–Louis L’Amour  (Reilly’s Luck)

       “Now I say this for your own benefit; not to restrict you, but to promote what is appropriate and secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.”
                           –1 Corinthians 7:35 (Amplified)
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               8 — O LORD of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!  Selah
               9 — O God, behold our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed.
              10 — For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.  I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tests of wickedness.
              11 — For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
              12 — O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!”  (NKJV)

The last portion of Psalm 84 is familiar, especially verse 10, “I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.” (NLT)  The question then becomes, Is that true of you, or of me?  So often we see in the media the grandeur of the rich, especially their homes.  But what good does it really do them?  When I read of how many square feet some of their homes have I would have to have a compass to get to the bathroom at night, or maybe tie a rope so I could hold it as I travel on a nightly trek.
       I like the term “gatekeeper.”  I imagine the literal term is closer to “doorkeeper.”  Think of a doorkeeper of one of those fancy high-rise apartments in the city.  It is your job to open and close the door as the rich enter and leave.  They may smile at you as you do your lowly job, or they may snub you altogether.  Does it really matter?  You are doing a faithful job, fulfilling a service that they seem to be not able to do.
       But the term “gatekeeper” has another meaning.  In the Special Forces, the Gatekeeper has a special purpose.  They are the ones who keep a check on the training.  It is up to them to make sure that the standards are kept.  It is not so much that they are watching the person going through the training as those who are doing the training.  The Gatekeeper makes sure they do not allow anyone through who does not meet the standard.  Remember the song from the Vietnam era?  “One hundred men will test today, but only three, win the Green Beret.” (Barry Sadler)
       Why is righteousness important?  Why do we strive to be godly?  Is it to boast or to pat ourselves on the back or is it because we love the Lord that we obey His commandments?  The duty of the Levites was to stand at the tabernacle to make sure no unclean person entered in–they were gatekeepers, making sure a holy standard was kept.  Why so stringent?  Because their lives or the lives of others depended upon them keeping the standards.  Going before the Lord with stained hands and feet was to bring forth His wrath.  It was the job of the “gatekeeper” to protect them.
       No, I am not speaking of legalism, though many may think they can come to the Lord any way they want.  Not true!  Before coming before the Lord, we must have the precious blood of Jesus Christ applied to our hearts.  Then we “work out our own salvation.”  We grow in grace, we learn, we strive, we keep His commandments; in other words, we adhere to the standard.  It is not salvation; it is what we do after salvation.
       Being a Christian is not haphazard or lackadaisical.  It is serious; it means living a life that is honoring to the king of Kings.  We honor Him by striving to be like Him.  We are told to be “perfect” (mature), but that comes only through time, experience, and following His Word.  A gatekeeper has been through the trials of battle.  He knows the pitfalls, and he wants those that follow on toward the heavenly kingdom to make it.  Become a “Gatekeeper” and bear the standard high.  William Peterson wrote, “No matter what else you are doing in life, find a way to be one of God’s gatekeepers.  It’s a great job, and the benefits are tremendous!”

                    “To serve the present age,
                    My calling to fulfill;
                    O may it all my powers engage
                    To do my Master’s will!”
                            –Charles Wesley

