Substance for the Soul

A Time To Choose

There are important crossroads in a life that can change our future. These times often involve situations when we are confronted with how powerless we are over the events and circumstances of our life.

Moments like these can either leave us frozen in place, destroy us, or forever set the course of our life in a much better direction.

Saul of Tarsus (later called Paul) had such a moment. After Jesus’ ascension, Saul took it upon himself to rid the world of Christians.

As he headed to Damascus on this mission, “a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?’ ”

Popular pictures have shown Saul as he is apparently knocked off of his donkey or horse. The Bible doesn’t say that, but he certainly was knocked onto his … um … backside. 

 The first of the twelve steps in any twelve-step program ask us, like Paul, to admit that we were powerless over our problems—that “our lives had become unmanageable.” We need someone else besides ourselves to take charge. Someone new to be in control. We need a change of ownership.

I saw a great picture once of a bird who was stepping off a branch. It’s not flying yet. Its wings haven’t opened. It’s just frozen in time as it steps into the void.

I am sure that bird isn’t thinking, “Okay, now what?” It knows what it’s doing. It was, after all, created to fly. Stepping from that branch, it doesn’t hesitate at all.

It just does it.

Edward Teller once said, “When you get to the end of all the light you know, and it’s time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith knows that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”

Life feeling out of control lately? Find yourself at a crossroad?

We weren’t given wings, but we can still fly. We were made to take that first step.

Close your eyes for a moment. Try to picture that bird high in the tree. Now watch it take that very first step into the air before opening its wings.

Can you imagine how that freedom feels? If you can’t, then admitting you are powerless is where you must begin.

Trust in the One who calls you forward. You were made for this.

Go ahead, spread your wings.

Benediction

The apostle Paul closes his letter to the Philippians the same way he finishes the rest of his letters, with a benediction: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

We hear something similar at the end of a worship service when the ministers raise their hands and pronounce the benediction.

Well, some of us do. A few of us use that time to beat it out the door like it’s the final batter in the ninth inning.

If you do, though, you may be missing something important.

The word benediction means blessing. It is a pronouncement or announcement of the fact that God is blessing his people. That is what Paul is doing at the end of his epistles.

At the end of 2 Corinthians, he says,

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Other times he is more direct, as, for instance, in the letter to the Colossians and his first letter to Timothy, where he says, “Grace be with you.”

Grace, though, is common to all of them.

This was also true of the more famous benediction in the Old Testament. In Numbers, the Lord has Moses tell Aaron, the high priest, to bless the people with these words:

“The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” 

The benediction is not a prayer, a wish, or a hope. Paul is not praying that God will give His grace to the church. Instead, he is pronouncing God’s blessing of grace upon them.

There is a big difference between prayer and pronouncement. Prayer is a request that moves from us to God.

A pronouncement, on the other hand, is a declaration, a statement. And in the benediction, it is from God to us. The minister is not praying and asking God to give His grace to His people. Instead, he is pronouncing, declaring, stating God’s blessing upon them. 

Yes, sister or brother, we are blessed. In Christ, we are loved, chosen, redeemed, forgiven, freed, sanctified, and promised an eternal inheritance with all the riches, glories, and character of our Savior. May we all take the pronouncement seriously and know again that the Lord promises to “bless you and keep you; make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; to look you square in the eye and give you peace.” 

Don’t leave too early. You’re not going to want to miss it.