GRADUATED ISN’T EDUCATED

I love to see the proud gleam in the eyes of young people as they graduate from high school or college. It is a significant accomplishment that should be celebrated.

I remember how ‘educated’ I felt when I got my high school diploma. I felt a little less educated upon graduating from college. I did not bother to attend graduation exercises for two graduate degrees. My feeling of being ‘educated’ decreased exponentially with every degree I received. Strange! I never thought it would be like that.

For the young people who are graduating from somewhere with a degree in something, just remember: "It isn’t over!" You are not educated yet. You never will be as long as you are alive. Anytime you think you are terminally educated, that will be a sure sign that you have become terminally ignorant.

One of the biggest problems today is the adult aversion to continued learning. We are afraid to think and continue to learn lest we be forced to change.

I have many times had reason to remember a scene from my youth which took place at a high school graduation at Repton High School. I must have been in the 9th or 10th grade. I do not recall why I attended the graduation exercises, unless it was because I had no place else to go. A young woman whose name I do not recall took her diploma from the principal of the school, Mr. H.D.Weathers, and then threw her cap in the air and yelled: "Educated, by God!" I wish I knew what ever happened to her - not much, I expect. She finished her education too soon. Who in the world could be ignorant enough to think they were educated upon graduation from a rural high school in the mid-forties?!

A number of years ago Robert Maynard Hutchinson, long-time chancellor of the University of Chicago, wrote in the Saturday Review: "Almost every fact I was taught from the first grade through law school is no longer a fact. Almost every tendency that was proclaimed has failed to materialize. I am especially embarrassed by the facts and tendencies I proclaimed myself. I ask all my students at Yale University Law School to forgive me, for the courts have overruled and the legislatures have repealed most of what I knew."

Doctors know that at least 75 percent of what they learned in medical school 15 or 20 years ago is obsolete. Ninety percent of the medicines they prescribe came on the market since they graduated. Almost every time I go to my cardiologist and he asks me what was the last procedure done to my heart, he says to me: "We do not even do that anymore. There is an improved technique."

I made my living for almost 50 years as a hired-hand for Christian people who in the main still wish to live as if the list of chemical elements that was on their high school wall were still true. There were 96 elements on the periodic table when I was a freshman in college. I do not know how many there are now because it changes every year. I cannot even pronounce many of them.

It does not matter whether you are a doctor, lawyer, minister, teacher, or a person now at some point on your life journey, you are not educated - not yet - not ever. If your education does not continue in whatever you do, you will lose your effectiveness and become obsolete.

A little girl fell out of her bed one night. Her mother asked: "What happened?" She said: "I think I went to sleep too near to where I got in." Don’t let that happen to you. Keep on asking and learning.

The poet, James Russell Lowell, said it well. Sometimes we sing it:
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still and onward,

Who would keep abreast of truth.

Abiding in Love, by Dr. Jim Savage

"We Love because God first Loved us." (1 John 4:14-21)

The Father sent the Son, He willed His coming into this world. The apostle attests this. And whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This confession includes Faith in the heart as the Foundation; acknowledgment with the mouth to the Glory of God and Christ, and profession in the Life and conduct, against the flatteries and frowns of the world. There must be a Day of Universal Judgment. Happy those who will have Holy Boldness before the Judge at that Day; Knowing He is their Friend and Advocate! Happy those who will have Holy Boldness in the prospect of that Day, who Look and Wait for it, and for the Judge's appearance! True Love to God assures us to suffer for Him and with Him; therefore we may Trust that we shall also be Glorified with Him. (2 Tim 2:12)

Obedience and Good Works, done from the Principle of Love, are like that of a dutiful child who does services to a Beloved Father, which benefit his brethren and are done willingly.

It is a sign that our love is far from perfect when our doubts, fears, and apprehensions of God are many. Let heaven and earth stand Amazed at His Love. He sent His Word to invite sinners to partake of this Great Salvation. Let them take comfort from the happy Change wrought in them while they give Him the Glory. The Love of God in Christ, in the hearts of Christians from the Spirit of Adoption, is the Great Proof of Conversion. This must be tried by its effects on their temper, and their conduct to their brethren. If one professes to Love God, and yet indulges in anger or revenge, or shows a selfish disposition, he gives his profession the lie. But if it is plain that our natural enmity is Changed into Affection and Gratitude, let us Bless the Name of our God for this Seal and Earnest of Eternal Happiness. Then we differ from the false professors, who pretend to Love God, Whom they have not seen, yet hate their brethren whom they have seen.

