These illustrations are based on Luke 18:9-14 and 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
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Sermon Opener - The Good, the Bad, and the Justified - Luke 18:9-14
The famous actor Gregory Peck was once standing in line with a friend, waiting for a table in a crowded Los Angeles restaurant. They had been waiting for some time, the diners seemed to be taking their time eating and new tables weren't opening up very fast. They weren't even that close to the front of the line. Peck's friend became impatient, and he said to Gregory Peck, "Why don't you tell the maitre d' who you are?" Gregory Peck responded with great wisdom. "No," he said, “if you have to tell them who you are, then you aren't.”
That's a lesson that the Pharisee in our gospel reading apparently had never learned. His prayer, if it can be called that, is largely an advertisement for himself. He's selling himself to God. Little wonder that Luke describes him in the way he does, "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself." That's a very apt description, isn't it -- he prayed with himself. He would have done better had he had Gregory Peck there to whisper in his ear that if he had to remind God who he was, then he wasn't.
The tax collector, on the other hand, didn't have to tell God who he was. He knew who he was and he knew that God knew who he was. His prayer is not an exercise in self-promotion, but a confession and a plea for mercy. He is not selling himself, but opening himself. And Jesus says, "It is this man who went home justified." To be justified means to be declared "not guilty." It means to be declared right. The tax collector is declared to be in the right relationship to God while the Pharisee, who is so certain of his own righteousness, is shown to be in the wrong relationship with God. He is not justified before the bar of God's justice which is the court of ultimate consequence.
We hasten to add, however, that this does not mean that the Pharisee was a bad person and the tax collector really a good person. There's no suggestion of that in this parable…
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What Impresses God - Luke 18:9-14
There was a very lost, wicked, rebellious man who decided it would be good for business if he went down to the church and joined it. He was an adulterer, an alcoholic, and had never been a member of a church in his life.
But when he went down to the altar to join the church, he gave public testimony to the church that there was no sin in his life, and that he had grown up in the church, and they readily accepted him as a member.
When he went home he told his wife what he had done, and his wife, a very godly lady, exploded. She excoriated him for being such a hypocrite, and demanded that he go back to the church the next week and confess what he really was. Well, God used his wife to really break him, and he took it to heart.
The next Sunday he went back to the church, walked down to the front again, and this time confessed to the church all of his sins. He told them he was dishonest, an alcoholic, an adulterer, and he was sorry. They revoked his membership on the spot. He walked out of the church that day scratching his head and muttered to himself: "These church folks are really strange. I told a lie and they took me in; and when I told the truth they kicked me out!"
The Lord Jesus told a story of two men in a similar situation who had totally different results. One man tried to talk himself into God's kingdom, but he didn't make it. One man tried to talk himself out of God's kingdom and he did make it.
Now Luke makes it plain who Jesus told this parable to. For he says in v.9, "Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."
I promise you, every one of you will find yourself somewhere in this story. Because at one time or another all of us are guilty of trying to impress God. You are going to learn, surprisingly, what does impress God, and what doesn't.
I. The Pharisee Who Fooled Himself
II. The Person Who Faulted Himself
III. The Principle That Fulfills Itself
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Loneliness
The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.
Thomas Wolfe
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The Law and the Gospel
The primary purpose of the Law is, like a mirror, to teach man the true knowledge of his sin. We see this in the example of the publican.
The publicans were tax-collectors for the Roman imperialists. They were Jews, but were not respected by their people. They were considered traitors and thieves, with some justification.
So the publican did not approach God with pride, demanding what was owed him. On the contrary, he approached the Lord with maximum humility and true repentance. Repentance is essential to receive the forgiveness of sins in Christ. That is why the Law should be preached to unrepentant sinners, but the Gospel to those who are troubled by their sins and terrified of damnation.
The Law demands, threatens and condemns; the Gospel promises, gives and confirms our forgiveness and salvation. God offers forgiveness of sins only in the Good News that we are saved because Christ fulfilled the Law, suffered, died and rose from the dead for us.
So let us draw near to God in humility and repentance, of course, but also in the hope and faith that we are justified through faith, not by works, and that in Christ we are children of God.
David Ernst, By Faith, Not by Works
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Pride
I heard about a fifth grader that came home from school so excited. She had been voted "prettiest girl in the class." The next day she was even more excited when she came home, for the class had voted her "the most likely to succeed." The next day she came home and told her mother she had won a third contest, being voted "the most popular."
But the next day she came home extremely upset. The mother said, "What happened, did you lose this time?" She said, "Oh no, I won the vote again." The mother said, "What were you voted this time?" She said, "most stuck up."
Well this Pharisee would have won that contest hands down. He had an "i" problem. Five times you will read the little pronoun "i" in these two verses. He was stoned on the drug of self. He suffered from two problems: inflation and deflation. He had an inflated view of who he was, and a deflated view of who God was.
His pride had made him too big for his spiritual britches. C. S. Lewis once said, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you can't see something that's above you."
James Merritt, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.
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How Is John Quincy Adams?
On his eightieth birthday, John Quincy Adams was walking slowly along a Boston street. A friend asked him "How is John Quincy Adams today?" The former president replied graciously, "Thank you, John Quincy Adams is well, sir, quite well, I thank you. But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated. It is tottering upon the foundations. Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out, its walls are shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is quite well, sir, quite well." That is the attitude we need to cultivate so that when the call home comes we may say with Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
Unknown
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An Absolute Standard
One rabbi said, "If there are only two righteous men in the world, I and my son are these two; if there is only one, I am he!" –Reminds me of two friends talking, one said, "We're the only two honest people left in the world, and sometimes I'm not so sure about you!"
