DayBreaks for the Week of 5/06/24 – Love, Hate, and Those Without Faces

From the DayBreaks archive, 2015:

The humorist Will Rogers told us that he never met a man he didn’t like. In the musical that celebrated Rogers’ life, there is a song by that title and in that song, Rogers admits that one man “put him to the test,” but never pushed him finally to the point where his ability to like evaporated. I don’t know what your response is to Rogers’ disclosure, but I am led to think he was — to utilize an overworked phrase — “in denial.” Come now, can any of us stand and say that we have, without exception, always liked every single person with whom we have ever come into contact? I appreciated the honesty of a well-seasoned cleric who confessed: “There are some people to whom I couldn’t warm even if I were cremated with them!” 

Let’s get this on the table before we go a step further. Christian men and women are not called to like everyone. The old camp song is titled “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love,” and not, “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Likes and Dislikes.” If there are folks to whom you do not warm, know please that you are not in violation of any Christian norm.

We are not called to like, but we are called — and this is the burden of our text — to love: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you,” says Jesus. 

On Tuesday, I sat across the table from a co-worker whose niece was killed in the terrorist attack on the university in Kenya that was in the news recently.  It took them several days to identify all the bodies – and for a while, they were in suspense about what had happened to her as she was “missing.”  What you probably didn’t read in the news stories was that the attackers purposely shot people in the face so they would be unrecognizable, but her body was finally identified by fingerprints.  I asked him how he can not hate the people who did this horrible deed.  His response humbled me: “What good would it do for me to hate them?  Would that bring her back?  The only answer to the problem is to love them.”

Love, as it is defined by our faith, is both a revered panacea and an underemployed practice. To say that the answer to the world’s problems is for people to love each other more is both right and banal at the same time. It sounds wonderful and grand. Who would argue with the contention? But when you are eyeball to eyeball with another person — especially one who is cantankerous, obnoxious, difficult, who may be holding a gun (literally) to your head, who is unlovely, and seemingly unlovable — it is anything but an easy task. There will be more than a few times when we say with Jeremiah 9:2 – O that I had in the desert a traveler’s lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! 

Frederick Buechner has observed: “In the Christian sense, love is not primarily an emotion, but an act of will.”  What does that say to you about your understanding of love?

PRAYER: Lord, you have taught me today about what love means and how little hate accomplishes through the words of my friend.  Let me learn to love as you do and as you want me to! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 3/25/25 – The Lesson of the Thief

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”^[1] – Luke 23:39-43

I don’t know about you, but in this verse, I find great reason for hope. Here was a man who had lived a criminal life. What his explicit crimes were are not mentioned in Luke, though some think he may have also been a murderer. Suffice it to say that he was not a good man and had not lived a good life.

Yet still, at the end of that day, the man’s soul was in Paradise with Jesus.

What did this man have to recommend himself to the Judge of all the earth? Nothing. He could not point to righteous deeds. He could not, it would seem, even point to a life lived while trying to be righteous and pious. He had nothing in his hands with which to stand before his Maker.

But he had two things, and two things only, going for him. Firstly, Jesus had given his word to the man about his destiny. And this is the Jesus who has never broken a promise.

Secondly, even as Jesus spoke the words of comfort, he blood was paying for that man’s sins – every single one of them. And with that, the man’s forgiveness was purchased.

I suppose that being Jesus, he had the right to save the man without shedding of his blood. After all, he had the right to dictate the terms of salvation, did he not? But he didn’t do that. He knew that forgiveness of sin required blood – His blood.

Maybe you are sitting there smugly, thinking to yourself, “But I’m a good man”, or “I’m a good woman.” Not you are not. You are not good. Romans 3:10b-12 puts it as bluntly as possible: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

You are not good. I am not good. Not a one of us is. Jesus would himself refuse to be called good, saying only the Father was good. How dare we think we are good when Christ had to die for us!

I am a believer – have been for many, many years. But I know in my heart that I am still not good. There are too many kindnesses I have failed to show. I’ve been too selfish. I’m too prideful. My thoughts are filled with evil. I have not been kind when I should have. I am, bluntly, a sinner. But thank God, I’m like the criminal on the cross – an evil man forgiven by a gracious God who died for my every sin. That is the lesson of the thief on the cross: it is not good men or women who go to heaven, but forgiven men and women.

PRAYER: Holy Father, thank you for this lesson in humility and for your great forgiveness and grace that also saves us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

 

DayBreaks for the Week of 9/10/23: It Cannot Be Unwritten

Luke 7:41-43 (ESV) A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

In the old classic movie, The Ten Commandments, Yul Brynner (who played the pharaoh Rameses), could be heard at various points issuing decrees with a flourish that ended with “So let it be written, so let it be done!”  And, as pharaoh, he got his wish.