(Matthew Henry)

God Doesn’t Come by Every Day, by Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, Pastor Emeritus

In her collection of short stories entitled, "Winter Tales", Isak Dinesen tells a haunting story of a young man who became a rich and famous author early in life. Like most people to whom wealth and fame happen unexpectedly, he developed significant problems. His newly acquired wealth and fame caused problems in every area of his life.

He had written out of poverty about poverty, and now he was rich and estranged from the condition and the people that had given him his first book. He was estranged from his wife, God and even himself. He wandered all night in Amsterdam, trying to sort things out. He decided he could never write again, and gave away the manuscript of his new book. The more his mind wondered, the more it brought home fresh material for suffering.

At the end of his "Dark Night of the Soul", in which he had considered many things, including suicide, he has a strange conversation with God. God assures him that he wants him to write again, "...not for the public or for the critics, but for ME," said God. "Can I be certain of that?" the young man asks. "Not always", said the Lord. "You will not be certain of it at all times. But I tell you now that it is so. You will have to hold on to that".

I saw a lot of people I know in that story, including myself. We want certainty when faith is the only thing available for us. We are afraid of those long dry spells when God does not come by daily, monthly, or periodically to tell us again what God has already told us. Like children, we remember the promise but we want to hear it again. It was to people of this frame of mind that Jesus said, "O ye of little faith".

Perhaps one of the most reliable characteristics of a mature faith is: How long can we hold on to the reality of something without having to see it or hear it again. When I was a child, my father would give me a nickel to put in the offering at Sunday School each Sunday. During the two mile walk to church, I would take that nickel out of my pocket a dozen times and look at it to be sure it was still there, or I would reach my hand in my pocket to touch it to make sure it was still there.

Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson, used to plague Johnson for reassurance of his love and esteem. On one of these nagging occasions Johnson said to Boswell, "Take out your note book and write it down. You are held in my highest esteem. That, sir, remains true until I tell you to erase what you have written".

If God has not come by lately to renew the covenant made with you earlier, remember what God once said, and take courage that it has not been retracted. Neither God, nor the people who love you, are going to come by each day and renew the promise and pledge once made. It is your responsibility to hold on to the promise. The ability to hold on to it is the substance of faith.

How are you doing?
by Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, Pastor Emeritus, Monroeville First United Methodist Church

Ten Rules to Live By, by Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, Pastor Emeritus

Erma Bombeck was one of my favorite newspaper columnists. I do miss her! When writing on her favorite subject, "children and family life", she had the wonderful capacity of being able to combine profundity and playfulness. She had the amazing ability of being able to call our attention to serious matters without letting us take ourselves too seriously.

One of my esteemed clergy friends, Dr. Norman Neaves, once introduced a sermon by reading Erma Bombeck’s "Ten Rules to Live By." Since Mother’s Day is just a few days away, perhaps these Ten Rules would be worth reading.

Here they are. First, never have more children than you have car windows! Second, gravity always wins. Accept that. Science is trying to reverse the aging process and the kicker is that you look young on the outside, but on the inside you’re still aging. There’s no advantage to looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger on the beach if you can’t travel two feet from a restroom! And third, never loan your car to someone to whom you have given birth.

Here’s the fourth one: Pick your friends carefully. A "friend" never goes on a diet when you’re fat or tells you how lucky you are to have a husband who remembers Mother’s Day - when his gift to you was a smoke alarm! And the fifth one: Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart! And the sixth rule: given a choice between the man of your dreams and a plumber, choose the latter. Men who can fix your toilet on Sundays are hard to come by!

This is rule number seven: Know the difference between success and fame. Success is Mother Teresa. Fame is Madonna! Number eight: Never be in a hurry to terminate a marriage. Remember, you may need this man or woman someday to complete a sentence for you! And the ninth rule: There are no guarantees in marriage. If that’s what you’re looking for, go live with a Sears battery! And finally, here’s the last one, rule number ten: Never go to your class reunion pregnant. If you do, they’ll think that’s all you’ve been doing since you graduated!

