Change and Decay In All Around I See

What does autumn make you think of? Americana is full of fall traditions that many of us hold closer to our hearts. Plenty of people enjoy these experiences so much that they list autumn as their favorite season of the year. They love the changing colors, the pumpkins, the football and the hot apple cider. While I certainly enjoy a picturesque fall day and a good football game, I would never list autumn as one of my favorite seasons. To be honest, it would rank towards the bottom in my book.

Why do I not love fall like so many others do? Fall reminds me of decay and death. Nothing in this world reminds me of the transient nature of everything around us like the progression of fall. The beautiful shades of red and orange give way into brown, which is followed by the months of barren trees and fields that we know as winter. While fall has plenty of terrific traditions, I can't quite shake an uncomfortable, ominous feeling as I watch the life all around me slowly enter dormancy.

The great hymn Abide With Me comes to mind as we consider this phenomenon of fall. Verse 2 says “Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim; its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I see; O thou who changest not, abide me with me!” This verse points us to a truth found in Hebrews 13:8, which says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” While everything around us is in a constant state of change and decay, God does not change. While the applications of God's changelessness are endless, perhaps the most important is that his love for you never changes. Jesus loved you so much that he died so that you could be with him. The Holy Spirit loved you enough to miraculously change your sinful heart into a heart of faith. God will continue to watch over you with this love throughout this life and eternity. Our changeless God does abide with us throughout all the changes around us.

Yes, everything in this world is transient. Fall reminds me of that in a powerful way, but I guess that's alright. Because, when it comes down to it, our lives here are transient too. When you see the decay around you this fall, thank God for providing you with a Savior who will never decay or change. Thanks be to God that he will abide with us through all the changes of this life until we enter paradise where there will be no more decay.

To Whom Shall We Go?

I have a tendency to ruminate on conversations.  I can trace this back to at least 7th grade.  Whenever I have a conversation that I see as meaningful, I spend a lot of time thinking of what I could have said better or what I would say if I got another chance.  It's a tendency that I can't shake.

One conversation that I've ruminated on a lot happened just over six years ago.  It was with a friend that had been straying from her WELS church after she had graduated from high-school.  When I asked her why, she said, "Well, I think that the WELS is right when it comes to doctrine.  But, I don't think that they focus on evangelism and sanctified living as well as they could.  So, to me, it seems like those things might be even more important than completely pure doctrine, so sometimes I'll go and do things with the other church."  This conversation was six years ago.  I tried to replicate it as accurately as I could.  If I turned it into somewhat of a straw-man, that was not my intention.

There's one verse from the Bible that I've wished had come out of my mouth at this point.  It's John 6:68.  It's probably my personal favorite confession of Peter, when he said, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  What could possibly more important than pure doctrine?  That's not to excuse the failures of churches.  However, how could we go to other churches, just because they have this minutiae correct while they fail on some of the primary doctrines of the Christian church?

At the end of John 6, Jesus asks us, along with his disciples, to commit to all of his teachings...even the difficult ones.  The lectionary worked well this past weekend.  It chose Joshua 24 as the Old Testament lesson.  "Choose for yourselves whom you will serve."  If you're not going to stick with Jesus, who has the words of eternal life, choose whom you will serve.  Will you serve people with the gospel, or will you settle for the social-gospel...or even less?  Do you embrace all the teachings of God, even Ephesians 5 (this weekend's second lesson), or do you shy away from those that will raise eyebrows in other circles?  It might be easy to turn to other churches that make these issues simpler, but why?  Jesus has the words of eternal life.  Since he has those, I'm going to stick to his teachings.  All of 'em.