"It's what my mom said to do"

The picture on the right is the floor of our daughter's closet.  This is not the way it usually looks.  While things are often scattered on it there is not usually this much stuff.  And shortly before I took this picture it was much worse.  When I asked her why she replied, "It's what my mom said to do."

I had to ask a few questions before I understood what was going on in the closet.  The closet was a mess, particularly the shelves.  As a part of the instructions to straighten things out my wife told our daughter to "clean off the shelves," which the little one understood to mean "put everything on the floor and start from there."

While the way our daughter understood and applied her mom's directions may not have been the best way to reorganize her closet, she did understand and obey the instructions when they were given to her.  This is not always the case.  Sometimes things need to be said a number of times, in a number of different ways, for a number of reasons, some more valid than others.

I have been reading Jeremiah lately, one chapter at a time.  I read Jeremiah 35 on the day of this incident with our daughter.  Jeremiah spends a lot of time carrying the same basic message to the people of God.  He  repeatedly calls them to repentance, with the warning that they will suffer greatly if they don't.

In Jeremiah 35 he tells of a group of people called the Rechabites who have been faithful to the instructions of their father, even in the face of adversity.  Jeremiah uses them as an example as he then tells the people of Judah this message from God in verses 14-15:

"The command that Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons, to drink no wine, has been kept, and they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command. I have spoken to you persistently, but you have not listened to me. I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, ‘Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you did not incline your ear or listen to me."

The people of Judah have been disobedient to God over and over and over.  But God has been gracious and held out His mercy to them time after time after time.  God called the people to turn from their sin and to turn towards Him.  It is a call He is still making today. 

My daughter had a number of methods available to her when it was time to clean her closet.  But it all began with listening and then obeying the basic command.

And so it is with us.  We each have many things we need to abandon when we follow God.  Each of us who follow will do so in a way that is faithful to God but different from others around us.  

But it all begins with hearing His voice, turning towards Him, and turning away from those things that lead us in other directions.  Through Jeremiah and the other prophets God called His people repeatedly.  And He is still calling people to Himself today. 

Is He calling you?  What will you do when you hear His voice? 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cowboy theology

I was running outside early one recent morning and I had a song stuck in my head.  Many runners wear headphones but I’m not one of them.  When I run I think one, or many, things over, or let my mind wander, or maybe I find some song passing repeatedly through my thoughts, its beat matching with the sound of my feet on the road.  And that is what was happening that morning.  I had a song stuck in my mind.  Sometimes that happens with a particularly silly and/or annoying song but not on this morning.  It was a song with a melody I enjoyed and as it “played,” over and over, I found myself pondering the lyrics and the meaning that might be found in them.

The song was Ghost Riders in the Sky.  I had known it in the past as a duet by Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.  The other day I stumbled across a version by the Outlaws.  In preparing to write this blog I learned that the first recording was by Burl Ives, in 1949.  Since that time it has been covered numerous times by musicians of widely varying genres.  It has a catchy melody and understandable lyrics.  Below are the lyrics.  Listen to one of the versions and ponder the lyrics before reading on.  (Ives sings the lyrics in order, Cash and Nelson transpose verses three and four, and the Outlaws skip verse four.)

An old cowboy went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
A-plowing through the ragged sky and up the cloudy draw

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
For he saw the Riders coming hard and he heard their mournful cry

Yippie yi ohhhhh
Yippie yi yaaaaay
Ghost Riders in the sky

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all soaked with sweat
He's riding hard to catch that herd, but he ain't caught 'em yet
'Cause they've got to ride forever on that range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire
As they ride on hear their cry

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from Hell a-riding on our range
Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride
Trying to catch the Devil's herd, across these endless skies

The song, besides telling a story in a captivating way, is a call for repentance.  The Old Cowboy is being warned, from those on the other side of eternity, that he needs to change his ways, soon, or else when he dies he’ll being joining their crew, condemned to chase the Devil’s herd on a hard ride that will never end.  I won’t deny that there is a measure of truth in the message and its call to change, but from a Christian vantage point it is incomplete and slightly misdirected.

The Old Cowboy, or you, or me, can change our ways all we want but we won’t gain even a foothold on eternal life with God through our efforts.  Salvation in Christ Jesus comes by faith alone, and it is the only way in which a person is joined to God in eternity.    It is God who freely offers us this gift of eternal life, which is ours to accept by faith, and no other means.  Repentance and changed ways are of no eternal consequence without a heart that is first changed and calls on Christ in faith.

The Heidelberg Catechism, which has been basic to teaching a Reformed understanding of Christian belief since the 16^th century, says this about faith in Question-and-Answer 20 and 21:

Q&A 20
Q. Are all people then saved through Christ just as they were lost through Adam?
A. No. Only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits.

Q&A 21
Q. What is true faith?
A. True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture; it is also a wholehearted trust, which the Holy Spirit creates in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation. These are gifts of sheer grace, granted solely by Christ's merit.

The Old Cowboy, and you, and I, don’t simply need a change in behavior, we need a change of heart, and we experience that change when we come to God by faith in his gracious offer of forgiveness in Christ.  Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”  In Christ, God gives us something that we could never gain through our own efforts, no matter how well-intentioned they may be.

Having faith in God, through the death and resurrection to eternal life of Christ, gives us a new reference point for our lives.  Having faith, the Old Cowboy, and you, and I, can then change our ways, not to “save ourselves,” but in thankfulness to God for his good gift to us.  And hearts that are changed for God proclaim his presence, his love, and his glory to the world.

Note 1:

The Heidelberg Catechism was written early in the Reformation as an aid to pastors in teaching their congregations the basics of Christian belief.  It uses a question-and-answer format and is shaped along three movements; 1) Our place before God; 2) God’s grace towards us; and 3) our gratitude back to God.  The first Q & A is perhaps its most widely known part.  I find the entire catechism to be a wonderful expression of faith, one that stills speaks today with God’s truth.  All of the answers have scripture references to support them.  If you’ve never read it then please consider looking it over.

Note 2:

In the versions of Ghost Riders in the Sky I linked above I found Ives’ version to be haunting.  This had something to do with the chords in the background.  In that quality there is perhaps another cue to direct us away from sin and towards God.  Cash and Nelson have put together a version that is sparse and haunting in its own way.  And the Outlaws spin has its own power.  They omit the last verse and its direct call for repentance but they pick up the tempo and intensity of the instruments, suggesting, perhaps, the way our sin can spiral completely out of any sense of control, and drive us away from the rest and redemption offered in Christ.