Get A Body Guard!

In the 1980 motion picture “My Body Guard” the main character, high school freshman, Clifford Peache (Chris Makepeace) hires a body guard to protect him from menacing school bullies. Cliff is a small fish in a sea of sharks, and just wants to make it through the school year. I was in high school when the movie was released and related to Cliff in a big way. I was a terrified freshman, who felt small and insignificant, and was open game for the sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

In this world, we are subject to all kinds of bullies, seen and unseen. Christians are jeered at and threatened by the spirit of the age; A spirit of fear, arrogance, and pseudo-intellectualism that marginalizes the Christian faith, and suffocates knowledge with passion. The modern bullies of the mind are in full array against the average Christian. Where is your body guard? It is time to get one! Where? First we are told to put on Christ! What does this mean? It means we are to keep his word and imitate his obedience to God; we are to renew our minds continually in his words (Rm 12). If you are not reading, thinking, and contemplating God’s word, the bullies are going to have their way with you (mk 3;27).

Second, 1 Corinthians 12:28 says “And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.” God has given great and gifted minds to help the church defend her-self. To name a few: Augustine, Athanasius, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Oswald T. Allis, Francis Schaeffer, and C.S. Lewis. These men have been wonderful body guards, and a wise Christian will call on their services. Surround yourself with spiritually gifted people in the church. Utilize their gifts and abilities to help build your defenses.

Third, we need to be a part of a local church. We should seek out a pastor who lives and teaches God’s word (we have one). A good pastor will make an effective body guard for any Christian. We need a congregation who will guard one another, and surround us from our modern bullies. A church with a solid pastor and a loving congregation protects everyone. There is strength in numbers, especially in unified numbers. There is no room for lone rangers in the Christian Faith because we are members of Christ. Each of us needs the other; we function together because the body is one not many. This is the symbol we are given in scripture (1 Cor. 12:12). There are many gifted people in the church that can help us to grow and mature in the Faith.

Fourth and last, we need to pray. We have an enemy we cannot see, a vicious bully bent on our humiliation and destruction. When we pray, we call on the ultimate body guard, Christ Jesus. He is the strong man no power can over come. When we call to on his name, we are saved from our sins, and the power of sin and death are broken. Sin and death are the bullies of all mankind, but in Christ, these enemies are reduced to whimpering sissies. Sin and death have been conquered in Christ and we have fellowship with God in his name. Romans 8:37-39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How is that for a body guard?

The Mystery of Heaven: Part 3, The Possibilities?

Have you ever wondered what you would have accomplished, or could accomplish? What if you had the courage and support to fulfill your desires, dreams, and abilities? Imagine a world where everyone wanted you to fulfill your dreams and potential. Imagine a world where all of your godly, creative abilities were given full expression and community support. I am not implying that heaven is the only place we will ever be creatively fulfilled, but I do believe that all of the sinfulness (our own and others) has greatly diminished all of the wonderful possibilities that each individual's creativity could and would bring to the world.

In God's ultimate world, each would seek the benefit of the other; every invention, product, work of art, business deal, or political decision would be for the absolute prosperity of the other. A society governed by an inner freedom to give and love; a society that needs no political ideological force to do good, but from a deep abiding communion with the true and living God, continuously gives out of their essence and receives from others likewise. This is the Kingdom of God. All of our talents and abilities given to full measure by the eternal and immediate presence of divine love. It is hard to imagine all of the immense blessings that our individual talents and abilities will bring into heaven.

Think about the greed and avarice that causes poverty, war, pollution, slums, and hunger. Think about the sin that destroys the possibility of the ubiquity of beauty in architecture in every corner of the world. This current world is meant for the glorification of men, and only a small portion of men at that, but after the resurrection, the world will extol the full glory of God, and our gifts and talents will express his beauty, and a purified measure of his creative love and ability. Our lives and talents have purpose in this life and the life to come, but many are kept from their full potential by the wickedness of the current age. If you happen to fall into this category, you can have hope in this life, and in the life to come, your gifts and abilities will never be violated again; your dreams and hopes will never be crushed by the evil of others, nor by the sin and weaknesses that are our own.

TOTT