April 27, 2006  SMILE

As I was flipping through Health magazine recently, I came across a one-page article entitled, "Make your life a little healthier--in minutes." The very first tip was this:

Smile when you're cranky. Just the act of smiling relaxes facial muscles and short-circuits a bad mood. Not only will you be less of a downer, but you might lower a substance in your body linked to heart disease and cancer. (2006, May). Make your life a little healthier--in minutes. Health, 17.

As someone once said, it is almost impossible to feel better on the outside without feeling better on the inside. And I'm sure you've heard it said that it takes many more muscles to frown than it does to smile.

Once, years ago, I was sitting in my friend's kitchen when her elderly landlord came by. She introduced me, and he began talking, saying something that I couldn't quite make out. I smiled as he talked. "What a beautiful smile!" he remarked. After he left, my friend laughed and said, "That's Suzanne. 'When in doubt, smile.'"

My firstborn is a smiler. In fact, when she was a baby and we would go out in public, EVERY TIME someone would remark about her constant smiling: "What a happy baby!" they'd say. And they'd smile in return.

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but, scattered along life's pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

Joseph Addison
English essayist, poet, & politician (1672 - 1719)

It's easy, it's free, it's quick, it's painless, it makes you feel better, AND it makes you healthier!

April 16, 2006  RESURRECTION SUNDAY

This is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Two days earlier Jesus had been whipped and beaten beyond recognition, spat upon, ridiculed, humiliated, nailed to the cross, and had a spear thrust in his side to assure his death. He was then taken down, wrapped in linen cloths, and placed in a tomb guarded by soldiers. On the third day He rose from the dead.

Now those five words seem tame: "He rose from the dead." But think about it for a moment: He was D-E-A-D. What kind of power is required to bring to life a DEAD body? A body that has been dead for two days?

I don't know. But I know that:

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you. (Romans 8:11)

The King James Version says "...he will quicken your mortal body...." The Greek word used here for "quicken" is zoopoieo, and I just love all the things it means:
 

Definition

to produce alive, begat or bear living young to cause to live, make alive, give life by spiritual power to arouse and invigorate to restore to life to give increase of life: thus of physical life of the spirit, quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life metaph., of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up, growing

What this means is that the same Spirit--the very same Spirit--that brought the very dead body of Jesus back to life, lives IN US and will also infuse us with that very same life. That means (see above) the Holy Spirit in us (who are born again) will restore our physical bodies. The Holy Spirit in us will give increase of life, arouse, and invigorate us. I think that's pretty awesome. I think there's more there than we are taking a hold of. I think it will take meditating on it for a while, for a few days, weeks, months, and/or years to truly grasp the enormity of it. I really do.

April 4, 2006  THE BLOOD OF JESUS

Every first Sunday in our church we receive communion. Though we do it regularly, we are cautioned not to make light of it or forget its significance. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32:

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

How do we judge ourselves? How do we "recognize the body of the Lord"? I believe the answer is found in Jesus' own words in Matthew 6:37:

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

We must examine ourselves to see if we are walking in forgiveness. After all, isn't that the message of the cross? Jesus lived a sinless life so as to be a perfect, legal sacrifice for OUR sin, so that if we so desire, we can be forgiven. For we have ALL fallen short. We have ALL sinned. Therefore, if someone has sinned against us and we hold it against them, God holds THAT against US.

Total forgiveness (see I Corinthians 13 in the Amplified Bible) is not easy. Not, that is, if we focus on the wrong done to us. However, if instead we focus on the wrong WE have done and the fact that the BLOOD OF JESUS washes away OUR sin, it becomes much easier to forgive others. To harbor unforgiveness is essentially to say that we are sinless.

There is a shrub around here that people plant in order to get quick, thick growth. Usually it is planted to hide something unsightly or to create a hedge. It is called "Lonicera nitida," "Photinias,"or more commonly, "red tips." The obvious reason they are called Red Tips is that new leaf growth is red.

I was looking at some of these plants the other day and suddenly the red tips took on new meaning for me. The red tips reminded me of the BLOOD OF JESUS. How powerful is that blood! Powerful enough to wash away EVERY sin, from what we see as the smallest to the largest. I don't think God sees degree of sin. ANY sin separates us from Him. Jesus died for ALL sinners, from the least to the greatest. Adam's sin in the garden of Eden brought the stain of sin upon us all, and only the BLOOD OF JESUS can wash it away.

His blood is enough.