Articles by Tim Archer at Heartlight

System Maintenance

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

My computer has a folder of Temporary Items. It's full of data that was once needed, but isn't currently necessary. I don't intentionally create those files; they seem to appear out of thin air, occupying space on my computer. Those who know about computers say that these files need to be deleted now and again, or they will slow down my computer's operating system. One rule of thumb says that if the date on those files isn't today's date, they can be safely erased.

I've got a similar folder inside my head. Unfortunately, the contents of this folder aren't as harmless as what's inside the Temporary Items on my computer. This folder contains a complete archive of bad things that have happened in the past, both things that I've done and things that have been done to me. I've got video, audio, and text, a whole multimedia display of negativity. When I least want them to, these things worm their way out of my past into my present.

I remember the times I embarrassed myself. I remember the times that I hurt other people. I remember my failures. I remember my sin.

I remember the times I was mistreated. I remember the ways that people hurt me, the things they said, the things they did. I remember those times that other people let me down.

None of that does me any good. Those things from the past only serve to slow things down, to spoil today with yesterday's hurts. Like those temporary files on my computer, what I really need to do is get rid of them.

The apostle Paul wrote: "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). We have to put our past in the past and set our eyes on what lies ahead. We have a God who is willing to forgive anything and everything that we've done, if we'll only let him. And he'll teach us to do the same with other people.

If your mind is cluttered with yesterday's hurts, let God help you clean it out. Let him teach you to look forward, not backward. Let him show you the prize that's waiting and help you to focus on it. I'd like to help as well: write to me at tim@hopeforlife.org or visit HopeforLife.org and leave a comment on our blog.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)

© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife

When Life Tumbles In

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Dr. Arthur John Gossip was a minister who had preached many sermons, but none like this one. The day before, his wife had collapsed and died suddenly. Now he stood in the pulpit of the Beechgrove Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, speaking on the subject "But When Life Tumbles In, What Then?" In the midst of his pain, he spoke words of hope to his congregation.

In reflecting on his loss Gossip said, "I do not understand this life of ours. But still less can I comprehend how people in trouble and loss and bereavement can fling away peevishly from the Christian faith. In God's name, fling to what? Have we not lost enough without losing that too?" Later he explained, "You people," says Gossip, "in the sunshine may believe the faith, but we in the shadow must believe it. We have nothing else."

It's never easy for one who stands in the sunshine, as Gossip put it, to speak to those in the shadow. Any words that are spoken ring hollow and empty. If you are walking in the shadow of loss or illness or financial strain, you may find it hard to listen to those who would speak to you of hope. You need to hear from those who know life's dark side. One place to do that is HopeforLife.org. On that website, you will find the stories of people like Arthur John Gossip who found themselves in the shadow but now walk in the sunshine. People who faced life's most extreme moments and came out with faith in God.

Gossip ended his sermon with these words:

I don't think you need to be afraid of life. Our hearts are very frail, and there are places where the road is very steep and very lonely, but we have a wonderful God. And, as Paul puts it, "What can separate us from his love? Not death," he writes immediately. No, not death, for standing in the roaring of the Jordan, cold with its dreadful chill and very conscious of its terror, of its rushing, I, too, like Hopeful in Pilgrim's Progress, can call back to you who one day in your turn will have to cross it, "Be of good cheer, my brother, for I feel the bottom and it is sound."

Visit HopeforLife.org and hear the voices of others who echo Gossip’s words: "I feel the bottom and it is sound." Find the hope that God offers. Write to me at tim@hopeforlife.org, and I'll tell you more about the hope God offers in our darkest hour.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)
© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife

Did I Get Everything Right?

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I don't like paying taxes. I especially don't like the whole process of filing taxes here in the United States. It's amazing how complicated our tax code has gotten. In 1913, the tax code was just over 400 pages long. The instructions for filing consisted of two pages. In 2008, the code had grown to over 67,000 pages; the instructions for filling out the basic form, the 1040, had grown to 155 pages. The complexity of accurately filing taxes fuels an entire tax-preparation industry. Because of that, most of us feel a bit of anxiety when filing taxes: Did I get everything right?

Some people feel a similar anxiety when they think about God. Did I get everything right? Have I made amends for all the bad things I've done? Have I done enough good things? Did I say the right words, go to the right places, think the right thoughts? Even though the Bible isn't as long as the U.S. tax code, the consequences of being wrong can fill anyone's heart with fear.