There is a great story about the account books of a certain Scottish doctor that were examined after his death.  The examination revealed that there were a number of names and accounts with balances that had a line drawn through them with an accompanying note: “Forgiven–too poor to pay.”

You might think that would be the end of the story, but the physician’s widow decided that these accounts must be paid in full and she proceeded to sue for money. When the case came to court the judge asked but one question. “Is this your husband’s handwriting?” When she replied that it was, he responded: “There is no court in the land that can obtain a debt once the word forgiven has been written.”

And isn’t that precisely the Good News of the Gospel story?  God has taken your sin and my sin, not just some of them but in their whole entirety and written “Forgiven – too poor to pay” on our ledger.  Can there be a sweeter fact to the human mind?!

PRAYER: Glory and praise to You forever more for having taken our debt and paying it for those of us who are too poor to pay!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 1/29/23 – The Key Word is “All”

During worship on Sunday, our church usually sings fairly contemporary Christian worship songs and hymns. Yesterday, it was a bit like “throwback” Sunday as several of the songs were either old hymns (with a few modifications and played by a worship band) or medleys of several of the old favorites from the hymn book.

It started with “Jesus Paid It All”. I have sung that song (or heard it sung) for 60+ years, but not a lot lately. For some reason, the words of the song really hit me as we sang it. The four simple words, “Jesus paid it all….” knocked me out of my routine and made me start to get weepy.

I struggle with sin. I am not proud of that fact, but it is the plain and simple truth. I get frustrated at how much sin still allures me. You’d think that by my stage in life that I’d have a better handle on it. I don’t. Some of the temptations to sin may have changed, but I’m still a sinner. With lots of sin.

Like everyone, at times I despair. I can picture Jesus looking down from heaven and getting a very distinct look of disgust and revulsion when he sees me. But then the Spirit reminds me that when the Father sees me, He sees me dressed not in any righteousness of my own (for I have none!), but fully wrapped in Jesus’ righteousness.

As I thought about the words of the song, I took hope anew because I realized that even though I will continue to sin until my dying day, Jesus paid the price for ALL my sin already. It’s not like I’m going to commit one more sin that He hasn’t already paid for…Jesus paid it ALL!

PRAYER: Oh, Jesus! Hallelujah and glory to Your name for paying for ALL my sins already and freeing me from the fear of that “one more sin” that wouldn’t have been paid for! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

AN INTERESTING SIDE NOTE ON “Jesus Paid It All”: this hymn was written by a woman sitting in the choir loft during one of her pastor’s long prayers.  She wrote it on the flyleaf of a hymnal.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for Christmas Day, 12/25/22 – God’s Heart Transplant

Today I’m sharing something that Ann Voskamp wrote.  The background: 13-year-old Taylor Storch and her family had gone to Colorado for a little skiing. Taylor laughed loud coming down the mountain, but then she fell – right down a straight rocky slant of the earth. Ann continues: “By nightfall, she was gone, slipped off this earth and Home, and her parents, Tara and Todd, were signing papers to give away Taylor’s still-warm heart.

They ended up giving Taylor’s heart to a woman, Patricia Winters, in Arizona whose heart was failing so badly that she couldn’t get off the couch anymore.

When someone called to tell Ann and her family about the accident, Ann wrote: “There’s been ugly sin this week and there’s been dead weary and there’s been more than a few moments I haven’t known how to go on.

“Taylor’s mama had only one request.” I lean against the window sill, head against the cool pane, tell my Mama what Max had said, how he had shown us a photo of Taylor with her mama. How Taylor’s mama had called Patricia Winters and asked her if she could come hear her heart.

“Oh my.” Mama murmurs what only a mama can feel. The clock’s ticking on the wall.

“And Max had told us how Taylor’s mama flew from Dallas to Phoenix and knocked on Patricia Winters’ door and Patricia Winters walked right past the couch and she opened the door and she opened her arms and she welcomed them in. And Taylor’s mama fell into her arms and the two mothers just held each other, Taylor’s heart beating right there next to her weeping Mama’s.

‘And then Patricia Winters reached over and handed Taylor’s Mama a stethoscope.

“And she laid that stethescope up against Patricia Winters and she could hear it, right there in Patricia as clear as a beckoning bell: Thrum. Thrum.

“Taylor’s mama could hear it loud and long, right there in her ears…Thrum.

“Like a thunder vibrating right through her — Thrum.

“Her daughter’s still-beating heart.

“Oh… I can’t…” Mama chokes out the words. “I can’t even imagine.”

“Can’t imagine. Can’t Believe…  Miracle.

“And then Max had asked us slow and quiet. “What was Taylor’s Mama really hearing?”

“It indwells a different body, but that heart is the heart of her girl…. ” Max said. “And when God hears your heart, that’s what He hears — the still-beating heart of His Son.”

