Does My Position Here & Now Matter in the Hereafter?

With my dad here in town, a baptism at church, and extended family gatherings, I've recently been giving some thought to my family history. I find it easier to listen than to read the "family tree" so I asked my dad to tell me about his recollections of his relatives - you know, oral history.

After hearing the memories and looking backward, I would confidently conclude that the Miller clan cannot claim the "pull-myself-up-by-the-bootstraps" or pioneer mentality throughout its 20th century generations. Living in dark shacks, in the grip of alcoholism, and other self-destructive behavior - this was the legacy until Grandpop - my dad's dad.

Now I have a bunch of questions: What happened at the point of my Grandpop's life to change the pattern? How does one get where he or she is at in life? Is it just happen-stance? How can my family of origin be doing so well? Define "well" by most people's standards: My health, Roof over the head, Safe area to live, Healthy children, Food on the table, Clean water, 24/7/364 Electricity (we live in Florida, hence the outage factor of 1 day), Steady job, Bills paid, Friends, Reliable transportation.

Answers??

• If I believed in Hinduism, then I would accept this as "karma," that somehow I had done something right in another life and was benefiting now for past actions.
• If I were a humanist, then my family must have worked real hard and had many who helped them to this place.
• If Taoism were my central belief, I might believe that sacrifices to my deceased relatives had somehow curried favor with eternal entities and now I find myself in the flow and balance of the life with the universe.
• If I were an evolutionist or pragmatist, I would believe that my family evolved in their thinking in each succeeding generation and loosened their bonds to poverty.
• If I believed in Zoroastrianism, then I must have had enough good thoughts, good words, and good deeds to have brought on this station in life.
• If I was a post-modernist, I'd be skeptical of any ideas on how this happened.
• If I were silly, then I'd think I was "lucky."

As a Christian, however, I am closer in life to the lyrics that Chris Rice writes in his song, "Face of Christ":

How did I find myself in a better place
I can’t look down on the frown on the other guy’s face
‘Cause when I stoop down low, look him square in the eye
I get a funny feeling, I just might be dealing
With the face of Christ

See you had no choice which day you would be born
Or the color of your skin, or what planet you’d be on
Would your mind be strong, would your eyes be blue or brown
Whether daddy would be rich, or if momma stuck around at all

The apostle Paul wrote:

"And he made from one man every nation of mankind
to live on the face of the earth,
having determined allotted periods
and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
that they should seek God,
in the hope that they might feel their way
toward him and find him.
Yet, he is not far from each one of us, for
'In him we live and move and have our being...'"

Acts 17:26-28 (ESV)

As much as I think about the station in life from whence my family recently occupied, my attention is captivated by the truly remarkable present contrast:

My family tree was taken from the kingdom of darkness
and brought into the kingdom of light,
and made a Covenant Family
by the God Almighty, through Jesus Christ His Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The life given to me, I am told, is a gift.

"For by grace you have been saved
by faith (in Christ).
And this is not your own doing
it is the gift of God,
not a result of works,
so that no one may boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) (italics mine)

How I am grateful! Soli Deo Gloria - To God be the Glory!

--CFM

In The World

Have you ever wondered what demons converse about? In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis vividly portrays a demon and his reactions to certain situations. HarperCollins published the book in 2001. Interestingly, this book is fiction, but feels authentic. While reading this book, C.S. Lewis, who was born in Ireland on November 29, 1898, paints a vivid picture of a demon's attempts to influence a human. Using humor, Lewis keeps his book lively when it could have been foreboding.

Screwtape is the author of the letters written in the book. Closely, he oversees his nephew Wormwood's temptation techniques. Throughout the book, Screwtape shows his growing disgust of Wormwood's rookie attempts at enticement. Although we never hear directly from Wormwood, we are able to picture, from Screwtape's responses, a "field agent" who is trying to please his uncle. Failing miserably, he comes to an unhealthy end. The "patient," the human Wormwood is "working" on, is completely oblivious to the spiritual struggle for his soul. He doesn't realize how his thoughts and actions are influenced by Wormwood. His story line ends happily. Of the three main characters, the "patient" changes the most while Wormwood "works" on him.

