Author name: Tom Stuart

A Tribute to Jim Maher

15 Comments / News & Reflections, Overcoming /

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15 NIV)

Late last Friday, March 11, 2011, we got word that Jim Maher, an amazing man of God and friend of our Bridgewood church family was killed in a motorcycle accident. As a leader from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Jim was a member of our church advisory board and frequent minister in our midst. The news of Jim’s death hit those of us who knew him very hard. We grieve and pray for his wife Elizabeth, their children, grandchildren and extended family.

The verse above from Psalm 116 offers us a viewpoint of death that is both unusual and insightful. We are told by the psalmist that the death of a godly man or woman is something God regards as precious. In fact, the Hebrew word from which precious comes is also translated splendid or weighty. However, an untimely death like Jim’s is not something we would consider precious. To the contrary, at least from our vantage point, such a death seems to be the very opposite, a senseless waste. And it can engender an almost endless string of unanswered questions spinning uncontrollably from the central question “Why?”

So there you have it – two perspectives, one from heaven’s eyes and one from human eyes. Seeking to see things from God’s perspective lifts us into to realm of eternity and frees us from the limitations of human perception and rationale.

So how could Jim’s home going be precious to God and thereby also precious to us?

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The biggest misunderstanding about holiness

5 Comments / Overcoming, Relationship with God /

The word holy and its derivative holiness are two of the most misunderstood words in the Bible. It is surprising because they are used over 460 times in the Old Testament and 230 times in the New Testament. The problem however is not in understanding the meaning of this important concept. Everyone would agree, including Merriam Webster, that to be holy means to be set apart and devoted to God and His purposes. Both the original Hebrew and Greek words for holy clearly convey this.

Where there is confusion is in understanding how someone or something becomes holy. Most people think that holiness is a result of something we do. It is a common belief that holiness is what happens to us when we conform our attitude and actions to God’s holy will. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To begin to comprehend any Biblical truth or concept it is always insightful to go back and look at the passage of scripture where it is first introduced. This is called the principle of first mention. When we go to a concordance we discover that the word holy was first used in the book of Exodus. It is a very familiar passage of scripture where God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and called him to be the deliverer of the Israelites. “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:5 NIV)

Now we need to ask the question. What made the ground holy? Was it Moses’ response? Was it his final acquiescence and conformity to God’s will? No, the ground was holy before Moses arrived. In this instance, it is obvious that it was holy because a) God said so and b) He, the Great I Am Who Am, was there.

It could go without saying, but it is important to note that wherever God chooses to be is holy, simply because He is holy.

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Crouching Desire, Hidden Deathtrap

Growth & Development, Overcoming /

As sons and daughters of Adam, all of us like Cain, are subject to the temptations of sin. But unlike Cain we must learn to master it. God never commands us to do something without also giving us the wherewithal and strength to do it. The victory Jesus Christ won for us through His death, burial and resurrection defeated death, sin and their agent the devil. The devil may come to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus came that we might have a victorious and abundant life. (John 10:10)

Temptation often happens as it did with Cain when we make ourselves vulnerable to it through wrong or selfish choices. As a result we put ourselves in a precarious situation where sin literally crouches at our door waiting to pounce. Cain cut corners with his offering by trying to pass off seconds to God while keeping the first fruits of his crops for himself. His half-hearted and hypocritical worship of God opened the door for jealousy and anger toward his brother, Abel. Abel had offered the best of the fruit of his labors to God, the firstborn from his flock. (Genesis 4:3-5)

In a loving intervention, God warns Cain that he must deal with the sin issues in his heart lest they open the door to its ravages. This warning is echoed in the New Testament writings of Peter. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 NIV)

One of the greatest deterrents to sin is stopping to consider the death and destruction it wrecks upon both the sinner and others whom his/her sin affects. That is the essence of the appeal that God was making to Cain. He was saying to Cain, and also by the Holy Spirit is saying to all of us, “Stop a minute and get a grip on your self. Think about the unfolding consequences of this sinful attitude and action if it is allowed to play itself out! You are opening the door to death!”

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The great cost of forgiveness

Relationship with God /

Dealing with sin back in Old Testament days was a time consuming, expensive and bloody affair. Whenever someone sinned, in order to receive forgiveness and re-consecrate themselves to God, they were required to experience up close and personal the consequence of their sin. They had to take one of the best animals from their own flock and parade it through their neighborhood to a place of worship, while bearing the embarrassment and shame of their sin. Before the priest, they were to lay one hand upon the head of the animal thereby transferring their sins to it, and with the other hand slit its throat and kill it. The priest would then collect the blood, place some on the horns of the altar and pour the rest out at the altar’s base. Then the animal had to be skinned, the fat removed and burned on the altar. Now tell me, if that is not a deterrent to sin what is? Sin directly affected not only the pocketbook and the conscience, but cost an animal its life while creating a gory mess. The writer of Hebrews puts it succinctly: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hebrews 9:22)

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In Celebration of Cadence

4 Comments / News & Reflections /

My joy is colored pink and whispers Cadence Kerala,
A symphony by God composed, a masterpiece unplayed.
And yet with rhythmic tempo, emanating from her name,
I am mesmerized by movements respirating from her frame.

I hold my newborn granddaughter cradled gently in my hands
And marvel at the beauty of her sleeping innocence,
With placid face unstained by tears of joy or pain;
Nor furrowed by worries or things that are profane.

And as I gaze into the future through her eyes,
It takes me to a world that one day I’ll not know.
I imagine her smiling in sun drenched days to come
And squinting in the shadows to discern a distant drum.

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