God’s People Should Expect Victory

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Too many who claim to be believers in Christ do not expect to win the battle against sin and evil. They merely hope to get out of this world without being a casualty (going to hell), but they often do not have even the faintest expectation of real victory. They seem to think Satan is bound to win and about all we can do as Christians is try to carry out an orderly retreat until Christ returns to take us to be with him.  And yet the Scriptures are full of references that show we can expect the triumph of good over evil, of God over Satan, in this world!

When Jesus gave his great commission to the disciples (and to us) he said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."(Mt 28:18b NIV) and "And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." (Mt 28:20b NIV)  Since we know this, shouldn't we expect to be victorious? After all, wasn't John writing to us when he said, "the one who is in you (the Spirit of Christ) is greater than the one who is in the world." (the spirit of the antichrist)? (I John 4:4b) 

Christ has already won the battle with Satan. The war is now being fought in this world, but the last battle has already been fought in Gethsemane, on Calvary and in what is now an empty tomb. Even though we serve the winner, too often we who are believers in Christ are willing to concede the victory to sin and death, while we hope to run off to heaven where we'll be safe, even though millions are perishing under the cruelty of Satan.

What we need is a theology of victory. We need such a great faith in the weapons of God and in the plan of God that we expect to win a resounding victory. God's plan is that his followers give their lives as completely and unselfishly as Christ gave himself during his life and ministry on earth. Naturally, if we refuse to follow God's plan we can expect our alternate plan to be less successful at best, if not totally worthless.

Love is more powerful than hate, kindness more powerful than cruelty, patience more powerful than impatience. Good is always more powerful than any corresponding and opposite evil. There may be instances where evil appears to triumph in the short term, but good always prevails in the long term if it has people who lift it up and practice it in their daily lives This being so, why would we assume that evil will triumph and prevail against the Lord and his people?

Isaiah gave us God’s words about the age in which we now live when he wrote, "The time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory." (66:18) And in verse 23b, the Lord is quoted as saying, "all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the Lord."

We just need to do our job. We need to act on our faith in God and his methods. God's primary method is for people to use the weapons he has given. Weapons such as truth, compassion, concern, kindness, love, prayer, and others like these—all greatly powerful when shared from a selfless heart. With such a flawless plan and such invincible weapons we can attain victory. We must believe God and cease to be prophets of doom. We need a faith that we can win our world for Christ and begin to see the rule of the Kingdom of God in the affairs of humanity.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

    

Gratitude

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Heavenly Father, as you know, I have been serving you now for more than fifty-five years and I just want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart for every year you've given me. I suppose, in the back of my mind I have always thought I had given those years to you, but today as I consider them, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness because I know that by comparison I have given you nothing at all. I have only received.

I received the privilege of being a part of creation's most powerful army—the Army of the Lord. There I learned to use your holy weapons of love, compassion, gentleness, kindness, self-control, to name only a few, weapons to be used against those spiritual enemies that war against our souls. I am amazed at how effective they are, but also at how difficult it has been and sometimes still is to learn to, and remember to, use them.

You, Lord, have given me strength in my times of weakness, wisdom in my perplexity, guidance when I had lost, or was about to lose, my way, and through it all a sense of joy at being a beloved child of God. You never made me feel guilty for being less than perfect and you taught me that when guilt and condemnation were heaped upon me it was the enemy, not You, who dumped on me, and it was you, Lord, not the enemy, who restored me to confidence and joy in your Holy Spirit.

This is not to say it has always been easy. There were times when I felt like quitting, but acting on those feelings was never a real consideration. Even in the difficult times I knew you were with me and that made it all, not only worthwhile, but the source of a great satisfaction. To be a servant of the most high God, the only true and living God, makes any hardship insignificant.

These many years of serving you Lord, have been to me, a blessing beyond words. In the distant past I thought my service was my gift to you, but through the years I have learned that my service was really your gift to me. You didn’t need me. You could have done it all without me, but you gave me the gift of your marvelous Presence, allowing me to serve with you and thus have a significance far beyond my own ordinary abilities.

I can only ask that for all the remainder of my life, whether it be lengthy or brief, that I might have the high privilege of serving you God, in every moment that I know, with every breath that I breath, and with every ounce of my strength. If I can do so, that will be my inexpressible joy. 

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
       

The Power of Choice

With Valentine’s Day's fast approach many book, magazine and newspaper articles as well as radio, television and internet stories will be about the romantic bliss we call love. And that’s wonderful. I love those stories when they are genuine and portray the reality of the human condition. (The “human condition” is not only about the bad. It can also be about the good and there is much good in human behavior if we only look for it.) In light of this, let’s think today about the power of choice—to love or not to love.

We have the amazing ability to choose good, transform life and in so doing, change the future. Years ago as a much younger pastor I left the hospital after visiting a parishioner and noticed I was in a particularly foul mood. I analyzed myself and my feelings. Why was I feeling that way? The visit with the parishioner had not been the cause. It had been pleasant and seemed to be productive. I had given encouragement and assurance of the love of God and the church, as well as me personally, what I shared had been well received.

