Thanks for Nothing

Spirituality Column #107
November 25, 2008
Current! in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current! in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Thanks for Nothing
By Bob Walters

There is nothing any of us can do to earn our salvation.

We may spend a ton of time worrying about it, but the fact is, God’s grace already has been defined for us in Jesus Christ. Our efforts to win salvation are not only vain, but also superfluous.

Our salvation – if we want it – is a done deal that cannot be undone; the Holy Spirit is alive, Christ is real and God does not change.

There are plenty of faith, hope and love actions we can do to make things go a little easier for us in this life – regardless of our circumstances – but our eternal destiny, entirely within our free will to receive, is entirely already taken care of.

In this Thanksgiving season, I don’t know how any of us can be more thankful for anything than that.

I spent a very large part of my life staying away from Christ. I didn’t want to be saddled with the caveats and confinements that I wrongly imagined to be the defining disciplines of Christianity: be afraid of God’s wrath, don’t sin, get up and go to church, forfeit free will and intellect.

Hmmm. Instead of God’s wrath, I now understand His love. Get up and go to church? I love getting up to go to church. Forfeit free will and intellect? I’ve discovered eternal freedom, and learned that the intellect of Christ is the most intense brainpower in the universe.

Sin? Well … I am a sinner. I’m aware of my sin and I know it will not now or ever go away because of my good works or intentions.

But … in God’s eyes my sin is already gone because Jesus Christ made it so (Romans 8:1). The point of His death on the Cross isn’t God’s wrath; it is God’s love. The Cross is not about Christ’s end; it is about mankind’s new beginning.

Now and forever, salvation is a gift that keeps on giving.

Like any gift, salvation is optional of course. We can’t earn it, but we do have to accept it. We aren’t sent to Hell; we walk away from God. Satan loves that.

Salvation is ours for the asking – a miracle – but you have to come and get it.

Think about that when they call you to Thanksgiving dinner.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) gives thanks to God for the love of our children, the grace of our being, and the beauty of this world. Amen.

Looking Out for Number One

Spirituality Column #106
November 18, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN), Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Looking Out for Number One
By Bob Walters

Who or what is “Number One” in your life?

Think about it for a minute and be honest. What gives your life its ultimate meaning?

Is it your self? Your spouse? Your children? Your family? A celebrity? Who do you love the most?

Sometimes it’s a thing. Is it your money? Your job? Your talent? Your property or possessions? A sports team? Politics? Your country? Security? What do you love the most?

Some people put their religion first, or their church or the Bible or prayer or mission work. What do you worship the most?

You Christians out there likely already know where I’m going with this.

If any of these things are “Number One” in your life or worship, guess who, by default, can be no closer than runner up? That’s right … Jesus Christ.

Don’t put Jesus – God Incarnate, the source of life, our only available concrete definition of “good” – as “runner up” to anything.

Modern culture encourages the sin of pride, telling us to “look out for Number One.” This is code for “I’m going to get mine; you worry about getting yours.” “Outreach” in this case can amount to little more than “You can get yours, as long as I get mine.” It’s not exactly selfless.

Nearly 50 years ago President John F. Kennedy closed his inauguration speech with “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Too often today that wonderful ideal – personally, politically and religiously – has turned into the exact opposite:

“What have you done for me lately?”

Do you ever ask that selfish question of others? Of government? Of Jesus? Of God?

Life’s ultimate meaning is neither worldly nor within ourselves. Christ died on the Cross to show us life’s ultimate meaning: that God loves us enough to save us. He gives us the freedom to be imperfect, yet sent Christ to show us the way – through faith in Him – to stand eternally in God’s perfect presence.

Does that mean any one of us will ever be perfect in this life? Nope. Christ was the only perfect human, and His perfect life was defined by giving himself, even unto death, for others.

Putting Christ first; that’s what “Looking out for Number One” – really – is all about.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) points to John 14:6 for comfort, and Romans 8:28-39 for assuredness.

When the Phone Rings Late at Night

Spirituality Column #105
November 11, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN), Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

When the Phone Rings Late at Night
By Bob Walters

Without my glasses I can’t read the small text on a cell phone.

