A New Puppy

Our children have been asking to get a dog for a while a now, so yesterday we got them a puppy. She is eight weeks old, and a beautiful Aussie/Winnie mix. Since we are a Star Wars family we named her after the iconic Princess Leia. My wife and I talked through all the pros and cons of getting a dog before we made the decision, but there was something I overlooked. I forgot how hard the nights are with a new puppy in the house. It has been a few years since we had to get up with our babies during the night, so we weren’t used to having to get up and take out a whimpering puppy. 

We got her on a Saturday, and that night from about 1:30-4:30 we were up with our new dog. Even when she was asleep I was still worried about her. I felt like a zombie trying to preach the next morning. While I have never considered myself to be a lazy person, I do require a certain amount of sleep in order to function, and that first night I didn’t get it. Some people toss and turn at night, and it isn’t because of a puppy. Some haven’t slept well in years. There may be a medical condition, but it also may be spiritual. The Bible seems to associate restful sleep with being at peace with God. 

In Psalm 4:8 David said he could lie down in peace and sleep because the Lord allowed him to dwell in safety; in the previous psalm he said could lie down and sleep because the Lord sustained him (3:5). Proverbs 3:24 says the person who keeps God’s commandments can lay down and sleep in peace. Even Job’s friend Zophar encouraged Job to repent of his sins (even though Job was innocent) so that he would be able to once again sleep in peace (11:18-19). Isaiah had a similar thought, saying that God gives peace to those who trust Him: “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you (26:3).”

I believe that is why Jesus was asleep in the boat during an unusually violent storm. The disciples—many of whom were professional fishermen—were terrified, but Jesus was sleeping peacefully. It was His way of showing those young men that He was at perfect peace with the Father. We too can be at peace with God. Many can’t sleep because of the guilt they carry over their actions. Many can’t sleep because they know deep down they need to make some changes. Many can’t sleep because they know they aren’t right with their Maker. But those who are living right, who are at peace with God and man, can sleep soundly. I hope Leia allows us to sleep better tonight. Maybe your better sleep will come if you make peace with God. 

On A Mission

Most Christians are familiar with the name D.L. Moody. He was a famous preacher and evangelist in the 1800s who also started the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers. Today people are still trained in his schools and read books published through his organization. Before Moody came to Christ he was making good money in the shoe business, but all that changed one day in his shoe store. 

A man by the name of Edward Kimball, a Sunday school teacher at the local church, went in to talk with young Moody. D.L. had recently visited his Sunday school class, and Kimball wanted to follow up. That day in the shoe store Kimball put a hand on Moody’s shoulder as he told him that the wages of sin is death, and he begged the shoe salesman to repent and trust in Christ. Kimball even shed tears as he pleaded with Moody. Years later Moody confessed that he could not remember all the words that Kimball spoke that day, but he said, “I can still feel his hand on my shoulder.” It struck Moody that, although he had never shed a single tear over his own sin, this man was so compassionate that he was weeping over Moody’s. 

Part of what makes that such a good story is that Kimball wasn’t out looking for shoes and he happened to bump into Moody. He knew that was Moody’s store, and he left his house with one thing in mind, and that was to talk to that young man about his sin. He left his house and ended up at the shoe store on purpose. That reminds me of Jesus, who said of Himself, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).”

Jesus came to earth on purpose, with one thing in mind, and that was to save sinners from their sin. He didn’t just so happen to be on earth and bump into sinners; we are the very reason He left His home in heaven. He was motivated by compassion and love for us. He had no desire to be in heaven without us, so He came to earth on a rescue mission. If you ever question the love that God has for you, look no further than that old rugged cross on that hill far away, for it was there God’s love was demonstrated (Romans 5:8). His death was no accident, and His life wasn’t taken from Him. He willingly laid it down in obedience to the Father in order that sinners might be saved. 

As believers, we should follow the example of Jesus and Kimball and intentionally take the Gospel message to those who need to hear it.  

The Flight of the Bumblebee

During World War II on Air Force bases around the nation the United States put up posters that bore the following inscription: “By all known laws which can be proved on paper and in the wind tunnel—the bumblebee cannot fly. The size of his wings in relation to his body, according to aeronautical and mathematical science simply means that he cannot fly. It is an impossibility. But of course, the bumblebee doesn’t know about these rule, so he goes ahead and flies anyway.”

