by J. Randal Matheny

At a funeral, it borders on cruelty to say, "Do not weep." The hot tears for one's loss can hardly be contained. Shock, sadness, grief are all legitimate human emotions whose expressions may be accepted and even encouraged. Though eventually the crying subsides, the pain continues, the sadness lingers on.

Before Lazarus's tomb, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). John does not mention what provoked his weeping, but his inner turmoil suggests he was moved deeply by the moment.

So the words fall strangely on our ears from Jesus' lips, "Do not weep," when he and his followers, entering the city of Nain, meet a train of mourners carrying the body of a widow's son to its burial. Luke says his compassion prompts the words (7:13).

Often, well-meaning words do the most damage. Spoken to cheer up, even the right words, proffered too soon, or in false hope, wound worse than an enemy's bitterest invectives.

So why does Jesus say to the mourning widow, "Do not weep"?

These words presage her son's resurrection. Jesus tells the woman not to weep, because he will shortly remove her reason for weeping. He will raise her son from the dead.

If anyone can justify saying, "Do not weep," Jesus can. If someone could offer more than words, our Lord could. And did.

When Christians worried about the future of deceased loved ones, Paul explained with consoling words their secure status, "that you may not grieve" (2 Thess. 4:13-18). Instead of saying "Do not weep," he encouraged, "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (v. 18).

The best one can do, Paul says, is to "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15).

So we weep with those who weep, we remember that Jesus wept, we recall the security of disciples who have preceded us in death, and we comfort one another with such words.

And yet ... we still hear Jesus speak, "Do not weep."

Though we do not look to the coffin for the dead to rise, through the blur of our tears we raise our eyes for the rending of the skies.

Midst the cries and wails of our grief, we listen for an angel's trumpet.

Between sighs and flashes of painful memories, we lose our breath at the thought of rising in the air to meet the waiting Lord.

"Do not weep." We know the words are meant for us as well. And we know that he will take away our reason for weeping.

Any moment now.

by J. Randal Matheny

"We cannot seek happiness in things exterior to ourselves, so we must seek it within humanity."

So said the psychiatrist Saturday night as he sat across the table from me at the birthday party of a mutual friend's daughter.

How sad he must be, I thought, looking for the wrong thing, and in the wrong place.

How can one believe in the evolution of humanity after the wars and suffering of the 20th century? This man, like so many others, is clinging to a myth in the face of overwhelming evidence of humanity's growing evil.

But, like the psychiatrist, we are tempted to cut God out of the picture and paste it over with human hopes and helps. With man we can count dollars and (war)heads. With man we can negotiate, barter, dicker, and deceive. With man we manage to maintain a semblance of control. With man, we can measure ourselves and still find a scale that puts us on top.

Not with God. With God, faith pokes out the eye. With God, the powerless wins. With God, no counter-offer turns his head. With God, our finger on the button withers before his sovereignty. With God, all scales to measure worth drop to zero.

Man has nothing to offer. "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" (Isa. 2:22, ESV). He's a consumer, not a supplier, and a bad one at that. He confuses right and wrong, miscalculates distances, and generally leaves a mess behind him.

But not God. Moses had it right in his last words to Israel: "Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!" (Deut. 33:29).

The search for happiness is selfish and thus can never find its fulfilment. Neither can I make myself happy, for what little knowledge I have of myself leaves me discontent with my failures and shortcomings. Only when I search for God and find in him the answer to my needs will I discover that which I gave up seeking. But now it is the happiness of possessing God, or rather, being possessed by God.

As one psalmist knew, "It is better to take refuge in the Lord that to trust in man" (Psa. 118:8, ESV). But my psychiatrist friend won't admit it. The question is, will I?

by J. Randal Matheny

[Editor's note: Randal is doubling his article from UPLift, his personal list. uplift-subscribe@associate.com He doesn't do it often so we'll forgive him ... this once.]

Ever notice how people walk? Each person seems to have a characteristic manner. Some are pigeon-toed, others bow-legged, still others seem to stick their feet way out front while the head and body follow far behind.

