Your voice: Do we walk by faith or by sight?

By David L. Chancey
Fayetteville, Georgia

Retired educator Margie Bowen has climbed Stone Mountain more than 1,000 times.

The Atlanta resident began climbing Stone Mountain east of Atlanta for training purposes and planned to climb the mountain 20 times in his first summer.

She ended up climbing the largest piece of exposed granite in the world 100 times and kept improving from there.

How did she do it? She started and stuck with it.

She didn’t give up. The weather didn’t deter her.

She had the desire and then she did the first thing.

Each climb began with a first step, and then she put one foot in front of the other until she reached the summit. Then one climb led to another.

God also wants us to keep climbing.

Our challenge is to rise to new spiritual heights, and we can contribute to this progress by walking by faith, not by sight.—2 Cor. 5:7.

To ascend spiritually:

First we go.

Walking is a biblical picture of our relationship with God.

What did the Old Testament author say about Enoch?

In Genesis 5:22–24 we see twice: “Enoch walked with God.”

According to one translation, Enoch walked faithfully with God (NIV).

Another translation is: “Enoch habitually walked with God” (Young’s Literal Translation).

Deep fellowship and meaningful conversations shaped his relationship with God.

God values ​​the time we spend with Him and the priority we give Him.

He doesn’t want to be an addition to our lives, nor a Sunday novelty. He wants to have fellowship with us every day.

As I drive up and down the road near our settlement, I notice joggers and walkers using the running path.

Often two people run or walk together.

Often two ladies pass by and you can see that they are engrossed in an intense conversation, sometimes expressing themselves with hand gestures.

Maybe you have a friend with whom you enjoy walking and chatting.

This is a picture of what God expects of us as we walk with him.

He wants us to enjoy his company in our daily lives.

Second, we walk in faith.

Walking by faith means living in a way that shows we have complete confidence in God, His promises, and His ability to do what He promises to do.

Walking in faith:

• Our lives revolve around God and not around ourselves, and we are constantly attacking selfishness.
• Our attitude is positive. Because we trust God completely, we avoid a negative attitude.
• We live with his peace in a stressful world.
• By studying His Word we develop a spiritual perspective and are always paying attention to where God is working.
• We strive to live a godly life and not a worldly life.
• We pray as a lifestyle of constant communication.
• We put Jesus first in our lives.
• We believe even when we cannot see.

Do we move forward by faith or by sight?

EDITOR’S NOTE — David L. Chancey is a retired pastor from Georgia. He continues to write.

Focusing on the next generation

Some thoughts from Shane Pruitt, Next Gen Director at the North American Mission Board:

1980s: “Self-esteem” movement

1990s: “Self-made” movement

2000s: “Self-help” movement

2010s: “Believe in yourself” movement

2020s: “Self-love” movement

It is humanistic “self-worship” in another jargon.

However, you are designed to worship someone other than “yourself.” And that is Jesus.

“God will never give you more than you can handle” is a lie. You were never meant to handle everything on your own. You were designed to trust God to handle everything through you. Sometimes He gives you more than you can handle so you will rely on Him.

Depression and anxiety afflict a generation, but there is… the gospel… Jesus… pastors, counselors, doctors… church and family… don’t isolate yourself.

The Bible: Everyone’s Book

By Franklin L. Kirksey
Robertsdale, Alabama

“The Bible was never intended to be a book for scholars and specialists only…it was intended to be a book for everyone,” says FF Bruce. Jesus invites everyone to come to him (Matt. 11:28-30; Revelation 22:17). Therefore, the Bible is for everyone.

RG Lee explains: “Jesus himself tells us that he himself is the subject of the Bible.”

Jesus said: “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and they are they that testify about me” (John 5:39).

Three reasons

First, there is the Bible and your appropriation of it (2 Tim. 3:14–15).

David Livingstone, the famous Christian missionary doctor in Africa, declared: “All that I am, I owe to Jesus Christ, revealed to me in his divine book.”

The Bible contains the promise of salvation for everyone who comes to Jesus on his or her own terms. The promise of salvation can only be received by faith (Rom. 10:17).

Warren W. Wiersbe explains: “True, saving faith involves the whole personality: the mind is taught, the emotions are stimulated, and the will then acts obediently.”