I’m not sure about the truth of that information. In fact, snopes.com has fact checked that tidbit as being false. The validity of the words on the poster is not what I am concerned with though; I just love the thought of the impossible being achieved. As Christians we know that what is impossible with man is possible with God. 

In Matthew 9 there are five people that come to Jesus needing something impossible. Like fat bumblebees with tiny wings, they flew to Jesus and found exactly what they needed. In this chapter there is a woman who has been sick for twelve years, two blind men, a mute man, and a young girl who had passed away. In each of those situations Jesus did something impossible: He opened the eyes of the blind, opened the mouth of the mute, healed the woman, and even raised the dead. 

The woman who had been sick for twelve years had suffered greatly. Luke, who was a physician by trade, tells us there was no human cure for her bleeding issue. Mark tells us she had spent all of her money in vain seeking a cure. Obviously medicine was quite primitive back then, but we know some of the remedies prescribed in the Talmud. There were eleven prescriptions, but they are superstitions more than medicine. One of the remedies was to carry a corn kernel that was fished out of the dung of a white female donkey; another was to carry around the ashes of an ostrich egg, using a linen bag in the summer and cotton bag in the winter. This is the kind of treatment this poor woman spent the last of her savings on. 

Her condition was impossible, especially considering her medical options. “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27).” I’m not suggesting that God gives us everything we ask for or want. He is not a genie and you are not Aladdin. But He has the ability to do all things, and our prayer life should show we believe that to be true. He is the God who makes impossible things possible.  

Jesus’ Healing Ministry

Charlatan faith healers have been around since the New Testament when Simon Magus tried to buy the Holy Spirit in order to make money as a healer. When we turn on the TV and see people blowing healing power on audience members, or even doing things like throwing their suit coats into the crowd or praying over handkerchiefs in order to spread their healing powers on people, we realize this is nothing new; it is just the next chapter in people pedaling the gospel for their own gain. These kooks are crooks, giving Christianity a bad name while making a name for themselves. 

Jesus, on the other hand, was no trickster. He was a genuine healer who ministered to the masses without charging a dime from them. He never tried to heal someone and failed, and then blamed that person’s lack of faith (or lack of financial seed being sown) for the lack of healing. Jesus was a healer because He is God in the flesh. The disciple and gospel writer Matthew really wanted his readers to understand this about his master. Early in his gospel Matthew generically wrote that Jesus healed all who came to Him (4:23), but the first specific healings Matthew mentioned come in chapter 8. These event are written out of order, so Matthew chose to highlight these three on purpose (by the way, ancient biographies were not concerned with chronology; Matthew’s anachronistic account of the ministry of Jesus does not mean he is in error). Let’s briefly look at those first three healings in Matthew.

The first person healed is a leper. Leprosy was basically a death sentence, although some survived the painful condition. Once a person was diagnosed as a leper, he became ceremonially unclean, and any person with whom he made physical contact was likewise unclean. For that reason, a person living with leprosy was living without human contact. In addition to the physical pain, lepers also lived with emotional pain as they were literal outcasts from the community. Jesus could have healed the leper with nothing more than His words, but I’m so glad that Scripture records, “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him (8:3).” This man had not been touched since the day of his diagnosis, and then Jesus laid a healing hand upon him. 

In the next passage Jesus heals the servant of a military leader. The Roman centurion was not only a Gentile, who was unclean to the Jews, but he was also a high-ranking soldier for the nation that oppressed the Jews; he was doubly disdained by the Jewish crowd. Furthermore, the servant was a minor slave, making him among the least important people in society. This time using only His words, and with a considerable distance between them, Jesus simply announced that the servant was healed, and he was. Finally, Jesus heals a lady. Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, and again Jesus made physical contact to bring about her healing. Women were second class to men in that culture, and touching this woman would have been considered scandalous. 

I believe Matthew brought these three healings together for a reason. Together, these events give us a microcosm of not only Jesus’ healing ministry, but also of the love and compassion of God. It didn’t matter to Jesus if the leper was unclean; it didn’t matter that the centurion was a Roman; it didn’t matter that women were viewed as being inferior. God is no respecter of persons, and He didn’t favor one class or group over another. It doesn’t matter to God if you are male or female, black or white, young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, and so on. Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight.