Assumptions

My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,

The grave is ready for me. ~Job 17:1 

Job was a man who was in total anguish and he longed for the grave because the grave might provide some relief from his anguish. Not only had he lost his children, his possessions, and his health but friends did not understand his anguish and mocked him as a sinner deserving the suffering that he was going through.

These men did not know but assumed that God brought all of this calamity on Job because of some wickedness on the part of Job. They could not believe nor perceive that God would allow evil to overtake the righteous. However, God does allow evil to overtake the righteous. God allows evil to overtake the righteous for his glory and our good.

The best man that ever lived was the Son of God whose name is Jesus. Jesus came from Nazareth, a city in Galilee, a northern region of Judea. It was an area that many Jews lived in, north of Jerusalem in the midst of gentiles. Gentiles were what the Jews called non-jewish people. These Jews could not conceive that anything good could come out of Nazareth. (Jn.1:46) The Jews rejected Jesus, the very Son of God, whom God had given as their Messiah who is called Christ. They believe that he was cursed because God allowed Him to be hung on a tree. (Gal.3:13 & Deut.21:3) 

God allowed Jesus to suffer for His glory and our good. God allowed Job to suffer for the same reason. His friends thought that they understood God and the reason for Job’s suffering but they did not know God. The Jews thought that they understood God and the reason for Jesus’ suffering but they did not know God. Jesus said to the Jews, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” (Jn.8:19)

Lovingkindness and Truth

Psalms 25:10

All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth

To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Is it true? Can it possibly be so simple, that the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies? But what covenant?

The Lord did not make a covenant with my fathers, for I am not of the blood line of Abraham, Isaac or Jacob. However, there was a promise that through Abraham the Lord would bless all the families of the earth. This promise has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant the Lord made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant that the Lord made with the sons of Israel in the desert. Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant that the Lord made with David, that one of his descendants would set eternally on the throne. Jesus is the fulfillment of the new covenant that the Lord promised through the prophet Jeremiah 31:33-32, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.”

The new covenant is the body of Jesus Christ broken and His blood poured out as a sin sacrifice for all who have repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ.

Yes, it is true! It is so simple, that the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies; so have repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. All authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth. (Mt. 28:18) Therefore, Jesus Christ is Lord!

There is a King

Judges 21:25

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

This phrase is stated four times in the last five chapters of Judges. Moses commanded the sons of Israel to not do what is right in their own eyes when they cross the Jordan to possess the land of Canaan (Dt. 12:8) but to do observe all that the Lord God commands. Jesus summarized the Law in Matthew 5:48: “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Moral perfection in thought, word and deed is what God expects from his sons. Throughout the history of Israel, the sons of Israel proved themselves to not be sons of God but sons of Adam. The history of Israel can be summed up in this saying: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23) However, God is compassionate and gracious; therefore, He did not leave all to die in their sin but provided a way for all to be justified; the way is the redemption which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (Jn. 14:6) There is a King given among men and His name is Jesus; all authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth. (Mt. 28:18)

My God and My Lord

Dear Neighbor,

Is the God of Israel your God and is the Son of God your Lord? God created all things, He is Almighty and there is no other besides Him. Jesus Christ is his only begotten Son our Lord. Jesus lived a righteous life pleasing to God. God said of him, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” There is no other man who has ever walked on the earth in whom God was well pleased.

Jacob referred to God Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth as the God of Abraham and Isaac. God appeared to Jacob when he fled from his brother Esau and God prospered him during his sojourning, but it was not until he returned that Jacob called God Almighty my God. When Jacob was converted to God, God renamed him Israel, for he had striven with men and with God and had prevailed.

Jesus referred to God Almighty as My Father and God referred to Jesus as My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ, in heaven and on earth. Is the Father of Jesus Christ your God and is the beloved Son of God Almighty your Lord?

