It’s about faithfulness

by John D Ramsey

Soon after I started blogging, one post quickly jumped ahead of the others in new visits. In “Ora et labora,” I wrote of Dad’s lifetime of faithfulness. The post was about Dad, but it pleased Mom greatly. Today another old post has exceeded “Ora et labora” in visits. I do not think that Dad will mind being eclipsed by “Faith and faithfulness.”

It seems that many people wonder the difference between faith and faithfulness and Google has been kind enough to refer them to my dissertation. I remember last summer this topic was on my mind, but I struggled to address it until we went to see Othello in Southmoreland Park near the Plaza and the Nelson. Othello swears by his wife, Desdemona, saying, “My life upon her faith!” In the ancient Greek language, there is no distinction between faith and faithfulness. The same word expresses both concepts, which begs the question whether there are two concepts or only one. It seems that in Shakespeare’s day he used faith and faithfulness interchangeably. The thought that faith and faithfulness are somehow disassociated appears to be a thoroughly modern contrivance.

A dear friend explained that we know the difference between faith and faithfulness based upon the context in Scripture. Yet such an approach prejudices the question of whether there is a difference! Are we saved by faith, or are we saved by faithfulness? Modern evangelical Christianity uses “saved by faith” like it is a Staples Easy Button. Yet the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” Hebrews 3:6 (NIV) A few verses later he writes, “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” Hebrews 3:14 (NIV) Clearly, the writer of Hebrews believed that we are saved by faithfulness.

Likewise, James, the brother of Jesus, asserted that true faith manifests itself in righteous deeds. James tells us that Abraham did not find favor with God by sitting in his tent. He gained God’s favor through hard obedience. The obedience validated the faith.

Moreover, the words of the Savior demand faithfulness. In the book of Revelation, Jesus says,

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:7 (NIV)

He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.

Revelation 2:11 (NIV)

To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

Revelation 2:17 (NIV)

To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations —

‘He will rule them with an iron scepter;

he will dash them to pieces like pottery’ —

just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.

Revelation 2:26-28 (NIV)

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

Revelation 3:5 (NIV)

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.

Revelation 3:11-12 (NIV)

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Revelation 3:21 (NIV)

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21:6-8 (NIV)

What is the saving faithfulness of which Jesus was speaking when he spoke of “him who overcomes?”

Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.

They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

Revelation 12:10-11 (NIV)

Dad contributed “Word of testimony” to this blog wherein he discusses the Greek root of the word translated, “testimony.” In English, it transliterates to “martyr.” “Word of testimony” is in ninth place in number of readers in this blog. You will not hurt my feelings if you make Dad's posts more popular than mine.

Many evangelical Christians teach that salvation is a free gift – they interpret this to mean that it is given without cost or responsibility to the recipient. Yet the word translated “free gift” carries no such connotation. Rather charisma, in the Greek, carries the connotation of unmerited favor. We cannot earn it, but if we truly receive God’s grace, it will change us thoroughly and forever. Saving faith always includes repentance, or a change of direction. Salvation is not something we did at some arbitrary point in our lives. Salvation is repentance before God and acceptance of his marvelous gift. Salvation surrenders our lives to Jesus Christ. Saving faith demonstrates faithfulness, not because we manage to earn our place in glory, but because finishing the journey validates our commitment at the start.

Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35 (NIV)

Near his conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus implored the crowd, saying,

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

Matthew 7:15-23 (NIV)

Earlier this week, I wrote about Hananiah, a false prophet who taught restoration without repentance and faith in wishful thinking rather than faith in God and His Word. Within Christendom there are many similar wolves in sheep’s clothing who are flippant with their false assurances. Yet before gambling your eternal destiny on someone else’s eloquence and circular reasoning, ask yourself three questions?

1. How does the “blood of the Lamb” factor into my salvation?
2. How does my “word of testimony” factor into my salvation?
3. Do I love my life too much too die for my faith?

If these questions are unsettling to you, then read the other posts I have mentioned. If you want, contact me. I would be happy to answer questions and suggest Scripture passages for you to read.

“Come now, let us reason together,”

says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.”

