by J. Randal Matheny

"From Aroer on the edge of the gorge of the Arnon and the level land of the gorge, as far as Gilead, no city walls were too lofty for us; the Lord our God laid them all open to us" (Deuteronomy 2:36, NEB).

No obstacle can deter the follower of Jesus, when he rises up to do the will of God. Moses reminds Israel, right before entering Canaan, what God had done for the people on the east side of the Jordan River. No pagan city could resist God's people, no matter how high their walls, no matter how strong their defences. For Israel was now obeying the Lord's command and trusting his promise to give them the land.

Today, the Lord continues to deliver all up to us, laying open every bastion of resistance, whether it be ours and others rebellious thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5-6) or the strongest counter-attacks of the devil (Matthew 16:18). There is no wall so high as to impede the obedience to the gospel or the fulfilling of the mission he has given us to be world-lights and mouthpieces of the gospel.

Whatever the high wall before you today, you may breach it in the power of the Lord God.

"With thy help I leap over a bank, by God's aid I spring over a wall." (Psalm 18:29)

by Randal Matheny

Ever have one of those self-pity moments when you told yourself that your efforts were ineffective and you yourself were just useless? Maybe you even wanted to pitch it all and run away.

Onesimus must have felt that way. After all, what use can a slave have, other than fulfilling the whims of his master? Even if you're name is Useful. Yes, Onesimus wasn't quite living up to his name.

We gather from the book of Philemon that Onesimus -- let's call him Useful, shall we? -- had possibly stolen from his master and then fled. Somehow, somewhere, he encounters Paul, who preaches to the runaway slave and converts him to Christ.

Useful begins to live up to his name. He serves the apostle, but still has some unfinished business to attend to. His repentance means going back to put things right with his owner. (A lesson not a few folks need today.) So Paul sends him back to Philemon with a letter asking him to welcome Useful back and to debit any losses from his account. He says,

"I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel" (Phile. 1:10-13, NASU).

Paul finds Useful so, well, useful, so helpful, he wants him back. He is willing to pay for damages. He appeals for reconciliation.

Why Useful ran, we will never know. But he evidently sought out Paul, who was in prison. There, he found a greater aid than he imagined possible. He found salvation. And he discovered how to live up to his name. By serving. What he was unwilling to do in his natural state and position, he did gladly as a disciple of Christ.

When the tide of human emotions leaves you feeling useless and ineffective, remember our brother Useful. In his desperation, he ran in the right direction, found not only an apostle but a Savior, and discovered the joy of service.

May we all wear his name.

by Randal Matheny

Discipline can be learned, even when our parents didn't teach and discipline us. Consider that God brings discipline into our lives, if we are willing to learn from the experiences he brings to us (see Hebrews 12).

Here are some principles to encourage our discipline, along with some book references to whet our reading appetite.

1. See loss as gain. Judith Viorst wrote Necessary Losses, and though she lacks a biblical basis and fails to discover the true gains of the concept of loss, she gets started on the right track. The Bible has the best rule here: what you surrender to the Lord will be credited to your account. Start with losing your own life (Matthew 16:24-26). I have Evelyn Christenson's Gaining through Losing on my desk right now; it's next on my reading list.

2. Have a plan. Establish the final goal, where you want to arrive. And trace out the steps necessary to reach it. See yourself down the road, five, ten, twenty years from now. Visualize yourself as being, living, and enjoying the New You. Figure out how to get there. For practical suggestions, check out books like Reader's Digest's Organize Yourself.

3. Find a model and be a monkey. Imitate those who are doing successfully what you want to do. This is one of Anthony Robbins's big suggestions in Awaken the Giant Within. But definitely not original with him. The Bible present Jesus as the perfect model (see, for example, Philippians 2 and 1 Peter 3), and a host of other good people as well. Paul often offers himself as worthy of imitation. Check out these few words:

"Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are" (Galatians 4:12, NRSV).

"Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:9).

"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).

4. Write it down. Get a notebook and jot down those dreams, goals, objectives, and positive steps. Also identify and put to the pen those limiting falsehoods that hold you back. Telling Yourself the Truth is one of the great principles of changing your life, say authors William Backus and Marie Chapian. And the writing part is a big principle of David Burns's Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy.