As I walked to my car under heavily overcast skies, with a cold, biting, moisture-laden wind blowing off the partially frozen St Joseph River, I realized I had allowed weather conditions to dictate my attitude and emotions. I realized if this had been a warm Spring day with green grass, leafy trees, blooming flowers and a pleasant breeze blowing over sunlit, sparkling waters of the beautiful St Joseph River, I would have been whistling and in a joyful mood. So I chose to be happy! I discarded my sour mood and started to do the things I normally do when I feel good—whistling as I walked, smiling to myself, and thanking God for the beautiful world in which I lived. When I did, I noticed I felt so much better. The wind did not feel as cold and could even be described as refreshing. The clouds, that had been gloomy and cold, now gave texture to the wintery scene. Life was good! Just because I had chosen to be joyful!

I was amazed at how much my choice to embrace joy changed me and changed my attitude. That life-transforming experience taught me I could choose joy even when I didn’t feel it. I could choose love even when I didn’t receive it. I could choose happiness, even when I had not received what I wanted and what I thought would make me happy.

So as this Valentine Day approaches, if your romantic life is not all you would like it to be, I urge you to choose joy. If you’re single and would rather not be, embrace what is and rejoice anyway! If you don’t love your spouse as much as you did in years past and have the urge to stray, choose to love your spouse and give unconditional love—show it in whatever way you deem appropriate.

If you don’t think you can do that, if your situation is too discouraging and seems impossible, I urge you to seek God’s help. He can be an amazing help if we just ask, and He really does want to help you. God can help you change your attitude and love your spouse whether or not he or she deserves it. And being loved may help them deserve it. God can give wisdom to make good decisions about the future of all your relationships.

We have the power of choice! My prayer for you, me, and the entire world in this valentine season, is that we choose unconditional love for every person on this wonderful planet.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
 
(Note: This article is a re-print from a Herald-Palladium newspaper "Insights" Column dated February 11, 2012.)

Squabbles in the Family of God

Christians are a lot like oil companies—we all think our brand is the best, even though any one of them will get us where we want to go, whether we’re talking about fuel to get our cars to the grocery store, or faith to get our souls to heaven. But once in a while we get all in a dither about the specifics of our beliefs and when that happens, the greatest arguments usually come, not from those who are farthest apart, but from those who are closest. A recent example is the book Love Wins, by Rob Bell, former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The media, who love Rob Bell, jumped on his latest book and the fact that he is a bit wishy-washy about whether or not anyone will go to hell. His rationale for questioning this is that the Bible makes it clear God does not want anyone to go to hell, so Rob’s thinking is that since God is God, he can always get whatever he wants and since he wants all people to be saved, maybe they will be. His conclusion is that since the Bible talks a lot more about grace than eternal damnation, maybe we should preach more about grace and eternal damnation, not so much. The media then acted as if Pastor Bell didn’t believe in hell and as if he were a Universalist, who believes that everyone can be saved in any religion. (Sort of like how it would be if our cars would run on any liquid instead of just any gasoline.)

The biggest criticisms seemed to come from Rob’s Reformed “friends”, such as Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. who has been quoted as saying Bell’s “Love Wins” book was “theologically disastrous”. While his Reformed and Calvinist friends seem to think Bell is a heretic, we Arminians have always thought God was more about salvation than condemnation (even though our preaching has not always made that clear) but when Rob says God wants all people to be saved, we say, “Welcome to the Wesleyan-Arminian world of Christian theology.”

The problem, of course, is that if you accept the concept that God wants all people to be saved (as is clearly stated in 2 Peter 3:9 which tells us God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but instead, wants everyone to come to repentance. Or, I Timothy 2:1-4 where we are urged to pray for everyone because God wants everyone to be saved. Then you begin to have serious reservations about “unconditional election”, the concept that before the world was created God chose some people to be saved and others to be eternally lost with no hope of salvation. I don’t know if Rob Bell considers himself to be among those with this Calvinist-Reformed theology, but I think they have always claimed him and now this revelation in “Love Wins” stirs up a plethora of  squabbles among our Calvinist brethren. It will be interesting to see where it leads, if it goes anywhere at all, or if it just flutters out and disappears.

Rob’s writing also suggests we need to be open to the possibility that an opportunity for salvation may exist after death. He sees this as a possibility that can be found in scripture rather than an anti-biblical heresy. On the Mars Hill website they have FAQs about the book “Love Wins” and it is written “Love Wins helps us have a biblical imagination that leaves room for the hope of the redemption of all while recognizing humanities free will to continue to reject God.” That definitely requires imagination, but I’m not convinced it is biblical.

What I do know is that our faith should be big enough for us to love each other even when we don’t fully agree on the details. I thank God for all those in the family and out because I believe we are all created in the image of God and all valid subjects of His amazing grace and love. I thank God for Rob Bell even when I’m not sure I fully agree with him. I even thank God for those Christians with whom I greatly disagree. As Bill Gaither wrote, “There’s plenty of room in the family” and I do greatly love the family of God even in the midst of and in spite of our family squabbles.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.