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Eternity

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“He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”1

If you happened to watch the world-wide TV New Year’s Eve 2000 celebrations a decade ago, you would have seen, not only the impressive fireworks display in Sydney (Australia), but also emblazoned in extremely large neon writing right across the Sydney Harbor Bridge the word, “Eternity.”

This word was in celebration of the “work and witness” of sidewalk chalk artist (if that’s what you could call him), Arthur Malcolm Stace, who became affectionately known as “Mr. Eternity.”

“July 30 of this year marked the 43rd anniversary of the death of Arthur Stace. Born in 1884 into a drunken Australian family, Arthur described what he’d become, “a petty criminal, a bum, and a metho (metholated spirits alcohol) drinker.”

“His new birth from an old life in crime and sin to a new life in Christ and service took place on the night of August 6, 1930.

“This spiritual turn around occurred after he heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached faithfully by Rev. R.D.S. Hammond at St Barnabas church in Broadway, Sydney. Twelve years later, on a Sunday night, November 14, 1942, at his home church in Darlinghurst, as he sat listening to ‘The Echoes of Eternity’ proclaimed forthrightly by Australia’s beloved evangelist—the late Rev. John G. Ridley—Stace was challenged to go out and write with chalk the word Eternity multiplied thousands of times on city sidewalks. This he did continuously and consistently for the next quarter of century till he died on July 30, 1967.

“By the time Arthur Stace was called by God to exit this world into eternity, he had left behind a legacy of an enormous value in the copperplate writing of one word—Eternity.

“God took his tool—a piece of chalk—his text of one word, Eternity, and his territory of one pavement at a time in Sydney, and multiplied it abundantly.

It was witnessed first by many thousands in Sydney, Woolongong, Newcastle, and Melbourne. Then on the eve of the new millennium celebration, more than a million people who crammed around the Sydney Harbor Bridge saw it electronically emblazoned across the bridge of our Olympic city after a spectacular display of fireworks. It was also beamed around the world to more than two billion viewers, as well as at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games later on in the year.”2

Eternity. It is a powerful word with eternal consequences. In his own simple but profound way, Arthur Stace was posing the question, “Where will you spend eternity?”

Eternity! Where will you spend it? Whatever you do, don’t leave earth without your “Passport for Heaven.” To pick up your “Passport for Heaven” go to: http://tinyurl.com/passport-heaven it comes without charge.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you have provided the way to spend eternity with you through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus, so that all who will believe in and accept him as their savior have your promise and guarantee of spending eternity with you in heaven. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV).

2. Peter Rahme, Pastor, Inner West Baptist Church. www.innerwestbaptist.org.au.

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Tithing Follow-Up

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“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man [person] should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”1

As you can well imagine, when I have written on tithing, I have usually received an unusually high response from Daily Encounter readers. Most are favorable. Some ask for further advice. And there are those who strongly oppose what I have to say.

At the risk of getting criticized again, allow me to share the response of just one reader.

Jennifer (name changed) wrote: “In response to an earlier Daily Encounter on tithing, I was deeply in debt one year ago. The day my husband walked out I found out that I was $25,000.00 in credit card debt that I knew nothing about. In the course of our breakup, I was awarded $10,000.00 of this debt because it was community debt even though I had not charged any of it. I didn’t know how I would ever be able to pay it off while supporting two children.

“So I prayed . . . and prayed . . . and prayed . . . !

“And today, barely a year later, I am debt free with a modest savings to boot. I would like to tell you how ‘I did it,’ but the truth is that I didn’t do it. Once I put it in God’s hands, the money started coming in . . . some from expected places and others from unexpected places.

“During the times when I tithed, life was good and there always seemed to be enough. When I cut God short, or even completely out, money was tight, or not enough at all. I have learned my lesson. God does love us and takes care of us even when we, as humans, don’t see how it could possibly work out. But it does.”

Speaking personally, a few years ago I, too, had some major setbacks and borrowed quite a bit to survive and to keep our ministry alive . . . I kept tithing anyhow and God provided me with a second job so I was able to pay off my debts. I am still working a second part-time job and it isn’t always easy, but my debts are all paid.

