But still...

But Still….


A young woman has lost her husband and her father-in-law and faces very trying times. Her mother-in-law encourages her to return to her home town where she will have the prospect of finding another husband. She understands the potential risks that come from staying with her mother-in-law but still she pleads with her mother-in-law not to encourage her to leave as she is totally committed to staying with her – no matter what the outcome.

How many of us are willing to remain true to our commitments even when it appears that doing so will lead to a bleak future?

How loyal are we to those to whom we have made commitments? The world is full of fair weather associates. They are there for others when things are going well but they take off as soon as things become challenging.

Ruth – the young woman in our story – displayed the epitome of loyalty and commitment.

Ruth 1
Naomi and Ruth
1 In the days when the judges ruled, [a] there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."
11 But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!"
14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.
15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

The Christian walk demands that we put others above self. It sometimes requires us to remain true to relationships that do not appear to be in our best interest. Ruth’s commitment reflects a higher order of love that not many people attain. Self-denial is one of the manifestations of spiritual maturity.

How ready are you to dedicate yourself to a relationship even though it requires you to deny yourself?

Are you a fair weather associate, companion, partner or are you there for the long haul?

What is the real significance of the wedding vows you made or hope to make? In an environment in which divorces are so prevalent, will you commit to working through good times and bad?

Let us now consider the case of the young man who decided to share his point of view with an audience. As he spoke it became increasingly clear that the audience did not share his perspective. But still he thought it important to continue. Members of the audience became downright hostile. But still the young man decided that what he had to say needed to be said and he continued. In the end, he sacrificed his life.

How many of us are willing to make any kind of sacrifice to make our views known?

How often do we keep silent when the situation demanded that we present a principled position?

Can you recall situations in which you could have made a positive difference but failed to speak out because you feared what might happen to you?

Rampant criminality actually thrives in communities in which people fail to speak up about wrong doing and keep silent during police investigations.

Stephen – the young man in our case – was convicted about the need to share his message. Fear would not silence him.

Acts 7: 51"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56"Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

There are times when we need to let our voices be heard. There might be challenging situations but still, silence is not an option.

Next, we want to reflect on a young man who happened to be favoured by his father. This seemed to have sparked jealousy among his brothers. This prompted them to do the unthinkable to the young man.

It would have been understandable if this young man had become a social deviant and made a mess of his life. He had to spend years of his life with the pain of his betrayal by his own kin but still he forged a highly successful career rising to the very top echelons of government.

Without in any way wishing to belittle the challenges of persons who have had difficult childhoods, it might not be unreasonable to state that Joseph – the young man in question – had as difficult a time as many others. Genesis chapters 37, 40 - 43

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented [a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them."
"Very well," he replied.
14 So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?"
16 He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"
17 "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 20 "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing- 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels [b] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"
31 Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."
33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave [c] to my son." So his father wept for him.

Overcoming difficult times and bad experiences is not easy but still we have to strive to overcome and to create opportunities for our development. No matter what our status is now or was in the past we must still work towards fulfilment and self-actualisation. Joseph rose above the great obstacles placed in his path to become someone to be highly esteemed.

What are the roadblocks in your path and what are you doing to climb over them or remove them?

We now turn our attention to a man who was called to provide leadership for others. He made it clear that he was not suited for the job and that someone else should be chosen. He was persuaded to accept the task.

As it turned out, the people were the most undisciplined and ungrateful set imaginable. It would no be unreasonable to expect that the reluctant leader would walk away shaking his head. Quitting was a reasonable choice, but still he continued working with the ingrates and completed the assignment.

How easy it is for us to walk away from positions of responsibility on the grounds that the people are unwilling to be led. Too often we find people caving in to pressure and relinquishing their leadership roles.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” indicates that leadership is often a difficult assignment. Still, it has to be performed by someone. We do well to take our cue from Moses – the leader under review here. (Exodus)

I pray that we would be more true to the roles that have been given to us. That we would commit to the successful completion of tasks for which we have responsibility. I pray that we would not seek to make excuses to avoid roles that we consider to be challenging. I pray that we would look beyond our own limited capabilities and to recall that “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Phillipians 4:13.

Our capacity to achieve much is heavily dependent on our level of faith.

Luke 17: 5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
6 He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

If we commit our stewardship to God, he will bless us with success.

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

On the issue of faith, two case studies are instructive. We are reminded that we live by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7). These two men demonstrated this to the extreme.

One was sent on what must have seemed at some point to be wild goose chase. He was sent on a trek that seemed to lead to nowhere yet was supposed to produce spectacular results. As he and the throngs that joined him on this trek grew weary they must have wondered about the futility of the entire exercise.

Calling off the trek was an option but still they continued their potentially frustrating walk around the walls of Jericho until in the end the walls came tumbling down. [Joshua Chapter 6]

Hebrews 11: 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

There are times when the way ahead is not clear. We have doubts about where the path leads. But still we must march on in faith in the knowledge that if our actions are grounded in faith and committed to the Lord, the outcomes will be favourable.

Joshua marched around Jericho in the knowledge that God would be there for them. O we of little faith!

The other case we want to look at is a man who set about building a huge boat in preparation for an event that he could hardly have imagined would take place. Noah might have been justified in wondering about the probability of something called rain producing flood waters on the earth but still he built the ark.

Thank God for the “but stills” of many who have achieved much living by faith and not by sight.

Is there an opportunity that seems to be beckoning you and yet it is being clouded out by a lack of faith?

Are you failing to look at what seems to be insurmountable challenges or unclear pathways and say “but I will still” go forward?

A “but still…” attitude is central to our spiritual walk. Some of you have failed to make a commitment to dedicate your lives to Jesus because you feel that you are not ready for such an undertaking. You feel you have to wait until you get your life together.

I urge you that despite all the many reasons why you think you are not ready to put on Christ in baptism you should still move now to make your calling and election sure.

A review of all the conversions in the New Testament and supporting passages point to the following process for putting on Christ:

We must hear the good news of Jesus, His atoning sacrifice for our sins and His resurrection. Rom 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

You must also believe the good news.
Heb 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Faith is not enough. We are called to act on our belief and to make a decision to no longer let sin reign in our lives but to seek to live in obedience to God. This is the very important act of repentance.

Luke 13: 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

You then have to confess Jesus as Lord of your life. This is a public declaration of your belief that Jesus is the Son of the Living God:

Rom 10: 8-10 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Another major step is that you must be baptized for the removal of our sins. This is a step that is either left out completely or is comprised in attempts to make salvation more convenient.

Gal 3:26 For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.

1 Peter 3: 17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

At that point you have put on Christ and you are in Christ. Many opportunities are now opened to you. One is that you are added to His Church. There you are able to access the exclusive blessings that are in Christ. Now your soul is protected by the atoning blood of Jesus, the Christ.

Don’t be like the many who have gathered all this information but still did nothing about it and died in their sins to spend eternity away from God. You may not fully conquer all your doubts and fears but still obey the Gospel call and save your soul today!