Lifeguard

“Every Hour Belongs to God” My denomination is Jesus Christ. When I say that, I mean He is the One I follow. Jesus is the center of my faith and the One I want my life to point toward. John’s Gospel calls Him the Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then John writes, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). When I think about a life that points beyond itself, I think of John the Baptist. John came as a witness to the Light; he did not claim to be the Light. His words still give me a measure for my own life: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 1:6–8; 3:30). Paul gives me language for the unity I have in mind when I say there is one God, one Word, and one denomination: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4–6 (KJV) There are many church names and traditions, but the words “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” keep bringing me back to the One I follow. My church is wherever I go. It may be my back porch with my Bible open, a phone call with my little brother, a conversation with a friend, or a stranger at the local tavern who asks me about the Lord. The last two times I went out, the person sitting beside me asked about Jesus. I had not planned a message or arranged a meeting. I was simply there, and a conversation began. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20 (KJV) I hear those words in ordinary conversations. A Sunday service can gather people in worship, and a porch conversation or phone call can become another place to listen, speak about Christ, and share faith. Jesus also made clear that love belongs at the center of a life with God. When asked which commandment was greatest, He joined love for God with love for one’s neighbor: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37–40 (KJV) Then, in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus made the outsider the example of a neighbor. The answer to His question was, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus replied, “Go, and do thou likewise” (Luke 10:36–37). And He said, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). These words keep me from narrowing my concern to people who look like me, believe as I do, or are easy to like. Paul writes, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). He also warns that even great knowledge and faith mean nothing without charity (1 Corinthians 13:2). If I speak about Jesus, my words should be accompanied by patience, humility, and care for the person listening. A life of faith does not wait for Sunday. Sunday morning is special for many people; to me, every hour belongs to God. Paul calls us to present our bodies as “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). The Psalmist says, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). I can read on the porch, pray before a phone call, listen at a tavern,or answer a stranger’s question honestly. Each moment can be lived in the presence of God. I do not know who will sit beside me tomorrow or what they may ask. I can keep my heart open, listen carefully, and point beyond myself toward Christ. Sometimes a stranger opens the conversation before I have said a word. My denomination is Jesus Christ. My church is wherever I go. My congregation is often my family and friends, and sometimes it is the person sitting beside me. Wherever I go, I carry my faith with me. Every hour belongs to God.

Tom MacDonald - "Talk To God" youtu.be/WAdnYzdROQc?is=wfRb… via @YouTube

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DID TODAY BECOME YESTERDAY OR TOMORROW? As I watched the sunrise this morning, I was thinking. When tomorrow arrives, you’ll call it today. When you remember today, you’ll call it yesterday. Which is it? Did today become yesterday or tomorrow? Think about that. Yesterday was once tomorrow. Tomorrow will eventually become yesterday. And today seems to be the only place where the two ever meet. But there’s something strange about that. No matter how many tomorrows we live to see, we never actually call one tomorrow when we arrive. We call it today. And no matter how much we want to return to yesterday, we cannot. We can only remember it. So perhaps yesterday and tomorrow aren’t places in time at all. They’re names we give to days depending on where we’re standing. And we’re always standing in today. Yesterday is the day we remember. Tomorrow is the day we anticipate. Today is the day we’re living. Yet all three describe the very same day, depending on when we speak of it. And now I find myself wondering something else. If tomorrow always becomes today, and today always becomes yesterday, how many todays have I already lived without recognizing what I had been given? Psalm 90:12 (KJV) “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Perhaps that’s why I’ve come to appreciate watching the sunrise. It doesn’t tell me how many tomorrows I have left. It simply reminds me that one of them has arrived. And I call it today.

I don’t think the same way today that I did yesterday. Why would I? Something happened today that hadn’t happened yesterday. I read something I hadn’t noticed before. Someone said something that made me reconsider something I thought I understood. One verse led to another. One question led somewhere unexpected. And suddenly, something familiar looked different. Tomorrow will probably do the same thing to today. That doesn’t mean truth changes every morning. It means I do. And perhaps that’s one of the most important distinctions I’ve learned. Changing my understanding doesn’t necessarily mean changing the truth. Sometimes it means recognizing that my understanding was incomplete. Sometimes it means discovering that I overlooked something. Sometimes it means realizing that I drew a conclusion too quickly. And sometimes it means admitting that I was simply wrong. That’s not always easy. Especially when we’ve written something. Because once words have been shared, we can’t pretend they were never written. But we can return to them. We can examine them. We can acknowledge where they need correction. And we can explain what we’ve learned since writing them. Perhaps that is more valuable than pretending we never make mistakes. Because a person who never acknowledges being wrong may not be demonstrating wisdom. He may simply be demonstrating an unwillingness to learn. And that brings me back to something Paul wrote. 1 Corinthians 13:11–12 (KJV) “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Now I know in part. Think about that. Paul acknowledges the limitations of present understanding. He doesn’t claim to possess complete knowledge. And in the following verse, he identifies what endures. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV) “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Charity. Love. And suddenly, I find myself wondering whether our willingness to listen, learn, and be corrected is connected to the way we love one another. Because love doesn’t require us to pretend that every idea is correct. It doesn’t require us to abandon discernment. But it should affect the way we respond to someone who disagrees with us. It should affect how we offer correction. And it should affect how we receive correction. Perhaps that’s why Tyndale asked those examining his work to do so with meekness. Not merely because he wanted to avoid criticism. But because the manner in which we correct one another matters. Truth and kindness aren’t enemies. Humility and conviction aren’t opposites. And correction doesn’t have to become condemnation.

Ephesians 5:16 (KJV): “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” We cannot reclaim yesterday. But we can reclaim tomorrow before it becomes yesterday. We can change what receives our attention. And what receives our attention can influence what we think, what we believe, and how we treat one another. That’s where Romans 12 leads us. “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” — Romans 12:15 And then Romans 13:10: “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Look at that progression. Renew your mind. Share one another’s joy and grief. Live peaceably. Love one another. The hour spent reading Scripture is meant to prepare us for the hours spent living it. Because an hour learning mercy means very little if we refuse to show mercy. An hour learning forgiveness means very little if we refuse to forgive. And an hour learning love means very little if we don’t love. Time is the currency. Attention is how we spend it. Wisdom is what we hope to receive. And love is what we should have left to give. We cannot create more hours in a day. But we can change what those hours produce.

God has shown us mercy. Now go show it to each other. 🙏

"Never Forget" by Chad Prather (Official Music Video) youtu.be/SVzft-8LMmU?is=KhFG… via @YouTube