BEANNACHD!

Beannachd Dae Leat. Scottish Gaelic for “God’s blessings go with you.” Or simply, “Goodbye!”

Almost two years after my arrival here in the bonnie land of Scotland, I’m in the process of bidding friends and well-wishers in Aberdeen goodbye. Next week I take my leave. It’s back to the U.S. for me. But not without the pangs of separation.

It has been a terrific time of learning for me here: not only focusing undistractedly upon the topic of my thesis, but also learning to trust God far away from home, friends, familiarity, vocation, …. But our God is a trustworthy God: it wasn’t long before I made good friends here in Aberdeen who will remain good friends for ever. The delight of their company and love, however, makes farewells less than pleasant. I will miss those dear ones greatly.

Yet it is with keen anticipation that I head back to Dallas to begin a new chapter of my life, teaching (and treating), and generally trundling through life, attempting to serve my God to the best of my capacity. What He holds for me in the next phase of my life I anticipate with excitement and eagerness. Remembering His faithfulness to me in the past certainly makes it easier to look forward into the future. God is faithful!

The LORD's lovingkindnesses
indeed never cease,
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,”
says my soul,
Therefore I have hope in Him.”
Lamentations 3:22–24

So, later this week, back to Texas! It will certainly be an adventure. All of life is, isn’t it? An adventure that we undertake in the full confidence of the sovereign power and tender love of our great God.

You have enclosed me
behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I dwell in the remotest
part of the sea,
even there Your hand
will lead me,
and Your right hand
will lay hold of me.
How precious also are
Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they
would outnumber the sand.
Psalm 139:5, 9–10, 17–18

No matter where we are, what path we tread, which situation we find ourselves in, we, like Paul, are …

… convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities,
nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
Romans 8:38–39

As I requested prayer when I set forth from the U.S. to the U.K., may I again ask for your intercession with regard to all that awaits my immediate future? Many thanks to all who have faithfully labored as prayer warriors on my behalf these last several months. Please don't stop!

For God is not unjust
so as to forget your work
and the love
which you have shown
toward His name,
in having ministered
and in still ministering
to the saints.
Hebrews 6:10

And so the pilgrimage continues, as we walk with the Lord from one circumstance to another, from one place to another, from one continent to another. Until one day we find ourselves HOME. For, like Abraham of old, we, too, are …

… looking for the city
which has foundations,
whose architect
and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:10

HOME. Where we belong. Where are loved ones are. Where our Savior is. Where we are going. HOME.

WALKING!

“Walking” in the New Testament is quite a common metaphor for the Christian life. The Book of Acts refers to Christians as those “belonging to the Way” (Acts 9:2; etc.); the Gospel of Mark considers discipleship as being “on the way” with Christ; Paul describes the life of Christians as being a “walk”.

… we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7

Christians, as those who have placed their trust in Christ, have received eternal life …

… so that as Christ was raised
from the dead
through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk
in newness of life.
Romans 6:4

A new life-walk characterized by good deeds.

For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus
for good works,
which God prepared beforehand
so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10

A new life-walk of good deeds that is commensurate with the high calling to be Christlike.

… walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord,
to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work
and increasing in
the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10

This figure of speech, walking/living, is carried even further. Just as it is impossible to navigate one’s way without light, it is impossible, the Bible tells us, to traverse the Way without the Light. Jesus said:

“I am the Light of the world;
he who follows Me
will not walk in the darkness,
but will have the Light of life.”
John 8:12

No longer are believers in darkness. No longer are believers to follow the desires of the flesh. No longer are believers to walk foolishly.

… you were formerly darkness,
but now you are
Light in the Lord;
walk as children of Light, …
trying to learn
what is pleasing to the Lord. …
Therefore be careful
how you walk,
not as unwise but as wise,
… understand what the
will of the Lord is.
Ephesians 5:8, 10, 15, 17

Such a walk along the Way lit by the Light of life is an important sign of Christian growth, an essential ingredient for Christian fellowship, and a confident assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.

If we say that we have
fellowship with Him
and yet walk in the darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth;
but if we walk in the Light
as He [God] Himself
is in the Light,
we have fellowship
with one another,
and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:6–7

Walking in the Light.