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

The Mind of Christ

Dear Neighbor,

Do you have the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ is the Spirit of God. All the things of God are revealed to us through the Spirit. Jesus said that after his departure, the Father will send the Holy Spirit in his name. The disciples knew Jesus as teacher and Lord but he told them that the Holy Spirit would now be their teacher. “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (Jn. 14:26) The human mind is forgetful but the mind of God (the Holy Spirit) is not forgetful. Who can instruct God? (2 Cor 2:16)

Men teach things kind of strange. One thing that men teach is something called the Ordo Salutis. It is a latin term that means “Order of salvation.” The Ordo Salutis is a technical term intended to designate the consecutive steps in the work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of a human being. The way that our minds work, we think in time; therefore our thought pattern is linear. When we study something like the salvation of a human being we study them as steps on a time line. If you were to type “Ordo Salutis” in an internet search engine, you will find pictures of steps in salvation or a time line with different periods occurring along the way. It is this thinking in terms of steps or in time that I believe is the problem, and the reason that theologians disagree. They primarily disagree on order. However, while the salvation of a human being appears to occur in time, it is not linear, because God exist in eternity. I think it better to think of salvation in terms of a compound, rather than a timeline. 

There are five elements that are always present in the life of a saved person and I think it is wrong to try and put them in order, but I can do no other than put them in a list because I write in time. All saved persons: Repent of their sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, confess Christ in the world, are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and are baptized members of the church.

Regarding baptism, there is debate in four areas: To baptize or not to baptize, who should be baptized, when to baptize and the mode of baptism. It is my belief that thinking in terms of order regarding salvation causes the debate regarding baptism. Baptism is not separate from salvation nor is it the cause of salvation. Saved persons are baptized persons; Therefore, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

The Lessor and the Greater Revelation

Dear Neighbor,

I created and printed a gospel tract. I say created in the since that I took the things that God created and formed them into a message. The truth is that I cannot create anything, only God can create from nothing; we however, can take the things that God has made and form them.

The tract that I formed is from God’s material and it is two sided just like the revelation of God. On one side is a picture and on the other side are words. Each side is a representation of God’s revelation. The picture represents the natural revelation, the created world that we live in and walk on. The words represent the special revelation, that is the Word of God. 

The picture was taken by my wife when we were visiting Hawaii. It depicts earth, vegetation, mountains, light, sky, water and a rainbow. I chose this picture because it so vividly depicts natural revelation. When I look at this picture, much less the actual scene, I know that there is a powerful creator who made these things. The creation tells of the truth of God and the rainbow as revealed in the greater revelation tells of the love of God. 

Scripture is the greater revelation. Scripture is the greater revelation because men are unable to see God in creation because their hearts are darkened. I cannot say anything or do anything to save anyone. Some men coerce human emotion but I am not such a man. Many evangelist coerce human emotion, which gives the appearance of faith but is it truly a saving faith? The Lord told his chosen apostles, John 15:26-27

When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

It is the Word of God and the Spirit of God who brings a person to saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, all of the text in this tract is Scripture. I have either summarized or directly quoted Scripture, as it has been translated into English, in the Updated New American Standard Bible, 1995. I have summarized because of limited space; nonetheless, everything in this tract comes from either the lesser revelation or the greater revelation. 

The first sentence is a paraphrase if Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The second sentence moves to the creation of mankind in Genesis 1-2 and moves to the fall in Genesis 3. Jesus told his disciples, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven… Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:20-48) Between these parenthetical statements, the Lord taught his disciples what the righteousness that surpasses the scribes and Pharisees looks like. The righteous that all must attain to is the righteousness of God. People love to say, “No one is perfect!” But does that make it ok? We are to be perfect because our heavenly Father is perfect. (Mt. 5:48) The fact that we are not perfect should tell everyone that something is wrong.

The apostle John described God as light and love. (1 John 1:5, 4:8) When light shines on something, that which was formerly not seen becomes visible. So when the apostle said that God is light, he was saying that God is truth. This is the opposite of what the Lord said about the devil. 