You need to decide what is the right thing for you to do. However, one thing I do know is this: We can’t out-give God.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to appreciate all the innumerable blessings you daily provide for me, not the least of which is your gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Give me a grateful heart and a spirit of generosity for your work and the betterment of others. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (NIV).

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If the Horse Is Dead, Dismount

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“When a thing grows weak and out of date, it is obviously soon going to disappear.”1

I recall vividly what a good friend said about her church after she had been away for almost a year because of ill health. She was older so I could understand why she reacted the way she did regarding the new-style music in her church. She was very upset and said that the new group “just couldn’t quite make it in Las Vegas.” Unfortunately my friend died soon after from cancer. But the conflict regarding music in the church hasn’t quite died—yet!

Today, however, I’m not talking about church music. What I am addressing is the need to change when change is necessary. According to Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Community church and author of the book, The Purpose Driven Church, the reason that 95% of all churches in the world never grow past 300 members is because their structure keeps them from growing beyond that point. Quoting today’s scripture, he said, “When a thing grows weak and out of date, it is obviously soon going to disappear. That’s true of churches, too. If a church cannot change, it will eventually die.”

This same principle applies to many areas of life. No, we don’t want to make changes where change is not to our advantage, but there are times when we do need to make changes. When it comes to communicating the gospel, while the message itself never changes, our way and means of communicating it have to change in order to communicate effectively to the particular group we are addressing. One size doesn’t fit all!

Also, whether we approve or disapprove, many things around us change and if we don’t adapt, we get left behind. For instance, marriage partner roles have changed drastically from the days of our parents and grandparents. If a husband still interprets being the head of the home as being the family dictator, he will be doomed for failure (at least here in America and other parts of the world as well). Those old ways (which, by the way, were a misinterpretation of the Bible), have “gone with the wind.”

A few years back, Moody Monthly, the highly respected Christian magazine, discontinued its publication after its 103-year history. Why? Because of the economy, the proliferation of Christian magazines, and because of technology. Moody Monthly, like so many other ministries, has had to turn from printed hard copy to electronic means of communication, not only to become more effective in their ministry, but also to survive.

So whether it is in our professional or personal life, let’s be open to and willing to change where change is both essential and necessary.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in these days of rapid change, please give me the courage to change the things I need to change, the insight to know the things I must not change, and the wisdom to know the difference. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Hebrews 8:13 (Phillips paraphrase)(NIV).

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To Tithe or Not to Tithe?

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Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”1

Some Christians say that it is not required for Christians to tithe because tithing (giving 10% of one’s income) was part of Old Testament Law. On the other hand, many Christians believe that tithing (and giving offerings) is still important because this is God’s plan for financing his work on earth. However, tithing is not to be a legalistic requirement but a willing offering to God in appreciation for all he has done for us . . . especially for giving his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins and thereby making it justifiable for God to be able to fully forgive us and give us the gift of eternal life. With this in mind—plus endless other blessings of God—how can we not want to give our tithes and offerings to the Lord?

Furthermore, in today’s Scripture lesson Jesus confirms that tithing should not be neglected. If we say that tithing is no longer valid, will we also say that the Ten Commandments are no longer valid because they were given in Old Testament times? Of course not.

Surely the following Scripture, that applied to the ancient Israelites, is even more relevant to Christians for whom Christ died: “Will a man rob God?” God’s Word says, “‘Yet you rob me.’ But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.’”2

Billy Graham, in his sermon, “Partners with God,” said, “One of the greatest sins in America today is the fact that we are robbing God of that which rightfully belongs to Him. When we don’t tithe, we shirk a just debt. Actually we are not giving when we give God one-tenth, for it belongs to Him already.3 This is a debt we owe. Not until we have given a tenth do we actually begin making an offering to the Lord!”4

As someone else noted, “It is amazing how big a $20 donation to God’s work is but how little it is when we spend it on entertainment.”

