Never Give Up

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”—Galatians 6:9

Please don’t send me any more emails about how Madalyn Murray O’Hair is petitioning the FCC to get Christians off the radio. Since 1974 this rumor continues to circulate that there is a Bill before Congress (a non-existent House Bill #2493) to remove all Christian programming from our airwaves. It comes around every six months or so and makes Christians look silly and stupid because they sign a petition that is a hoax. Madalyn Murray O’Hair was murdered several years ago and, trust me, is no longer petitioning Congress.

A more challenging question might be whether Bible reading and prayer were taken from us or did we give them up? I am beginning to believe that the government and O’Hair did not take Bible reading and prayer from our culture, but we, who call ourselves Christians, gave it up. My concern is not whether Bible reading is done in public schools, but do Christians and Christian families read the Bible and pray at home.

On Thursday, May 5 I participated in the Celebrate One unity service and National Day of Prayer observance in downtown Johnstown. As far as I know, this was the only National Day of Prayer observance in Cambria County. The attendance was up from last year, probably the highest attendance since the first Celebrate One service held seven years ago. But the Pasquerilla Convention Center was still far from full. I am certain most Christians in the Johnstown area were not at home reading their Bibles and praying together with their families.

The Celebrate One service opened with a clip from the movie, “Sheffey.” In the clip, Robert Sheffey, a Methodist preacher, farmer, and evangelist from the late 1800s, says, “And someday when the world tells us we can no longer have our religion, except where they say, and God is driven from our schools and our government and our homes, then God’s people can look back and know that our religion was not taken from us.  It was given up, handed over, bit by bit until there was nothing left.”

Robert Sheffey over a hundred years ago foresaw exactly what is taking place in our country today. Christians are giving back our freedoms and the Christian privileges to worship, pray, and read God’s Word by neglect. If you don’t exercise a muscle, it will atrophy, wither and die. If we don’t exercise our rights as Americans and our privileges and duties as Christians, our Christian culture and nation will wither and die.

Many persons attribute the saying, “Never, never give up” to Sir Winston Churchill. Actually, Churchill said, “Never give in.” The Bible urges us to “not become weary in doing good.” Galatians 6:9 further states that we will reap a harvest if, “we do not give up.” The King James Version beautifully puts it, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Let us not grow weary in well doing. Let us put Jesus Christ back into the center our lives. Let’s begin in our homes, our churches, and our nation. We shall reap, if we don’t give up. Next year, May 3, if Jesus does not return before then, I will join fellow Christians in Johnstown to praise Our Lord and pray for our nation and city. I hope you will join me. Until then, Christians, let’s not give up. The time of harvest is still around us.

Choosing My Happiness

“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ...For every man shall bear his own burden.”—Galatians 6:2, 5 (KJV)

We have just completed another season of Easter. I pray the high moments of this year’s celebration have lifted you to a higher plane of living in your spiritual journey. One image from this year’s festivities continues to linger in my mind. Each year, I participated in an annual Cross Walk on Good Friday. This year, eight churches joined in carrying a wooden cross from Beulah United Methodist Church in Dale borough up Bedford Street to Mt. Calvary Lutheran on Scalp Avenue making five stops along the way.

At one moment walking just above Oakland UM Church on Bedford Street, I found myself walking completely alone in a crowd of seventy or so pilgrims. I had been chatting with a couple fellow clergy members when they began to engage in a private conversation. I slowed my pace to allow them to walk together, and I walked alone in the crowd. As I reflected momentarily on being alone in the crowd, I couldn’t help but think of Jesus being so alone in the world even as He was often thronged by crowds of followers. On the Cross, Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

The Holy Spirit almost immediately reminded me of two verses of scripture from Galatians 6. Verse 2 tells us to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In life, we are called to alleviate suffering and to minister to our neighbor. Anyone in need around us and around the world is our neighbor. A second verse, Galatians 6:5 teaches us that every person must bear his/her own burden.

As we carried the cross up Bedford Street and Scalp Avenue, I understood clearly that I was not carrying, nor could I carry the cross Jesus was called to carry. In a similar way, although I can help my neighbors in a wide variety of ways, I cannot make them become believers in Jesus Christ. I cannot make them happy people. I cannot carry the burdens they have been called to bear. We so often strive to make the lives of those closest to us perfect. We desire to make them perfectly happy, but we cannot. We all must experience and work out certain things for ourselves.

I am quite sure it is not a quote from scripture, but I believe the title of the book by Frank Minirth and Paul Meier, Happiness is a Choice, is a truth we must learn to accept. I cannot fix another person’s life, but I can do those things God calls me to do to alleviate suffering and show love to those around me. After I have done my duty, given my care, and lifted others before the Lord in prayer, I can do no more. I have borne their burden and fulfilled Christ’s command.

Jesus invites anyone who would be His follower to “deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). We all have our cross, our stuff, to bear. Our unique situation, strengths, and weaknesses become our personal cross we must learn to bear. I believe we can learn to bear it with joy and happiness. Paul said he “learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Phil. 4:12). He gives us his secret in the next verse, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (4:13). With each cross, God gives grace and strength to bear it with joy and happiness. Let us do all we can for one another, but let each of us choose faith, hope, and happiness.