Are You Fully Persuaded?

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things  to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:38-39

If you have spent any amount of time in church you have probably heard or read Romans 8:38-39. There the Apostle Paul shares his conviction that there is nothing that can separate us from God's love. Are you like the writer of the letter to the church in Rome convinced that God will always love you? Let me ask that another way. Are there times when you doubt God's love for you? Are there other promises from the Bible which you doubt from time to time? If so you are not fully persuaded.

The Bible is filled with promises and statements about how God relates to you. Each is true but you are missing out if you don't believe them. And by believe I mean something more than just acknowledging what is written. Paul says he is persuaded, meaning something or someone has presented evidence that convinced him this was true. If he had any doubts they have been answered. If there was an aspect he did not know, he was able to find the true answer. For Paul this was a firmly held truth, a conviction. This is what he believed and he felt it important to share this conviction with believers in Rome.

There have been times when I was too ashamed to admit my doubts about scripture. By not being honest with myself and others I missed opportunities to be persuaded. We must not be afraid to admit when we struggle with something said in scripture. We must not be afraid to say, "I do not always believe." In fact, being honest about our doubts can become a major step in our spiritual growth, especially if we are willing to ask ourselves, "Why?"

We must be willing to ask ourselves, "Why am I not fully persuaded?" Even better, we must be willing to ask God to search our hearts and to reveal the answer. Don't worry, God forgives our unbelief as demonstrated in Mark 9:14-27. I believe God's goal is to help you in your unbelief. He ultimately wants you fully persuaded. This will only happen if we have the courage to be honest.

Are you fully persuaded that nothing can separate you from God's love? If not ask God to examine your heart and to reveal your reason why. Let God persuade you. Then be willing to move forward in dealing with your next area of doubt. This is spiritual growth, the process of becoming fully persuaded of the truth.

Mary Miles and the Doctrine of Separate But Equal

I saw this sign while walking to the train station from work one afternoon. It is located on a bridge overlooking a set of train tracks near Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. At first glance the sign looked like one of the many historical markers found throughout the region but something seemed odd about the sign. While I could not figure out what was wrong with the sign I did stop to read what it said. From it I learned of Mary Miles, a name from history whose story seemed important. This was enough for me to do a little research where I found a woman whose legacy might have matched that of Rosa Parks if not for the fact that Miles’ fight contributed to one of the great wrongs from the history of the United States.

In 1866 Mary Miles’ journey to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court started innocently enough with a train ride to her home in Hinsonville Pa. Hinsonville was a community of free blacks, where Miles lived while applying for a teaching position with a Quaker group called the Friends Freedmen’s Association (According to a report on mainlinetoday.com). Traveling back to Hinsonville from Philadelphia Mary took a seat on the West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad. Like Parks, Miles was asked to get up. A representative from the railroad confronted Mary Miles suggesting she either move to the section of the train car designated for “...persons of her race” or get off of the train. (Swarthmore College Bulletin). Eventually Mary was left at one of the train stations along the line.

A year later Mary Miles sued the railroad in a Philadelphia court. The court decided against the railroad on the basis that skin color was not a valid reason to force someone to change seats. Mary was awarded $5 but would see the verdict overturned on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In that case the court ruled that the railroad could ask someone to move on the basis of race as long as the person was offered a seat that was equal to the seat they were being forced to leave. This case would later be cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson where the court said that segregation was constitutional.

Unfortunately not only did Mary Miles lose her case but in part her actions helped move the country into decades of court sanctioned segregation under the idea of “separate but equal” accommodations. This wrong would continue from 1896 until Brown vs. The Board of Education was decided in 1954. Ms. Miles' courageous stand was, for those 58 years, lost behind an outcome which lives as one of many negatives when it comes to race relations in this country.

Though the outcome was not what she intended, Mary Miles should be remembered for taking a stand. Yet, there was still something about that sign that just seemed out of place. Not until passing it several times did I realize that the sign was held up using plastic zip ties. This was odd even for a city that seems to pride itself on oddities. Fortunately, my research for this post led me to the answer behind the zip tied sign.

Turns out the sign honoring Mary Miles was not installed by the city. It is the creation of Ali Roseberry-Polier, a local author and activist, who wanted others to know about Mary Miles. Hence the use of zip ties holding the sign up. Unfortunately the sign is beginning to fall apart, having survived a year where it seemed as if it rained every four days here in Philly. It may also have fallen prey to someone whose motives were less than honorable. Hopefully one day Mary Miles can get a more permanent sign. Until then I’ll join in telling others about Mary Miles’ ill fated attempt to undo separate but equal before it became law.

(Update: Unfortunately the makeshift sign is no longer hanging near 30th Street Station, having finally succumb to the elements.)

Are You Living As One Favored By God?

Psalm 1

Photo by Ian Turnell from Pexels

Blessed - Holy or favored.

Think about it. Wouldn't it be nice to be favored by God, to be set apart according to His will? Those who believe in Jesus have received the gift of salvation. How then do we live the promised abundant life? How do we enjoy God's favor as we grow into the people God created us to become? The answer, according to Psalm 1, is to choose God's word over everything else with which we could feed our hearts.