If you feel nervous when you think about standing before God on the Day of Judgment, you might be surprised at something the apostle Paul wrote, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Peace? Peace with God? How can we have peace with God when we have to constantly worry about getting everything right in order to please him? The answer to that question is, we can't. If our being right with God depends on us and what we've done, we'll never be at peace. But look at the first part of what Paul says: "Since we have been justified through faith." We can have peace with God because our future doesn't depend on us doing everything right. Writing to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). It's not about what we've done; it's about being saved through faith in the gift that God has to offer us.

God expects us to respond to him in faith, committing ourselves to change our lives, washing away our sins in baptism. But none of that is done as a work, none of that is done to earn salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God, and we can rest assured that God wants to give it to us. We might worry when we mail in our taxes, but when it comes to being right with God, peace should be all we feel. If you don't feel at peace about your relationship with God, write to me at tim@hopeforlife.org or leave a comment on our HopeforLife.org blog.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)

© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife

Giving What Can't Be Kept

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

Jim Eliot had decided to go to Ecuador, seeking to take God's good news to indigenous tribes who had never heard of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately he lost his life in the effort, being murdered by the very Indians he sought to teach. Later, however, Jim's widow Elisabeth was able to go to those same aboriginal people and teach them about Jesus.

Years before going to Ecuador, Jim had written in his diary some intriguing words. He wrote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." That's a powerful statement. It is not foolish to give up this life (which can't be kept) to gain a life that can't be lost (eternal life). Whatever we have to do in this life to obtain eternal life is certainly worth it.

Jesus stated it in even stronger terms. Not only is it not foolish to give up this life to obtain eternal life, it's necessary. Listen to how the writer Luke reports it:

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" (Luke 9:23-25)

Jesus said that the only way to save our life is to lose it. That is, the only way to obtain eternal life is to let go of this life. We have to be willing to turn our back on all this world offers.

The apostle Paul wrote: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). In another letter, he wrote, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17). What he is saying is that any suffering that we go through in this life is nothing compared to an eternity in the presence of God. Think about it. What if we could draw a line that stretched for all eternity? (That's obviously impossible, but use your imagination). In that timeline that has no end, how much space would we dedicate to our life here on earth? If we drew the tiniest dot, a mere point on that line, it would be far too large. This life is nothing compared to the one to come.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Don't spend so much time focused on a life that can't be kept that you miss out on the life that can't be lost. Want to know more? Write to me at tim@hopeforlife.org or leave a comment on our HopeforLife.org blog.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)

© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife

Preaching Your Own Funeral

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

There were two brothers who were the richest men in that small town. They were also the meanest and most immoral of men. When one of them died, the other went to the preacher of the local church and asked him to do the funeral. He said that he would give the church $25,000 if the preacher would say that his brother was a saint. "But I can't do that!" said the preacher, "Everyone knows what kind of man your brother was." But the more he thought about it, he realized that the church really needed that money. So on the day of the funeral he got up and said, "This man was a lying, cheating, stealing, wicked old man. But next to his brother, he was a saint."
Someday, when we're gone, somebody is going to have to stand up and say a few words about our lives. When they stand up to talk about us, will it be an easy task or a hard one? Will they struggle to find something good to say or will they struggle to choose between all of the uplifting stories told of your life?
I remember when I was a student at Abilene Christian University, Jim Dotson, the preacher at Brookwood Way Church of Christ in Mansfield, Ohio, preached a funeral sermon that became famous. His sermon was videotaped and can still be viewed in the ACU library. Dotson's sermon did not become famous because of its content nor because of the outstanding delivery. Dotson's funeral sermon became famous because he preached his own funeral. Dying of cancer, he videotaped the funeral sermon. He spoke about the Christian's victory over death.
It's a remarkable thing to preach your own funeral. That is, it's remarkable to videotape yourself speaking so that everyone hears the exact words that you wanted them to hear. But the fact is, we all do our own funeral sermons. By the way we live. No matter what the minister says at the service itself, our lives will leave behind their own testimony, for good or for bad.
So what does your sermon sound like so far? Is it full of jokes and stories, but little substance? Is it a shining example of what everyone would like their life to be? Or, to borrow a phrase from a calendar I saw, is the main purpose of your life to serve as a warning for others?
Make someone's job a little easier! Don't make them hunt and scrounge for something good to say. Don't make it hard for them to find words of comfort for those left behind. Live such a life that your funeral will be a celebration of triumph, a joyous remembrance of a life well lived. To know more about how to do that, write to me at tim@hopeforlife.org or leave a comment on our HopeforLife.org blog.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)

© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife

A Churchy Word

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

There are some words that I consider to be "churchy" words. They are words that religious people use that rarely come up in other settings: sanctification, atonement, grace, evangelism, gospel. Sometimes even Christians don't have a good grasp on what such words mean.