Isaiah 1:18 (NIV)

Auld lang syne

by John D Ramsey

When we lived in Minnesota, fireworks were illegal which heightened my joy when Daniel and I launched mortars at midnight New Year's Eve. At that time, I still wore a wristwatch, and earlier in the evening, I would synchronize it with the US Naval Observatory master clock. As the time neared midnight, I would watch the second hand, and Daniel would light the fuse on my mark. After a couple years, Minnesota relaxed its laws against fireworks, and so our midnight volleys ended.

Tonight as the clock reaches midnight, I will be sitting inside. The little girls will be asleep in bed. Lisa may be reading, watching television, or sleeping. I will be awake, but I do not have any fantastic plans. I have already commemorated 2008. In the darkness of the basement family room, tonight I cried for Mom.

January 1 is a capricious choice for New Year’s Day. The winter solstice occurred December 21. The new moon occurred December 27. Whatever astronomical alignment indicates midnight December 31, it is subtle by comparison. Yet western civilization commemorates the earth’s arrival at this arbitrary point in space calling it January 1. Lisa tells me that tonight astronomers will add a leap second to the calendar. Regardless of how arbitrary the choice, our commemoration of the moment must be precise. Moreover, regardless of the arbitrariness of the date, it releases an extant emotional response within the sentimental — to each his own Auld Lang Syne.

Someone long ago determined that today was the year’s end, and so tonight, I sit in the darkness and cry for my loss. I also think of the great potential the next year holds.

It is good to remember, and it is good to hope for the future. In ancient Israel, the month of the exodus from Egypt commemorated the New Year. God told Moses, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.” Exodus 12:2 (NIV) The highlight of the month occurred at the full moon — the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. The first Passover divided Israel’s history between the bondage of Egypt and the hope of the Promised Land.

Likewise, at the advent of a new year, we set aside what was, and renew hope for what will be. Year 2008 was a blessed year in many ways, and 2008 brought great sadness with Mom’s passing. Year 2009 promises new opportunities and will confront us also with its own challenges.

Tonight, however, I am thinking about the New Year’s Eve as a deeper metaphor.

Brown darkness

by John D Ramsey


Download as MP3

Dad came down Sunday afternoon. It was a short visit. He drove home Monday morning. He might have stayed longer, but later this week he has another little trip planned. I think Dad’s objective was not a prolonged visit, but rather simply a break in his routine as he becomes accustomed to living alone.

Sunday night Lisa and I slept in the guest bedroom so that Dad would not have to navigate stairs. I like the guest bedroom in our house, and sleeping there is not the slightest inconvenience. The guest room is almost a secret room. At least I forget that we have it. I seldom have an occasion to go upstairs in the house, and when I do, it is to change a light bulb in one of the girls’ rooms or something similar. The guest room is behind a closed door that I do not open: out of sight – out of mind.

Occasionally, Lisa swaps furniture from the guest room into other rooms in the house. I see the piece and I wonder, where has that been? Likewise, when I do enter the guest room and see a familiar piece of furniture, I think, when did this move here? Whenever I enter the guest room, it is always both new and familiar to me.

Last year, Lisa painted the guest room a rich chocolate brown with cream trim. At night with the lights out, it is very dark — not unlike the master bedroom. Last night, I commented to Lisa about how dark the room was. She asked if it was too dark and I said, “No, it’s just different. This is brown darkness.” Lisa laughed. I told her that our room had a blue darkness, but that the guest room had a brown darkness. She laughed again; then she asked if brown darkness was bad. I told her that I did not know, but that it was definitely different. She laughed once more.


She reminded me that when Daniel was a teenager he insisted that he slept best in a purple room. We said, “Purple darkness,” in unison and chuckled. I am certain that Lisa was laughing at me, too. For years, when we lived in Minnesota, I insisted that I slept best with my head pointing north.

I lay awake for a while looking at where the walls should have been but all I saw was a deep brown darkness. I silently wondered to myself how much of my perception was imagined and how much was real.

I slept just fine in the brown darkness of the guest room. In the morning, Lisa awakened me from a far away land where all the geography and architecture dwarfed the inhabitants. My dream was as a movie set built to a disproportionate scale and softly lit to obscure perception. It seemed simultaneously familiar and mysterious.