Well, that ought to get us ready to consider the serious responsibility of child rearing. Now that I am well past the biblical statute of limitations of three score and ten years of age, and soon to be an octogenarian, and my children are married and live 100 miles away I have become an authority on the subject. I can explain the process, and dwell on the particulars with senile rapture! So listen up.

by Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, Pastor Emeritus, Monroeville First United Methodist Church

THE LAST LICK, by Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, Pastor Emeritus

A little girl came in from the playground at school one day sobbing as if her heart would break. The teacher went immediately to the child and asked if she were hurt. She said she was not hurt. "Then why in the world are you crying?" asked the teacher. Between sobs the little girl said, "Susan hit me and the bell rang before I could hit her back."

The need to "get even" with people who have hurt us is strong. We want to have the "last word" in an argument and the "last lick" in a fight. Nothing is more fragile than our pride. But anybody can get in the "last word", or the "last lick" and keep the battle going. Only the strongest and the most mature can absorb the "last lick" and end the battle.

If there is anything that the world and our community needs, it is people who are filled with enough love and grace to allow someone else to have the last word or the last lick. Having the strength not to strike back causes momentary pain, but after the initial blow to pride, that pain is transformed to strange strength. Conversely, those who have the last word feel very good initially about their conquest, but after the initial flush of pride, last words begin to turn to ashes in one’s mouth.

One of the notable achievements of Jesus, for which he is remembered as one of uncommon strength, was how he let the cruel world have the last lick. Even the Roman soldiers on the execution team that killed him looked up as he died and began to wonder who had really won. Today, there is no doubt as to who won. But what if Jesus had insisted on the last lick or the last word?

It takes maturity to deal with conflicts in such a way as to bring lasting victory and lasting peace. In addition to all the theological understanding of Jesus, he is also a noble and notable model for us in dealing with physical or verbal conflict.

Test the strength of your character today - let someone else have the "last word". If necessary, let someone else get in the "last lick."

by Dr. Thomas Lane Butts, Pastor Emeritus, Monroeville First United Methodist Church

WALKING IN HOLINESS....FOCUSED by Dr. Jim Savage

"As we begin to Focus upon God, the things of the Spirit will take shape before our inner eyes." (A.W. Tozer, 1897-1963)

1 John
This epistle is a discourse upon the principles of Christianity, in doctrine and practice. The design appears to be to refute and guard against erroneous and unholy tenets, principles, and practices, especially such as would lower the Godhead of Christ, and the Reality and Power of His sufferings and death as an Atoning Sacrifice; and against the assertion that Believers being saved by Grace are not required to obey the Commandments.

This epistle also stirs up all who profess to know God, to have Communion with Him, and to Believe in Him, and that they Walk in Holiness, not in sin, showing that a mere outward profession is nothing without the Evidence of a Holy Life and Conduct.

It also helps forward and excites real Christians to Communion with God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to Constancy in the True Faith and the Purity of Life. (Preface to 1 John, Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible)

"Give us Love, sweetest of all Gifts, which knows no enemy. Give us in our hearts pure Love, born of Your Love to us, that we may Love others as You Love us. O most Loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom flows All Love, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to You and cold to others, be warmed by this Divine Fire. So help and bless us in Your Son. Amen." (St. Anselm, 1033-1109)

"These Things Are True of You" (1996, Tommy Walker)
Unshakable, immovable, Faithful and True; Full of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty:
These things are True of You.
Fearless, Courageous, Righteousness shines Through in All You do;
Yet You're so humble, You laid down Your Life:
These things are True of You.
And as I turn my face to You, Oh Lord, I ask and pray, By the Power of Your Love and Grace,
Make these things True of me, too.
Make these things True of me, too.
"Eternal and Most Glorious God, You have stamped the soul of humanity with Your Image, received it into Your revenue, and made it part of Your Treasure; do not allow us so to undervalue ourselves, so to impoverish You, as to give away these souls for nothing, and all the world is nothing if the soul must be given for it. Do this, O God, for His sake who Knows our natural infirmities, for He had them, and Knows the weight of our sins, for He paid a dear Price for them; Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ." (John Donne, 1572-1631)