                         –Acts 9:36 (RSV)
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Dull means lacking of interest, lacking brightness, or to make less intense.  It means lacking sharpness or brilliance.  Yesterday I wrote of “dull knife, dull boy.”  There is a real danger in becoming dull.  We know that iron sharpens iron, but used in the wrong way or when a blade has been used in battle, iron dulls iron.  It has to be used in the right way to sharpen and once it becomes dull the knife must again be given a sharp edge.
       A good friend of my family served four tours in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.  Three of them in Vietnam and one in Thailand.  He was a member of the Special Forces, but on his third tour in Vietnam he was sent out on patrol with nominal soldiers.  They were there because they had been drafted; there was no real driving force in their lives–none, but the force of survival and in that they took a lackadaisical attitude.  Fear often gripped them or they thought it “can’t happen to me.”  My friend became frustrated and disgusted with the style of his comrades.  When on patrol and given a break the pseudo-soldiers would relax, maybe smoke, or try to catch a few winks of sleep while my friend would hone his knife keeping the blade razor-sharp.  He would wipe down his weapon making sure that in a firefight it wouldn’t jam.  He would check over his equipment so he was ready if the enemy should attack.
       Far too many Christians are like those nominal soldiers.  They have been trained to a certain degree, they have been given the proper equipment; it was up to them to keep it up to the proper standard.  They have heard about the enemy, however, the problem, which was a major cause of casualties was–complacency.  They didn’t like where they were so they complained and had a bad attitude.  They were lax and uncaring about their bearing, their equipment, and in general life.  They didn’t want to die, but they did not keep the proper alertness.  My friend, on the other hand, lived his training.  He learned through his training and through experience.  He wasn’t ignorant of the snares, traps, obstacles, and devices of the enemy (2 Corinthians 2:11).  He wasn’t going to be taken advantage of, he was ready for action.
       “We are called to ‘learn to devote’ ourselves to goodness.  Our actions shouldn’t just be the result of an emotional surge or come about only when we feel like it.  Instead, we are to endeavor on a daily basis to do the kingdom work that God has planned for each one of us, and do it intentionally and habitually.  And we are to look at those further on in their faith who live this kind of life and seek to learn from them.” (Alistair Begg)  How true are those words–live your training, learn from it and your experiences, plus the experiences of others.  Do not be ignorant as you walk through the jungles of this life for the devil has placed snares and traps along the way and he is lurking in the density of the vines.
       Interestingly, my friend, through three tours, survived the ordeals and fire of war.  It was on his fourth tour, in Thailand, that he became a casualty.  He was in his hooch and the gas stove blew up severely burning him.  That is another lesson–no matter how prepared we are, no matter how alert we are, no matter how sharp we keep our knives, there can be the unexpected thrown our way.  Though badly burned, he survived and the most important thing is that he continued to serve.  The incident did not distract him from his duty, but made him more diligent in fulfilling it.
       Be ready–until the day of our Lord.

Dull boy, dull knife.”

                 –Elmer Kelton  (Llano River)

 

       “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.”

                 –Ecclesiastes 9:10(NKJV)

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It was nice sitting around the campfire for a couple of days–wish it had been more, but two days out of four are better than none.  I was able to do a little contemplation along with some pondering.  Some wishing was done, but I’m old enough to know that wishing doesn’t make it so.  I had given Garrett a fishing knife for Christmas, but he brought a Cub Scout knife that had belonged to his Dad.  He wanted to do some whittling.

       With that said, I had to buy Julee a knife so that she could whittle as well.  The two could sit there whittling together, but I didn’t realize that Annie was going to join them.  I gave her my knife to use.  There was a large difference in the three knives.  One you could shave with, the other right off the store shelf was sharp, but needed some additional honing.  The third needed work.  Well, there’s few things more dangerous than a dull knife so I sharpened the other two.  I always carry a hone with me when I’m out camping, even if it is more of “glamping.”

       While watching them my thoughts went to the above quotation.  My isn’t that true!  My daughter and I were talking this week over coffee when she said that she was disturbed over the fact that the younger generations want everything done for them.  I had to smile and agree with her.  I will admit that there are exceptions but looking at the whole load of twinkies, creampuffs, and snowflakes we have been raising there is a problem.  Perhaps they were never shown how to use a knife or sharpen one.

       In the nearly four decades of teaching and administration I found that a person could tell quite a bit about what goes on at home by watching the child at school.  They might hide it for a while but eventually what happens at home comes out someway or another at school.  Crude and profane language at home–crude and profane language at school and I will add, especially among friends.  Parents griping at home about the preacher, the teacher, the school, the church, and any other thing…guess what?  It will show up in the children.  The wife whines, the father curses (if there is one) and then little Billy-Bob will do the same with his friends.

       Kids, and by that I mean under 35, today bounce around from job to job.  They never were taught properly how to “sharpen their knife.”  Kids expect a handout from the government. They never read the Bible where it says to pay back your debts, in fact, not to go into debt–they’ve never sharpened their knife.  Kids get frustrated with the country, the politicians, the government because they have not been taught to deal with things in the right way–they still wear diapers, drink from a bottle (lattes with a straw??? come on), and expect handouts–they’ve never been taught to sharpen their knives.

       We have gone from the greatest generation to those who are perplexed with society, disillusioned with the government, and think life is just a bowl of cherries with the pits removed.  They are fortunate, however, when biting down on a cherry they come across a pit and almost break a tooth.  Then they whine about it.  They are not ready if there would be a shaking to happen to their little world of cinos and schones.  Solomon must have had a few snowflakes around him when he wrote that a fool gives off a foul odor (see Ecclesiates 10:1-4).

       We are told to put on the whole armor of God, to wield our swords and use them properly–that means keeping the sword of the Spirit sharp.  We are to walk warily, yet confident.  We are to be content, trusting solely in the Lord.  We are not to be dull, but to be energized in the Spirit.  We are to be ready for the situation that might come up against us.  In other words, don’t be a dull Christian -sharpen yourself!