by J. Randal Matheny

Arrogance claims, "I know that already." Humility says, "You've made an interesting point."

Arrogance bristles, "It's none of your business." Humility says, "I thank you for bringing that to my attention."

Arrogance demands, "Why haven't you finished that task?" Humility says, "How can I help you finish that?"

Arrogance challenges, "Who are you to say such a thing?" Humility says, "I hope to learn something signficant from you."

Arrogance informs, "I don't have time for that." Humility says, "Would you share your precious time with me?"

Arrogance sniffs, "That's beneath me." Humility says, "I'd be honored to do that."

Arrogance harangues, "That was a stupid thing to do." Humility says, "I didn't understand your reason for acting."

Arrogance boasts, "I did it first." Humility says, "Many of us finished."

Arrogance waves, "See what I did!" Humility says, "It was a team effort."

Arrogance vents, "God is for wimps." Humility says, "He is my everything."

In 2005, I need to listen more to Humility.

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

by J. Randal Matheny

Year's end, the fortune tellers and social scientists appear from the woodwork to tell us what to expect the coming year.

"A major international figure will probably die this next year." Yeah, right! Can't go wrong with predictions like that.

What does it take to be a proper futurist? Hebrews 12:1-3 gives us some clear clues:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (NIV).

JOIN THE TEAM

First, join the team of futurists. That great cloud of witnesses are the heroes of faith in chapter 11. What did they have in common? They all looked forward to something yet to be received.

"And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not received what was promised" (Hebrews 11:39).

These people were future oriented, waiting to receive, by faith, what never appeared during their lifetime. For example, some even get short mention like Isaac who blessed Jacob and Esau "regarding things to come" (11:20). On his deathbed Jacob blessed Joseph's sons, thinking of the future (11:21). At his end and thinking years ahead, also, Joseph gave instructions about his bones when Israel would leave Egypt (11:22). All futurists. All people who, even at death's door, were looking at what yet would be.

The good futurist is the missionary I heard express the wish to see a church in every city in Brazil during his lifetime.

The proper futurist is another missionary who hung in his office the sign, "Maybe today."

The spiritual futurist sows his seed today, thinking of a great harvest yet to appear.

The futuristic church of God prays "Maranatha," -- "Come, Lord Jesus!"

PARE IT DOWN

Second, to be a proper futurist, pare down to the bare minimum: "let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us."

Sin is not always so easy to see in our lives when we are too much a part of this world. Paul forbids even the mention of immorality, impurity, or greed and commands we bite our tongue to avoid filthiness, silly talk, or coarse jesting (Ephesians 5:3-5). Never mind the doing of it, don't even talk or joke about it! Talk about radical!

That means many of us are too weighted down to be good futurists.

And not only the entangling sin which would flap in the wind and wind around our legs to prevent our best time on the track. But ANY encumbrance that would hold us back. Doesn't have to be sin. Could be football, hunting, novels, knitting, pets, you name it -- anything that hampers our progress in spiritual things. Now we're not only talking radical, but extreme! (The word of the decade, right?)

SEE THE LEADER

Third, to be a really good futurist, we must focus on the one far ahead of us all, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith."

Whether we project ourselves into a fantastic future or not, Jesus started this whole project and he will finish it. With us or without us. But he so desires to bring us alongside.

He is far ahead and has shown us to face the trials with joy (see verse 3), understanding that through these the victory is won.

In the wilderness of temptation, he could already see the ministering angels.

Before the denials rang in his ears, he thought of the hot tears of repentance.

With bloody drops of sweat as he contemplated the cross, the crowning will of God and the crush of Satan's head soothed his brow.

We can go all the way, then, when we "consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that [we] will not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:3).

SUCCESS GUARANTEED

The coming year will be smashing, successful, blessed, glorifying, because we have learned to see through the cascade of tears and reach beyond to the harvest of joy.

But only a proper futurist can do that. And now we know.

Happy new year!

by J. Randal Matheny

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters -- yes, even his own life -- he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26, NIV).

"Literally, self-hatred refers to an extreme dislike of oneself, or being angry at oneself. The term is also used to designate a dislike or hatred of a group to which one belongs." --en.wikipedia.org

How to hate one's own life? Some have learned to hate themselves because they have been ridiculed, derided, or devalued by people around them. They find many reasons to hate themselves and consider themselves worthless, but Jesus isn't talking about one's self-worth.

Others hate their own thoughts or acts, which may even be heinous or perverse (compare Romans 7:15), but even these are not what Jesus refers to.

From their bashing of the brotherhood, some seem to hate their spiritual inheritance, preferring instead to laud religious departures from the Word. But that is not what Jesus means above.