With a human measure, righteousness is relative, you can always find someone better and someone worse. Take the right point of comparison and you feel pretty good about yourself.
A little boy announced to his mother, "I'm like Goliath. I'm 9 feet tall." "Why do you say that?" asked his mother. "Well, I made a little ruler and measured myself with it; I'm 9 feet tall!"
Human standards don't count. The only evaluation that counts is by an absolute standard! The righteousness of God Himself; with that measuring stick, we all come up short!
Lee Compson, Holier Than Who?
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The Race We Are In
Several years ago, I told you a story about one of my all-time favorite people. Not that I know her, or have even met her. But I admire her. Because one day, at age 42, in beautiful downtown Cleveland, she ran a marathon by accident (all 26 miles, 385 yards of it). Her name was Georgene Johnson. Still is. As you will recall, she lined up with the wrong group at the starting line. Not the 10K group, where she belonged. But the 26 mile group, where she didn't. It wasn't until the four mile mark that she realized her mistake. So she just kept going, finishing the race in four hours and four minutes. But it's what she said later (by way of explanation) that has stayed with me since. Said Georgene: "This isn't the race I trained for. This isn't the race I entered. But, for better or worse, this is the race I'm in."
Which is true more often than you might think. Relatively few of us are exactly where we figured we'd be....doing exactly what we figured we'd be doing. But we are where we are, and (for better or worse) we're keeping our feet moving.
William A. Ritter, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com
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No Black Dots
When Benjamin Franklin was 27 years old, he decided he would take control of his life. He selected 12 virtues he wanted to acquire, and kept a daily chart of his progress in the development of each one. Whenever he missed the mark, he put a black dot beside that virtue. His goal was to ultimately have no dots on the chart. This method contributed to Franklin's success as an inventor, publisher, and statesman.
Unknown
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Heavenly Humility
One time I was in a department store attempting to purchase a new suit. When I tried on a suit I stood in front of a 3-way mirror. The mirror enabled me to see myself from three different perspectives. As I looked at my image in the mirror I said to myself, “Is that really me?” It was very uncomfortable since I normally see myself in a singular mirror. As I continued to check out the suit I realized that in reality people actually see me in reverse. For example, my hair is parted the other way. What I perceive as my good side is really my bad side.
When the Pharisee prayed to God he saw his good side. He was filled with righteousness, proud of his perfect record, especially his fasting and tithing record. On the other hand, the tax collector saw his bad side. He realized his unworthiness and said, “God me merciful to me a sinner.”
How do see yourself? Are you like the Pharisee who only saw how good he was, or are you like the tax collector who only saw himself in need of God’s forgiveness?
Keith Wagner, Heavenly Humility
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Are You Really Listening?
In his book Directions, author James Hamilton shares this insight about listening to God: "Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.
One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.
Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.
I closed the door,'' the boy replied, “lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.''
Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear. Yes, Jesus assures us that our heavenly Father always listens to us, but do we really listen to God? Do we follow the instructions of Psalm 46, "Be still, and know that I am God"?
Eric S. Ritz, The Ritz Collection,www.Sermons.com
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Can You Hear the Music - Luke 18:9-14
Who doesn’t like an “attaboy!” when they do something good? It’s why we have “honor society” in school. It is the reason we have scholarship awards as we head into college. “Attaboy!” stands behind all those accolades high achievers get throughout life — Rhode’s scholarships, purple hearts, Silver stars, gold statues, merit raises for school teachers, making partner in a big firm, getting re-elected (in any organization, at any level). “Attaboys!” reward the gracious, good, above-and-beyond behaviors we see in others. Good persons deserve good things.
The problem is that our vision of “good behavior” can get extremely myopic, extremely near-sighted. We only are able to see the good in those who stand closest to us. Those far off become, if not “bad,” at least “other.” “Otherness” is perhaps the most insidious form of prejudice. Why? Because “otherness” makes close closed. “Otherness” disassociates our close family and other loved ones from outsiders and strangers. As soon as we identify some people as “others,” the game is over. We have drawn up “us” vs. “them” battle-lines.
In this week’s gospel parable the good-living, well-meaning Pharisee and the ne’r-do-well tax collector are set up as ideal types of the “acceptable” vs. the “other.” The contrast could not be sharper. The Pharisee examines himself, and finds no fault with himself. The tax collector lets God examine him, and throws himself on the bar of God's justice (receiving mercy as God does).Ironically, the Pharisee treats God as a debt collector and the Tax collector, who IS a debt collector, treats God as a Savior….
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Humor: Worth a Thousand Points
Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who came to the gates of heaven to be greeted by St. Peter. Peter asks the man if he can give a brief history of his life with an emphasis on the good deeds he had done in order to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. "You will need 1000 points to be admitted," Peter tells the man.
"This will be a cinch," the man thinks to himself, "I've been involved in church from the days of my youth." Then he begins to list his activities for Peter. He was an officer in his youth group, served in every possible position he could as a youngster. Was on the Church Council and every committee the church had to offer. His list was extensive.
"Very impressive," Peter smiles at the man. An angel standing with them also smiled and nodded as he tallied the points and then whispered in Peter's ear. Peter tells the man,
"This is quite striking -- we seldom see men of your very good works. You will be pleased to know that you have 327 points! Is there anything else you can think of?"
The poor soul breaks into a cold sweat and begins to reach deep for every single act of kindness he could think of. He listed them as the angel scratched furiously on his angelic clip board and nodded his head in admiration. Peter looks at the clip board and says, "This is quite exceptional! You now have a total of 402 points. Can you think of anything else?"
