Author Archives: Alan Simmons

A new creature, the same stumbling block, and the gift of grace

Posted on March 11, 2013 | Comments Off on A new creature, the same stumbling block, and the gift of grace

HPIM0072

I have always loved taking pictures of the beauty of nature and the countryside.  A few years ago, while I was teaching at the University of Southern Indiana, there was a flowerbed that was always full of various wildflowers that attracted a variety of butterflies.  For each of the six years I taught at U.S.I, the same cycle played out each spring, summer, and fall. By April, the first plants began to bloom, followed by what appeared to be an attack of caterpillars that lasted until late June.  By the end of July, the campus was bursting in activity as the first of the butterflies shed their cocoons and took their first flight.

Since those early years of elementary school science we have all been taught that although each butterfly starts life as a caterpillar, will make a cocoon, and will emerge as a beautiful butterfly.  Although the same insect from a biological viewpoint, it is a transformed creature that is no longer bound by the restraints of its former self; it has been liberated from its lowly estate and given the gifts of beauty and flight.  This reminds me of what had been written by the apostle Paul,  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17).  Although I did come to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior in 1988, I have struggled nearly daily with the ugliness of sin and the memories of the person I was and when I fail and choose to yield to sin since accepting Christ. I have always found it easier to forgive others than it has been to forgive myself.

Since this past Saturday, I have been struggling with this very issue; what has made it different than any other struggle is that the Lord has used several different messages to reaffirm not only His word and promises but has shown me that I have reached a plateau in my spiritual walk where he cannot continue to bless me as long as I continue to hold on to the things of the past.  It began as I was preparing the service bulletin covers for Gospel Light Baptist Church as a part of the printing ministry my wife and I operate out of the church. As I chose the picture featured in this post as the cover image, I began to criticize myself for not completing the printing sooner, the failing part within the printer, and how I had not prepared anything for our church’s quarterly second Sunday singing that took place last night.  By the time that Saturday evening came around, I was well on my mental journey to criticizing and judging myself to a degree that was not only common, but spiritually dangerous as well.

Yesterday morning, our Sunday School teacher, Eddy Owens, offered a lesson based on Ezekiel 36: 23-26 – And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.   We have all had the experience where it seems that the preacher (or in this case, a Sunday School teacher) has been peering into the inner chambers of our heart and is teaching what we need to hear!

More on next page

Pages: 1 2

Comments Off on A new creature, the same stumbling block, and the gift of grace

Posted in Difficulties and Trials, Relationships

Tagged , , , , , ,

Maintaining moral standards or passing judgment?

Posted on February 25, 2013 | Comments Off on Maintaining moral standards or passing judgment?

reading-bible_2316_1024x805Teaching at the college and university level for the past nine years has been an interesting part of my spiritual journey for many reasons.  I have seen college students fresh out of high school and away from home for their first year struggle with numerous temptations and sins – everything from sexual immorality to alcoholism and drugs.  I have watched as younger, spiritually-ill prepared students became caught up into the gross religion of humanism while some, facing problems that are larger than themselves, turn to Christ.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked a question by a student in my night class as to why does it seem that Christians pass judgment on others who do not adhere to the “preferred” lifestyle.  As I began asking questions in an attempt to find out how to best answer the student’s question, he added “after all, a real Christian is not supposed to judge others…”  He continued explaining how a member of his family had become a Christian and no longer participated in the activities that had once made the bonds of brotherhood close. As he continued to explain his views on what Christian judgment actually means it became obviously clear that he was mistaking judgment and Christian separation.  

During his earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ taught that Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another (Mark 9:50). Taken with the teachings of the apostle Paul, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2), we are to be different than the world.  We are, in the words of the apostle Peter, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul (II Peter 2:11b). What the lost world fails to understand is that it is not that we judge them; we simply choose to honor God rather than participate in activities that we believe would not only damage our Christian testimony but would bring shame to the name of Christ.

Proverbs truly contains a lot of biblical wisdom.  When Solomon wrote in the first chapter, If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse (Proverbs 1:11-14), it is as he looked forward in time and saw the power of peer pressure in today’s society.  It seems that negative peer pressure is hard to withstand; all through Proverbs, the reader is reminded that those who choose not to follow after God always entice those that do to follow their plans and schemes.  There’s a simple reason – if a follower of God does go along with the lost crowd and does the same things they do, it weakens the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The lost see our acceptance and participation in fleshly activities as a sort of twisted endorsement of their actions.