Jesus uses the word "hate" for emphasis. We're told it means "love less," and indeed so, though we mustn't diminish the force or impact of the word. It's a strong word, used of the ostracism, insults, and scorn heaped upon the Christian (Luke 6:22), of the Son's hatred of lawlessness (Hebrews 1:9), of the saint's hatred of even the wicked's "garment polluted by the flesh" (Jude 23), of God's hatred of the Nicolaitans' deeds (Revelation 2:6).

This self-hatred required by Jesus, then, must be strong, or it will be nothing of the sort. It means the disowning, renunciation, rejection, and denial of all that would compete with our single devotion to Christ. There can be one center of life only, one reason to live and breathe, one principle and way and ground and goal.

So O. Michel will write, "Those who become disciples of Jesus must be commited exclusively to Him; they cannot be bound to anyone or anything else" (TDNT 4:691).

Whatever kind of self-hatred you may have engaged in to date, learn to set your life aside, to place holiness above survival, eternity before the urge of the moment, the way of the cross before the downward slide.

I can afford to hate my own life. God has enough love for us both.

by J. Randal Matheny

In negotiations, we should prefer what has been lately termed a win-win situation. Both parties rise from the table with terms that favor both the relationship and their individual objectives. American society, as well as others, needs this important perspective, carried away as it is with lawsuits.

We want everyone to win. We agree with American politician Harriet Woods, who was quoted as saying, "You can be a victor without having victims." (Politics, they say, in its best manifestation, is the art of compromise.) We wish a good life, prosperity, joy, and peace to all. Above all, we desire, and work toward, every person's acceptance of God's salvation.

Win-win is a wonderful concept which we should employ in every possible situation.

Some situations, however, do not permit win-win. So where no eternal issue is at stake, or moment in which integrity is not compromised, we will be happy to lose. Not every issue is worth the effort to win.

Some things, though, we will not concede, nor give in, under any circumstance.

• We will not surrender our children to the prevailing permissiveness rampant around us.

• We will not admit defeat to the tempter, who would have us abandon our post of service to God for some passing pleasure.

• We refuse to play dead as some try to turn the church of Jesus Christ into just another sect.

• We will not give up the dot of an "i" or crossing a "t" of the teaching of the Word, whether it be baptism necessary for salvation, the exclusivity of singing in worship, or men leading in Christians' meetings.

Just as in the real world, we live in a spiritual reality where aggressors refuse the negotiating table and agitators adopt the mission to terrorize others.

These are the ones the Bible terms the "world." They come in all shapes and sizes, in garbs of the religious and the atheists, the carousers and soothers, carnal and spiritist. The world pitted against God, rebellious against his will, recalcitrant against his authority.

In this case, war is declared, we will fight to the death, for life, knowing that someone must lose and someone must win.

And we know Who will win.

Win-win when we can. Lose-win when the issue is indifferent. But win-lose when eternity is at stake.

In the latter, victory is possible only when the opponent is vanquished.

"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith" (1 John 5:4, ESV).

by J. Randal Matheny

Brazilians have a Thanksgiving Day, but nobody has ever heard of it. Why is that?

While I leave the answer to anthropologists and sociologists, the United States' Thanksgiving Day is a part of the country's basic, institutional, initial values. From a religious, Christian (broadly defined) impulse.

The true Christian has thanksgiving ingrained in his deepest core. More than a yearly observance, gratitude is the well-spring of his being. Each day presents new reasons to pray a thank-you to the Father and to find in nearly every person and in every situation a motive of thanksgiving.

Some things are to be taken literally in the Bible, others should be understood figuratively. This command belongs to the first order:

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

First off, I'm grateful for what my wife prays for. She prays the "Woman's Prayer" daily: "Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom, to understand a man, Love, to forgive him, and Patience, for his moods, because, Lord, if I pray for Strength, I'll just beat him to death ..."

The day she prays for strength (with a capital "S," yet), I'm a goner.

Second, I'm grateful for

• wonderful kids flying the nest,
• adolescents who behave like real human beings,
• supportive parents who have put up with our being on the mission field for decades,
• churches who have stuck with us for all this time,
• the Internet that keeps us connected,
• new Christians and churches in our region,
• Christian writers and editors I know,
• the gift of listening (so they tell me),
• okay, I'll quit before I lose you.

One more: I'm grateful for having lived and worked in Brazil for the last 20 years, as of November 28. This country, these people whom I came to teach, have taught me so much about life, faith, hardship, zeal, joy.

Saturday, the good brethren in our region shared a special moment of celebration with us. On the wall and on the gigantic cake, hearts divided with a Brazilian flag on one side and the American flag on the other.

Those hearts are not actually divided, but united; not split, but welded, as we have not only formed our own "third culture," but the melding of the two in a Christian bond that vibrates the cultural strings and transcends race, class, language, and nationality.

As Paul calls it in Ephesians, it's the "heavenly realms" here and now.

To cherish this, and to thank God for such a blessing, is the essential subject.

Not just this week, but every day.