The distressed guy strives to recall good deeds -- like the time he helped a little old lady across the street. He finally arrives at a grand total of 431 points and cries out... "I am sunk! There is no hope for me! What more could I have done? O Lord, all I can do is beg for your mercy!"
"THAT," exclaims Peter, "Is a thousand points!"
So also, the tax collector in Jesus' parable finds his hope in the grace and mercy of God.
John Jewell, Qualities of Faith
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The Best Treatment for Loneliness
Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous American psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on mental health & was answering questions from the audience. One man asked, "What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?" Everyone there expected him to answer, "Consult a psychiatrist." To their astonishment he replied: Leave your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone who is in need, and do something to help that person.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
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Everything He Says Is True
When you read the story about the Pharisee, a number of specific statements are made about his piety. Please note this. Everything the man says about himself is true. For instance, when he says, “I thank you that I am not like other men,” indeed he wasn’t like other men. He had a standard of morality that was far above the standard of that day. When he said, “I fast twice a week;” it happens to be literally true. The Pharisees fasted on Monday and Thursday of every week. When he says, “I give tithes of all I possess,” he means he tithes on the gross and not on the net. He went beyond the Law of Moses. That’s no big deal; all the Pharisees did that. And when he says, “I am not a crook,” he really isn’t a crook. When he says, “I am not like this filthy tax collector,” he’s really not like that guy. When he says, “I do not commit adultery,” he really doesn’t commit adultery. He is faithful to his wife. When he says, “I am honest, I am faithful, I am zealous for my religion,” he means it and every word of it is true. He truly is a genuinely good man. When I read his prayer, I am reminded of that country song that says, “Oh, Lord, it’s hard to be humble, when you’re perfect in every way.”
What we are to understand is this. When he prayed he was telling the truth. When he said, “Lord, you’re lucky to have a guy like me, because I’m one of the best guys I know,” it was really true. He really was a wonderful guy.
While he prayed, people would be standing around watching. And they would say, “He’s a fine man.” While he prayed, they probably applauded. He was the kind of guy you’d want living next door to you. A good citizen. A law-abiding man. A good, religious kind of person. If he were to come to this church today we’d love him because he would be faithful, loyal, and give us a lot of money. We’d probably make him an elder or a deacon. He’s just that kind of guy. He looks really good on the outside. Everything he says about himself is absolutely true.
Ray Pritchard, How to Be Right with God
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The Cunning Craftsman
In her play, "The Zeal of Thy House," Dorothy Sayers imagines a stonemason working on an intricate carving for the chancel of Canterbury Cathedral, who clumsily lets his tool slip and spoils the whole great piece of stone assigned to him. It is a sad moment as the valuable and custom-cut stone stands misshapen. The architect, however, takes the tool out of the artisan's hand and although he remonstrates with him for his clumsiness, begins to enact forgiveness. He redesigns out of the spoiled carving a new and different figure which has its own part to play in the ensemble of the Cathedral, and then permits the blundering mason to complete it in all its glory. "So works with us," concludes Dorothy Sayers, "the cunning craftsman, God."
On reading it, I could not shake the phrase from my mind: "The cunning craftsman, God." As used, the word cunning does not mean some kind of craftiness which might be our modern interpretation. But taken in its pure sense it indicates skill, wisdom and ability. The phrase then really means that the Master artist God can take our blundering efforts and still make something useful out of them. He takes our mismanaged lives, our failed efforts, our missed marks, our shameful deeds, our alien attitudes, our sinful lives and out of his divine resourcefulness he saves the day by creating something new, worthy and wonderful that still has usefulness and beauty in the divine plan of things. It is a reassurance that we desperately need, but one on which we cannot presume.
Allan J. Weenink, Only The Wounded Can Serve, CSS Publishing Co., Inc.
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What Kind of Sinners Can Be Members
Samuel Colgate, the founder of the Colgate business empire, was a devout Christian, and he told of an incident that took place in the church he attended. During an evangelistic service, an invitation was given at the close of the sermon for all those who wished to turn their lives over to Christ and be forgiven. One of the first persons to walk down the aisle and kneel at the altar was a well-known prostitute. She knelt in very real repentance, she wept, she asked God to forgive her, and meanwhile the rest of the congregation looked on approvingly at what she was doing. Then she stood and testified that she believed God had forgiven her for her past life, and she now wanted to become a member of the church. For a few moments, the silence was deafening.
Finally, Samuel Colgate arose and said, "I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind of sinners. We'd better ask him to forgive us for this oversight. The Holy Spirit has touched this woman and made her truly repentant, but the Lord apparently doesn't understand that she's not the type we want him to rescue. We'd better spell it out for him just which sinners we had in mind." Immediately, a motion was made and unanimously approved that the woman be accepted into membership in the congregation.
God accepts us as we are. There's not a sin too black, not a deed too awful, not a thought too horrible for him to forgive.
Larry R. Kalajainen, Extraordinary Faith for Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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I Used to Be an Intellectual
Albert Schweitzer was laboring one day, under the hot African sun, building his hospital at Lambarene. A large timber had to be raised into place, and try as he might, Schweitzer couldn't manage it. He looked up and saw a well-dressed African man standing in the shade of a tree, and asked him to lend a hand. "O, no," the man said, "I don't do that kind of work. I am an intellectual." And Albert Schweitzer, with five earned doctor's degrees, said, "I used to be an intellectual, but I couldn't live up to it." When we are Christians we don't have anything to live up to, no pretenses to maintain, no privileges to guard. We can't be too low in the eyes of the world. We can't be losers enough. There is a wonderful peace and freedom in that.