John 8:44

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

However, God is light and love; therefore, his children should be light and love but we are not, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) “Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) To see and hear the Lord Jesus Christ was to see and hear God; he revealed the nature of God in human flesh. (John 1:18)

I directly quoted Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Because it gives the two sides of God’s person in a single breath; truth and love revealed in a single sentence. Jesus was conceived of by the Holy spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; he is fully God and fully man in one person, this is one of the five essential beliefs of the Christian faith.

1. God is one divine being existing eternally in three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2. Jesus is the God-Man; fully God and fully Man in one person.
3. Jesus’ death on the cross was a sin sacrifice for his people.
4. Jesus bodily rose from the dead.
5. There will a bodily resurrection of all the dead at the judgment on the last day; the redeemed will go into eternal life but the unrighteous will go away into eternal punishment.

God was pleased to reveal the person of Christ as his beloved Son.

Matthew 3:17, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

The Son gave all who believe in his name the right to be called children of God; not because of anything that we did right, but by his righteousness and sacrifice for our sins we are declared righteous, so that God can now say of all who are in Christ: “These are my beloved children in whom I am well pleased.” 

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and he was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day. This is the gospel that the apostle Paul preached to the Corinthians. It is the gospel that all of the children of God receive. It is the gospel in which all of the children of God stand. It is the gospel by which all of the children of God are saved. We must all hold fast to this gospel, unless we actually did not believe. (1 Cor. 15:1-5)

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Lord’s Day: September 12, 2001

Dear Neighbor,

In the beginning, God created all things. I was created in the image of God; therefore, I ought to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect. But I am not perfect, I have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. I know that the wages of sin is death, but I trust that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

I believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. God said of him, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Mt. 3:17) Jesus came preaching the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk. 1:15) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and he was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.

I know that salvation from sin and death is already not yet. I trust that I will be saved from sin and death but this has not yet occurred. The apostle Paul Wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB): “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Therefore, I believe that I will be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I believe that a believer should work, but I also understand that of myself I can do no good thing. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:18 (NASB): “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.”

However, I know that faith without works is dead. The apostle James wrote in James 2:20 (NASB): “But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”Therefore, I recognize that I must work, not to earn salvation but from a heart of thanksgiving ought to work.

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

September 11th

Dear Neighbor,

What were you doing 20 years ago today when two aircraft hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City? I remember the day very well. I was working in the Cardiovascular ICU at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas. I had driven to work on gas fumes. The gas take of my car was nearly empty but I did not stop because I would be late to work if I did. As things began to unfold on the T.V. screen, there were news reports of long lines at the gas stations, as people bought up all of the gas. Many people were in a panic, afraid that the country was at war. I became afraid that I might not make it home that evening because I knew that I needed to get gasoline to make it home. When I left the hospital that evening, I had to go to several gas stations before I found one with fuel. It was not the Lord’s will that I should be stranded but made it home to my wife and children safe and sound. 

My wife and I had just moved to the Tyler, Texas area in July of that year, and we started working for Mother Frances hospital. I was not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ at that time but was very secular in my way of thinking. It would be two years later that I began to read the Scriptures and come to know the Lord. This past Thursday was my final shift in the CVICU at Mother Frances hospital. I have longed to leave ICU nursing for sometime now. I never enjoyed ICU nursing but did enjoy heart surgery recovery. When I began to work in the CVICU it was a recovery unit for persons who just underwent coronary artery bypass surgery or heart valve surgery. It was not an ICU in the since of anyone who is critically ill. The unit has moved twice during the time that I have worked for Mother Frances hospital. First to the fourth floor of the Ornelas tower, this tower was under construction when I started working in the CVICU, but the unit did not move to the tower until 2010. The second move was to the Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital. A new building was built with the concept of total heart care.