“Your heart can’t forgive the tactless no-so-great Aunt, your heart can’t forgive the words that should never have been said, your heart can’t forgive the remark that was more like a blade and left a mark how many years later. Your heart can’t forgive the step-mother, the side joke, the backhand, the over-the-top family that just gets under your skin.

“Your heart can’t forgive. That’s why He gave you His.

“When you don’t think you can forgive what she’s said about you —-

“When you don’t think you can forget what he’s done to you –

“When it’s His heart beating in you — you can forgive in a heart beat.

“I look up from the sink. The Christmas tree is there by the fireplace — and it’s right there, what all the hard relationships, gatherings, families need at Christmas: the Tree is where God’s grace does heart transplants: God takes broken hearts —- and gives you His.” – Ann Voskamp, A Holy Experience blog

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord Jesus, for not just becoming like us in the Incarnation, but showing us Your heart, and giving us Your heart!  May we hear Your heart beating a little stronger in each of us this Christmas.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

DayBreaks for the Week of 5/1/22 – Who Needs to Ask the Question?

If you are familiar with Scripture, you know the story of the reunion of Jesus with the disciples on the shore of Galilee’s lake. The disciples had gone there after the resurrection, hoping to see Jesus, but he wasn’t there. Not living fully in the truth of the resurrection yet, Peter – the ringleader – says, “I’m going fishing” – in short, I’m going back to what I know and understand. Sadly, many of us are not really living in the truth of the resurrection from moment to moment and we slide back into old habits, too.

But what’s not what this DayBreaks is about. After they recognize Jesus on the shore, Peter dives in and goes to meet Jesus. And they talk of love. Jesus asks the question three times: “Do you love me?” And Peter responds in the affirmative each time.

Have you really thought about that? Does it seem strange that Jesus is the one asking the question? One would think that it would be Peter asking Jesus: “Do you love ME?” After all, it was Peter – like Judas – who betrayed Jesus by his denial. And if Peter was anything like me (and I suspect he was just as human as I am), I’d be wondering if Jesus still loved me.

Jesus asks the question, but he already knew the answer. Peter needed to think about the implications of his denial and wrestle with whether or not he really did love Jesus after all. And he did. He just didn’t know how much. Jesus wanted to hear the profession of love as much as we all want to hear we are loved.

Then again, if Peter is anything like me, after I’ve betrayed the Lord and I know I’ve let him down, I find myself saying or asking, “Lord, do you still love me – even after what I just did?” So, I suspect that question was front and center in Peter’s mind but he never got the chance to ask it because Jesus made it abundantly clear that Peter didn’t need to ask. Jesus simply gave Peter the challenge of feeding and caring for Jesus’ sheep. That’s not something you do with someone you don’t love and trust.

Perhaps today, you’ve betrayed the Lord through your thoughts, actions and speech. And perhaps you’re wondering if Jesus loves you. Go ahead – ask him. But don’t be surprised if he asks you first. If it is really true that we love because he first loved us, if our answer to Jesus is that we do love him, it is evidence of the fact that we knew deep inside that we are loved by him. And if we still need further proof, look no further than his hands and feet.

PRAYER: Thank you, Jesus, for asking us the question as you did Peter. Help us to see and understand that we never need ask the question of whether or not you love us because you’ve already proven it to us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 1/6/22 – Exchanging Reputations

French writer Henri Barbusse (1874-1935) tells of a conversation overheard in a trench full of wounded men during the First World War. One of the men, who knew he only had minutes to live says to one of the other man, “Listen, Dominic, you’ve led a very bad life. Everywhere you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, here, take my wallet, take my papers, my identity, take my good name, my life and quickly, hand me your papers that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death.”

The Good News is that through Jesus, God makes a similar offer. Something wonderful happens to us when we come to faith and are baptized. When we are baptized, we identify ourselves with Jesus. We publicly declare our intention to strive to be like Jesus and follow God’s will for our lives. When we are baptized, our lives are changed. We see things differently than before. We see other people differently than before. Baptism enables and empowers us to do the things that Jesus wants us to do here and now. We are able to identify with Jesus because He was baptized. And we are able to love as he loved. Such identification is life changing. That kind of identification shapes what we believe and claims us.

Rather than living in our old body of sin and death, we put on the identity of Jesus himself: Galatians 3:27 (ESV) – For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And Romans 8:9 (ESV) – You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you for giving us your identity and sinless reputation for the day of judgement. Thank you for allowing us such a privilege as to be clothed in your righteousness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 12/08/21 – Culture’s Highest Value

I heard an interesting discussion on the radio the other day that was focused on what seems to have become our culture’s (maybe the world’s?) highest value. It might surprise you when you hear it, but when you stop and think about it, I think they may have a point. No, it’s not “tolerance”…it is compassion.