William R. Boyer, Sorry, Thank You, Please
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A High Opinion of Self
Evidence for an over inflated opinion of ourselves comes from the College Board that administers the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the SAT exam, which millions of high school students take each year. On that test there are a number of other questions besides the ones about math and English which the students are asked to answer. For instance, they are asked to evaluate their leadership ability.
Recently in an exam, seventy percent of the students rated themselves as above average in leadership, and only two percent as below average. Sixty percent rated themselves as above average in athletics while only six percent said below. When they rated themselves as to how easy they were to get along with, 25 percent said they were in the top one percent, sixty percent said they were in the top ten percent, and absolutely no one said he was below average in being easy to get along with.
Obviously high school students have a very high opinion of themselves; they have pride in themselves. Now is this the kind of pride that says, "I have something to offer this world to make it a better place," or is it the kind of pride that says, "I'm better than you"? The exam doesn't say. We hope it's pride that offers to build a better world; otherwise, it is arrogance.
R. Curtis Fussell, Deadly Sins and Living Virtues, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Bent to the Ground
A city boy visited his cousin who lived on a farm in the country for the first time. The city boy had never seen wheat growing in a field. It was an impressive sight for him, the wheat golden brown and ready for harvesting. He noticed that some of the wheat stood tall in the field, whereas some of it was bent low, touching the ground. The city boy said to his cousin, "I bet the ones standing tall are the best ones, aren't they?" His cousin smiled knowingly and reached over and plucked the head of one of the tall-standing wheat stalks and one that was bent to the ground. He rubbed each of them and the city boy saw that the tall one was almost empty of seeds. But the one bent to the ground was full of the promise of a rich harvest.
R. Curtis Fussell, Deadly Sins and Living Virtues, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Learn To Empty Yourself
A martial arts student was meeting with his master and teacher at a table, having tea. The student said to his master, "I've learned all you have to teach me about defending myself. I want to learn one thing more now. Please teach me about the ways of God."
The master took the teakettle and starting pouring the student's cup full of tea. Soon the cup was full and began to spill over onto the saucer. But the master continued to pour the tea until it spilled over the saucer and then onto the floor.
The student finally said, "Stop, stop, the tea is spilling over. The cup can't take any more." The master then looked at the student and said, "You are so full of yourself that there is no room in your life for God. It is not possible for you to learn the ways of God until you learn to empty yourself."
R. Curtis Fussell, Deadly Sins and Living Virtues, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Jesus Is Mine
As people drive to church each Sunday morning, they pass by the houses of neighbors who, although they may get to sleep in on Sundays, also live hopeless lives with no real certainty that there is a God anywhere who cares. They pass by nursing homes and hospitals that house debilitated people unable to go to church (or anywhere else for that matter). A few en route to church may even see the homeless huddled in doorways and under overpasses.
Compared to all that, surely there are times when people drive to church and quietly think, "I thank God I am not like other people. I am thank God I have faith, that I have a church to go to and the desire to attend. I thank God I have honest work to do and health in my body to do it. I am grateful not to be addicted to drugs or booze and that my children and I have a roof over our heads. I pray to God and know that God loves me. I give my offerings here at church and volunteer my time in various programs, too. I am so thankful I am not like other people who are lost, lonely, dishonest, and without the hope I have in my heart. I'm so glad to be a Christian."
All in all, such prayers sure sound a lot like a certain character in Luke 18. For that matter, it all sounds a little like some of the songs we sing in church:
"I am so glad that Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me, Jesus loves ME!"
"How vast the benefits divine which WE in Christ possess!"
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is MINE!"
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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Let Us Never Lack for Humility
Let's say that at some point in his life, Chip Brewster was the smartest math whiz in his class and the fastest running back on the football team at Hardy High School in Rapid Brook, Nebraska. He was the best of the best and felt mighty good about himself as a result. What he didn't know is that he seemed to be a big fish only because the pond he was in was so small. So one day he graduated high school and went on to study at the University of Michigan. Suddenly Chip met up with math geniuses who were so much smarter than him it wasn't even funny. He tried out for the football team and didn't even make the cut, having been left in the dust by running backs from all over the United States. And the next thing you know, Chip Brewster felt like nothing and nobody. The pride of Rapid Brook, Nebraska, was just a face in the crowd in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
All things being equal, Chip still had a lot going for him and much for which to be grateful. Once he recovered from the shock of becoming a small fish in a big pond, one hopes he was able to move forward. But there's nothing like a proper comparison to the wider world to give a puffed-up chest of pride a hard blow to the solar plexus. So also for us: if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, we will never lack for humility.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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The Beginnings of a Spiritual Journey
One of my sources of my spiritual grounding is the blues. Van Morrison's Hymns to the Silence has become the sound track of my soul. It floats around me and catches me in moments of solitude. It speaks to me of my journey, the things that have made me, the yearning for depth in prayer. It reflects a nostalgia for the innocence of youth, time that is gone, and a longing for a safe place to be ... the thirst for God. There is a spirit of rejuvenation and rebirth in Morrison's blues - there is no us and them. He sings.' No matter where I roam/ I will find my way back home/ I will return to the Lord."
The point of the story is the old one - "know yourself." The beginning of deep spiritual examination begins here. This is not a beating oneself up, but a prayer of have mercy on me. It is a modest understanding of oneself - that I need others to be more fully myself. I don't have to go it alone.
