Are You Poor In Spirit?

 Everyone knows that it is the bold, the proud and the strong who prevail.  Not the weak, insecure and unsure.  All we need do is browse the latest economic and political headlines. Be confident. Be strong, relentless and ruthless, if you want to win. Jesus painted a different picture.

When Jesus ascended the mountain slope overlooking the Sea of Galilee and sat down to address the crowd, his first words turned traditional logic on its head. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”

With this, Jesus opened the door for people like you and me.  We know that we have not always been strong.  We know our faith has often failed in the moment of trial.  When we have wanted to believe most, we have sometimes doubted. 

Of such, Jesus says, is the kingdom.  Rejoice!  Be happy!  You are included.

The poor in spirit would include Peter, who fell prostrate in his boat and declared, “Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  It would include the woman of Samaria who came to the well at midday, alone, because she was an outcast. It would include the father who begged him to heal his son, declaring, “I do believe. Help my unbelief.”  And it would include the dying thief crucified beside Him who petitioned, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

Mother Teresa’s meditations were gathered into a book entitled “Come Be My Light.”  She wrote, “Do not think my spiritual life is strewn with roses … quite the contrary I have more often as my companion ‘darkness.’  … I need much grace, much of Christ’s strength to persevere in trust, in that blind love which leads only to Jesus crucified.”

Billy Graham, who preached to more people in his lifetime than anyone in history, prayed this personal prayer, “Lord Jesus, you suffered such humiliation and pain for me on the cross. I ask you humbly to forgive my pride and errant ways that nailed you there.”

If the kingdom of heaven were only for the strong, we all would be excluded including the twelve disciples.  How often did their faith fail them? Jesus did not characterize them as firm in their faith or strong in their spirit.  Jesus said to them more than once, “Oh ye of little faith!”   Where was Peter when Jesus was standing trial? Was he not swearing with an oath that he never knew the man?  But Jesus was not surprised.  He had already warned Peter that he would stumble. 

Even when Jesus stood on the mountain in Galilee and delivered the Great Commission, the Bible says, “some doubted.” If your spirit is weak, rejoice.  Yours is the kingdom of heaven.  After all heaven is built on God’s faith, not ours.  

This week’s column is the first of eight in a series on the Beatitudes. 

Tinsley's Novel, We Beheld His Glory is free as an eBook on Amazon August 18-19. 

Teachers Make A Difference

 It is mid-August and already many students are back in school, excitedly finding their desks, making new friends, opening new books. Most teachers have been back at work for a week or  more getting ready for the students who are assigned to their care.

 My wife retired as a schoolteacher more than 10 years ago.  After earning a master’s in early childhood education, her career took her to kindergarten, third grade and secondary education in the  inner city,  metro and rural areas, in Texas and Minnesota.  She concluded her teaching career by teaching a dropout prevention program for pregnant and parenting teens.  Her goal in her final assignment was to help her students have a healthy pregnancy, a healthy birth, learn to be a parent, stay in school, and create a future for themselves and their child. On her best year, her students achieved a 98% graduation rate.

 On one occasion she asked her students to tell of the most significant caregiver in their life.  One of her students said she had a happy childhood until age 10 when her parents were both arrested and sent to jail for drugs.  Her grandfather tried to take her in, but they wouldn’t let him because he had confessed to possession of marijuana.  But he continued to love her and check on her at her foster home. She said she remained close to her foster mother.

 One of her former students returned to my wife’s class to visit, a single mom who graduated and enrolled in a trade school.  My wife asked her to tell her story to the others.  She told of how her older brother committed suicide and how she was on the same trajectory but was able to change course and pursue a better life.  The school counselor who was observing that day asked the student what made the difference in her life.  She pointed to my wife as her teacher and said, “This woman right here.”

 I remain proud of my wife and what she accomplished as a teacher.  I am grateful for the many teachers who accept assignment in challenging situations, working with children and teenagers who face daunting difficulties. 

 Perhaps this is one reason our favorite movies are often based on true stories of teachers who persevered and prevailed in the lives of students who otherwise might have given up. Movies like Mr. Holland’s Opus, Akeela and the Bee, Freedom Writers.

 The title Jesus often used to refer to himself was “teacher.”  It was the title others used most to refer to Him, including the 12 who were his disciples. He was the supreme example of the master teacher, teaching by example and illustration, pouring his life into the lives of those who followed him. His teaching and His life changed the world. Two thousand years after he walked the earth, his teaching and His life changed me.

 I hope you will join me in praying for the thousands of teachers who are seeking to make a difference in the lives of children and young adults as schools open and classrooms resume.  I hope you will make Jesus your Master Teacher.

What I Won't Do For Myself

  Left to myself, I will sit around and vegetate. I know that other people don’t do this, but I do. Several years ago our Pembroke Corgi helped me discover a truth I had overlooked.  When I looked across the room at my dog who followed me from room to room and was happy to be wherever I was, I knew that he needed to walk. So, I got up, put on my shoes, found his leash and off we went. It was good for him and it was good for me. I discovered that what I would not do for myself I would do for my dog.