I have to say that the hospital has not moved towards total heart care but away from it. The CVICU was a recovery unit for persons who just underwent coronary artery bypass surgery or heart valve replacement but when the first move happened, the door was opened to it becoming a medical surgical ICU. When the second move happened, the plan was to only put on the unit persons admitted for cardiac care but from the beginning there was resistance. Today, there is no difference between this unit and any other medical-surgical ICU. The recovery of persons who just underwent coronary artery bypass surgery or heart valve replacement has become, not secondary, but tertiary. When I began working on this unit over 20 years ago, every day that I worked was recovering someone from coronary artery bypass surgery or heart valve replacement surgery but now it is rare. On my final shift on the unit I did recover someone from coronary artery bypass surgery but only because I requested it, it had been a month since I last did. The majority of persons on the unit today are persons with chronic illnesses with very little hope of survival. I have felt for a long time that I am doing nothing more than inflicting suffering on suffering and dying people.

Every human life matters, but oftentimes, in the ICU, human dignity is thrown out to keep a body alive that has gone well past survivability. I cannot do this type of nursing any longer. The changes to this unit are drastic but they have been progressing to where they are now over the past two decades since I first started at Mother Frances hospital. I am now moving to the outpatient cath department so that I can get back to the root of nursing that I love; to care for persons undergoing a procedure on their heart that will help them continue to live meaningful and productive lives. I will be preparing people for, and recovering people from cardiac  catheterization, coronary stent placement, cardiac electrophysiology procedures, pacemaker, and  defibrillator  placement. 

On the day of my final shift, I asked several persons on the unit, “What were you doing on September 11, 2001? Most could not give me an answer because they were very young at the time. Most questioned why I would leave ICU nursing and go to outpatient cath. The answer is that I never signed up for ICU nursing but found myself in it as the unit changed. I pray the best for everyone in the CVICU at Mother Frances hospital in Tyler, Texas, may the Lord’s will be done in your lives.

Your Servant for Jesus Sake

Wearing a Face Covering is About Loving Others

Dear Neighbor,

Yesterday I stood among a group of ICU nurses feeling the burden of the present situation within our hospital. About two weeks ago I wrote a letter to the elders of my congregation about the situation within our hospital, my concerns for the congregation and my concerns for our community. The nurses feel as though we are living in an episode of the Twilight Zone. A tragedy is occurring in our community but the community is living as if nothing is wrong. People are disappearing but no one notices. Within the hospital that I work for there are 200 persons admitted with Covid-Pnuemonia; this is 200 persons above the normal admissions in the hospital. A person is not admitted to the hospital because they have Covid but when they are not able to oxygenate there bodies by normal means. Of the 200 persons admitted into the hospital with Covid-Pneumonia, about 100 persons are on a ventilator. It seems that when a person is placed on a ventilator with Covid-Pneumonia they do not come off of the ventilator; they either die on the ventilator or end up with a tracheostomy transferred to a long term care facility. This happens over and over again. Daily and often several times a day, someone goes into cardio-pulmonary arrest on one of these units. After writing to the elders of my congregation I began wearing a mask on Sunday mornings. If it is possible to have immunity I should. I contracted Covid at the end of last year and was vaccinated earlier this year; therefore, my mask wearing has nothing to do with self. By wearing a mask I am attempting to wake others up to what is going on around us; almost no one in our congregation is taking precautions and there are many persons in our congregation that refuse to take a vaccine. When I talk to my friends about what is occurring, I get a blank look like I am speaking a foreign language. What can I say? What can I do to change minds? I know that Americans in general are mistrusting of government. It is rooted in the history of how America was established. And I know that southerners are even more mistrusting of government. It is rooted in the aftermath of the civil war. I do not have a problem with people refusing a vaccine because they are mistrusting, but I do have a problem with people who refuse the vaccine and do not take precautions to protect others. The reason for wearing a simple mask is not to protect oneself but to protect the other person. I know that when I contracted Covid, I did not realize that I had the virus for several days. The symptoms begin vague and it is easy to relate what one is feeling to fatigue. Meanwhile one who is not wearing face coverings is spreading the virus to others within the community. Jesus said the second commandment is to love one’s neighbor as yourself. (Mt. 22:39) Therefore, if you refuse to take a vaccine wear a face covering when in public places that covers both your nose and mouth to protect your neighbor.