Come … let us walk
in the light of the LORD.
Isaiah 2:5

Walking with God, as His people.

How blessed are the people
who know the joyful sound!
O LORD, they walk
in the light of Your countenance.
Psalm 89:15

Walking according to His Spirit, as disciples …

… who do not walk
according to the flesh
but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:4

Walking in obedience to His Word, the Scriptures.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105

Until one day, finally, we arrive at that destination towards which we walk, that terminus to which the Way leads.

And the city has no need
of the sun or of the moon
to shine on it,
for the glory of God
has illumined it,
and its lamp is the Lamb.
The nations will walk by its light.
Revelation 21:23–26

A place of never-ending Light! Let’s keep walking, for we’ll soon get there. Soon and very soon!

CUPID!

Much though some well-wishers of mine have wished it so, I have to disappoint them. Sorry, folks, Cupid—despite the title of this blog and the picture beneath—hasn’t targeted me yet.

The other day, I was in Piccadilly Circus, a traffic junction in the West End of London (circus = open circular intersection). Besides the neon hoardings, the characteristic feature of this London landmark is its statue of Eros (the god of love to the Greeks; a.k.a. Cupid to the Romans; but, apparently, there is some confusion as to whether the sculptor Alfred Gilbert intended his winged nude to be the deity of love at all). This London icon even shows up on the masthead of the British tabloid, the Evening Express.

It is fairly well established that the Greeks of yore had several words for love: eros, sensual love and passion; philia, “dispassionate” and virtuous friendship; storge, natural affection normally denoting familial relationships; and agape, the word most used for “love” in the New Testament, with its dominant connotation of a self-sacrificial love that characterized God Himself.

God is love.
1 John 4:16

Indeed, He is love. And it was this attribute that led Him to act on behalf of lost mankind.

But God demonstrates
His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

And the result? For all those who place their trust in Jesus Christ, believing in work on the cross for their salvation, eternal life is guaranteed.

For God so loved the world,
that He gave
His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish,
but have eternal life.
John 3:16

Agape. God’s. For me. For you.

But God,
being rich in mercy,
because of His great love
with which He loved us …
made us alive
together with Christ—
by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4–5

And from this agape, nothing—absolutely nothing!—can ever separate the believer.

Who will separate us
from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:35, 38–39

Agape! Amazing agape that now makes us, in Christ, the children of God.

See how great a love
the Father has bestowed on us,
that we would be called
children of God.
1 John 3:1

The greatest agape—Christ’s self-sacrificial love.

Greater love
has no one than this,
that one lay down his life
for his friends.
John 15:13

And He did, dying for us. And in doing so, not only did He save us, but He also set us an example to follow.

… walk in love,
just as Christ also loved you
and gave Himself up for us ….
Ephesians 5:2

He showed us what it means to love.

We know love by this,
that He laid down His life for us;
and we ought
to lay down our lives
for fellow believers.
We love,
because He first loved us.
1 John 3:16; 4:19

Indeed this is Christ’s commandment to His followers.

A new commandment
I give to you,
that you love one another,
even as I have loved you ….
By this all men will know
that you are My disciples ….
John 13:34–35

So …

Let all that you do
be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:14

HARMONY!

The charming medieval settlement of Old Aberdeen is the focal point of a number of architectural gems, not the least of which is the 500-year old University of Aberdeen campus. Another is a remarkable Georgian Town House built in the 1700s: its pleasing proportions, rugged stonework, and dignified stance has made it the logo of The Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland, its elegant façade appearing on all their publications.

The motto of what was the burgh of Old Aberdeen is inscribed above the front door of this edifice: Concordia Res Parvae Crescunt, or “Through Harmony, Small Things Increase”—unity makes a significant difference.

Using the metaphor of the body, Paul made the same point in the New Testament: no believer is insignificant; each is an integral and necessary part of the Body of Christ.

Now you are Christ's body,
and individually members of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27

The unity of the body is presupposed, even as diversity within it is acknowledged.

For the body is not
one member, but many.
If the whole body were an eye,
where would the hearing be?
If the whole were hearing,
where would
the sense of smell be?
But now God
has placed the members,
each one of them, in the body,
just as He desired.
1 Corinthians 12:14, 17–18

The church, the Body of Christ, is a united organism, every diverse part of which is essential for the unity of the whole. A body cannot function—indeed, it cannot even be a body—without the unity of its various components. It is through that unity and harmony in Christ, wrought by the Holy Spirit, that “small things increase”.

