Author Archive
A Time to Laugh – Part One
A little humor never hurt anybody, so try this.
In rummaging through an old file I found this copy of a stock report.
It was a rocky week on this Market. “Helium was up, feathers were down. Paper was stationary. Ticonderoga Pencils lost a few points. Though elevators rose, escalators continued their slow decline. Weights were up in heavy trading. Light switches were off. Mining equipment hit rock bottom. The market for raisins dried up. Pampers remained unchanged. Caterpillar stock inched up a bit. Sun peaked at midday. Birds Eye Peas split. Stanley tools filed for Chapter 11. Scott Tissues touched a new bottom.”
Now back to reality. Solomon, reputedly the wisest man who ever lived, offered this dictum: “A time to weep, and a time to laugh…” (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
There is a time to weep, and that all too often. When appropriate do it. Conversely there is a time to laugh. When appropriate do it.
An indicting question is posed in Chuck Swindoll’s book “Laugh Again:” “When did a healthy, well-exercised sense of humor get sacrificed on the altar of adulthood?”
God loves a good laugh! It’s God who says to us, “a joyful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).
To be spiritual you don’t have to abdicate your intelligence, abort your personality, or abandon your sense of humor. After all, it is said, “God laughed….”
He is the happy God (1 Timothy 1:11), the source of all that is healthy and wholesome and purely hilarious. Anyone who would come up with the ideas to create puppies, kittens, llamas, parrots, and proboscis monkeys has a riotous sense of humor.
You can’t read the gospels without knowing Jesus lived with a spirit of joy and humor and warmth in whose presence other people genuinely enjoyed. Humor of the day, satire, and irony overflowed the cusp of the teaching of Jesus. His vision of God’s kingdom effervesces with joy. Spirit guided self-control enables the faithful to enjoy these attributes. Jesus wasn’t a kill-joy and neither are His teachings. His followers should not be either.
Some of the benefits of laughter include: enhancing intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulating heart, lungs, and muscles, increasing endorphins released by the brain, relieving stress, strengthening social bonds, improving heart health, boosting the immune system, relaxing muscles, lowering anxiety, improving mood, and supporting immunity. Those are not laughing matters, they are blessed benefits. Oh, remember “A merry heart does good like a medicine.”
The “man of sorrows” Himself said, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh” (Luke 6:21). That is a promise of a happy God (1 Timothy 1:11). Crying is going to go the way of death and someday will be no more (Revelation 21:4). But joy full to overflowing and pleasure pure and rich will never end (Psalm 16:11).
We live mindful there is a time to weep, but don’t forget it is just as expedient to laugh.
Spiritual Metamorphosis
Have you ever visited a lepidopterarium? That is a butterfly house, a conservatory, a facility which is specifically intended for the breeding and display of butterflies. Visiting one is a delightful experience. The life cycle of the butterfly is observable in this lovely setting. It is amazing that a creature as ugly as a pupa can crawl into a simple cocoon and later emerge as a beautiful butterfly. It is a total transformation. A new creature emerges.
An even more amazing transformation is that any one can enter into a relationship with Jesus and emerge as a new creation.
This dynamic change is not cosmetic. It is internal and eternal. It is an inner change that only Jesus can make, but He can make it in anyone.
A classic example is the former basketball phenomenon Pete Maravich. I knew him well and saw his miraculous transformation. He lived the life of an athlete not knowing Jesus and very little about Him. His transformation patterned a pupa, but was far more beautiful. As a result of the change he knew brokenness and grace. Resultantly He loved and lived for the Lord.
Spiritual brokenness is inward – a contrite spirit over our own sinfulness which leads to humility, surrender, and godly repentance. Personal brokenness is an opportunity for restoration, and for us to authentically enjoy our friendship with God.
Pete’s brokenness was so meaningful to him he had John 3: 16 carved in the wood of the front door of his house. He said if anyone came to his house he wanted them to know what kind of a man lived there even if he wasn’t home at the time. Pete experienced a spiritual metamorphism, a change. Because our God is a redemptive God and so contrary to the way we think, He will always take our brokenness and bring new life and beauty from it. He can meet us exactly where we are, extending mercy in our time of need.
Countless characters in the Bible experienced this. Nicodemus illustrates it. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” Legions through the years have enjoyed it.
Nicki Cruse, the leader of a New York City gang the Mau Maus, experienced being born again. When Nicki came to know Jesus as Savior he went back to the gang and explained his experience. Most often if a member of the Mau Maus’ tried to leave they were killed. He walked through the club members unhurt on his way out. He became an evangelist who was used extensively.