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Sovereign Overall

Dear Neighbor,

Do you believe that the Lord your God is sovereign overall? Job’s friends believed that God gives good things to good people and bad things to wicked people, but Job understood that this is not the way of the Lord. God tears down, and what God tears down cannot be rebuilt. When God imprisons a man, he cannot be released by anyone but the Lord. When God decides that it will not rain everything drys up but when God decides that it will rain no man can stop it. God created both the misled and the one who does the misleading; they are both in the hands of the Lord. God makes the rich poor and make fools out of councilors. God allows one man to rule and takes away the rule of another. God causes men to walk barefoot and overthrows those who thought that they had security. God takes away the discernment of the elders and keeps the mouth of trusted ones closed. God can pour contempt on the noble man and bind up the strong. Whatever a man hides the Lord can bring to light. Throughout the history of mankind on the earth, the Lord God has made certain nations great, only to destroy them and lead them away. Kings, governors and all the leaders of the earth are dependent on the Lord God whether they confess the Lord or not; at anytime he can deprive them of intelligence and cause them to make bad decisions. He can cause them to grope around as if they are blind and stagger about as if they are drunk. (Job 12:13-25)

The Lord does not only cause the good things but he causes and allows the bad things also. Nothing happens on the earth that the Lord God does not either cause or allow, for the Lord our God is sovereign in heaven and on earth. The Lord God is good but do not think that this means riches, good health and long life on the earth for those who do what is righteous. He may cause you to be poor, suffer illness and have a shortened life. We must trust that whatever the Lord God causes is good, not because what is occurring is good, but because God is good. God causes all things to work together for good. (Romans 8:28) It may not be for our good in the present but it is for good that God causes all things. because God is good and he is sovereign overall.

Your servant for Jesus’ Sake

Worship Songs

Dear Neighbor,

I truly love mornings and my favorite of the week is Sunday morning. Daily I send time in prayer, I read the word, and I write a letter to you my neighbor, but on Sunday morning I send time in fellowship of the word with others. First, we enjoy a time of Bible study and then a time of corporate worship. Call to worship at Sylvania Church usually begins with a reading of one of the Psalms, followed by a set of worship songs. There is an interlude and prayer. During prayer, the pastor will either adapt one of the Psalms as a prayer or he will read a historical prayer from the Valley of Vision. After the interlude more worship songs are song by the congregation, then the pastor preaches expositorily from a text of Scripture, picking up where he left off the week before. 

When I say that I enjoy Sunday morning, I must confess that I really enjoy everything that I have mentioned except for the singing of worship songs. Sunday morning Bible study, the call to worship, public reading of a Psalm, the interlude in which a Psalm is adapted as a prayer or a historical prayer from the Valley of Vision, and the exposition of Scripture, I truly love, but why do I not enjoy the corporate singing of worship songs? I am primarily not a musical person but I think that it goes much deeper than that. Some how it feels disconnected from the Word. Everything else is about the Word but these songs seem disconnected. These songs are written by Christians but they just are not Scripture and it is the Word of God that I truly love.

I am not suggesting anything to you by what I am writing this morning but more or less putting my thoughts down in text; thus exposing my idiosyncrasies.

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Image of God

Dear neighbor,

It is my daily plan and habit to write a letter to God. It is the way the I pray to my heavenly Father first thing each morning. After which I read the letter that he wrote to us in the Scriptures. I try to take what he has spoken to me and write a letter to you my neighbor. However, this morning I ran out of time I was not able to write to you my neighbor from the text of scripture that I read this morning. Now I am at work taking care two of my neighbors very ill in the intensive care unit. Therefore, I want to write to you at this time tell you I love you. I may have never met you but I do have love for you because you were created in the image of God.