Tithes and offerings have always been God’s way for his people to support his work on earth and the fact is that if every Christian tithed, there would be sufficient funds to do all of God’s work on earth: the hungry would be fed, the homeless would be helped and given work, the sick would be better cared for, etc., etc., and worldwide missions would thrive and every person in the world would be given the gospel and the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior.

Furthermore, when we give our tithes and offerings to the Lord, we are being an active part in God’s plans and what he is doing in the world today. From what I have read, fewer than 10% of Christians tithe. What a slap in the face this is to God. Could this be one reason why America is losing more and more of God’s blessings? Are we robbing God? Yes, as a whole, we are. So . . . are you and I an active partner in God’s plans or are we among those who are robbing God?

NOTE: When tithing and giving offerings, we need to make sure we are giving responsibly to what is truly God’s work and not to some religious program or irrelevant churchianity that may have an appearance of doing God’s work but lacking any real substance.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in appreciation for all you have done for me, please awaken in me a need to be as generous in giving to you (including the giving of at least a tithe of my time and talents as well as of my income) as you have been generous to me. And please give me the wisdom to discern what is truly a part of what you are doing in the world today and what is truly your work on earth. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Matthew 23:23 (NIV).

2. Malachi 3:8-10 (NIV).

3. See Leviticus 27:30.

4. Paul Lee Tan, Encylopedia of 7700 Illustrations, p. 473.

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Left Behind

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“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”1

Recently I went into a small local museum and asked if I could go into the back yard to take some photos of the San Clemente pier. The people at the front desk gave me the OK but told me to make sure I was back at the entry by their closing time at 5 pm. I made sure I was back several minutes before closing time and to my horror, all the staff had gone home and locked up shop for the night, and I was locked inside. I sure got a fright. Fortunately I was able to find a back exit and set the door to lock behind me when I exited the building. Big relief!

Mike Benson tells about a woman in Brooklyn who was locked overnight in a dental clinic. She was given an anesthetic prior to getting her wisdom teeth extracted, but when she came to, she still had her wisdom teeth and discovered that all the staff had left the clinic and she was locked inside. She panicked. When she calmed down somewhat, she called 911 and was rescued.2

But can you imagine the absolute terror of being locked in down on Earth, with no way of escape at the end of time when God’s final roll call is taken and your name is not written in God’s book of life? As Jesus said, “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”3 Tragically, this will be a reality for the millions who have never received God’s gift of forgiveness for all their sins by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

If you have trouble believing this, take note that Jesus Christ’s first coming to earth to die on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins is an indisputable fact of history. Note, too, that every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ’s first coming was fulfilled in detail, so we can be just as certain that every prophecy in the Bible regarding Christ’s second coming will also be fulfilled in detail. Furthermore, Jesus Christ himself promised that he would return for his followers.4

Whatever you do be absolutely certain that you are ready for when Jesus comes again so, as today’s Scripture announces, you will be “caught up to meet the Lord in the air. . .” and not be left behind. To make absolute sure you are ready for Christ’s return be sure to read the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: https://learning.actsweb.org/christian.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you not only for Jesus Christ’s first coming to earth to die in my place on the cross to pay the penalty for all my sins, but also that Jesus promised he would return for all who have accepted him as their Savior and have received your forgiveness. Please help me to be absolutely certain that I am ready for when Jesus comes again. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NIV).

2. Mike Benson in KneEmail, http://www.forthright.net/kneemail
3. Matthew 8:12 (NIV)
4. See John 14:1-3. Read also, “Will Jesus Christ Return to Earth?” at: http://tinyurl.com/jesus-return

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Hill Climbing

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“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”1

Some years ago I prayed and asked God to give me something special that would equip me to better serve him. Did God answer my prayer? I didn’t think so for a long time. I got the opposite of what I had in mind when I prayed this prayer, and it turned out to be a nightmare for a long time. But I have to admit that if there is any depth in the ministry the Lord has entrusted to me today, so much of it was learned during those nightmarish years. Now I see clearly that God did answer my prayer and though the experience was, at times, incredibly painful, I do believe I am a much better man as a result.