The Lord can do the equivalent for anyone who will turn to Him in obedient faith.
In estate planning an Irrevocable Trust is often used, meaning it can not be canceled. That is the kind of commitment Jesus makes to us. So must our commitment be to Him. A butterfly never becomes a pupa again.
The Bourbon Street I Knew
The mask was torn off the face of “The City That Care Forgot,” New Orleans. It was so called in 1910 to assure visitors they would be free from worries while visiting the city. That changed when the face of evil shown as Bourbon Street, scene of raucous bars serving potent cocktails, became the scene of the recent macabre mayhem of maimed victims.
Two quarters constitute most of downtown New Orleans, the French Quarter and the Irish Channel. Formerly persons from one enter the other. For a time I ministered in the Irish Channel.
The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carré, is the setting for a 24/7 party. That is the image most people have of not just Bourbon Street, but the quarter itself. That limits the quarter’s image. The book “Frenchman Love Goodchildren” employs as its title the name of three famous New Orleans streets. When the quarter was laid out they wanted to name all of the streets after French nobles. They could not find enough nobles that got along with each other to name parallel streets for them, so they put a street between each named for a saint.
Bourbon Street is more than strip clubs. It features jazz clubs, and Cajun eateries, such as, world renown Galatoire’s. Old-world architecture, century-old restaurants, art galleries, antique shops, fine dining, and typical live music in the quarter create a rare ambience. O. Henry once lived and wrote at 241 Bourbon Street, now known as the Bourbon Cowboy.
Quieter streets are in the French Quarter, with gourmet food, local crafts, and Jackson Square, where street performers entertain in front of soaring St. Louis Cathedral.
My first exposure to Bourbon Street was as a collegian. Our basketball team had played Tulane. The schools being close to each other we traveled there in vans. After the game I was in the van with the coach who drove us down Bourbon. As he drove he said, “I want you boys to be the kind I could put out on the end of Bourbon at Canal Street at dark and pick you up on the other end at Esplanade Street, the Louisiana Creole section, at sun up and you would be the same kind of person as I put out on Canal. Advice well taken.
My next experience was as a seminary student in New Orleans while living in the quarter for a while. One class required students to preach on Bourbon Street. We went in small groups, sang a bit, and preached. You have never been cussed until you have been cussed by a Cajun mama. I was.
Years later I became a pastor in New Orleans. As such I went to Bourbon Street several times at the request of wives to get their husbands.
One morning an older friend and I took a shortcut down Bourbon on our way to go fishing. It was just before sun up. Strippers and other bar girls were just ending their night’s work and were walking down the street. He said, “Look at them. They are all failures.” I ask why he thought of them as such. He said they failed somewhere in a broken marriage, a failed relationship, or at some point in their career, and resorted to this.”
Bourbon will always be scared by the crux of evil perpetuated there. Bright spots in the Quarter are several successful ministries providing light in the darkness.
Wine in the Bible and the Consumption of Alcohol Today
Knowing there are Friends who consume beverage alcohol I want them to know such does not diminish my love for them. This is an effort to inform all Friends what the Bible teaches on the issue. May you find this insightful and inspirational.
“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” James 5: 18.
This topic demands more time for study than most posts. May it be a blessing.
Did Jesus and His disciples consume intoxicating wine in observance of Passover, the Lord’s Supper?
Does the Bible admonition to “take a little wine for the stomach sake” legitimize consumption of intoxicants?
Was it possible to preserve wine in a non-fermented state in the time of Jesus?
These and related questions deserve an answer based on historical facts.
Consider the last of these questions first.
Ancients had several ways of preserving unfermented wine. One was to reduce the grape juice to the constituency of a thick syrup or even a jelly known in Hebrew as “debhash” and in Arabic as “dbs.” This preserved form could be used over a long period of time. By adding water the concentrate turns the water into unfermented wine.
Sometimes a cake was made of dried grapes which later was added to water to produce unfermented wine.
In the modern era a conscientious layman responsible for preparing the table at his church for the Lord’s Supper became concerned about using fermented wine. Being a pharmacist he utilized only techniques from the time of the Bible to produce unfermented grape juice for use at the Lord’s Supper. His name was Mr. Welch of Welch’s Grape Juice fame.
Welch’s concern grew out of the fact bread with leavening was forbidden to be used at the Passover. Leavening involved using yeast. As the yeast cells die the decay produces gases. The fermentation results in the rising of bread. Purity was desired, so unleavened bread was required.