Since Mom passed, life is concurrently familiar and mysterious. Mom has been gone for a month, and life is disrupted in almost imperceptible ways – like the difference between a brown and blue darkness, or sleeping east to west rather than north to south, or familiar scenery apparently out of proportion. Many routines remain the same, yet I am feeling disoriented.

Perhaps I should cry just one more time, but I pause after the first tear wondering whether the time for appropriate crying has already passed.

Cara called tonight, and I walked outside to get better reception. While we talked, I stared at the sky without my glasses. I see what I think is the Pleiades, but I am not sure; the sky is hazy and my eyes are naked. Is that Betelgeuse? Maybe so, but where is Orion? Suddenly nothing in the sky looks familiar, I turn to the west, but even Vega seems misplaced. It cannot be Vega; it is another star – nameless to me. On another night, this sky would look familiar, but tonight my expectations are misaligned with the heavens.

I realize that I have been seeking to understand what God is not yet inclined to explain. My expectations are misaligned with my Father’s plan for me. Without my expectations, no mystery would bewilder me. I need to set aside my expectations, understanding that what bewilders me today, I will someday fully understand.

For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face:
now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

Why would I value my understanding over faithfulness?

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:
also he hath set the world in their heart,
so that no man can find out the work
that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (KJV)

Only faith can bridge the distance between what I can barely see today and what I will someday see clearly. I pray for understanding but more so for faith, knowing that faith fosters hope and hope expresses itself in love.

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Trusting God to fulfill his word, what have I to question?

Tonight in the darkness, I am seeing a glimmer of light. I resolve to cling less to that which I understand so as to embrace that which is new and mysterious. Without harboring my expectations, I move closer to the purpose for which I am called.

Long, lawn war against autumn

by John D Ramsey

The sun is warm, but a cool breeze blows from the southwest. Working outside, my body throws cycles of sweat and chills. My lingering chest cold impairs breathing, so the joy of yard work in autumn threatens to become drudgery. Lisa prepares flower arrangements on the deck, and when the light is right and my body winded, I break from mowing to help her take photographs. The sun trickles through the hackberry and I catch it with a reflector and send it back at the crabapples and hydrangeas that Lisa has arranged in a clear vase. Photos captured, I go back to the yard to finish mowing.


Earlier Claire helped me by mowing the north side yard while I trimmed the yew by the front walk. Today was the first time she used the bagger. Next year she will be a lawn pro. Coming into the back yard, I saw that Gabby had moved a pile of leaves around a bit with a rake. I had already corralled them with the blower, so her raking merely divided the whole into parts with no harm done. I would prefer she pick up birch sticks, but leaf piles are irresistible to a child. Daylight fades quickly this time of year, and the girls have no idea how their efforts do help. They do not yet understand how precious I consider the time we work together.

In summer, I mulch the grass, but in autumn, I bag in order to vacuum up the fallen leaves. To me, each leaf is a potential dead spot on my lawn. Early in the spring, we hand raked what few soggy leaves left over from last year. For weeks, I watched to see if the grass would recover. Of course, it did, but spring and summer are fleeting so I have resolved to do an even better job of keeping leaves off the grass.

Now there are few precious weeks of green remaining, and the leaves are falling. I have done as much as I can today.


I put tools away, and haul a wagon loaded with two large poinsettias back into the darkness of the garage. Lisa dug them from the garden last week. A diet of restricted sunlight and ample shadow will draw their beauty out in time for the holidays. I stand in the yard viewing the beauty of the fresh mowed grass. Within a few hours, the leaves will clutter the grass again, and I will be planning a time to freshen the yard once again.

As I write, I notice outside my window, a mother cardinal feeding alongside her fledgling. It is late in the season to be raising an adolescent. The young bird follows its mother mimicking her feeding. At times, it waits for a supplement from its mother, which she provides. The youngster’s feathers are puffed apparently battling the chill of the shadows. It has not been out of the nest for long, but summer has passed. There is urgency to the birds’ actions.