When I was in graduate school I often heard the “oh, so you are too good to hang out with us…” and other jeers designed to pressure me to join the crowd of graduate students on their weekend activities.  I often heard the complaints that I was being judgmental because I chose not to attend their parties and weekend activities.  It couldn’t be farther from the truth; it was not out of judgment at all, but because I thought it more important to be able to present myself unblemished to God.  In fact, the apostle Paul had the same mindset, as recorded in the book of Acts: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men (Acts 24:15-16).  It does not mean that Paul did not sin as a Christian but it does mean that Paul actively sought to avoid committing sin, participating in the appearance of sin, or falling to temptation.

While it is true that our lifestyles should reflect the values and will of our heavenly father, our lifestyles should also bear a quiet witness that God is a holy God.  The life we live should indicate that we are different than the lost world.  Our hearts should be broken when we do give in to the flesh and participate in activities that do not honor God.  Our heart’s desire should be, as in the words of Paul, to be able to present ourselves as acceptable to God rather than to seek the approval of men.

Comments Off on Maintaining moral standards or passing judgment?

Posted in Christian Living, Christian Responsibility, Our relationship with God, Standards

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A bird in the house and the offering of a helpful hand

Posted on January 21, 2013 | Comments Off on A bird in the house and the offering of a helpful hand

DSCF0510

On Saturday morning, our family had an unexpected visitor in our house.  As we were doing our morning preparations for participating in our church’s visitation program and breakfast, I had a bird zip past the kitchen door and slam into our glass door.  The bird flew back down the hallway and into our living room and hid itself among the many plants that we have in the large picture window.  I removed one of them, panting and scared, was that little bird.  Not wanting to risk hurting it by grabbing it, I decided to hold out a finger in front of it; to my surprise, it jumped onto my finger and allowed me to pick it up and carry it outside.  It even allowed me and our two year old daughter to lightly stroke its back before flying away.

Little did I know the lessons that God would teach me by having a small feathered visitor that morning.  Even as I look at the photograph taken by my wife, Michelle, I am astounded at the lessons that this one event can be used to teach. The first that comes to mind is a teaching by our Lord Jesus Christ: Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12:6-7).  Our little visitor is, in the minds of many, just a small and insignificant bird; he (or she) is literally one of millions of finches that are found in our area. With the exception to our families and friends, we too, in the eyes of this world are simply  one of billions, insignificant  and little of value. However, in the eyes of God, we are much more than that; we are a valued and cherished precious life.  Each person is divinely created, with a divine appointment, by a holy and loving God.

Just as this bird was trapped in our house, he was faced with two alternatives – allow me to help him or to continue to escape on his own.   He could have flown from the window sill to any place in the house.  He also would have faced other obstacles he was unaware of, such as our cat.  Again, this is such a spiritual lesson as it seems totally against a wild bird’s nature to trust anything they cannot begin to understand; similarly, it is against our flesh’s concept of self-preservation to trust in someone we cannot totally comprehend, much less cannot see!

The Psalmist and kind, David, wrote Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped (Psalms 124:7). The fowlers that David refers to is a type of bondage – anything that keeps and holds us back from the full enjoyment of life that only God can give.  The fowler is all the world can offer; bondage to sin, disease, disappointment, discouragement, emptiness, and a perpetual sense of incompleteness.  Its easy to see it in the faces of those we meet each day – sad and heavy facial expressions, joyless lives, and numerous attempts to fill the void with something and anything that will make those feelings go away.  What we see developing in the lives of those seeking to fill the void is increased drug usage, risky sex, tattoos, piercings and other bodily mutilations are all symptoms of a much greater problem – bondage to sin, to the flesh, and to Satan.  There is no permanent fulfillment in the flesh, only more bondage, more emptiness, and increased feelings of loneliness. Only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can they escape the fowler and truly enjoy life the way that God desires us to.

Just as the bird made the decision to allow me to help him, we must make the decision to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must make the decision to come to him, to allow him to work in our lives, and to allow him complete and unfettered control.  Just as that bird had to surrender its feelings of self-preservation and to trust in me to take care of it, we also must surrender our fleshly will, yield to God, and fully trust in him to provide for all our needs.  By his own nature, he cannot force us to love him, to desire to serve him, or to live our lives through him.

Comments Off on A bird in the house and the offering of a helpful hand

Posted in Chrisitian Philosophy

Tagged , , ,