Repentance is one of those words. When we look at what God wants us to do as we enter His family, one of the key things is repentance. We have to repent of our sins. But if we're going to repent, we need to know what that is.

I used to think that repentance meant feeling bad about what we had done. While that's certainly a part of it, that's not all there is to repentance. Literally, "repent" means to turn around or change direction. It's the idea of walking in one direction, then turning 180 degrees and walking in the opposite direction. Repentance isn't merely about feeling bad; it's about change, a change of life. It is a change in our thinking that causes a change in behavior.

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul wrote to a group of new Christians and told them: "They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9). That's repentance. It's not just about turning away from something; we are also turning to something else. We leave behind one life to begin a new one. We quit going toward one goal and move toward a different one.

Paul wrote this to the church in Rome: "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4). Repentance and baptism consistently go together in the Bible, for that very reason: in baptism, we bury our old selves and come out of the water with a new life. We are born again, made new. But what's the point of a new life if it's going to be exactly like the old life? Why go through a burial if we're going to let our old man keep living? The idea is that we come to Jesus in faith, leave behind our old life, burying it in water, and begin again with a fresh start. Only this time, instead of moving away from God, we live a life that brings us closer to God.

So even if it seems a bit churchy, repentance is a good word. It helps us understand what we need to do to come to God. We need to turn away from our old life and begin a new one, through faith in Jesus. If you haven't done that, if you haven't buried your old life in baptism to begin a new life in Christ, let me put you in contact with someone who can help you with that. Write me at tim@hopeforlife.org or leave a comment on our blog at www.hopeforlife.org.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)
© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife

Splinters

tim@hopeforlife.org (Tim Archer) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500

When I was a kid, I hated splinters. Not that I enjoy them now, but I really hated them then. Not just because of the pain splinters caused when they lodged themselves in my fingers, but because of what came after that. I would have to go to my mom, get the prognosis on my condition and hear the recommendations for treatment. The best case scenario was that mere tweezers could remove the tiny invader. The worst case, of course, was when surgery was involved: she would have to take a needle and dig the splinter out. She was amazingly good at doing that without pain, but just the sight of her approaching my finger, needle in hand, caused me great anguish.

One time, one of my friends casually commented that if you left a splinter in place, your body would expel it on its own. When you're eight years old, you know that children your age are the best source for medical advice, so I tried to follow his approach the next time I got a splinter. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The area around the splinter grew more and more inflamed, and the extraction process ended up taking more time and causing more pain than if I had dealt with the problem sooner.

Sin is like that. It's like a splinter in our soul. When we do something wrong, there's a voice that says, "Just leave it alone. Let it be. It will work itself out." But it doesn't. The longer we hide our mistakes and carry the guilt around with us, the more they fester and grow. In the Bible, in the book of Psalms, the writer says:

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord" -- and you forgave the guilt of my sin (Psalm 32:3-5).

We can't just hide the things we've done wrong. We have to get them out, or they will continue to torment us. If not, our conscience will not let us rest. When we go to God, seeking His forgiveness, He is quick to give it. He wants to forgive. He knows that what we most need is to confess that sin, to get it out of our being, so that healing may take place.

James, in his letter, writes: "Come near to God and he will come near to you" (James 4:8). Go to Him, and show Him the splinter, confess to Him the sin that is weighing you down. He wants to ease your burden. If you don't know how to approach God, I want to help you. Write me at tim@hopeforlife.org or leave a comment on our blog at www.hopeforlife.org.

(Expressed written consent must be obtained prior to republishing, retransmitting or otherwise reusing the content of this article. Contact us at info@hopeforlife.org)
© Herald of Truth

Tim coordinates the Spanish-Speaking Ministries of Herald of Truth and writes for HopeForLife. You can reach him at (866) 814-4673 or (866) 814-HOPE or by writing to tim@hopeforlife.org.

Website: HopeForLife