George Hermanson, A Modest Faith - A Subtle Shift In Grammar
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Humor: Better to Be Honest
One afternoon a carpet layer had just finished installing carpet for a lady. He stepped out for a smoke, only to realize he had lost his cigarettes. After looking around he noticed that in the middle of the room, under the carpet that he had just installed, was a bump. Ah, he thought, my cigarettes. “No sense pulling up the entire floor for one pack of smokes,” he said to himself. So he got out his mallet and flattened the bump. Not long after, as he was cleaning up, the lady came in. “Here,” she said, handing him his pack of cigarettes. “I found them in the hallway. Then she said, “Now. if I could just find my pet parakeet.” (adapted from Homiletics, October, 2007)
It was an honest mistake and the carpet layer didn’t know he was doing any harm by getting rid of the bump in the carpet. Sometimes however we aren’t aware that our little mishaps may actually cause harm to someone else. Better to be honest, rather than try to hide our mistakes.
Keith Wagner, Heavenly Humility
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You're Not Home Yet
How revealing is that story of the old missionary couple who had been working in Africa for years in the days when Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States. They were returning from Africa to New York City to retire. They had no pension for they belonged to no missionary board. Their health was broken, they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. When they went down to the wharf to board the ship they discovered to their amazement that they were booked on the same ship with Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big game hunting expeditions. They went aboard the ship and no one paid any attention to them. They watched all the tremendous fanfare that accompanied the President's arrival, how the band played as he came aboard, and everyone was agog over the thought of traveling on the same ship with the President of the United States. Passengers were stationing themselves at vantage points throughout the ship to see if they might catch a glimpse of the great man.
As the ship moved across the ocean this couple became more and more discouraged, especially the man. He said to his wife, "Dear, something is wrong. Why should we have given our lives in faithful service for God in Africa all these many years and no one cares a thing about us. Here is a man who has been on a big-game hunting expedition and when he comes back everybody makes over him but nobody gives two hoots about us." His wife said, "Dear, you shouldn't feel that way. Try not to be bitter about it." But he said, "I can't help it, I just can't help it, it doesn't look right. After all, if God is running this world, why does he permit such injustice?"
As the boat neared the American shore, his spirit became more and more depressed. He said to his wife, "I'll wager that when we get to New York there will be another band there and more fanfare over his arrival, but there will be no one to meet us." Sure enough, when they got in, the ship docked and a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor of New York City was there and other leaders of the nation, and the papers were full of the President's arrival, but no one said a word to this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East side, hoping the next day to see what they could do to make a living in the city.
But that first night the man's spirit just broke. He said to his wife, "I can't take this, it's not fair, God is not treating us fairly. Why should we give ourselves like this and have no one to meet us, no one to help us, no one to care. We don't even know where to go. If God is a faithful God, why doesn't he meet our need and send someone along?" And his wife said, "Dear, you mustn't feel this way, you simply must not, it isn't right. Why don't you go in the bedroom and tell the Lord the whole thing?"
So he went in, and about a half hour later he came out again and his face was different, his wife could see it. She said, "Dear, what happened? Everything is different I can see. You feel better, don't you?" "Yes," he said, "the Lord settled it with me." "Well," she said, "what did he say?" He said, "I went in and knelt beside the bed and I poured out the whole thing to him. I said, 'Lord, it's not fair. We have given our lives, we've given our blood and sweat and tears in Africa, our health is broken, we have no place to go.' And I told him all -- how bitter I was that the President should receive this tremendous welcome over nothing! Especially I felt bitter about the homecoming he received when no one met us when we returned home." He said, "You know, when I finished it seemed as though the Lord put his hand on my shoulder and simply said, 'But you're not home yet!'"
Ray Stedman, The Nature of Prayer
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It's Not All That Bad
Most nice respectable American churches don't talk about sin, judgment, or hell. Why? Because they are post-modern. Most Americans read the Bible selectively, omitting those parts they don't like. The first thing many American churchgoers throw out is the concept of hell, because (in their view) a nice, well-behaved God wouldn't let anybody go to hell. After you lose hell, you lose a sense of sin.
Nobody is guilty of anything. Everybody is just a victim. Finally, the call to repent has no meaning. Dr. Calvin Miller of the Beeson Divinity School claims that instead of repenting we play a nice little game entitled, "It's not all that bad." It sounds like this---"Yes, I did have a brief affair, but my wife was not meeting my needs. I didn't divorce her, so don't call it adultery; it's not all that bad." "Yes, my daughter and her fiancée share the same bedroom when they visit us, but most engaged couples do. After all, this is the 21st Century; it's not all that bad." "Sure, I sometimes drink too much, but never in front of the kids. I don't do any harm and it never causes me to miss a day of work. It's not all that bad." Many American churchgoers live in a state of denial.
When Charlie Brown did something wrong, he felt humility. But when Bart Simpson does something wrong, he feels entitlement. What a huge moral slippage this reveals in our culture. Jesus’ message of good news always began with the word "repent." "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17) Jesus bragged on a notorious sinner, a tax collector, because he uttered this simple prayer, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." A prayer of repentance always rings bells in heaven (Luke 18:10-14). The greatness of this tax collector was that he knew how to repent, how to say, "I'm sorry." All of us can be forgiven, if we are humble enough to say, "I'm sorry."
Bill Bouknight, How Do You Measure Greatness?
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Worshipping Who She Used To Be
Girolamo Savonarola was one of the great preachers of the fifteenth century. He preached in the great cathedral of Florence, Italy, which contained a magnificent marble statue of the blessed virgin Mary. When Savonarola started preaching at this great cathedral, he noticed one day an elderly woman praying before this statue of Mary. He then began to notice that it was her habit to come every day and pray before the statue.