Prepare to enter the demented mind of demons. Screwtape shows Wormwood, as well as the readers, the many ways to turn Christians from their spiritual lifestyle. Unsurprisingly, most of the temptations use our pride and selfish thoughts to reverse our direction from God to physical pleasure and gain. In the "patient's" life, the law of undulation is a powerful tool. As humans experience life's joys and pains, they exhibit the law of undulation through peaks (joy) and troughs (pain), which is also how God strengthens our faith in Him. Demons use it differently. Tempting us, demons manipulate the desires of the flesh to turn us to sinful thoughts and actions. While in the troughs, our resistence to sin is at its weakest, leaving us open for attack. God wants us to turn to Him in these troughs, trusting in Him to get us through. Screwtape states that our sinful nature makes us feel inadequate in contact with God. Not surprisingly, the "patient" experiences the same inadequacies.

Screwtape fears. Wormwood fails. The "patient" succeeds. Interestingly, Screwtape instructs Wormwood to keep the "patient" safe from physical harm. His reason is that if the "patient" dies, he will surely be lost to them. During life, the doldrums of middle-age are, in Screwtape's mind, the best time to have a human die. "The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or...adversity are excellent campaigning weather," Screwtape states. A reason for his anger against Wormwood is that the "patient" has a Christian woman he loves. "Such a Christian," Screwtape moans. Sadly, all stories come to an end. During an air raid, the "patient" dies. Understanding instantly "how all his doubts" were "ridiculous," he is joyfully received in Heaven. Wormwood doesn't have such a happy reception when he returns to Hell.

Thomas More wrote that "the devil...cannot endure to be mocked." This thought-provoking book is definitely a mockery of the devil. Using parody, Lewis makes it look like Satan, "Our Father," is mirroring Heaven. Throughout the book, the letters written by Screwtape could be seen as parodies of the letters written in the New Testament. Interestingly, the temptations, which are used by Wormwood, create, in this book, a genuine feeling. Do we fall into sin by being prideful and selfish? The only answer is yes. Many, if not all, of the temptations in The Screwtape Letters have been experienced by us or by someone we know. The most important part of this book is that even in the hard times, the "troughs," God is still there. While in "troughs," humans feel alone and afraid. Things happen to us that we don't enjoy, but we need to step back and ask, "What is God telling me and what am I supposed to learn from it?" In this story of demons tempting man-kind, Lewis reminds us that we are in the world, not of the world.

--JFM

"Cheese, please?"

"Cheese! Cheese, me? Cheese, me, please?"

It may sound like a line from a Dr. Seuss book but it is actually the daily verbiage of my two, almost three, year old sister. A girl after my own heart she enjoys a good hunk of cheese as an appetizer before dinner. In fact, if she hears us in the kitchen, she will begin her pleading for cheese before she even reaches that room. Down the hall she comes chanting, "Cheese, Nan!"

The other day I was slightly irritated, okay perhaps just plain irritated, at how she constantly seems to repeat the cheese question until she actually receives her piece. I can even have said, "Yes, Grace, I will give you a piece of cheese", and she will still keep on asking for it.

I said to Mom, "Doesn't she believe us? Doesn't she know that when we say we will give her cheese, she will receive it?" In a calm, cool, and collected way, Mom replied, "We do the same thing to God."

Musing upon this, I realized that nothing could be closer to the truth. We beg, plead, pray that God will give us what we need and yet we don't always trust that he will actually give it to us. I've feared I haven't had enough faith. What if I die and find out that whoops I just didn't believe hard enough?

For starters, that's not how Christianity works. We don't will ourselves into Heaven. Faith is not something that I can conjure up on my own and it is not based upon the mood of the moment. Sometimes this is a whole lot easier to say than to believe which is where faith comes into play.

Moreover, God promises that he will supply the faith we need. From him come the desire to do his good will and pleasure. "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23, 24). "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful" (1 Corinthians 1:9). "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).

Yet on a daily bases, I struggle to trust that God will do what he says he will do in his Word. Mercifully, he does not treat me as my doubt deserves. He, instead, is more like my mom. Grace is continually asking for her aged dairy even though she has been guaranteed a piece. Mom continually tells her yes, and hands her a chunk of cheese.