Wednesday, August 30

            Our three-year-old grandson, William, has had quite a wonderful summer. He and his family visited us in Nova Scotia for a week. Events included a campfire, a picnic at the provincial park and a visit to a fossil museum where there were dinosaur models. Then a week ago or so his parents bought him a new bicycle (with training wheels) and helmet which he has taken to like a fish to water. To cap it all off when they were recently visiting our daughter and fiancé’s home in Goderich, his Dad discovered a right-handed baseball mitt just his size. It is glued to his hand.

            William is as passionate about baseball as is his Dad and his Grandfather. He can name almost all the starting Blue Jays and announces them with great gusto – Josh Donaldson, Russell Martin and his favourite player, Troy Tulowitzi. He will pretend that he is one of them or has one of us pretending when we play ball. He will sit on my lap and watch a game, asking about what is happening. Who knows – maybe he will grow up and become a professional baseball player. (I have my eye on a snazzy BMW sportscar he can buy Grandpa when he starts making the big salary of pro ball.)

            So out of curiosity can you name the Ten commandments – in order. Can you list the nine Beatitudes without peeking at Matthew 5?  Can you name each and every one of the twelve disciples of Jesus and not refer to Matthew 10? I am betting that, like me, you most likely forgot Thaddeus. Can you recite the seven deadly sins or the seven great virtues?  To save you looking these up, the sins are lust, pride, anger, gluttony, envy, sloth, and greed, and the virtues are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience and kindness. Can you list the fruit of the Spirit? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” (Galatians 5:22-23).

            Now simply knowing such things doesn’t make you a superior Christian or even give you bragging rights over non-Christians, any more than William knowing the names of the Bluer Jays makes him a professional, baseball player. It takes using the knowledge in a way that edifies and empowers us to become the right-wise kind of person God wants us to be. I once met an elderly man who had almost memorized the whole Bible and could quote chapter and verse with ease. It put me to shame. Except that he was a mean, critical, judgmental, negative, old cuss.  As usual, Jesus gets the last word, saying to his opponents: “You’re off base on two counts: You don’t know your Bibles, and you don’t know how God works,"  (Matthew 22:29, The Message).

            So, if you were able, from memory alone, to fill out the lists I gave you, good for you. I will gladly give you a gold star, or a Jesus sticker. My Sunday School superintendent, when I was a kid, used to give out live guppies for us children who could name all 66 books of the Bible. I still sing the songs that helped us memorize those books.

            But being a true son of Adam or daughter of Eve is far more than just memory work, more than regurgitating favourite verses or having all the answers to some Biblical trivial pursuit game. The real test is whether one has grasped the deep and abiding value of a life lived like Jesus, and is reflected in a life that has been gripped by the power of God through his Word.

Dale.