Savonarola remarked one day to an elderly priest who had been serving in the cathedral for many years, "Look how devoted and earnest this woman is. Every day she comes and offers prayers to the blessed Mother of Jesus. What a marvelous act of faith." But the elderly priest replied, "Do not be deceived by what you see. Many years ago when the sculptor needed a model to pose for this statue of the blessed Mother, he hired a beautiful young woman to sit for him. This devout worshiper you see here everyday is that young woman. She is worshiping who she used to be."
The first and perhaps the deadliest of the seven deadly sins is pride.
R. Curtis Fussell, Deadly Sins and Living Virtues, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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Everyone Who Exalts Himself Will Be Humbled
Former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan tells the story of being on Air Force One. He was in the back compartment of the jet while President Reagan was in the front of the compartment. The phone rang in the back compartment and the voice said, "Mr. Donovan, the president would like for you to join him for lunch." Secretary Donovan straightened his tie and thought to himself how important he was to have the president ask him to lunch.
Just as Donovan walked through the doorway into the president's compartment, the red phone rang, the Presidential Hot Line. Wow--what a moment to be present! Reagan picked up the phone and said, "Yes--uhhuh. Yes--what are my options'" Donovan's heart almost stopped. His mind raced. Then President Reagan continued, "OK. I’ll have the iced tea!" Donovan's ego was deflated.
James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1988, p. 297.
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We Watched His Eyes
It was late New Year's Day when the showdown finally came. The number one and two college bowl teams in the nation were set to fight it out in the Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, Arizona, deciding who would lay claim to being the "Beast of the East" and the best in the nation.
Among those who predict such things, there was agreement that the nation's number one team would remain number one that night. Their passing attack had been unstoppable all season long, and it would remain so. A high-scoring game was predicted. Both predictions were wrong.
A defensive struggle prevailed, and the number one team was upset, beaten. Interviews and national news stories alike toyed with the obvious question: "How did you stop their passing attack?" Several strategies had been employed, such as mixing up defensive formations, intimidating receivers by hard tackling, and of special significance, watching the mannerisms of the quarterback. Careful study of earlier films had discovered that he "telegraphed" the direction of a pass. "How did you stop him?" "We watched his eyes!"
These words may hold the key to our discovery of the "central luminous truth" of the parable about two men who went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The key to this parable has to do with the direction of each man's eyes.
Theodore F. Schneider, Until the King Comes, CSS Publishing Company.
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If You Have To Tell Them Who You Are, Then You Aren't
The famous actor Gregory Peck was once standing in line with a friend, waiting for a table in a crowded Los Angeles restaurant. They had been waiting for some time, the diners seemed to be taking their time eating and new tables weren't opening up very fast. They weren't even that close to the front of the line. Peck's friend became impatient, and he said to Gregory Peck, "Why don't you tell the maitre d' who you are?" Gregory Peck responded with great wisdom. "No," he said, "if you have to tell them who you are, then you aren't."
That's a lesson that the Pharisee in our gospel reading apparently had never learned. His prayer, if it can be called that, is largely an advertisement for himself.
Larry R. Kalajainen, Extrodinary Faith for Ordinary Time, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
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The Prayer of Cyrus Brown
Years ago Sam Walter Foss wrote a poem expressing the unimportance of the posture of prayer. He called it, The Prayer of Cyrus Brown:
"The proper way for a man to pray,"
Said Deacon Lemuel Keyes
"And the only proper attitude
Is down upon his knees."
"No, I should say the way to pray,"
Said Reverend Doctor Wise,
"Is standing straight with outstretched arms
And rapt and upturned eyes."
"Oh, no, no, no,"
said Elder Slow,
Such posture is too proud.
"A man should pray with eyes fast-closed
And head contritely bowed."
"It seems to me his hands should be
Austerely clasped in front
With both thumbs pointing toward the ground."
Said Reverend Doctor Blunt.
"Last year I fell in Hidgekin's well
Headfirst," said Cyrus Brown,
"With both my heels a-stickin' up
And my head a-pointin' down.
And I made a prayer right then and there,
The best prayer I ever said,
The prayingest prayer I ever prayed,
A-standin' on my head."
Poem by Sam Walter Foss, Resource unknown.
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They Only Ironed The Parts That Showed
Mike Cope, in his article "Righteousness Inside Out," tells of inviting a college student and his girlfriend back to his home after church, to have lunch with him and his wife. "When we got to the house, I took off my suit coat and invited him to do the same. The boy hemmed and hawed for a long time until he could pull me aside, and what he whispered to me then reminded me of the way I used to live when I was in college." It seemed he had only ironed the cuffs and collar of his shirt. If he took off his jacket, his girl would see the rest of his shirt and know what a slob he was. He had only ironed the parts that showed. That was one of the major, ongoing complaints Jesus brought against the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day. That they were phony. That they were not what they seemed to be. That they were hypocrites. That they only ironed the parts that showed.
William R. Boyer, Sorry, Thank You, Please
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Self Righteousness
C. S. Lewis recounts that when he first started going to church he disliked the hymns, which he considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as he continued, he said, "I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit."
C. S. Lewis
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Humility
A college girl visited the home of Beethoven. She slipped under the rope and began playing Beethoven's piano. She said to the one in charge, "I suppose every musician who comes here wants to play this piano." He explained to her that recently the great Paderewski was visiting there and someone asked him to play that piano. He replied, "No, I do not feel worthy to play the great master's piano."
James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, Tyndale, 1988, p. 294.
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Our Own Vices
Dwight L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon were great preachers of the nineteenth century. Moody admired Spurgeon from a distance and looked forward to the opportunity of meeting him in London. On that historic day, Spurgeon answered the door with a cigar in his mouth. Moody was aghast. "How could you, a man of God, smoke that?" Spurgeon took the cigar from his mouth, put his finger on Moody's rather inflated stomach, smiled and said, "The same way you, a man of God, could be that fat." Because we are usually blind to our own vices, we are hardly qualified to judge others.