My leaf blowing earlier in the day has revealed a hidden bounty of fallen hackberries. The young cardinal struggles to crack the hardened fruit. Suddenly the mother takes flight, and the smaller gray bird follows her only to learn the answer to his jeopardy, “What is glass?” He recovers from the crash and flies away. A squirrel coming to the feed from the same tree had startled them.

The oak trees have produced no acorns this year, and the girls have cleaned up all the apples. I doubt that hackberry is the squirrel’s first choice for dinner, but dine he must, or die. I would prefer that he leave the food for the songbirds, but he has his own interests at heart.

Autumn is a beautiful time of year, but it also reminds us how quickly the spring and summer write themselves into history. The older we get the quicker it seems that each year passes into the next. Each year, we qualify youthful adventures and ambitions with “never again” or “not likely.”

I thought of a sight pun today at which Mom would have laughed. Lisa chuckled out of kindness. I sent it to my little sisters, saying, “I miss Mom.” I suppose this is the first of many funny things that will no longer earn Mom’s laughter.



I sent photo’s of the little girls to Cara the other day. Cara remarked that they are growing up too fast. If Cara only knew – I still think of her as my football baby because she fit so perfectly on my palm and forearm just twenty-four years ago.



The longer we live the better we realize how short our time upon this earth is.

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children—
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

Psalm 103:13-18 (NIV)

Mom

The following are my prepared remarks given at Mom’s funeral,
October 7, 2008,
Gallatin, Missouri

In April of this year, I began to blog. Blogging is simply self-publishing on the Internet. People blog about many topics; I blog about Faith and Family.

In April, I wrote, “Air roasted”. I consider that post to be a roundabout love letter to my wife. I meandered over many topics only to sneak up behind Lisa at the end to whisper, “Love ya’ honey.”

A couple years ago in May, some of us gathered in this room to say, “Goodbye,” to Granny Annie. On Mother’s Day this year, I published “Granny’s song” on my blog.

A couple days earlier, I had written “Bicycle baby” in which I recalled sweet times with my daughter, Claire. A couple days later wrote, “They saw us waving” in which I recounted Gabby’s seeing the International Space Station flying over our house. The spacecraft flew from twilight into full sunshine, and Gabby cried out, “They saw us waving, and they turned their lights on!”

I wrote “Eagle, eagle, eagle” where I reminisced about Daniel, my son. In a post titled, “Nostoc,” I wrote about my love for my oldest daughter, Cara.

My most-read post, titled “Ora et labora,” is a tribute to Dad. “Ora et labora” has been read by people in Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, India, Latvia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. “Ora et labora” is the motto on the Ramsey crest. It means, “Pray and work” No one illustrates Ora et labora better than my dad. This truth is now known all over the world.

Considering the number of times I have blogged about family, it might be puzzling why no singular blog post has been dedicated to Mom. I wrote many posts about family, yet among all my posts, Mom takes center stage in none of them; or does she?

Mom was often the first person to read each of my posts. She sometimes awakened in the middle of the night to read what I had published at midnight. She corrected my typographical errors. Actually, she delighted in discovering where my fingers had failed to do what my brain had asked of them. If I had written something sentimental about my family, Mom’s eyes would tear. When she told me that a post touched her heart, I would then tease her saying, “Mom, you know I would do just about anything to make you cry.”

My publishing on the Internet served many purposes. Mostly, I suppose, my blog has been an open letter to anyone who would read it. Some posts have been a letter mostly to my children. Some posts have been a letter mostly to my wife. Sometimes my writing has been a letter to myself – a summary of my Bible study. Nevertheless, each post was in many ways a letter to Mom. Though I have written very few lines about her, Mom has been very much at the center of my writing all along. Lisa can attest that many of our discussions about my writing centered upon what Mom’s reaction would be.

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Mom was central to more than just my writing. Christmas is still a few months away, but I had already determined what I was going to give to Mom. Lisa bought her a Christian bluegrass CD. You know how moms like to receive handmade gifts from their children. I planned to give Mom a hand-rolled cigar from the tobacco I grew in my garden. I did not expect her to smoke it; but I know that she would have laughed.

If I was not busy trying to make Mom cry, I was busy trying to make her laugh. I would do just about anything to make Mom laugh.

