Bela Horvath, the pastor of our church, has a gift for illustration. He was preaching on Barnabas in a recent sermon and compared Barnabas to a Swiss army knife. Whatever the job that needed to be done, Barnabas was both prepared and willing to do it. He urged us all to be Swiss army knife Christians.
We often hear about churches where very exciting things seem to be happening. People are healed from diseases and disabilities. People speak in new languages that they have not learned. Are these happenings evidence that these churches are true New Testament churches? Does the Bible give us light on this important subject?
According to Mark 16:17-18, Jesus said:
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Are these statements meant to apply only in the first century or are they for today as well?
I brought Jean home from the hospital this afternoon and I will take this opportunity to post some thoughts about the subject of God’s goodness and greatness. A number of people wrote us to tell us how good God has been to us. They are right. God is good. We are very grateful that Jean did not have cancer and the problems she did have were relatively easy to fix.
Coincidently, today, the same day that Jean came home from her surgery, was the funeral for our friend Marilyn Pieri, missionary to Italy. She died of cancer, insisting to the last how good God is. Was God good to us and not good to Marilyn? The outcomes were very different. The Pieris prayed for a miracle of healing and did not receive it.
How great is our God? He displays His power in healing the sick miraculously. My cousin had an inoperable and agressive cancer. I prayed that God would take her quickly so that she did not have to suffer. Several months later the doctors could find no sign of the cancer. My cousin attributed her healing to the prayers of her mother, and I agree with her.
God also displays His power in giving the grace to endure suffering and death triumphantly, as in the case of Marilyn Pieri. This victory over suffering is something that the world cannot understand. I am reminded of John Wesley’s comment, “Our people die well.”
During Thanksgiving week, Jean’s niece Pat wrote, “God’s blessings and mercy have been very much on my mind this week. Thanks for adding to my list!” Many years ago Pat lost her hsband to a heart attack, leaving her with five children to rear as a single mom. She has suffered her share of painful bumps and bruises since then. God did not miraculously heal her husband. Yet she is thankful. The following is the gist of my response to her letter.
Which is the greater display of God’s power: healing or sustaining grace? I suspect it is the latter.
We can see the goodness of God in Paul’s happy dilemma. “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:20-21) “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Rom. 14:8)
The Christian is in a win-win situation, no matter what the outcome, because God always knows and chooses what is best. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to “Trust in the Lord . . . and lean not unto thine own understanding.” What does it mean to lean on your own understanding? We can lean on a wall or on another person, but if we try to lean on ourselves, we shall only fall over.
Some years ago I read the following story about the great test pilot Church Yeager. He was flying a prototype jet airplane that was the fastest ever built. Two previous pilots had flown the same kind of plane. Both were killed when the plane stopped responding to the controls. Yeager’s plane also crashed for the same reason, and he barely escaped with his life.
The investigation of the crashes eventually found a simple explanation for the control failure. According to the blueprints, a mechanic was to install a small bolt in a very awkward position. The mechanic who installed the bolt realized that if he reversed the orientation of the bolt, he could install it much more easily. Either way the bolt served its function.
While the plane was on the ground, all systems of the plane worked properly, but once the pilot demanded the plane to make the kind of maneuvers that it was designed for, a control cable caught on the threaded end of the bolt and the controls stopped responding. Had the mechanic installed the bolt according to the plans, the problem would never have occurred. The mechanic leaned on his own understanding, ignoring the design. As a result, three very expensive airplanes crashed and two lives were lost. Had he understood the consequences of his decision, he would never have made it.
Life is much more complicated than the construction of an airplane. Only the Designer understands how all the parts of it fit together. He gave us a set of instructions called the Bible. We can choose to modify His plans and make adjustments that seem to make our lives easier and happier, but we do not understand the consequences of our decisions. Only when we take knowledge of Him by reading and carrying out the instructions (verse 6) will He make our way straight, because we will be following His direction for our paths.