Michael Peek

The Nurse Theologian

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

“YHWH-jireh” The Lord Will Provide

It is recorded in Genesis 22 that God tested the faith of Abraham. God said to him, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” (Gen. 22:2)

I find this of great interest because God through Moses said that he considers it an abdominal act which he hates; to burn ones sons and daughters in the fire as an offering to the gods of the land. This was one of the primary reasons that the Lord used Israel to dispossess the nations from the land of Canaan. (Deut. 12:29-31)

However, the Lord had no intention of Abraham actually burning Isaac as an offering but it was a test. Did Abraham so fear the Lord that he would obey the Lord’s commandment and offer up his son as a burnt offering to the Lord, his only son born of his wife Sarah, the son whom he loved?

The answer is yes, Abraham was on the cusp of completing the Lord’s commandment when the Angel of the Lord stopped him and provided a ram to take the place of Isaac. (Gen. 22:11-13)

There is no doubt that this is a picture and foretelling of the gospel. Abraham called the name of that place “YHWH-jireh” The Lord Will Provide. It was Abraham’s faith that God would provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering and God did just as he had told his son Isaac. (Gen. 22:8)

John the Baptist saw Jesus walking and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (Jn. 1:29, 36) It is through the righteous life and sacrificial death of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, that God has blessed all that nations of the earth. (Gen. 22:18) 

Dedicated Service

I would like to say something about dedicated service. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:1 (NASB): “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Paul spent eleven chapters explaining that justification is not by works, but by faith; faith is given by the grace of God. No man chooses God, it is God who choses to be gracious. Romans 9:15-16 (NASB): “For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” (Ex. 33:19) So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

In chapter 12 there is a transition. Paul begins to exhort the believer to work. I think that pastors have a very skewed view of what this work ought to look like. Their work is confined to the church building and to the members of the local church that they are pastoring, so many pastors think that the work of a believer is also confined in this way. I disagree, the work of a believer is in the world but the believer who is working in the world is not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind; therefore, it is the job of a pastor to help renew the mind. (Rom. 12:2)

I believe that every believer ought to think of his job in terms of ministry. I am a Registered Nurse; therefore, I consider nursing to be my ministry. Nursing is a profession that is prophetic, that serves, that exhorts, that leads and shows mercy. (Rom. 12:6-7) We are all called to abhor what is evil; and cling to what is good. (Rom. 12:9) Not just in the confines of the church building but in the world that we all work in. Jesus said, Matthew 5:16 (NASB): “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Greatest Desire

Jesus said to his disciples, Matthew 13:16-17 (NASB):

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

What is your greatest desire? My greatest desire is to see the blessed Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ and hear his his voice when he speaks. I do see him and I do hear him. Not with my eyes or with my ears made of flesh but with my heart I hear him and in my mind I see him.

The best part of everyday is beginning the day reading the Scriptures. During the week days I read the Old Testament: Law, history, psalms, poetry, and prophets, but on the weekend I read the New Testament. On Sunday I read the New Testament letters written by the apostles to the churches and on Saturday I read the gospels.

It is through the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the apostles that I see and hear Jesus Christ. Reading all of the word of God is the best part of the day because all of the word of God is about Jesus Christ; however, the testimony of the apostles in their gospel accounts is especially good. It is especially good because they testify of the word made flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have recorded for us the things that Jesus said and did that we too might see him in our minds eye and hear him with our hearts.

Cornerstone

I was reading in Isaiah 24 about God’s judgment on the earth. That a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. (Isa. 24:6) 

Isaiah 24:5 says that the the inhabitants of the earth broke the everlasting covenant. What is the everlasting covenant? It seems based on this passage that it is a covenant that God has made with all the people on the earth, so where and when was this covenant made? 

It was not made in the garden of eden but was made after the flood. The first mention of the everlasting covenant is in Genesis 9:16, “When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

God destroyed every living creature on the earth with a flood but he saved Noah’s family, his three sons, and two of every kind of creature on the earth. God promised to never destroy the earth again with a flood of water and gave the rainbow as a sign for the everlasting covenant.

