The tears would flow each time the automobile drove down the long lane from the farm house. The woman sitting on the passenger’s side felt humiliated and beaten as she had to spend time with her overbearing mother-in-law. From the beginning of the marriage when the mother of the groom told the gathered guests that her son was marrying beneath himself, she systematically tried to control the lives of her family. She tried to control their jobs. She tried to control their parenting. She tried to control the grandchildren. Her forceful actions caused resentment, and at the time of her own husband’s death, not one wanted her to live with them. Her controlling ways had alienated those that she was supposed to love and nurture. Control. Some believe it’s their mandate. Some believe they’re called to bring order. Some believe they’re the ones to get things done. But if we’re going around telling others what to do, trying to impose our own wills while not allowing others to express them own selves, then exerting power over another becomes a big, unhealthy problem. So why? Why do people feel the compulsion to control others and situations? Is there a lack of self-esteem? Do individuals feel out of control in their past or present lives? Is there a sense of worry that things won’t get done? Or is there a god-like complex? Incessant control is neither helpful or productive. In James 1:19 it says, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” Control and oppression are not of God!

The “official” day of love is on our doorstep.  Yes, February 14, Valentine’s Day, when love will be expressed in flowers, cards, chocolates, going out to eat, dancing, and the expression of other “heart felt” overtures specifically designed to show our deep devotion and care to those special persons in our lives.  While these signs of affection and romance are so very important and sincerely warranted, we also realize that love is much more than a piece of cardboard which spits out a song when opened, or a multi-colored, hard candy in a shape of heart, which shares a cheesy slogan along with being hard on the teeth.  Love is sacrifice.  Love is truth.  Love is action.  Love is presence. Even in this sometimes hard, apathetic and self-centered world, we are still touched by a self-less love that is not bent on just receiving, but giving.  I was blessed to encounter this in my very own family.  In 1965, my maternal grandparents were suddenly killed, as their car was picked up, and thrown into the ditch by a night time tornado.  My two aunts, aged 10 and 14 were also in the automobile as they sustained serious, and long healing injuries.  After this horrific event my mother became her sister’s guardian, and when my parents were married a year later, all the parties began to live together under the same roof. Along with all this I was added to the mix many months later.  Through the years I came to understand that this was not an easy scenario.  There was grief, little money and limited room.  But that didn’t matter, because it was about sacrifice and love. So how is it possible for us humans, even imperfectly, to share this sacrificial love with another?  Because this love comes directly from God, and his Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  A love that will never let us go.  In the New Testament Book of I John 4:7 it is written, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”  Clearly, love only exists from God, and this love is provided to us to share.  So how do we know that God is serious about this sacrificial love or not?  Is it just words or are their actions behind it?  In I John 3:18 it says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth.” These days we are so inundated with words, aren’t we?  Whether it’s the internet, cable television or even a phone solicitation, how do we know if the things being said are true, or “fake news?”  Not long ago I received a phone call from an organization that wanted me to donate to their cause.   They wanted me to make a verbal pledge over the phone.  When I said that I wanted to see some information first, they balked.  So, I refused.  Some words seem hollow, but not the Word of the living God.  In John 3:16 Christ himself says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In these true words we see that God is providing us with his sacrificial and eternal love in Jesus.  The greatest love ever known to humanity.  A love that will never let us go. As we come upon the recognition of Valentines, the worldwide day of love where the names of Hallmark, Russell Stovers and Cupid take center stage, let us realize that love is far more than just words and simplistic platitudes.  The foundation of all love itself is God.  And God showed us this sacrificial love by sending Jesus Christ to be our Savior.  As we are reminded by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13:13, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

He had the privilege of watching new creation come, realizing that it was only possible through God.  These were the experiences of my paternal grandfather Joe Hales, who spent his life farming.  He planted corn, soybeans and wheat on approximately 120 acres of black sand.  And as a kid growing up, I distinctly remember him telling me stories about the crops.  Grandpa told me about the times when the hail and wind storms would break off the leaves of the young seedlings, but they always seemed to grow back.   He shared with me about the droughts where the land would become parched.  But somehow, enough precipitation would suddenly appear to water the fledgling plants.  My Grandfather Hales made it clear that he was just the steward, the manager of the land, but it was God who made things happen.  Grandpa was the guy who just plowed the ground, planted the seed, and harvested the bounty.  But it was the Lord who newly created year, after year, after year. And through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, we are given the opportunity to become his “new creation” as we begin a new year.  In II Corinthians 5:17 it is written, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” So, what does it mean to be a “new creation” in Christ?  It means realizing that nothing can take us away from God’s love.  It means we’re saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus.  It means even though we sin, we realize that through repentance, we are totally and absolutely forgiven through the shed blood of Christ.  It means that we’re going to “let go” of the past, and let God.  But this will probably be the hardest thing for us to do. Why?  Because we hate to “let go.”  Sometimes it’s easier to hang on to old habits and unhealthy behaviors rather than becoming “new creations.”   We get so accustomed to specific ways of living that we fight to hold onto the “old creation.”  I’m the kind of guy who hates to get rid of his clothes.  I will keep wearing the same tee shirts even though they are ridden with holes and the material is pulling away from the collars.  These shirts are in such bad shape but I refuse to part with them.  But my wife doesn’t have the same problem.  She has systematically replaced the old tees with new ones.  And this is what Jesus has done for us. Through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, Christ has literally broken the old, and brought in the new.  In Mark 2:22 it says, “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.  If he does, the wine will burst the skins-and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins.  But new wine is for fresh wineskins.“  Jesus is the new wine, and we can be those new wineskins, filled with Christ himself through the Holy Spirit.  And as we have Jesus himself in us, we can begin the year living as his new creations, filled with faith, hope and love. In John 10:10 it is written, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  In 2018, we don’t have to allow the darkness to keep us captive and conflicted.  We don’t have to allow the darkness to keep us negative and neglectful.  We don’t have to allow the darkness to keep us selfish and sullen.  As new creations of Christ Jesus we are being provided the ultimate gift to live not just for ourselves, but to serve and encourage others. The task is set before us.  The choice is ours.  Do we want to continue living in the past, or to embrace the future?  May we follow the words in Ephesians 2:22-24, “To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

By Pastor Brad Hales

Pastor Brad Hales

     We’re in the center of a frenzy.  Colorful signs with bold names adorn yards and are situated by the sides of roads.  An endless stream of glossy postcards with messages of pro and con arrive daily in our postal boxes.  Robo calls invade our homes day and night trying to convince us of appeal and support.  Passionate believers knock at our doors, extolling the virtues of their worthwhile candidates.  It’s election time for our constitutional republic. Read more…