This little act highlights an important point. We all need to be motivated for someone or something outside ourselves. I have heard it said, “If you won’t do it for someone else, do it for yourself!” But I have discovered that doing it for myself is the lowest and weakest motivator in my life.

Some have assumed that our democratic system works because it is based on self-interest. If everyone looks out for himself, seeks to make the biggest profit and accumulate the most wealth, it all just seems to work out for everybody. But that isn’t true. Our democratic system works because people are willing to sacrifice their own self-interest in the interest of others. The key to American democracy is selfless altruism. Not greed.

Life is not like Monopoly. We don’t win by owning the largest number of properties, raising the rent and amassing stacks of money on our side of the board until we drive everyone else into bankruptcy. That might work for a board game, but even then the players seldom feel good about it. In life we win by giving ourselves away.

We are made in such a way that we must be called to something higher. We will endure great pain, hardship, discipline and even death for people we love and causes that challenge us.

When we live our lives and make our decisions based upon self-interest and self-gratification we are led into dead end tributaries, into a shallow existence that results in isolation and loneliness. When we choose to orient our lives around serving and helping others, we launch out into the deep where we discover meaning and fulfillment.

Howard Hughes, one of the wealthiest men of the twentieth century who spent lavishly to indulge his whims and idiosyncrasies, died a recluse, lonely, isolated and mentally deranged. The FBI had to resort to fingerprints in order to identify his body.

Mother Teresa, who was penniless, spent her life caring for the poor, sick, orphaned and dying. When she died in 1997 the Missionaries of Charity, which she founded, had over one million co-workers serving the “poorest of the poor” in 123 countries. In 2010, the 100th anniversary of her birth, she was honored around the world.

This is why the Scripture urges us to put others first. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).  Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom.”  (Luke 6:38).

Living Water

For many years I have made it a practice of having a time of devotion early in the morning.  I like to spend this time outside, preferably at sunrise. There have been gaps when I missed.  I have discovered that when I spend time for personal study of Scripture, prayer and reflection on what God wants to say to me, the day seems to go better.  My life has a healthier center and, when the day is done, it seems to be more productive. 

I routinely go out on our deck in Colorado overlooking an open meadow.  I sit beneath the aspen at sunrise and watch the finches, sparrows and chickadees feeding at our bird feeder.  This year it has been unusually hot and dry. We are in the midst of a severe drought. The landscape seems braced for scorching heat that could surge past 100.

After my devotion, I water the potted flowers on our deck: daisies, petunias, chrysanthemums, marigolds and periwinkles.  If I miss a few days, the plants show it.  They become stressed, and, if neglected too long, they wither and die. When I miss a few days of having my devotion on the patio the flowers miss their watering. Their leaves shrivel and the flowers fall from their drooping stems.  They became a spiritual barometer reflecting the condition of my soul from these times neglected with God.

The flowers don’t respond well to alternate periods of draught and deluge.  Drowning them in water once a week, simply doesn’t work.  They need watering every day, not necessarily a lot, just enough to soak in the soil.  Watered frequently in this fashion they thrive, even in record setting triple digit heat.

This may explain why American Christianity seems so insipid, (like salt that has lost its taste).  Many Christians depend on a deluge of spiritual watering for one hour once a week during a worship service at church.  And many more don’t even do this. The spiritual lives of many Christians may resemble the stressed-out flowers sitting on my deck in the heat of summer.

David expressed this truth in Psalm 1. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers”

Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life" (John 4:14) And again, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost” (Rev 21:6).

Take time daily for meditation, devotion and prayer. Jesus set the example, rising early before dawn and seeking a solitary place to pray. 

Flat Earth

 My brother sometimes reminded people of Cliff Claven, the Cheers character who could enlighten, extend and confuse any conversation with his “little known facts.”  The difference between my brother and Cliff was that my brother’s little-known facts were more often correct.  He once rocked my life-long assumptions by informing me that the Greeks knew the earth was round over two thousand years ago and actually calculated the circumference of the earth two hundred years before Christ.  I checked it out.  He was right. Eratosthenes, chief librarian at Alexandria, Egypt, calculated the circumference of the earth to be 250,000 stadia, or 24, 662 miles.  This happened somewhere around 2 40 B.C.  The actual distance is 24, 901 miles.

 Am I the only one that missed this?  When I went to school, I was taught that Columbus sailed bravely westward across the Atlantic, destined, by the prevailing assumptions of that day, to fall off the edge of the flat earth.  But now, I am told every Christian scholar in the Middle Ages believed the earth was round.  The problem, they thought, was that there was nothing in the Atlantic between Europe and India and the distance was too great. Columbus mistakenly thought the world was smaller than it is and accidentally discovered the new world.

 Why didn’t I know this?  How did I miss this little-known fact in my studies of history and science?  How can we spend a lifetime having a false understanding of world history?