God gave Noah’s family three statutes to live by: 

1. God gave to Noah’s family every moving thing that is alive as food, just as he gave the first man and first woman the green plant; however, the living things must be put to death before they are consumed and not eaten with their life still in them. 
2. God gave a statute regarding the life of man, Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”
3. God gave a statute regarding marriage, Genesis 9:7: “As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.”

According to Isaiah 24, God is going to burn the inhabitants of the earth because they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. However, this is followed in the next few chapters by of songs of praise for God’s favor and songs of trust in God’s protection. God promises to deliver his people from the enemy. He has laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. (Isa. 28:16) The costly cornerstone is the Lord Jesus Christ! (Rom. 9:33, 10:11, & 1 Pet. 2:6)

Compassionate and Gracious

The hospital that I work for is offering a small incentive to employees that receive the covid-19 vaccine. I received the vaccine in January of this year, so I was asking one of the other nurses on the unit if I needed to do anything at all to receive the incentive. She informed me that I did not because I received the vaccine at the hospital, it is the nurses who received the vaccine somewhere else who need to upload there vaccine record into the hospitals health at work system.

By my asking this question she must have felt that she had reason to express her anger regarding persons in our community that refuse to take the vaccine. Before I tell you what she said, I should tell you that what she said comes from a person who feels overwhelmed. In our facility there are over 200 hundred patients with covid pneumonia, with about 50% of those persons on ventilators. It is a horrible horrible situation to say the least. 

She said two things expressed in anger: 1) If you refuse the vaccine do not come to the hospital. 2) It is selfish and unchristian to not get vaccinated.

I answered her first statement but did not answer her second because after answering the first I perceived that her ears were closed. I explained to her that we have always cared for people who are what we call non-compliant. It was then that she said that not getting vaccinated is selfish and unchristian.

Is it selfish and unchristian? It is selfish because beds and ventilators are being occupied in such a way that it is difficult for anyone to get a space in the hospital, no matter their illness. I do not know if it is unchristian but I do know that it is very American and very southern United States. American’s are a rebellious people and untrusting of government. This has played a large role in the rollout of the covid-19 vaccine and the populations expectance of it, especially in the southern United States. Southerners are even more untrusting of government than those in the northern United States. I do agree that it is selfish but I also think that there is a great deal of ignorance involved, exacerbated by a rebellious spirit and being untrusting of government.

The Christian nurse is called to be two things which go against our human nature but are Christ like. The Christian nurse is to be compassionate. Compassion is having concern for the sufferings of others and there are many in our hospital who are suffering. The Christian nurse is to be gracious. Grace is to give others a blessing that they do not deserve.

How Long?

Sometimes I wonder if the Lord has forgotten me. Is he hiding his face from me, and if so, how long will he hide his face? What is the Lord doing? What is the Lord waiting for?

I have sorrow in my heart all the day. Sorrow over my own sin past and present. Sorrow over the state of the world around me. Sorrow over the patients that are put in my care. Sorrow over my children and their way of life. I feel like David when he was surround by his enemies on every side. My enemies are within and without. My enemies are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. My enemies are the dark forces of this world. My enemies are sickness and death. I cannot take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart forever. 

All the day long I call to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to enlighten my eyes and show me the way that I should go. I pray for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to make all things new. Did he not promise to return and sit down on his glorious throne to judge the earth? Did he not promise to separate the sheep from the goats; the sheep into eternal life and the goats away to eternal punishment? 

Should I be overcome by the enemy? Should my adversaries rejoice when I am shaken? The truth is that I am shaken and I do feel as though I am overcome. I am not strong. I am weak. The Lord Jesus Christ has prevailed and I have trusted in the grace of God. I know that I will rejoice in the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust that he will return and save me from all of my enemies within and without. On that glorious day I will sing praises to my God and the Lamb because he has been gracious to me.