The Psalmist describes for us the choices made by those who enjoy God’s favor. This is a person who delights in the ways of the Lord and meditates on God's word at least twice a day (morning and night). This is not about legalism or about religious practice but about a personal choice. It is the choice to embrace sound Bible teaching over human understanding. It is actively seeking God's viewpoint and righteousness over the many world views available to us today. The Psalmist describes a person who chooses light over darkness, not because he/she has to but because they want to be a godly individual.

The Psalmist understood that choosing to seek the way of God comes with great reward. Those who choose scripture are, according to the Psalm, like trees planted near water. Picture yourself being nourished and strengthened, able to stand no matter life's storms. The tree is not sheltered or protected like many of us would like in our Christian walk. Instead its roots draw from the ground. The nearby river brings food and water allowing for years of fruitful living. The tree stands during its trials because it draws from a source which prepares it for good and bad. Such is the life of one who is blessed as he/she seeks God's righteousness, choosing to meditate on scripture instead of filling their mind with junk.

Is reading and meditating on the Bible a priority in your daily routine? Trust in the promise of Psalm 1. Make time for God's inspired word. Let the two edged sword work in your life. Then trust in God, knowing He will respond just as the Psalmist described. You will enjoy the fruitfulness of being favored in the eyes of the Lord. The blessing has been made available. Will you choose to live therein?

How Curt Flood Changed Major League Baseball

Curt Flood 1965

Spring Training starts in less than two weeks. Pitchers and Catchers from my two favorite teams report on February 13th (Phillies in the National League; White Sox in the American League). Both teams (and their fans) find themselves in the hunt (more accurately the waiting game) for the top two free agents available this offseason. As we wait I thought we could look back at one of the turning points in the history of Major League Baseball, a time when the financial structure of the game was forever altered. Let’s go back in time to the 1970’s and the event that brought both arbitration and free agency to the game of baseball.

Prior to the 1970's teams controlled player movement with the use of player reserve clauses. Under these clauses a player could not change teams unless he was traded or released. The team held the rights to the player even after the end of his contract forcing him to negotiate with his current team or retire.

In 1969 the St. Louis Cardinals traded center fielder Curt Flood along with Tim McCarver, Byron Browne and Joe Hoerner, to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas and Jerry Johnson. Flood refused to report to the Phillies for a number of reasons, but mostly because he did not want to be treated as a piece of property. After the commissioner refused his appeal, Flood took his case to the courts eventual losing in a 5-3 Supreme Court decision. The court ruled that baseball was a sport, not a business. As such the league was exempt from the antitrust law on which Flood's case rested.

Though a loss for Flood, his case set in motion major changes for Major League Baseball. On February 25, 1973 the league and the MLB Players Union signed off on their third Collective Bargaining Agreement. Included among the changes in the agreement was an option for any player with at least two years in the league to go to salary arbitration if unable to reach terms on a new contract. This was included as a direct result of the Flood court case as owners feared the players might one day win the right to free agency.

The first player to go to arbitration was Dick Woodson, a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. The Twins offered $23,000 but Woodson wanted $29,000. He won his case. Between 1974 and 2012 there were 500 arbitration cases in baseball with the owners winning 57% of them. (according to the MLB players website)

A few years later during another player’s arbitration hearing, players were granted the right to free agency. Today arbitration is an important part of settling salary disputes between players and teams, allowing the two to go to a neutral party to help settle disputes. For owners this means avoiding the chaos they feared would happen if the players were given outright free agency. For players arbitration affords an opportunity to make sure contracts are based on performance and not on the fact that teams can restrict player movement.

The court case cost Curt Flood his career. His sacrifice lead to both arbitration and free agency. As a result players have seen salaries rise over the last few decades. And as we sit and wait for Bryce Harper and Manny Machado to sign on the dotted line, know that if not for Curt Flood we would have no free agents and no opportunity for our favorite teams to sign big name players.

Super Bowl LIII

I went .500 with last weekend's picks, though my loss shouldn't count. I'm still baffled as to how, with seven pairs of eyes, the refs missed both pass interference and head to head contact on the same play. That call (and the fact that the Saints kicked two field goals when they should have scored at least one touchdown) left me with a 20-17 record and left us with a matchup of #2 seeds in the Super Bowl.

New England Patriots vs Los Angeles Rams
6:30pm on CBS

I think this will be a tight game much like last year but without as many touchdowns. These are two evenly matched teams with balanced offensive attacks and just enough defense to shut down big plays. How well each team can sustain drives is going to be key. To sustain a drive the offensive lines will have to be at their best. Keep an eye on the battles along the line of scrimmage. Can either defense slow down the other teams running game? Will either QB see any real and consistent pressure? Last year the play of the game was a strip sack that lead to a turnover in the 4th quarter. This year the defenses need to find ways to get off the field. Once again a late turnover might be the difference. I think the Patriots win at the line of scrimmage and I believe they make the late game stop when needed.
Patriots 29 Rams 27