What did they mean? Simply this: that our culture has made it a practice to extend what Bonhoeffer labeled “cheap grace”. It has become the case that if someone does something egregiously wrong in our culture, all they have to do is say “I’m sorry” and instantly people flock to their defense. The case in point that was being discussed was the affair of man in the public eye.

I can appreciate the desire to forgive. It is a Godly ambition. But there is more to it than just forgiveness. Repentance means turning away from wrong things. Biblically, whenever possible, we should seek to restore what was damaged or harmed or taken, not just be sorry for taking it in the first place. Witness Bernie Madoff. Was he sorry he got caught? I’m pretty sure he was, but he certainly wasn’t of a mindset to restore what he’d taken from those he’d wronged.

Are we too quick to forgive? Can Christians be too quick to forgive? It’s worth pondering. The grace which Jesus extended to us wasn’t of the cheap, bargain-basement variety. It was costly. And we’d wronged Him (and still do). What does he ask? One-hundred-percent allegiance and commitment. We are to put Him first and foremost above everything else on earth or in heaven above.

We have received forgiveness, and we are to forgive even as we have been forgiven. I get that. What passes in our culture as forgiveness may be nothing more than sentimentality. Real forgiveness is much more costly…and much more valuable.

PRAYER: I pray, Father, that we will be people of true repentance and not just a sentimentality such as can be found in a box of Cracker Jacks. Don’t let us forget that forgiveness has been purchased with a very steep price and that we owe our allegiance in return! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 10/25/21 – Case Dismissed

Every so often we hear about a case being dismissed due to a lack of evidence.  Sometimes, no matter how much law enforcement might try, there just isn’t enough evidence to get a conviction, so the case is tossed out before it even reaches court.  If there’s plenty of evidence, however, the case will make it to court and the prosecution will proceed.

How different this is than our standing before God!  I’d not really thought about it until I read this story:

“In August, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration dropped all charges against a doctor who has been at the center of a prescription-drug fraud case because, said prosecutors, they have too much evidence against him and not enough space to store it. The U.S. Attorney in northern Iowa said her office needs to clear out the 400,000 paper documents and 2 terabytes of electronic data (the latter of which under current technology takes up little space but in DEA’s antiquated computer system hogs five percent of the agency’s worldwide electronic storage). The accused, Dr. Armando Angulo, has lived since 2004 in Panama, which will not extradite him. (He remains under indictment on state charges in Florida.)”  Associated Press via Ames Tribune, 8-16-2012, News of the Weird, 9/3/12

When our case on Judgment Day is dismissed, it won’t be for lack of evidence.  God could, if He chooses, cause the vault of the universe to collapse with the weight of the evidence against us.  There is too much.  But, in spite of all the evidence that could be introduced to the heavenly court, for those who are disciples of the Son, we will find the case against us dismissed because of the forgiveness of God and His immeasurable grace!

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for your grace!!!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 10/21/21 – The Sign of Forgiveness

This was worth sharing:

“When Jesus forgave the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof the man picked up his bed and went home. This is a sign that forgiveness of sins is not simply letting us get by with the things we’ve done wrong. Instead, finding forgiveness means finding wholeness and completion.

“A person who is truly forgiven is able to leave the paralysis that sin brings to their life and step out on a new path. Therefore, finding forgiveness is not only concerned with being forgiven of the bad things we’ve done or being healed of the bad things that have been done to us. Finding forgiveness also involves facing all the things we’ve left undone.

“These are called ‘sins of omission’. Too often we think the only thing which is sinful is that which makes us feel guilty or ashamed. We want to be forgiven for all those bad things we’ve done, and if we can only find forgiveness for those we think we’ll be okay. But this is too small an understanding of sin.

“When we begin to face all the good things that we have left undone the weight of our sin becomes even greater than we thought! Sin is actually defined as ‘falling short of the glory of God’. We need to find forgiveness not only for what we’ve done, but for all the things we’ve left undone–all the ways in which we have not reached the target–all the ways we have fallen short of the glory of God.

“Finding forgiveness for the things we’ve left undone includes a prayer asking for God’s grace to strengthen us to step up, like the paralyzed man and step out on a new way of life. Suddenly the paralyzed man could move and walk and run. In the same way, once we have found forgiveness for the things we have left undone we are also given new power to do what we should do.

“This grace–this new power–does not come instantly. Instead, it comes as we step out and obey God’s commandments. St Benedict says we “Run in the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with an inexpressible delight of love!” This is the end point of finding forgiveness–that in being forgiven we also find a new power in Christ to run in the way of God’s commandments.” – Dwight Longenecker 

Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? – Mark 2:9 (ESV)

PRAYER: Lord, help us to demonstrate the signs of forgiveness and to rise up and live in the power of that forgiveness!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>