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Yet there was more to Mom than tears and laughter. Mom’s greatest passion was knowing Jesus and then making him known. Mom found much joy when I shared my perspective on Scripture. A couple weeks ago Mom emailed me saying,

I read your blog and thought, this is really good and helpful.

Then I read Lisa's blog and I thought, This is really great! And so helpful!

Thank you, Lisa! What you wrote is so true. I love it.

What Mom loved and what Lisa wrote is this,

• After feeding the five thousand families, Mark says that Jesus sent the disciples ahead to Bethsaida. John says that the disciples were headed for Capernaum. Without getting in to the possible reasons for the different perspectives on their destination, it seems safe to say that when they ended up in Gennesaret they were arriving in a different location than Jesus sent them. However, I believe that Jesus’ plan was for them to obey his instruction, experience some amazing things in the process, and ultimately end up where he really intended them to be. When I experience an unexpected change of direction in my life, how often have I questioned whether I was hearing God’s instruction correctly? Just because things do not turn out the way I expected does not mean I did not hear God correctly. Nor does it indicate a shortfall in God’s sovereignty.
  


• Jesus watched from the shore as the disciples struggled in the waves and the wind. He did not relieve their distress immediately, and even when he did walk out to them, Mark thought he was going to pass them. Once Jesus climbed into the boat, the storm was immediately calmed. How often am I convinced that God does not really know or understand what I am going through? Do I tend to think that He does not really care? Do I assume that my difficulties are mine alone to bear? Could I begin to learn that the storms in my life set the stage for God revealing His glory to me?
  


• When the disciples saw Jesus walking towards them on the water, they thought he was a ghost and they were terrified. How often do I determine that something that I do not understand is “bad” or “evil”, when it may be God working in my life?
  


• Jesus responded to their fearful cries with, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” When he says, “It is I”, it is the same phrase translated elsewhere as “I AM”. Jesus was telling them that he is the Almighty God, Creator of the Universe. He was in control and there was nothing of which to be afraid. How often do I lose sight of the fact that Jesus really is there with me, through the storm, and He is in total control. He is in control of not only my little struggles, but EVERYTHING.

Mom was encouraged to read again that Jesus, the Great I AM, is always in control regardless of how out of control our lives seem to be.

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I talked to Mom last Thursday morning; she told me that she found my post that day to be encouraging – Lisa had not posted yet. In my post, I was asking rhetorically how the kids in our home-school association would feel if they understood the injustice perpetrated by leaders in Washington. I said,

I know how I feel. I feel far away from home.

In my home country “there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all.” In my home country, its citizens are children “of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all . . . who were baptized into Christ have clothed [themselves] with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, [all are] one in Christ Jesus [and are] Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” In my home country, “[We] are all are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God”

When I witness injustice, I long for the peace of my home country. The Apostle, John, wrote about his vision of my home country, saying,

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Revelation 21:1-7 (NIV)

The morning before Mom passed, she was meditating on this passage of Scripture. She was discussing with Dad her hope of eternity with Jesus. When Mom’s heart gave out, she cried out to Dad, but then I think she turned and heard Jesus saying, “Take courage; I AM; do not be afraid.” Upon hearing Jesus’ voice, the storms of Mom’s life calmed, and Mom immediately arrived at the destination where Jesus had planned to meet her.

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We are here today to remember my mom. Solomon said,

It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because that is the end of every man,
And the living takes it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

As we remember Mom, let us recognize that she lived her life for the moment when she would see her Savior face-to-face. We will miss her. Yet, if she could speak to us today she would ask, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” You see, we are the ones still trapped within “the body of this death,” as the Apostle Paul referred to it. Mom has been delivered; she is currently witnessing Jesus making all things new.

We are here because we knew and loved Mom, yet Mom would be much more interested in our knowing and trusting Jesus Christ. Last week Mom wrote an urgent letter to unsaved loved ones imploring them, “Please accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior today. Pray to him and trust him with your eternal future. You cannot save yourself and you don’t know the way to heaven, none of us do. But Jesus does.”