Eric S. Ritz, The Ritz Collection,www.Sermons.com
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The Worship Wars
We pastors call it The Worship Wars. One can see the frowning battlements in the faces seated in pews, hear the rumble of its artillery in negative comments, and feel the white heat of its lethal shrapnel in board meetings.
"It's boring!"
"Why, those songs are so old, every time I sing them I get a backache!"
"Worship is becoming a nightclub act! What will we do next?"
"Choruses are 7-11 worship. Seven words repeated eleven times!"
Any pastor, any active church member alive today is in the trenches of this warfare. Thankfully, the scriptures can be our guide through the mine-fields of this battleground. And today's text, a parable of Jesus, is a good place to begin. [read Luke 18:9-14]
Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Two men. The same church service. Two totally different approaches to worship.
Mr. Pharisee about whom Jesus said "... trusted in himself that he was righteous and regarded others with contempt," so cleverly told us he came to church with one eye on himself, one eye on his neighbor, and no eye on God. And I might point out that Jesus said even though this man went to church, he was not a part of the community for he was "standing by himself." And Jesus said pointedly that he was never forgiven by God, for "all who exalt themselves will be humbled." I guess you might say he was so self-conscious he lost his God-consciousness.
The second gentleman, however, the tax collector, "went down to his home justified." It seems that even though he was not satisfied with himself, God was.
So, from the text, which of these two men do you relate to in worship? You went to church today. What happened?
Stephen M. Crotts, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost: Music from Another Room, CSS Publishing Company
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Ready for Worship
Ernie, Madge and Todd Applegate always took their place in a front pew just as the bell was ringing. The Applegates were regular and faithful members of the First Church of Christ. They knew what to do once they got into their pew. Each head bowed as the Applegates silently prepared themselves for worship.
Ernie Applegate thought long and hard that morning about a matter that haunted him a bit. He and his boyhood friend Phil Crane had both been candidates for a new position at the telephone company where they had worked together since high school days. Both men really wanted this new position. In his interview with the company, Ernie had said some things about Phil that he had never told anyone before. Ernie hated to do it and his conscience bothered him a bit, but this new position meant everything to him and his family.
The way Ernie had it figured, he certainly needed the position worse than Phil did. Phil's wife, after all, had a full-time job. The Cranes had two incomes. Madge only had a part-time job at a dress shop. That was simply not enough extra dollars to support their daughter in her first year of college. That reality had put a real crunch on their budget. It's true. He probably shouldn't have said what he said about his good friend. On the other hand, he had plenty of justification for it. Ernie's meditation ended there. He was ready for worship to begin.
While Ernie was meditating on his life in preparation for worship, his wife did likewise. Something haunted her, too. Madge had been working part-time at a new dress shop in town for about eight months now. The shop was owned and operated by Susan Glenn. Actually, Madge Applegate had never really trusted Susan Glenn all that much but the job was posted; she needed work; she took the job. It didn't take many days in the shop for Madge to be reminded why she didn't trust Ms. Glenn. Her boss marked up almost every item in the dress shop a full 20 percent over the suggested retail price. That bothered Madge. She felt guilty charging folks, many of whom were her friends, an outlandish price for their purchases.
Then one day a good friend of Madge came into the store to look at dresses. She found just the dress she wanted but the price was just too high. Right then and there Madge Applegate instituted a new policy unbeknownst to her boss. She cut the price by 20 percent. Her friend was so happy that she gave Madge a tip for her kindness. Now this caused a whole new scheme to develop at Susan Glenn's dress shop. Many women in town soon realized that for a small tip, Madge Applegate would cut 20 percent off the price of almost everything in the shop.
As Madge prepared for worship this Sunday morning she thought about the plan she had devised. On the one hand, she knew she shouldn't be doing it. But, on the other hand, her boss was not being fair to the customers in her pricing policies. As for the tips Madge received, she judged that to be all right in light of the extra business it produced. Madge's meditation for this Sunday was now over. She concluded, as she usually did, that she was justified in her deeds. Madge, too, was ready for worship to begin.
Richard A. Jensen, Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
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Watching Life Pass By
A little boy was asked what his father did by an older man. The boy answered, "He watches." "You mean he is a night watchman?" "Oh no", the little boy exclaimed, "He just watches." "Well, what does he watch?" "I don't know if I can tell you everything, but I can name a few things." "Well, tell me," the curious man replied.
"He watches TV, he watches Mom do the housework, he watches for the mail man, he watches the weather, he watches the computer, and I think he watches girls, too" he said with an impish grin on his face. "He watches the stock market, football games. He watches Mom spank us, and he watches us do our homework. He watches us leave to go to Church and PTA and shopping. He watches Mom write letters and me play with my dog. He watches Mom pay the bills. But mainly, he just watches."
There are many who idly sit and watch life pass them by. They live lives for which there is no meaning, no significance. If this is characteristic of your life, the Apostle Paul offers a challenge to fight the good fight, to finish the race, to keep the faith.
Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com. Adapted from Williams, H. Page: Do Yourself a Favor: Love Your Wife.
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Power over Us
When we hate our enemies we give them power over us - power over our sleep, our appetites, our happiness. They would dance with joy if they knew how much they were worrying us. Our hate is not hurting them at all, but it is turning our days & our nights into hellish turmoil.