Second, there is the Bible and how you deal with it (2 Tim. 3:16a).

It is divinely inspired (2 Pet. 1:20–21; 1 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:15).

Third, there is the Bible and your application of it (2 Tim. 3:16b–17).

The Bible is the foundation of our faith and actions.

Charles H. Spurgeon said, “No one ever outgrows the Scriptures; the book grows richer and deeper with age.”

Play catch with baseball legend Willie Mays

By Mark Tolbert
Arkansas State Baptist Convention

The year was 1967. I had a dream job for a teenage baseball fan: I was a batboy in the major leagues. I worked for the Atlanta Braves as the visiting batboy. Every team that visited Atlanta had me as their batboy during the game and as a clubhouse attendant, a clubbie, before and after the game. Every team. All summer. It was a dream come true. I still have so many memories from that summer job so many years ago. But a few stand out.

The San Francisco Giants were in Atlanta earlier this summer to play the Braves. It was a Sunday afternoon game and it was almost time to “Play Ball!” I had hit balls in the outfield during batting practice, the infield practice was complete, the grounds crew had smoothed the floor and laid out the chalk for the foul lines and batter’s box. The players were waiting in the dugouts to take the field.

I was there in my Giants uniform in the third base dugout with the visiting team. All-Star centerfielder and future Hall of Famer Willie Mays walked up to me. We made eye contact and he smiled and said, “Hey, Clubbie, you want to play some catch?” Wait, what? Did that happen? Willie Mays talked to me? Willie Mays wanted to play catch with me?!?

“Memory for life”

“Um, sure!” I somehow managed to say. “Do you have a glove?” he asked. “Yes,” I replied.

I grabbed my glove, hopped up the steps to the dugout, and waited for him at the top. Willie followed me, walked about 30 feet away, and warned me, “I throw pretty hard!” And sure enough, he did.

Just the two of us, Willie and I. Everyone else, all the players on the team bench, thousands of fans in the stands watching, and Willie and I playing catch.

57 years later, my heart races a little when I think back. What a moment!

Since his death, Willie Mays has been remembered as one of the greatest players of all time, ranking second only to Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The Sporting News and ESPN.

I remember the day he chose me, invited me into his world and gave me a memory for life.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Mark Tolbert is evangelism and revitalization strategist on the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s evangelism and church health team. Tolbert has served as a professor at New Orleans Seminary for the past 15 years. These words were originally posted on Facebook on June 19, one day after Willie Mays died at age 93.

“Sleazy” observation of the SBC meeting in Indy

By Mark Gonzales
Royal Palm Association of Churches

As the noise and fumes of our Indianapolis meeting settle, the depths and layers of the SBC weigh on my heart, and I listen for the whispers of God to encourage me as we move forward together.

What did I hear? Well, essentially, that there are many confusing layers, many knee-jerk reactions, and many differing conclusions regarding the menagerie of things that were presented, discussed, and voted on at the SBC Annual Meeting in June.

And that’s OK. That’s normal.

Romans 14 reminds us to give one another space and to consider “each one in his own heart and mind” the problems we face “as to the Lord.”

And we must be careful not to try to understand everything definitively and/or heal each other. We cannot do that. What we can do, however, is talk, pray, love and – perhaps the hardest thing of all – trust.

It becomes increasingly difficult to trust presidents, directors, attorneys, trustees, institutions, task forces, denominational leaders, and each other when we have been hurt, frustrated, and disillusioned, especially when the shadows of unresolved misjudgments, misstatements, missteps, and misdeeds (four very different things) are still present. But for that, we have a Savior.

And when my heart begins to ache and race because of these problems, He reminds me that in the end, the only thing I have to trust completely is Him.

Is He working with and through all the people I listed above, or not? Do I really expect them to be perfect in everything they do, or are they works – His works – still in development, or not? Do these things take time and move slowly because they are complacent or complicated?

That’s the moment when my heart starts to smile and rest in Him. Really. Because He has it under control. He has us under control.

As I read (the SBC Annual Meeting reports) with humble appreciation of the incredibly complex depths and profundities of SBC life—no, of life—I found more peace in trusting Him with everything.

He can drive the race car. I’m just happy to be on his pit crew!

EDITOR’S NOTE – Mark Gonzales is executive director of the Royal Palm Association of Churches in Southwest Florida.