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We are here to remember Mom – to remember our relationships to Mom, but in our remembering, let us remember that the most important relationship in Mom’s life was her relationship to Jesus Christ. She lived by her faith in him.
The Jesus that Mom worshipped was both the Son of God and Son of Man. As the Son of God he created the heavens and the earth. Genesis tells us that he fashioned man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. John 1 says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

This is the Jesus Mom knew. As the Son of God, he walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. Then Adam sinned against God, and plunged mankind into the judgment of death. Man’s toil became futile, his relationships painful; the earth from which man was taken produced thorns and thistles; man’s destiny became the grave. Yet even in man’s dark hour, the Son of God promised Adam and Eve a deliverer who would crush the deceiver’s head. The deliverer would be the offspring of a woman.

In history, the Son of God appeared as the angel of the LORD. He appeared to Abraham at Mamre; He appeared to Moses in the desert places of Midian and Sinai; The Son of God appeared to Joshua, Gideon, and others; he spoke to Samuel and to the prophets.

At the right time, the Son of God humbled himself and became also the Son of Man – the offspring of a woman. As the Son of Man, he lived a sinless life in which he demonstrated both his Deity and his humanity. The Apostle John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”, but John also says that “though he was in the world and the world was made by him, the world did not recognize him. He came unto those who were his own, but his own did not receive him.”

As the Son of God and Son of Man, Jesus allowed himself to taken to Calvary. There the hands of him who had fashioned man from the earth, Man nailed to the cross. Man crowned the Son of God with a crown of thorns – the very symbol of the curse of sin. On the cross, the one who had breathed into man the breath of life hung suffocating. Yet in all this, God had a greater purpose.

The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, that “God made him who knew no sin, to be sin for us.” Jesus was our sin offering. He took our sin upon his body on the cross, and by his death he carried our sin into judgment, for the wages of sin is death. Isaiah prophesied this would happen. He said,

Surely he hath borne our griefs,
and carried our sorrows:
yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth:
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment:
and who shall declare his generation?
for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death;
because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him;
he hath put him to grief:
when thou shall make his life an offering for sin,
he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul,
and shall be satisfied:
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he hath poured out his soul unto death:
and he was numbered with the transgressors;
and he bare the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

The Son of God and Son of Man, suffered by our hands and on our behalf. Paul said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

On the third day, God the Father through the power of his Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. By overcoming death – the penalty for our sin – Jesus became our Great Hope of Resurrection.

John tells us that as “all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Because by faith we die with him, we also by faith will attain to his resurrection from the dead.

This is the Jesus whom Mom knew. This is the Jesus whom Mom worshipped. This is the Jesus whom Mom loved most of all. This is the Jesus upon whom Mom was meditating Thursday morning, when, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, He came to meet her, to calm her storms, to speak to her saying, “Take Courage. I AM. Do not be afraid,” and to carry her to her destination – eternity with Him.

Today as we remember Mom, it is appropriate for us to remember her tears and laughter. It is appropriate to remember her love for each of us and our love for her, but most of all it is necessary to remember her hope and faith in Jesus Christ. When we, the living, take this to heart, our sorrow for Mom’s parting is better than laughter because though our faces are sad, our hearts can be happy.

“I am making all things new”

by John D Ramsey


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The home-school meeting happened without me. My sister called as we were readying to leave the house and told me that Mom had a heart attack.

Early in the morning, Mom sent Lisa a sentimental poem that she found while rummaging through Granny’s things. A few days ago, Mom had laughed about keeping all of Granny’s stuff; she told me that if Granny had not used it in the past two years, she probably never would.

I talked with Mom about midmorning yesterday, she told he that she found my latest post to be encouraging. When I talked with her, she was reading the last few chapters of Revelation. She took her encouragement, not from my feeble words, but rather from the truthful promises of Scripture.

Later, after Lisa had posted the poem that Mom had sent her, I tried to call Mom to let her know. There was no answer. Dad said that Mom went suddenly; though paramedics resuscitated her body, I believe that Mom was already at home in a greater country.

When Mom’s heart gave out, she was not only prepared to meet her Savior, she was earnestly meditating on Jesus’ words with a sentimental homesickness that his faithful share.

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

“He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”

Revelation 21:5-7 (NIV)