Welch reasoned why would fermentation not be allowed in the bread while being allowed in wine.
The Bible instructs people “Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper” (Proverbs 23: 31, 32). The movement in the wine is caused by the bubbles rising from the fermentation.
The Greeks, seeing movement in the wine, thought it indicated there was life in the wine. When such wine was used, it influenced speech, hearing, and one’s ability to walk. Because of this outside control of the body they thought it to be a god in the wine and gave the god the name Baccah.
When the Bible appeals to persons not to be filled with wine (drunk), but to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5: 18) it is teaching persons to choose the truth of the Holy Spirit, and to be controlled by Him, not Baccah. Let the Holy Spirit control your body, not an intoxicant.
Wine was in common use in the Bible time. It is helpful to understand how it was used in deciding how to apply Bible verses related to it.
Wine was normally stored in large pointed jugs called amphorae. When it was to be used the desired portion was poured from the amphorae into a large bowl known as a kraters. From the kraters it was poured into the cup known as a kylix.
In the large bowl, the kraters, water was added before the mixture was used to fill the cups, kylix.
The ratio of water to wine varied. Different ancient writers noted different formulas ranging from one part wine to twenty parts of water. Others indicate a ratio of 1:5, 1:4, 2:5.
At the wedding in Cana Jesus had the water pots filled with water and when the guests drank they referred to it as “wine,” the normal word for the mixture of water and wine.
Writers normally referred to wine mixed with water as “wine.” To indicate wine not mixed with water it is called unmixed (akratesteron), “wine.”
Drinking wine without it being mixed with water was looked upon as “Scythian” or “Barbarian.”
Plutarch wrote, “We call a mixture ‘wine,’ although the larger of the component parts is water.”
The Jewish Encyclopedia states that during the rabbinic period ‘yayin ‘(wine) was to be distinguished from ‘shekar’ (strong drink): the former is diluted with water (‘mazug’); the latter is undiluted (‘yayin hai’).”
The Jewish Talmud, which contains the oral traditions from 200 B.C. to 200 A. D. has several tractates in which the mixture of water and wine are discussed. The normal mixture is said to be 1 part wine to 3 parts water.
In the portion of that work known as Pesachim 108b it is stated that the four cups every Jews was to drink from during the Passover ritual the mixture was a radio of 3 parts of water to 1 part wine.
From this can be concluded that what Jesus and the disciples used at the Last Supper was not an intoxicant.
From around 60 B.C. the Book of Maccabees 15: 39 states: “It is harmful to drink wine alone or again, to drink water alone, while wine mixed with water is sweet and delicious….”
Justin Martyr around 150 A.D. described the Lord’s Supper in this way: “Bread was bought, and wine and water, and the president sends up prayers and thanksgiving” (Apology I, 67, 5).
Clement of Alexandria stated: “It is best for the wine to be mixed with as much water as possible… For both are works of God, and the mixing of the two, both the water and wine produces health….”
The mixture of water and wine was also used for medicinal purposes. Because of amoeba in water wine was added as a purifying agent. Hence, the Scripture says, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for the stomach’s sake and thine other infirmities.” (I Timothy 5: 23). Wine was medicinal.
An admirable attitude is expressed in Proverbs 20: 1, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”
James 5: 18 concludes with “be filled with the Spirit” This is in the imperative mood, a command, meaning, do this. In the Greek it reads, be you being filled with the Holy Spirit, meaning, to constantly let the Holy Spirit control your life.
If any form of an intoxicant controls any part of your brain the Holy Spirit is not in control of that section and the command to be constantly “filled,” every part, is not being obeyed.
The same word regarding being “filled” was used to describe the sails of a ship being filled by wind that propels the ship. Let the Holy Spirit fill you and propel you.
This formula would enable individuals to avoid the kind of wine the recent study by the Attorney General warns of as causing cancer.
His Words to Hide in Your Heart
In the following verses mine the nuggets of promises and claim them as your treasure.
Consider your worth to the Lord.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).
Knowing your worth to the Lord should enhearten you.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” II Corinthians 4:16-18).
Therefore, you should, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:3-6).
Therefore, “May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience” (Proverbs 3:3-6).
With such wisdom and strength available to you “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2-3).
You can do it by “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
Resultantly, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
Be assured “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
To hide His word in your heart don’t be a lazy Christian, hide His word in your heart by memorizing these verses one by one over the next weeks. It will take time and effort to do it, but you will be better for doing it. There are verses I memorized more than 85 years ago and they are still paying spiritual dividends.