The Home Going

II Timothy Chapter Four

Have you ever been betrayed? Let down?  Have you ever had someone who was near and dear to you turn their back upon you when the going got rough? Have you ever had those you may have invested your life in, suddenly seem to say they no longer wished to walk alongside you? When the storms of life have blown against you, have you even been deserted by a disloyal, fair-weather friend?

If so, you perhaps can sense the hurt, disappointment and heartache Paul must have felt as He wrote the young pastor, Timothy. He tells him that his missionary companion, Demas, has forsaken him because he loved this present world more than the world to come. He speaks of standing before the court alone at his first hearing. All men had forsakenhim. The venerable and grey-haired apostle stands alone at the end of a selfless life of unimaginable persecution, torture, sacrifice and hardship. He awaits the cruel executioner’s axe. At this critical moment it seems that  those he had led to the Lord, labored with had fled in fright.  Only the powerful and all sufficient presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is with him.

When I read Paul’s closing words to his young friend, I am reminded of the story of a missionary of an earlier era returning by ship from the mission field. Following is my version of the story:    He had spent his life there. He had suffered slings and arrows and terrible deprivation in order to give the gospel to those who had not heard. His beloved wife and dear children had fallen on the field, victims of pestilence and plague, and now lay buried in a faraway land.

Now, with his health broken and his frame bent, the veteran missionary totters down the gang plank of the ship. As he makes his way down, he is thrilled to hear the playing of a band and the shouts and applause of a great crowd. He smiles slightly and wonders if it could be possible that his mission supporters have turned out in such numbers to welcome him home. His smile fades to a frown as he realizes the tumultuous welcome is for a famous star who is returning from a triumphant tour.

With great difficulty he hails a taxi and takes his tattered trunks filled with a few meagre, well- worn possessions, to a nearby flea-bag hotel. This is all he can possibly afford. As he throws himself across a lumpy mattress, the hot air of the dank and musty room presses in upon him. He lies there with his body wracked with great sobs of bitter disappointment. Not one single person has come to welcome him or witness his homecoming.

Lying on the lumpy mattress, looking up at the dingy ceiling, he cries out of the depths of his human despair to the Savior he has served all these years. “Why have I sacrificed my loved ones and my life for such uncaring and ungrateful people as these? Don’t they know the price I’ve paid? Does no one care enough even to give me a decent welcome home?” As he sobs broken-heartedly, his mind groping for an answer, alone in the desolate darkness, a still small voice seems to fill his heart and mind and these words seem to echo from the walls of that tiny room, “My son, you’re not home yet!” 

"The Measure of Faithfulness"

The following is from my book: "Gleanings Gospel Gold."

"The Measure of Faithfulness" - We can only be faithful in what we have, and that is enough. We can only use the intelligence with which God has blessed us: sing with the voice He has given us, witness and praise with the lips and tongue He has placed in our mouths or serve with the hands that are ours.

Too often we find ourselves seeking to measure our grain in another's bushel. Our visions of spiritual grandeur become no more than wistful thinking about what might be or might have been. There is no pleasure or profit in this fanciful approach to spiritual faithfulness. In fact, quite the contrary. As has often been said, "Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest are, 'It might have been."

We hear a beautiful melody rendered with great inspiration and sigh and say, "If only I had such talent, I would sing to the glory of God!"

We read an inspiring book and close it and think, "If I could only write, I would write a book that would point men to God.!"

We hear an oration delivered with great skill and sincerity; that moves and motivates those who hear it. We respond, "If I could only speaks so eloquently, I would give out the message of Jesus Christ."

We meet an honest and prosperous businessman who has accumulated a store of this world's goods, and we are sure that if God would only bless us with such wealth, we could and would use it all for the cause of Christ and God's ultimate glory.

We hear a visiting missionary tell of the challenges and blessings of a difficult far away field and are convinced that if we could only go there we could become great winners of the lost and that God would use us to lift the spiritual darkness from a spiritually destitute and oppressed people.

As one who attended a theological school and who has been around in the ministry of the gospel for many years, I tend to be a bit dubious of the young student pastor who attends a Bible College four years, preparing for the gospel ministry at home or abroad as a missionary, and never seems to get involved in personal soul winning, jail ministries or other vital outreach ministries in a local church. If he has no burden for the lost all around him, why should we expect a sudden development of a vision for souls as he boards a plane to his chosen field of labor?

God has only asked us to light the corner where we are. We are to be faithful in little things if we expect Him to bless us in all things. He has never asked us to responsible for someone else's field or ministry, but requires us to be faithful in all things He has given us in the place He has placed us." 

The Challenge Of A New Year

In Joshua 3:1-11 we are told that as Joshua and the people of Israel stood on the brink of Jordan, they faced a new beginning. The generation of their forefathers who had fallen in the wilderness because of disobedience was now history. Moses, the great leader of the fledgling nation, had been given a private funeral and burial on the mountain by Jehovah. Their new leader, Joshua, was the man of the hour as he stood ready to lead them into the land promised to their forefathers. God’s presence was symbolised by the Ark of the Covenant that would go before them. Joshua challenges them to go in and possess the land. Joshua tells of the wonders God will perform and reminds them of the victory promised to those who would walk faithfully, courageously and obediently into the new land. His statement, "You have not passed this way before," seems to sum up the challenge involved in stepping out by faith into a new and unknown land. There will be vast uncharted waters ahead. There will be many new and unexplored paths to walk. There will be risks be faced, challenges to be confronted and a high price to be paid, if success is to be achieved in the new land.

As we see the old year out and usher the New Year in, we should understand that we stand on the verge of a new spiritual venture; a new calling to serve the Lord in the land of a new year. In a sense, the challenge of a new year is like stepping out on the beautiful, sparkling, trackless surface of new fallen snow. It is like standing on the edge of the fresh sand of a wave swept beach. Or a child contemplating a clean sheet of paper or a clean slate. All are free of the contaminating touch of man. There’s an old bit of verse that speaks of this challenge:

He came to my desk with quivering lip, the lesson was done.

"Have you a new leaf for me, dear Teacher?, I’ve spoiled this one."

I took his leaf all soiled and blotted and gave him a new one, all unspotted.

Then into his tired heart I smiled, Do better now my child."

I went to the throne with trembling heart. The year was done.

"Have you a new year for me, dear Master? I’ve spoiled this one.

He took my heart, all soiled and blotted and gave me a new one, all unspotted.

Then into my tired heart he smiled; "Do better now my child."

Yes, we are like a those who walk in a new land. We have not passed this way before. Our footprints are yet to be made in the sands of time of the New Year. Yet it is a great blessing to know that as we ring out the old and ring in the new, we can immerse the failures of yesteryear in the sea of God’s forgiveness. We can face with a great expectant faith the challenges of a new year. By the grace of God, if He wills it, we can cross over boldly into the land of the new year with an expectant faith based upon the precious promises of God.