 What we believe about history makes a difference.  It changes our actions and our destiny.  The single most important event in human history is the resurrection of Jesus.  This event shapes all our understanding about life and death and forms the foundation of our values.  Yet billions have never heard of Jesus’ resurrection. And millions more live as if it never happened.

 The Apostle Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.  Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” (1 Cor. 15:17-20)

 Jesus came to correct our wrong assumptions about God and about life on this earth.  He turned conventional wisdom on its head by exhorting us to love our enemies, to help those who cannot help us, to accept foreigners and aliens.  He demonstrated by His life that God loves us and, instead of requiring us to offer sacrifices to Him, He gave His own life as the ultimate sacrifice for us.

 If Jesus was raised from the dead, then life is no longer measured in terms of wealth and power.  With His resurrection, He reset the measurement for success to include how we serve the “least of these” who live among us.  With His resurrection, He declared that death could no longer rob us of meaning and purpose.  Living in a world without the resurrection is like living on a flat earth.   

Cornerstone Marriage

 Fifty-eight years ago, I asked an 18-year-old college sophomore to marry me. I was 21,  a college senior making $240 per month.  She said yes. We were in heaven.  Could not have been happier.  It was what experts now call a “cornerstone” marriage.  Our marriage to one another was the cornerstone upon which everything else has been built.

 We had no idea how we would make ends meet.  We could not predict our future.  I worked for $1.25 per hour, the minimum wage of that day,  trimming grass by hand, drove a van for Lighthouse for the Blind, worked in a factory and was pastor of a small church.  She worked in the library.   Somehow, we stayed in school and earned graduate degrees.   God was faithful, generous and kind.   

 Over the years we had three children, and raised them.  The first was born 5 years into our marriage.  The last was born the year I turned 40.  She is now 40.  Our children are now raising our 6 grandchildren, the oldest are finding their way like all young adults must do. 

 Sociologists are telling us that marriage for the younger generation has changed.  Instead of a “cornerstone,” marriage is often considered a “capstone,” the final step after all the preliminary problems have been solved: education, money, housing, cars, savings, financial security. As a result many young couples live together for many years before finally deciding they will “cap it off” with vows of marriage.

 I have to admit this confuses me. It seems to me that marriage is designed to help us form a problem-solving relationship.  The traditional vows, “for better or worse” have meaning.  We don’t know what life will bring.  Sometimes it is better.  Sometimes it is worse.  But marriage is a foundational relationship to celebrate successes and to endure challenges. Of course, some marriages fail. The cornerstone cracks.  The foundation crumbles. Sometimes the entire house falls.

 There is one cornerstone that will never fail. Isaiah wrote, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, (Isaiah 28:16).  And Peter writes, “Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:5-6).  Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone for life and marriage.

When We Die

 I took off my gloves the other day and laid them on the kitchen cabinet.  I had been outside watching working in the yard.  I have had these gloves a long time, several years.

 When I went back to put them on again, I saw them lying there, limp and useless.  They still held the form of my hands, the fingers slightly curved. The thumb in place to grasp something, but they were empty, wrinkled, worn with use and smudged with dirt.

  My gloves reminded me of my body.  The day will come when I will put off this body that has served me for almost eight decades.  Like my gloves, my body was once young and new, without wrinkle, elastic, unscarred.  But over the years it has grown old.  My body groans when it moves, becomes stiff when I sit in one position too long.  It aches. Putting on my socks has become an exercise in calisthenics.

 When I die, I will put off this body like I pull off my gloves when I come in from the yard.  It will still hold something of my shape.  But it will no longer be me, any more than my gloves are me.  When my hand occupies my glove, it can move and grasp things. The glove is filled with my life.  Likewise, my body is filled with me while I still live.  But, someday, I will lay it down. 

 According to Scripture, I will eventually put on a new body, just as I can place my hands in a new pair of gloves.  The Bible has a lot to say about this, especially in 1 Corinthians 15. “It is sown ^[a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” 

 When my mother was dying, we talked about heaven.  She was 89 years old.  Her body had withered away.  Her back was bowed with osteoporosis.  Her vision was failing.  She had suffered a series of mini-strokes.  She had difficulty walking.  When she was a young girl she was athletic, a beautiful fast runner. She won ribbons in track.  We talked about how she would run again, the wind in her hair, flying through the meadow as she did when she was growing up on the farm.

 There’s a lot I don’t know about Heaven.  What kind of bodies will we have when we get there?  Will our heavenly bodies resemble our earthly bodies?  Will we have different ethnicities, different skin color and racial features?  Will we all look the same?   Maybe we will know each other in a different way, more spiritual and intuitive than visual.  From what I know of God in this world, I would have to assume there will be variety … lots of variety … even more than we see on earth. But all prejudice and pride will vanish. 

 1 John 1:3-2 states, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

Bill Tinsley's book, Sunrise Sunset Poems is FREE as an eBook on Amazon July 7-10.  His poems won first place in the Colorado Open Poetry Contest and the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest.