know what he is aiming at, and then set his hand, his bow, his strings, his arrow and his movements for that goal. 

Our plans go astray because they have no directions and no aim.  No wind serves the man who has no port of destination.”

Let me ask you some questions? 

Can you shoot  straight with a crooked arrow? 

I’m an old pilot who flew back in the time of wooden propellers and I always knew you couldn’t fly too well with a warped and imperfect prop.

Fact is, if too warped it would shake loose and the plane will soon be making an emergency powerless landing.

The book of Proverbs (Proverbs 29:18) shouts with profound simplicity the following truth.  “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

Kagawa, working in the slums of Japan and being called “Christ’s fool” had a vision.

Martin Luther stood strong and tall with his beliefs as he said “Here I stand.” He had a vision.

Roger Bacon, carrying out his scientific experiments despite the threats of the inquisition, had a vision.

Paul Bunyan, writing “Pilgrim’s Progress” in a filthy jail, had a vision.

Our Founding Fathers had a vision. 

Those who marched with Martin Luther King in Birmingham and beyond had a vision.

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SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING (Last in Serialization of this book)

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 WHAT DO YOU

DO WHEN FEAR

COMES TO CALL?

 One night a man was awakened by his wife who said, "John, there is a burglar downstairs."

"Honey," he replied, "there is no burglar downstairs, please let me go back to sleep." But she wouldn't. So wearily he got out of bed, staggered down the stairs and came face to face with a burglar who thrust a pistol in his face.

"Okay," croaked the burglar, "don't cause no trouble." "I promise you 1won't,' responded the husband, "but 1 do wish you would go upstairs and introduce  yourself to my wife, she has been expecting you for over twenty years."

He was a great doctor. He practiced and taught in Canada, the United States and Britain. He was appointed Professor of Medicine John Hopkins School of Medicine and Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, the highest honor that can be bestowed on any medical man in the British Empire.

He was knighted by the King of England. When he died, two huge volumes containing 1466 pages were required to tell the story of his life.

His name was Sir William Osler. And here are twenty-one words he read as a young medical student and they flavored all the years before him. "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand." (Anonymous)

The worst way to live is to be fed by a troubled mind that sees nothing but problems before the sun is tree high on the horizon. It is one thing to make a reality check. It is quite another to produce fictional anxiety.

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