If they were all one member,
where would the body be?
But now there are
many members,
but one body.
And the eye
cannot say to the hand,
“I have no need of you”;
or again the head to the feet,
“I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:19–21

We need each other. We depend on each other. We are bound to each other. United. As a body.

[May] there be
no division in the body, ….
And if one member suffers,
all the members suffer with it;
if one member is honored,
all the members rejoice with it.
1 Corinthians 12:25–26

This is not to be harmony at all costs, or harmony for harmony’s sake. This is a unity for the sake of Christ. A unity of Body, a harmony, based on love, and a spirit of selflessness and humility. Indeed, believers are called to imitate their Savior’s own humility.

[Be] of the same mind,
maintaining the same love,
united in spirit,
intent on one purpose.
Do nothing from selfishness
or empty conceit,
but with humility of mind
regard one another as
more important than yourselves.
Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:2–3, 5

Jesus Himself prayed that those who follow Him would be bound together in this kind of unity.

“… that they may be
perfected in unity,
so that the world may know
that You [the Father] sent Me,
and loved them,
even as You have loved Me.
John 17:23

May God help us to be united, that through our harmony and our concord He may be glorified.

Now may the God
who gives perseverance
and encouragement grant you
to be of the same mind
with one another
according to Christ Jesus,
so that with one accord
you may with one voice
glorify the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5–6

PRESSURE!

That’s Wartburg Castle in the distance, one of the best-preserved castles in Germany, located on a 1200-ft cliff overlooking Eisenach. It was built in the 11th century by Duke Ludwig of Thuringia, on someone else’s land. Apparently this enterprising guy had soil transported from his own property to the top of the mountain in order to swear that the castle was built on “his own ground”.

Of particular interest to Christians all over, and Protestants in particular, is the fact that Martin Luther stayed in Wartburg Castle. Having been excommunicated by the Pope in 1520 for his recalcitrant Reformation activities, Luther added fuel to the fire when he refused to recant his “heresies” at the Diet (Parliament) of Worms in May 1521. Fearing for his safety, his well-wishers had him “kidnapped” and transported to Wartburg where he remained for about 10 months (1521–1522), incognito, letting his hair grow, and adopting a pseudonym (“Knight George”).

But letting his hair grow did not equate with Luther’s letting his hair down and taking it easy. As a matter of fact, these months of intense pressure were perhaps his most productive. By any reckoning, his translation of the New Testament to German was a tour de force. And he did it entirely at Wartburg. In just 11 weeks. (Yes, eleven! Yes, weeks!) The Greek New Testament has about 138,000 words. That works out to about 1,800 words translated into German a day. All that amidst the torments of solitude, discouragement, fear, weariness, and illness. He is also alleged to have had his inkpot-thrown-at-the-devil episode in the Castle. Pressure of all kinds. And if you consider that the product of his translation did for the German language what the King James Version did for English, not to mention what it did for the Reformation, that single-handed endeavor by Knight George was an incredible, unparalleled feat par excellence. Production under pressure.

Maybe that’s why God puts us under pressure. For fruit production!

Consider it all joy,
my brethren, when you
encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing
of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance
have its perfect result,
so that you may be
perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing.
James 1:2–4

Seasons of pressure give us no occasion to trust in our own capacities, capabilities, cleverness, and craftiness. These are times when we are almost down and out. These are the days when we are thrown upon God’s feet, trusting in Him alone. The dog days when God’s power is manifest, producing in us its fruit.

And [the Lord] has said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected
in weakness.”
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast
about my weaknesses,
so that the power
of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content
with weaknesses,
with insults, with distresses,
with persecutions,
with difficulties,
for Christ's sake;
for when I am weak,
then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9–10

There is yet another kind of product that comes out of pressure … should we persevere through it.

In this you greatly rejoice,
even though now
for a little while, if necessary,
you have been distressed
by various trials,
so that the proof of your faith,
being more precious than gold
… may be found to result
in praise and glory and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:6–7

Eternal reward! So let us run, with perseverance,

… fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him,
endured the cross ….
Hebrews 12:2