"What does Love look like? It has hands to Help others. It has feet to Hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to See misery and want. It has ears to Hear the sighs and sorrow of others. That is what Love looks like." (Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430)

Mental Poverty

During my active years of sermon writing I used some short, anecdotal pieces about Hetty Green who was reputed to be the richest woman in America at the end of the 19th Century. I recently came across a biography of Hetty Green, written by Charles Slack. The anecdotal material I read had made it clear that she was eccentric, stingy, crafty, and thoughtless of everyone and everything except herself and her money. While the biography softened my view of her, it remains clear that she was a scheming, wealthy woman who in spite of her great wealth was a lonely and unhappy person. At the turn of the century her net worth was estimated to be between one and two hundred million dollars, which in today’s currency would push a billion. To say she was "frugal" would hardly reflect how much she loved her money.

John J. Cisco of the Cisco Bank loved to tell of the day he looked out the window of his office at 59 Wall Street and saw Hetty stepping off a public coach on Broadway, carrying a bulky parcel. When he greeted her at the door he learned that the parcel contained $200,000 in negotiable bonds. He asked if she did not think it risky to have brought these bonds downtown in a public stage. Cisco said: "You should have hired a carriage." Hetty arched her eyebrow and said: "Perhaps you can afford to ride in a carriage – I cannot!" Hetty Green was way beyond "frugal." Her whole life was about her money. She lived as if she were poor, and in spite of her immense wealth, I suppose she was "mentally poor."

Many people in our culture live in the fear that they will not have enough to last them to the end of the row, or that they will not be able to leave a respectable bequest to their heirs. Laboring under the fear that there will not be enough we tend to develop "mental poverty." This is a malady that is impervious to facts to the contrary. The nagging fear that there will not be enough begets a degree of anxiety which puts a shadow over all of life. There are many people with modest, but adequate, assets who suffer the "Hetty Green Syndrome." If you believe you are poor and live as if you are poor, then you are poor – no matter how much money you have.

My friend and colleague, Dr. Norman Neaves, once told a story that illustrates how we can be in the shadow of plenty and live as if we are poverty stricken.

Many years ago there was a man who lived in the Netherlands who wanted to immigrate to America. He finally saved enough money to buy a ticket to America in steerage. He had very little money left over, but he took what was left and bought all kinds of simple foods to eat on the trip.

During the voyage, when everyone else was going to the dining halls, he would slip away to his tiny room way down below and munch on whatever he could find in one of his suitcases. After awhile, it started to get to him. There were all of these sumptuous spreads of food in the dining halls from breakfast in the morning until dinner late at night, and all he had to eat were crackers and cookies and a few other imperishables. Each day his resentment grew as he watched all the other people go to the dining hall. He kept telling himself he was poor and that he did not have money like everyone else and that this was the very best he could do.

On next to the last day of the trip, he happened to be talking with another man who was also traveling all by himself. The man looked at his watch and said, "Oh my goodness, it’s almost noon. We better hurry or we’re not going to get any lunch." And the man had to say to him, "I’m sorry, but I will not be able to go. I do not have enough money to buy lunch today." The man said, "What do you mean you don’t have enough money to buy lunch? Do you not know it is included in the price of your ticket?" The fellow was absolutely dumbfounded because he did not know that. He had traveled all the way across the ocean eating crackers and cookies when he could have been eating at the table with everyone else.

There are people who live in poverty – actual poverty. Some of them are in our own city, county, and state. Some of them are on the other side of the world, and some of them are on the other side of town. They are the poor and oppressed about whom Jesus spoke in Matthew 25. But almost all of you who read this column are not poor; but some of you suffer "mental poverty" and live in fear that there is not enough. If you fit into that category, may you never actually become as poor as you imagine yourself to be. Learn to celebrate living in a land where there is enough. Use what you have. Don't sit on it. Spend it or give it away, but don"t fall in love with it, because you are not going to be able to take it with you when you leave on the "Long Journey."