5. Keep it simple, stupid. I've been disappointed with most of his books, but his best one was one of the least popular (wonder why?): Simplicity, by Richard Foster. Complicated plans run greater chance of failure. Military strategists know the simple plan brings success.

6. Start today. "Today is the day of salvation." No time like the present, don't we say? Actually, there is no time BUT the present. In his second book, The Feeling Good Handbook Dr. Burns works on helping to overcome procrastination.

Discipline is the key to transforming our lives. And not only ours, but of others around us as well. This fruit of the Spirit is produced by the Lord and grows in those of us who cooperate as he works in our lives.

Parte 3: The Divine Escape by Randal Matheny

Note: Here are the first two parts: Part 1: The Divine Perspective Part 2: The Divine Character

To paraphrase Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to stand and resist, and a time to run. Or, perhaps, both may be used to speak of how we deal with temptation to sin. James says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (4:7b). In other places we are urged to flee from the evil desires of youth (2 Tim. 2.22), from sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18), love of money (1 Tim. 6:10-11).

In our text of 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul assures us that we will be able to withstand temptation because he "will provide a way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

God gives us an escape route, a way out, a means to put an end (literal meaning) to temptation. We must search for it, use it, take advantage of it. For every moment of temptation, God opens a door of escape.

In the context of this verse, Paul has already offered some tips on what God provides.

First, the power of examples. The early part of 1 Corinthians 11 is dedicated to Israel's sad experience in the desert, how the people sinned repeatedly. "Now these things," says Paul, "happened to them as an example" (verse 11). We are supposed to learn from them, in order to avoid their sins.

Examples both bad and good may motivate us to avoid sin. The bad examples always include the final consequences, the result of death and destruction. Bad examples remind us God's law is inexorable: you will reap what you sow (Gal. 6:7-8).

Good examples also illustrate the principle and, more, show us in concrete terms the way to God. Jesus is the perfect example, of course, but again and again many of his disciples are held up as worthy of imitation. Paul will even offer himself as an example, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1).

A second line of escape comes from the same verse 11, "they were written for our instruction." Our best and worst examples come from Scripture. Our power to resist and win surfaces from the Bible. Many weaken before temptation's attractions because they have been distant from the Sacred Text.

Jesus answered every temptation with the phrase, "It is written." He knew this important escape route.

And, as mentioned earlier, there is, third, the escape route of fleeing, as Paul suggests in verse 14, "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." Israel's big problem continued to plague Christians. Then and now. Worshiping idols is not a mere pagan problem; whatever superimposes itself on the supremacy of God is idol material.

The solution is simple, really: Just get away from it.

Victim of sexual harassment, Joseph saw no alternative than to flee, literally, leaving his coat behind in the hands of his master's wife (Gen. 39:12). God's way of escape may be as near as the closest door. Or the nearest jail.

Whatever the immediate action, we should see that God provides a way out, a way to trash temptation and revel in holiness. With his providing the way, we can be certain to overcome temptation and fulfil every good purpose in Jesus Christ.

by Randal Matheny

Their bodies have not yet been recovered. But above the shock and sadness, a pure note rings clear.

NASA's associate administrator for space flight Billy Readdy said the STS-107 crew "was absolutely dedicated to the mission that they were performing."

Shuttle Columbia Physician Cmdr. Dr. Laurel Clark had said, "To me, there's a lot of different things that we do during life that could potentially harm us, and I choose not to stop doing those things."

Shuttle pilot Cmdr. William McCool's mother Audrey said space flight must continue despite the accident that killed her son and six others.

Was it worth the risk? The flight crew was convinced it was. Even family members, in the midst of grief, believe in what their loved ones were doing.

Their courage and dedication to their task inspires us all. Not least Christians who have a heavenly calling to change lives for eternity.

Jesus' example is more inspiring still.

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mk. 10:45, NASU).

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

And in Christianity examples abound to inspire us that, indeed, the mission is worth the risk.

"I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls" (2 Cor. 12:15).

"Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us" (1 Thes. 2:8).

As saddened as we are by the deaths of the seven crew members of the space shuttle Columbia, we are emboldened by their commitment to their mission. We are reminded that the mission of Christ exceeds any human undertaking and renew our own dedication to this most noble and worthy efforts.

The work of God is worth any risk, any loss, any suffering.