The words of the following old poem may be simple but, for me, are quite profound:

For every hill I had to climb,

For every stone that bruised my feet,

For all the blood and sweat and grime,

For blinding storms and burning heat,

My heart sings but a grateful song—

Those were the things that made me strong.

For all the heartaches and the tears,

For all the anguish and the pain,

For gloomy days and fruitless years

And for the hopes that lived in vain;

I do give thanks, for now I know,

These were the things that helped me grow.

‘Tis not the softer things of life

Which stimulate our will to strive,

But bleak adversity and strife

Do most to keep our will alive.

Over rose-strewn paths the weaklings creep,

But brave hearts dare to climb the steep.2

As I’ve said before, God wants to use our trials and struggles to make us better. Satan wants to use them to make us doubt and become bitter. To become better or bitter is each person’s choice.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, as I look back I can see how you have used the difficult times in my life to help me stretch and grow, to help me to become more understanding of and sensitive to others, and to better equip me to serve you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer of long ago. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:2-4 (NIV).

2. Author Unknown

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Turning Stress Into Success Part II

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“Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.”1

In continuing our two-part series on handling stress remember also what René Dubos said, “What happens in the mind of man is always reflected in the disease of his body.”

The first four steps for turning stress into success are: (1) Realize that some stress is helpful; (2) Be aware that stress is only troublesome when it continues for too long or if there is too much of it; (3) Recognize symptoms as early as possible; and (4) Identify causes. The fifth step in turning stress into success is: Seek a practical cure.

1. The starting point to turn stress into success is to lessen your load. Eighty percent of the cure can come out of writing down all your cares and responsibilities in order of priority, then eliminating the least important.

2. Remember that Superman and Superwoman exist only in comics and films. Everybody has a breaking point, so recognize yours and call a halt before you reach your limit.

3. With stress comes pent-up feelings. Get them “off your chest” by sharing them with a trusted friend or counselor. This of itself can bring immediate relief and helps you to think and plan more objectively.

4. Stop fighting situations that can’t be changed. As one father told his impatient teenager, “If you would only realize and accept the fact that life is a struggle, things would be so much easier for you.” Learning to live with and get on top of struggles is what helps us grow and mature.

5. Try to avoid making too many major life changes during the course of a single year.

6. If you hold resentment towards another person, resolve your differences right away. Never “let the sun go down while you are still angry.”2

7. Make time for rest and relaxation. Learn to “come apart and rest a while before you come apart.”

8. Watch your diet and eating habits. When under stress we tend to overeat—especially junk food which increases stress. A balanced diet of proteins, vitamins, and fiber while also eliminating white sugar, caffeine, too much fat, alcohol and nicotine is essential for lowering stress and its effects.

9. Be sure to get plenty of physical exercise. This keeps you healthier and helps burn up excess adrenaline caused by stress and its accompanying anxiety.

10. The ultimate answer to turning stress into success is to learn to trust God and live in harmony with his will for your daily life. Read again the words in today’s Bible verse above.

God’s peace comes through accepting and trusting to God those circumstances that can’t be changed, however difficult they may be. Perhaps this is what Christ meant when he spoke of taking up our cross daily and following him. Certainly he fully accepted his cross and trusted his situation to God and thereby was totally vindicated.

And so with us. If we take responsibility to do what we can to lessen our stress load and then, like Christ, take up our cross and daily commit and trust our life and way to God, we too will turn our stress into success, knowing that, in the words of the poet:

‘Tis not the softer things of life
 Which stimulate man’s will to strive;
 But bleak adversity and strife
 Do most to keep man’s will alive.
 O’er rose-strewn paths the weaklings creep,
 But brave hearts dare to climb the steep.3

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please ‘give me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.’ And again, help me to trust my life to you in every situation in which I find myself. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT).
2. Ephesians 4:26 (NIV).
3. Author Unknown

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Turning Stress Into Success Part I

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“A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.”1

A “friend” invoices you for considerably more than his original quote. A family member takes seriously ill and is in the hospital for months. Responsibilities and expenses soar. The result? Stress!

