AUGUST 2024
FROM THE PASTORS DESK
The dog days of summer have come upon us! Originally, the dog days of summer stem from Hellenistic astrology and the heliacal rising of Sirius, the dog star. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that Sirius’s dawn rising in the summer contributed to the extreme heat of the season. The name “Sirius” even stems from the Ancient Greek seírios, meaning “scorching.” The Egyptians used Sirius’s dawn rising as a “watchdog” for the flooding of the Nile. So, the phrase has been around for a while!
One of the things that helps me get through the dog days is the fact that college football is right around the corner. I truly love Saturdays during the fall. Tammy usually makes us a meat festival on the grill, and we argue all day about the godliness of the Bulldogs and the demonic oppression of the Tide. We are excited to see how things play out this year with the expanded playoff system. I suspect, when it’s all over, the same 4 or 5 teams that have been at the top for the past 20 years will be back at the top again. Nevertheless, the impending college football season makes the dog days of summer a little more tolerable.
We all need good things to look forward to so we can make it through the difficulties of life. I have found that the greater the thing is I am looking forward to, the more joy and hope I have during the stress and struggle I am trying to overcome. The future goal or blessing almost exerts force on us, drawing us forward through the difficulty.
What is it that you are looking forward to that draws you through the stress and struggle of life? The Apostle Paul stated the object of his gaze in Romans 8:18: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. Think about what glory Paul was looking forward to beholding. It wasn’t his own glory. It wasn’t any kind of worldly glory. It was the glory of God. When I think about God’s glory, I envision the most beautiful sunset magnified to the power of a million. The immensity of God’s beauty is overwhelming and mind-blowing. And that never-ending, indescribable beauty is what awaits every born-again follower of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul stated a very similar comment to the Corinthians: For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). Think about what Paul is calling “momentary light affliction.” Read his testimony and realize he’s not engaging in a rhetorical flourish or self-righteous banalities. In response to false apostles who were criticizing Paul, he wrote, 23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, near death many times. 24 Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). This is a list of pain and problems unlike many of us has ever faced. Yet, he calls them momentary, light afflictions in comparison to enjoying the eternal weight of God’s glory.
How can Paul say something so radical and contrary to so much modern religious narcissism? The only answer I have is that Paul had truly seen Jesus and recognized the gravity of who and what his eyes were seeing. Our greatest need is to see Jesus more clearly and to be satisfied more fully with Him. May the future, eternal glory of the bigness and beauty of God’s presence be enough to pull you through every scorching flood of sadness, sorrow, or sickness you experience in this temporal life. Behold, the Lamb!
One of the things that helps me get through the dog days is the fact that college football is right around the corner. I truly love Saturdays during the fall. Tammy usually makes us a meat festival on the grill, and we argue all day about the godliness of the Bulldogs and the demonic oppression of the Tide. We are excited to see how things play out this year with the expanded playoff system. I suspect, when it’s all over, the same 4 or 5 teams that have been at the top for the past 20 years will be back at the top again. Nevertheless, the impending college football season makes the dog days of summer a little more tolerable.
We all need good things to look forward to so we can make it through the difficulties of life. I have found that the greater the thing is I am looking forward to, the more joy and hope I have during the stress and struggle I am trying to overcome. The future goal or blessing almost exerts force on us, drawing us forward through the difficulty.
What is it that you are looking forward to that draws you through the stress and struggle of life? The Apostle Paul stated the object of his gaze in Romans 8:18: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. Think about what glory Paul was looking forward to beholding. It wasn’t his own glory. It wasn’t any kind of worldly glory. It was the glory of God. When I think about God’s glory, I envision the most beautiful sunset magnified to the power of a million. The immensity of God’s beauty is overwhelming and mind-blowing. And that never-ending, indescribable beauty is what awaits every born-again follower of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul stated a very similar comment to the Corinthians: For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). Think about what Paul is calling “momentary light affliction.” Read his testimony and realize he’s not engaging in a rhetorical flourish or self-righteous banalities. In response to false apostles who were criticizing Paul, he wrote, 23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, near death many times. 24 Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans. Once I was stoned by my enemies. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). This is a list of pain and problems unlike many of us has ever faced. Yet, he calls them momentary, light afflictions in comparison to enjoying the eternal weight of God’s glory.
How can Paul say something so radical and contrary to so much modern religious narcissism? The only answer I have is that Paul had truly seen Jesus and recognized the gravity of who and what his eyes were seeing. Our greatest need is to see Jesus more clearly and to be satisfied more fully with Him. May the future, eternal glory of the bigness and beauty of God’s presence be enough to pull you through every scorching flood of sadness, sorrow, or sickness you experience in this temporal life. Behold, the Lamb!
-Pastor Clint Miller
Posted in MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
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