Allergy Capital

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America has released its annual list of the 100 worst U. S. cities for allergy sufferers. With all the trouble I have with allergies, especially this time of the year, I was confident Pensacola would be near the top of the list. Turns out the worst place to be for allergies this year is Hartford, CT and Pensacola barely makes the list, coming in at #98. My only reaction is that if there are 97 places worse than this for allergies, I surely feel sorry for those who live in places at the top of the list. They must have runny noses and sinus headaches all the time.

Allergy sufferers are the Rodney Dangerfields of the medical malady world. You remember the late comic, Mr. Dangerfield, who always complained that he didn't get any respect. People don't seem to give you much sympathy when you complain "I feel miserable because of these old allergies."

I know, of course, that allergies aren't normally terminal . . . they just make you wish you were dead sometimes. Still, given the choice of having cancer, stroke, or hay fever, I'd take that dreadful old rhinitis every time. You don't feel healthy; in fact, you feel pretty miserable. But you know that this will pass and you'll be better as soon as the pollen index falls and all the other irritants go away.

This caused me to start thinking about whether Christians ever suffer from any kind of spiritual allergies. We know we should be concerned about our spiritual health. We understand that the soul can experience some spiritual equivalents of fatal diseases. The works of the flesh . . . the things that will keep us out of heaven. If we don't believe in Jesus, we will die in our sins [John 8:24]. If we don't repent, we will perish [Luke 13:3]. Galatians 5:21 says, ". . . those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." We all know the big, bad sins . . . the terminal spiritual diseases which cause us to lose our souls.

But what about people who don't have anything "fatal" or "serious" wrong with their souls? We've just grown a little lukewarm. We don't have the enthusiasm we used to have. Coming to worship services is more of a chore than a make-your-week special event. Call it indifference or apathy . . . but something isn't just quite right. Maybe you would say the "thrill is gone" in your marriage to the Lord.

Wait a minute. Who said this isn't a serious spiritual malady? Jesus was ready to spit the Laodiceans out of His mouth because they were lukewarm [Revelation 3:16]. We'd better pay attention and find some remedy . . . or else the spiritual blues that many of us face from time to time could draw us away from Christ and leave us stranded in a condition a whole lot worse than the sniffles and runny noses of springtime allergies.

We'll continue this thought later and try to think about some ways we can combat those spiritual allergies that leave us discouraged and "just not caring" as much as we know we should.
In the meantime, go take your allergy pills and get out there and enjoy life.

Mellow Love

I preached last Sunday night from Titus 2:2 about the qualities God would like to see in older men. One point I made is that as we grow older, we should be growing in the maturity of the love we show toward one another. The apostle John is a good example. As a young man, he was one of the "sons of thunder." He was ready to call down fire from heaven to destroy his enemies. Much later in life, he is the "apostle of love" writing the wonderful description of godly love found in the book of 1 John.

Today we see aggressive young men who are firebrands ready to rise up to contend for the faith with zeal and vigor. I don't believe that is all bad. But it does need to be balanced with patience and understanding. Our goal as Christians should be helping one another get from where we are to where we need to be in our spiritual maturity and in our relationships with God and with one another. To use a dated expression from a generation ago, perhaps we need to "mellow out" a little while standing firm in our convictions and in our stand for God's truth.

Conservative brethren today seem to be becoming more and more consumed with a "witch hunt" to find something wrong in just about everybody. Unless one belongs to the select few, they are going to be targets of suspicion if any difference in viewpoint or understanding of Scripture can be identified. Paul warned the Galatians about "biting and devouring one another." We should be paying attention to his warning.

Anniversary

My wife Trish and I will celebrate our 6th anniversary tomorrow. It's been said that we loved paying taxes so much that we decided to make April 15th our anniversary. Actually back in the spring of 2000, we faced an unusual set of circumstances that made April 15 the only possible date we could schedule our wedding so we turned an unpleasant day into one to remember with pleasure every year.

This is the second go-round for both Trish and me. My first wife died in 1998 after a seven-year battle with cancer. We had celebrated our 25th anniversary two months before she passed away. A year and a half later, Trish and I discovered one another. I had studied the Bible with Trish and had the pleasure of baptizing her into Christ. We became friends and friendship blossomed into romance. Several months later, we were married.

Six years later, we're continuing the adventure. It hasn't always been easy. Of course, marriage is never always easy. That is especially true when two forty-somethings (now fifty-somethings) try to mesh their lives together. However, it's been a wonderful, amazing journey. I feel so blessed to have found Trish and I hope she feels something of the same regarding me. She is a very special person in a hundred different ways . . . a Hospice nurse, a faithful Christian, a Bible teacher, a loving mom and grandmother to her children and mine, and my best friend.

We're leaving this morning on an overnight anniversary trip. . . just a road trip to spend some time together and enjoy one another's company. We're traveling down the Florida coast a little ways heading east from Pensacola to Fort Walton, Destin, and then wherever we happen to decide to go.

Did Judas Write a Gospel?

That's not really the relevant question because I haven't heard any knowledgeable person actually suggest that the so-called Gospel of Judas was really written by the apostle who betrayed Jesus. The earliest historical record of this document comes from a mention by Ireneus circa A. D. 180. The assumption is that Judas was written sometime in the middle of the second century . . . about 120 years or so after the man Judas committed suicide after betraying Jesus. The manuscript we've heard so much about is a 3rd or 4th century copy of this document by an anonymous second century writer.

So once we understand that this is one of many second century Gnostic documents which claim to be expressions of ideas held by first century figures, we're prompted to ask what all the excitement is about. There's nothing that indicates that The Gospel of Judas is inspired or that it belongs in the canon of Scripture. It's simply a second century work of fiction. As such, it's an interesting curiosity, but not any kind of earthshattering discovery. It certainly doesn't live up to National Geographic hype that it's "a discovery that will rewrite Bible history."

Seeking the Light

After a couple of short-lived experiments with blogging two or three years ago, I've decided to listen to my wife's efforts to persuade me to write regularly in this space. I'll try to write about a variety of things . . . many of them spiritual in nature . . . sharing things I discover in my study of the Bible that excite me and might be of some value to someone else. I might also express some opinions about current events and make some comments from time to time about people I care about -- my wife, my sons, my granddaughter, and some of my brothers and sisters in the Lord who encourage me and teach me in important ways.

I look forward to returning here often to add items to this journal. If you find any value to what you read here, I hope you will also return and visit again. Feel free to share your comments.