I know because these things all happened to me in the course of a single year. Stress is a normal part of contemporary living. Ignore it and it will take years off your life. As Francis Ford Coppola said in The Godfather movie, “When the mind is stressed, the body cries out.” However, if we deal with our stress creatively, we can turn our stress into success. How can we do this?

First. Realize that some stress is helpful. It provides motivation. For instance, if it weren’t for the stress of needing to eat and having to pay our bills, we may not want to go to work.

Second. Be aware that stress is only troublesome when it continues for too long or if there is too much of it.

I read about a ten-ton bridge that had been serving a community very well for over fifty years. During the course of those years it had carried millions of tons of weight. But one day the driver of a logging truck ignored the ten-ton load limit sign. The bridge collapsed. Life’s like that. All of us can carry our “load limit” day after day, year after year, but only one load at a time. Overload us and we collapse too.

Many readers will be familiar with the research Thomas Holmes has done on stress. He found that too much change at one time was the greatest cause of stress. An accumulation of 300 or more “life changing units” in any one year may mean an overload of more stress than an individual can carry. On his scale, death of a spouse equals 100 units, divorce 73, marital separation 65, marriage 50, and so on. (See the link to a “Personal Stress Test” at end.)

Third. The next step in turning stress into success is to recognize symptoms as early as possible.

Writing in Eternity magazine some time ago Fred Stansberry talks about “stress-related diseases such as cancer, arthritis, heart and respiratory diseases, migraines, allergies and a host of other psychological and physiological dysfunctions which are increasing at an alarming rate in our Western culture.”

Other symptoms of stress have been listed as, “tense muscles, sore neck, shoulders and back, insomnia, fatigue, boredom, depression, listlessness, dullness, lack of interest, drinking too much, eating too much or too little, diarrhea, cramps, flatulence, constipation, palpitations—heart skip, phobias, twitches, restlessness and itching.”

Fourth. Identify causes. As already mentioned change is one of the chief causes of stress. An accumulation of life’s everyday annoyances can also build up a significant stress level—perhaps even more than one single traumatic event. As the old saying puts it: “It’s the little things that bother us / and put us on the rack / you can sit upon a mountain / but you can’t sit on a tack.”

Whatever the cause of your stress is, be sure to identify it so you will be in a position to do something about it.

(To be continued)

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me the wisdom to know what I can do about my stressful situations, and the good sense to do it. And help me to trust my life to you in every situation in which I find myself. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: See “A Personal Stress Test” at: https://learning.actsweb.org/stress_test.php.

1. Proverbs 14:30 (AMP).

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More About to Know and Not to Do

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“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”1

Here’s a riddle I recently read: “Five frogs sat on a log. Four decided to jump off. How many frogs left on the log?”

There were two brothers in Georgia during the 1950s. One decided that, in opposition to the dominant culture of the day, he was going to participate in the formation of a desegregated community. The other worked as an attorney for a prominent law firm. Both were Christians and attended church regularly. As the community formed and social pressure forced the community into court proceedings, the one brother asked his attorney brother to help them with the legal work. The brother refused, saying that he could lose his job. He pressured his brother to help with a reminder that he was a Christian. The lawyer responded, “I will follow Jesus to his cross, but it is his cross. I have no need to be crucified.” To this his brother replied, “Then you are an admirer of Jesus, but not his disciple.”2

What was your answer to the riddle above? Was it one, two, three, or four? According to the person who posed the question the answer is five. “How come?” you ask. It’s because there is a world of difference between deciding and doing.

As a Buddhist monk once said, “To know and not to do is not yet to know.” To translate this into our Christian terminology I would put it this way: “To believe and not to act is not yet to believe for I only truly believe that which motivates me to action.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, in appreciation for all you have done for me, please help me to be a faithful follower and disciple of Jesus, and not just an admirer or a hearer of your Word. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:23-25 (NIV).
2. Brett Blair, Adapted from a sermon by Brian Stoffregen on http://www.esermons.com/.

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