Monday, January 28, 2019

"CHANCE" SOLVES EVERYTHING?


        I saw a Cuyler Black cartoon print going around the weekend of the annual March for Life earlier this month. It showed two snowmen in a yard, one saying to the other, “Don’t be absurd! Nobody made us! We evolved by chance from snowflakes.” Yes, truly!! Who in their right mind would think that possible? But snowmen are merely frozen molecules of H2O. Where did the carrot nose, hat, coal buttons and stick arms get there? By chance?
        I’m reading - for the third time - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Zondervan, 1987), a joint work by Phillip Yancey, best-selling author and editor at Christianity Today, and Dr. Paul Brand, renowned hand surgeon and specialist in treating leprosy. The two present a fascinating approach to explaining how the human body works - how the many thousands of types of cells work together to help us walk, talk, feel or process food, as well as repair itself, soothe our hurts, give us pleasure, defend weaker cells, or do a thousand other things different types of cells do for the body. The authors call it “cell cooperation.” 
        Besides understandable lessons in anatomy, the book insightfully compares cell cooperation to the Body of Christ, the Church, and how indispensable each of us are in that Body. The book also re-affirms how impossible is could be for all these cells to “evolve by chance” as secularists would have us believe. 
        Acts 17:28 tells us, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” If we humans think it absurd that snowmen could be made by the chance falling of snowflakes, how can we think it’s possible for a human life to appear by chance? That should surely qualify as absurdity. 
        Perhaps we should learn how we are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made before we accept beliefs that chance evolution solves the secret to life. God has made us with such intricate and amazing bodies, not chance. There can be no other solution.

Thank You, Lord God, for giving us bodies and minds to “live and move and have our being.”

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com


Monday, January 21, 2019

JESUS IS OUR BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

        Fifty years ago Simon and Garfunkel recorded the popular song, “Bridge Over Trouble Waters.” Its gentle words encourage us to be a helpful connection for troubled people. The chorus line went: “Like a bridge over troubled waters, I will lay me down.” One of its verses said, “When you’re down and out, feeling low, I’m by your side, I will comfort you.” It was good sentiment, urging people to lend a helping hand to the troubled.
        Part of what made that song a success was its contrast to the pained songs of war protesters or the angst-ridden screeches of drug culture music. A “Bridge Over Trouble Waters” is still a wonderful concept for times like these. There many troubled waters we, our children and our friends must navigate these days.
        It’s comforting to know this is why Jesus came to earth, to be the connection between us and God. He is the One who shows sinners to way to the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. He is the bridge between us wayward children and our eternal loving Parent, the One who created us, cares for us and welcomes us home.
        1 Timothy 2:56 tells us, “There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus.” He is God’s Bridge over life’s troubled waters we can walk all the days of our lives. Through Him we can live joyfully and purposefully now, and cross over into eternity when He calls us home.

Thank You, Jesus, for being our Eternal Bridge.

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com

Monday, January 14, 2019

OH MY GOD!


Have you ever said, “Oh my God!” and considered what those three words mean? Have you ever thought of that phrase as an expression of gratitude? How do we show our gratitude when we are truly grateful?
One night in the desert I saw a marvelous sunset, its vibrant colors on fleecy clouds in a clear and changing sky with deepening reds, yellows and blues. It was a sight only God could create in such grand fashion. I quietly said, “Oh my God!” because it was so beautiful and so fleeting.
“Oh my God!” a teenager says. I have often been critical of hearing those words flippantly spoken, yet they can have great meaning. Something worthwhile was seen, a connection made to cause us to cry out to our Creator, “Oh my God!”
Sometimes our day starts out grey and chilly, but ends with a warm display of brilliance we could not have imagined. Today is God’s gift, and this very moment it is the only thing we can truly own. Today has such great value to our existence that gratitude to Him should be our response.
Today we will experience life, our own and the lives of others. Let’s open our eyes and see the sky and the weather. It is wondrous and ever changing. Look at the faces of the people you meet. They are unique, original and perhaps interesting, and you have eyes to see them. Millions cannot see with eyes like yours, for their world is darkness.
Turn on the faucet and see the clean water coming out, hot or cold, and realize many millions do not have this gift you take for granted. Smile at a friend and realize for just a moment the value of that person smiling back at you. Perhaps they like you, maybe even love you.
God loves you forever through Jesus, His Son. If you can count even a few small blessings in your life, then let your gratitude overflow to others around you, and also to your Creator. Then it is most appropriate to say, “Oh my God!”

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1)

God loves to hear us call out to Him, no matter when it is.

Monday, January 7, 2019

CHOOSING THE GOOD


Dear friends,
        When can we finally say “Enough!” ? When can we choose another way? A professor once told his class he’d been a fair pianist in his youth. His mother required him to take piano lessons, twelve years in all, and he became quite skilled, accompanying church or family or performing a piece others delighted to hear. He didn’t always like doing it, but he continued because he had the skills and felt he was needed.
        Then one day he realized he didn’t want to play piano any longer. “I didn’t dislike the music, but I just didn’t want to play it any more,” he said. “People asked why I’d stopped and urged me to go back to the keyboard. They said I was too skilled to stop, and some even said I was wrong. But I made my choice and I’ve felt it was the right one.” Dr. Walter Bartling told us this as a seminary professor, a teacher of the New Testament, not music.
        God has given us capabilities to make choices. Some of our choices are good, but others are not. Some choices may be impossible. I can’t just wake up some day and say I’ll never eat food again (I need it), or I’m going to run a marathon (Impossible!). But just because we’ve done something in the past doesn’t mean we must keep doing it. I’m not referring to major or essential choices, whether or not to believe in God or to end my life. I refer to our minor choices, what to do today or avoid, what to wear, where to go or what to consume. Not all choices are equally possible or good. We choose according to our needs, and that can be difficult.
        As Jesus lived, prayed and learned the Holy Scriptures, He discovered why He had come to the earth. His Heavenly Father showed Him what was needed - to save the world from eternal destruction. Since sin had come into God’s creation, it had become doomed, headed for needless disaster. 
        Jesus followed God’s prompting and became God’s Divine Intervention for the world, and He continued on His path through life. He could not one day just stop being a Savior, although in the Garden of Gethsemane it was tempting. He didn’t say, “Enough!” and walk away. He chose to stay on course and do what we needed but could not achieve ourselves.
        Yet, one day our Lord said just that. He was at the end of His earthly life, dying on Calvary’s cross, and finally He said, “It is finished!”(John 19:30) He had completed His chosen task, and we praise Him that He stuck with it to the end. 
        As you make your choices today, do you best to see they are good ones. Ask the Lord to guide you and help you choose what will build up, not tear down. Let Him help you hold on to the good and set aside what is not.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for helping us choose what is good.

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com