Dale Carnegie
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Your Personal Best
Mike Krzyzewski [pronounced “shuh- shef-skee”] is coach of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team. He is known as being meticulous in his pursuit of basketball success. In his book titled, Leading with the Heart, he attributes much of his success to his mother. He writes, “You want to know who my hero is? My hero is my mother. Everything she did was something that she put her own trademark on. Whatever it was, something as simple as making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. When we were a little poorer, she put three chips in every cookie. When we got a little more money, it’d be four chips. But if you got a chocolate chip cookie that had only two chips, two chocolate chips in it, you knew it wasn’t my mother’s, and from that simple lesson I’ve taken the principle that everything we do has our own personal signature on it, so we want to do it the best we possibly can.”
That’s a pretty good philosophy. Put your personal stamp on everything you do. In every worthwhile thing you do, give your very best.
St. Paul put his personal signature on the New Testament and upon the burgeoning young church of his day. And he did it like Coach Krzyzewski’s mother. He gave his very best. He held nothing back.
King Duncan, adapting Mike Krzyzewski from Leading with the Heart, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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Forgetting Your Own Fatigue
The British writer C. C. Montague once told a remarkable short story about a man is his early fifties who awoke one morning with a curious numb feeling in his right side, which affected him from head to foot. The man had lived an active life, achieved a reasonable degree of success, but was now alone in the world, his wife being dead and his children grown and married. He saw the numbness as the beginning of old age. As he pondered his situation, he came at length to a decision. This moment was an opportunity for him, while his strength and vigor remained, to carry out an experiment in which he had long been interested. He was a lover of the mountains and a first-rate climber. He would go to the Alps, and throw away all caution in climbing and climb higher than he had ever climbed before. He had nothing to lose by such an experiment. No precipice could frighten him anymore, after all, his life was nearly over. He would climb as he had never climbed before. And, when he reached the limits of strength and endurance, that would be that.
So Christopher Bell went to Switzerland to a special place that he had in mind, and one morning some weeks later started out alone to climb a 12,000 foot ridge over the steepest route. He noticed as he started his walk that the numbness was with him in his right leg and arm, but that he did not seem to notice it so much as he went on.
By mid-afternoon he was part-way up the ridge, slowly and painfully cutting steps in the ice wall with his axe. He was beginning to tire, and the way ahead was ever steeper and more dangerous. But he felt no fear. Never had the world seemed so beautiful. Never had the zest of climbing been so great. He came at last to a precipitous cliff, sheathed in ice, which was even steeper than the vertical. It had several overhangs which seemed almost impossible to negotiate. But without hesitation he began the ascent, cutting holds for hands and feet with his axe, and holding on against gravity with his free arm. The progress was slow, but at last he reached the most hazardous spot of all: a place where the overhang was directly above him. Progress could be made only inch by painful inch, and at tremendous expenditure of strength and endurance. He began to feel the drag of a huge fatigue, the ache in all his joints, which warned that his strength was failing. And yet, knowing that one relaxed muscle could let him drop hundreds of feet to his death, he went on and on until he reached the moment when he could no longer raise his arm to chop the steps in the ice which were his only safety. He looked up at the overhang still above him, and knew that he could not make those last few feet. And he knew also that he had reached at length the moment he had sought.
Suddenly, however, he became aware of something above him, on the upper side of the overhang. He could not see, but he could hear voices, and presently an ice axe came sliding over the edge of the overhang and fell into the abyss below. He knew that somebody was above him, and that whoever was there was in trouble. Then he heard a cry of distress. New strength began to flow into his arms and legs. He knew no numbness, no cramps, no fatigue. He knew only that he must get up there to give what help he could.
Swiftly and yet carefully he began to climb again, cutting the steps with his axe, pulling himself miraculously upward. And then suddenly he had made it, and saw above him two people: a woman dangling helplessly on a rope, a man above her unable to move from a precarious perch since his whole strength was necessary to hold the woman. Bell came to the rescue and was able to bring these two people to safety. Together the three surmounted the ridge, found a hut, and spent the night in warmth and conversation. Bell had, of course, rescued the man and the woman. But they had also rescued him. For, if he had not heard their distress, he would have yielded to exhaustion and lost his own grasp.
What a marvelous parable of our place in this world. God has placed us here to serve one another and to serve Him. It is in giving away our lives that we receive new life. It is in serving that we find greatness. It is in losing our lives that we find them. Whose life is better because you have been here? It is only in adding to the lives of others that we find value in our lives.
C. E. Montague, Action and Other Stories (Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1929). Cited in Harry C. Meserve, No Peace of Mind (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1955), pp. 139-141.
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The Transformation of a Hideous Beetle
One afternoon, a man, lying in a canoe close to shore, saw many beetles in the muddy bottom of the lake. He felt sorry for these lowly creatures which would never know any other world except gloom and mud and water. Then a big, black beetle came out of the water. He crawled up on the gunwale and sat there blinking at him. Under the heat of the sun the beetle died. Then a strange thing happened. His black shell cracked down the back. Out of it came a shapeless mass whose hideousness was transformed into a beautiful, brilliantly colored life. Out of that mass gradually unfolded four iridescent wings from which the sunlight flashed a thousand colors. The wings spread wide as if to worship the sun. The man realized that he had witnessed the transformation of a hideous beetle crawling in the mud to a gorgeous dragonfly soaring above the waters. The body that was left behind still clung to the gunwale of the canoe. While the dragonfly explored the wonders of his wings and his new world, the other beetles were still crawling in the mud. He knew that he had seen a miracle of nature. Out of the mud had come a beautiful new life. The thought occurred to him, if the Creator worked such wonders with the lowliest of creatures, what must be in store for his children created in his likeness!
That is our hope and our victory on this day. That is our comfort and our peace.
O. Garfield Beckstrand II, In Sure and Certain Hope, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.