Men walk differently from women.

Some walk faster than others.

When I was a kid, I knew a Christian who, as a native American descendent, walked on the balls of his feet.

Walking is even the object of scientific study. See if you can adjust the options in this link to approximate your walk:

www.bml.psy.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Fun to fiddle with that, isn't it?

The Bible presents life as a walk that can be enjoyable, fulfilling, and rewarding./1 But we need to adjust that walk to the appropriate standards to make it what it should be. So Paul says in Ephesians 5:15, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise."

Though the Bible gives many descriptions of how we should and shouldn't walk, perhaps one sums it up best, "walk in the same way in which he [Jesus] walked" (1 John 2:6).

So our life as a walk could stand some serious adjustments, couldn't it?/2

1/ In the NT epistles, the NIV often removes the figure and speaks of "living." 2/ Do a word search in a version like the ESV for "walk" and see, especially in the epistles, how this figure is used: www.biblegateway.com

by J. Randal Matheny

[Author's note: This article is translated from Portuguese and comes from a magazine column that presents basic spiritual concepts to those new to the Way.]

Our meetings as a church are marked by Bible references, readings, citations, and explanations. Our conversations are peppered with phrases, words, and thoughts taken from the Bible. The goal of our educational material and study courses is to clarify the meaning of the Bible and apply its message to our lives.

That's a lot of Bible in the head and - we hope - in practice. For we want the Bible not only under the armpit but inside the heart.

Why so much emphasis on the Bible?

(1) The Bible is the true Word of God. The Lord used the most trustworthy means of delivering his message to humanity. This means it is the written word. In spite of attempts in the popular media to undermine confidence in the Bible, facts show that no ancient document - without exception - is as well attested as genuine and true as is the Bible. Read 2 Timothy 2:16,17.

(2) No other book besides the Bible brings us God's message. Only the Bible has the inner unity, the freedom from errors, the fulfilled prophecies, and other evidences that show it to be a divine product. Read 2 Peter 1:16-21.

(3) Man's need is the same since Adam and Eve. Our great problem is disobedience to God and our distance from him. The Bible shows the way back to God. Read 2 Timothy 3:14,15.

(4) The Bible is our only trustworthy source of information about Jesus. Everything that God wanted us to know about Christ is in the Bible. Read John 20:30,31.

(5) The Bible contains the whole plan of God for our life, godliness, joy, peace, fullness, and purpose. It is the complete guide to life on earth and for eternity. Read 2 Peter 1:3-11.

For these reasons and many more, we continually investigate the Bible for the foundations of our faith. We read and study book, chapter, and verse - in other words, the entire Bible in detail, in order that we may understand its message as a whole.

We invite you to accompany us in this investigation.

by J. Randal Matheny

"As for you, always be sober-minded, ..." 2 Timothy 4:5, ESV

Each year I choose a Bible verse to express my spiritual desires and work objectives. For 2004, I chose 2 Timothy 4:5. There are four phrases in this verse. In the next few days, I want to give attention to each one.

Life in Christ is often a contrast with the life of those who refuse to hear the truth and follow their own desires (vv. 3-4). This verse also puts spiritual character up against such carnal attitudes.

To be sober-minded or moderate means not to exceed the limits established by God.

Fairbairn says "it denotes more than we commonly understand by being sober -- a vigilant, wakeful, considerate frame of mind, which takes good heed to what is proceeding around, and with calm and steady aim pursues its course. It is an exhortation to maintain the clear perception and even balance of the mind, so as not to be entrapped by false appearances, or by undue excitement turned aside from the onward path of truth and duty" (Patrick Fairbairn, Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, First and Second Timothy, Titus [Zondervan, 1956], p. 388).

The disciple exercises moderation in everything, for to give in in one area makes excess easier in another. This is the key to integrity.

Matters not what the worldly do. When Paul tells Timothy, "As for you," he means your (and our) way of life will always go against carnality. Instead of giving in to desires, we give up to God our lives, mind, heart, and soul.