So it had to be a God thing a year ago when in the wee-est hours of Sunday, Nov. 11 – at 1:10 a.m. – my cell phone rang and, even with sleep in my eyes, I could clearly read the Caller ID name:

“John Samples,” my close friend and minister at our church.

I knew instantly, even before “hello,” why he was calling.

In his comforting, preacherly baritone, John told me that our mutually dear friend and Christian brother Russ Blowers had, as we say at church, “gone home to be with the Lord.” John didn’t apologize for waking me up; I was immensely grateful he had.

Russ was a World War II veteran (U.S. Army Air Corps in England and Germany) who in June 2007 visited Normandy Beach for the first time since 1945. He went with his sons Phil and Paul, and his teenaged grandson – Paul’s son – Collin. I drove them to the Indianapolis airport to begin their journey.

It was a fabulous, meaningful and high-energy trip for the Blowers boys. They saw London and Normandy. They worshipped in Westminster Abbey, with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams presiding. Russ picked up some small Celtic Crosses in the Abbey’s gift shop; one of which he gave to me as gift that I wear on a white gold chain around my neck.

Russ of course was the long-time pastor of the enormous East 91st Street Christian Church in the Castleton area of northeast Indianapolis. He returned from the war to his home near Dayton, Ohio, married Marian, got a Journalism degree from Ohio University, went to divinity school at Butler, and was a stalwart and vigorous Christian fixture in the Indianapolis community for 56 years.

After a three week stay at Carmel’s Clarion North facility that began Oct. 20, Russ died Nov. 10, 2007, a scant few minutes before midnight,  He felt ill when he returned from his summer trip to Normandy, and gradually his body shut down of unspecified maladies.

He died at 83; a veteran, a great American and a preacher of the Gospel.

Marian died in 2004, and I know they are together and joyous “on the other shore.”

The rest of us remain here in this mortal coil, wondering always when the phone is going to ring late at night.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is just one of thousands who mourn and mark Russ’s death, even a year later. Russ helped us know and understand Jesus Christ.

The Only Referendum That Counts

Spirituality Column #104
November 4, 2008
Current in Carmel (IN), Current in Westfield (IN) newspaper

The Only Referendum That Counts
By Bob Walters

The past couple of weeks, thinking in broad terms about the election, we’ve discussed Wisdom (#102) and Anger (#103).

Today is Election Day. Let’s start discussing Forgiveness.

However the election turns out, somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent of Americans will be wondering in the days ahead, “How did God let this happen?”

Fifty to 60 percent will be lulled into thinking God sees things their way.

It’s an election bitter in many ways; divisive factions, veiled intentions, cultural grandstanding, international peril, financial duress, media bias, suspect voting, disingenuous assertions, dishonest characterizations, scurrilous lies, unknown quantities.

You know … about normal; the ever meaner streets of American politics.

My advice is, let’s all take a big, deep breath, and not any one of us make the personal and profound mistake of thinking the election results are more important than our daily, personal faith in Jesus Christ.

God gives us freedom to vote however and elect whomever we want. I can’t explain how God both knows everything eternally, and gives us temporal freedom. But He does. Don’t read too much Godly triumph or despair into the voting results.

The only earthly referendum on God’s intentions there has ever been is Christ on the Cross. If you want to learn God’s intentions, read the Gospels, not election returns.

This election is a referendum of, by, for and on the people; not on God.

The candidates promoted “change.” Well, as God’s people, we are supposed to change. But here’s a newsflash: God does not change. God is eternal and consistent. Christ is salvation. The Holy Spirit is comfort.

What I’m saying is yes, we must care for one another, but we must also remember our salvation is not in worldly things. Government is a worldly thing. Whether we are comforted or discomforted by the election results, our first priority must be to remember who we are. St. Paul said it awfully well in Colossians 3:12-14:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

That’s true in the Red states, and the Blue states.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) hopes the election is over tonight. Enough is enough. Don’t gloat; don’t despair. Pray for the nation to heal.
PS -- This is Column #104; two straight years of weekly publication. Carmel circulation is about 27,500; Westfield is around 8,000. Thanks to Current for its faithfulness to this feature.