Married to Christ

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Rom. 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

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Oh, the day that I fell dead before the law was a glorious day! I was so married to the law that my carnal mind could not conceive of Christ or his redemption. I saw it from afar; I pursued it with continuous effort as a child; I sang its beautiful rhyme and rhythm. I read its book and was amazed by its Master. I enjoyed the fellowship with its citizens and comrades. I engaged in its duties and longed for its best promises. But I was married to another and could not have that one true and eternal allegiance to the Master of that redemption. As such I was not true to redemption's Master; neither was I true to my own master--I was serving two masters and could not give complete love and obedience to either.

Not knowing my plight, I went on day to day with my mediocre allegiance and practice, endeavoring to be true to both my earthly and hellish master and also to my heavenly Master, the one which I mindfully professed but did not possess. The law of the carnal commandment, although I was unaware, had stroked me to death, and I was under its curse. Christ's law was, unknown to be, far beyond my grasp and obedience. In my ignorance I pressed toward a mark which I could not reach, and I was adamant about it. From the age of ten years I played piano in church services. I listened intently to the preacher's messages. I held on to every thought and endeavored to dig deeper into the word of God by personal reading. I prayed daily and desired the most pious position before God, but I was not pious; I was infamous to him and so afar that I was alone in the world and had no knowledge of that loneliness and separateness from his kingdom.

When I was but thirteen years of age, however, the Lord Jesus Christ visited my home through a young preacher. This man simply asked if I had trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I was without an answer, for I had not ever thought of that very question as it applied to me personally. I knew what was needed; I knew the Gospel, but I was never before struck by the necessity of my response to it. In that very hour the Spirit of God was upon me, and I surrendered to what I knew to be true all along. I trusted Jesus Christ that very day.

That very day I fell in love with Jesus. I never knew him in that way before. He had given a promise in his word, and that day he gave assurance that he would never leave me nor forsake me. The very moment I believed, I was married to Christ. He became so precious to me. My love for Jesus Christ became much greater than for my former master. My love exceeded the love of carnal things. I became imbibed with his love to me, because I later learned that, before I loved him, he loved me.

This love and redemption of Jesus Christ has overwhelmed me from that day to this, but I am sad to say that I have not always loved him as he has loved me. I have had second thoughts about my other love, my carnal desires, and my earthly plans. I have wished for and pursued after some very temporary things and have left my Lord in order to do it. I have neglected to be allegiant to him and have forsaken him like Demas. I feel so unworthy that he would promise to love me unconditionally, for I have not loved him the same. But the Lord is with me even when I am far from him. He loves me when I do not love him as I should. He comes to me and persuades me to come to him, kneel beneath his shadow and to be intimate with him--this makes life worth living.

And when this temporal life is over and the want and woe of this life have long ceased to be, I will love him as I have wished to love him. I will praise him as I have wished to praise him. I will receive his admonitions as I have always wanted to do. I will have affection for him and no other. I now acknowledge my weakness and my wantonness and confess my unfaithfulness and my hypocrisy. I desire to be like him and to be with him. One day I will be with him, but now I must be grateful to be married to him, free from the law, a happy condition, and desirous to live with him eternally. Married to him by grace, I will receive the benefit of his eternal home and his endless and glorious love. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.

-By Pastor Ronnie Wolfe
February 15, 2007

Funeral, Weather, Sickness

On Saturday, February 10, I preached the funeral of Stanley Lovins. He died at age 58 of a heart attack. The family had a meal at the United Methodist Church building in Okeana, Ohio, and I enjoyed fellowshp with them for a couple of hours.

At 5:00 on Saturday, we had a Valentine's Banquet at First Baptist Church, and I ate a wonderful meal along with 25 or 30 of our church members and visitors. We played some games, heard some funny things from Bro. Steve Kittle, and heard a good message from Bro. Johnathan Bush.

Sunday was a lovely day, though cold. The temperature got up into the 30's. Eric Wolfe and I visited Bro. Jim Teague in the Shawnee Springs Nursing Home in the afternoon. We had a low attendance Sunday night.

Monday promised a snow storm, so I canceled the Antiochan Apologia and my classes for the night. Tuesday came in with ice and snow. The roads were very hazardous. The elctricity went out at our house about 3:00 or so and stayed off until 7:05 PM.

I received a call tonight from Carl Westrich that his grandmother, Dorothy Zinser, went to the Mt. Airy hospital with symptoms of a heart attack. I called Doris Kinnett to start the prayer chain, and we will all pray for her.

I spent some time today on the phone talking to different people about problems, etc. This is a daily routine for me it seems. I studied on the Book of Hebrews this afternoon and got some helpful items from the internet until the electricity went off.

Heb. 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Today

Last night was not a good night for me. I had hard pain in all of my muscles most of the night. I don't know what to blame except the freezing weather. Tonight we are supposed to have a snow storm and temperatures near zero. I hope I do not have another painful night.

A good friend to many of us from Lexington Baptist College, Sister Carolyn Sue Hauter, departed this life on Friday of last week. Her visitation will be tonight in Lexington, Kentucky, at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home on Main Street, but I will not be able to go; I was late taking one of my members home from the hospital today.

Tomorrow I probably will not go to the funeral because of the snow storm and the frigid weather conditions.

Bro. Richard Barker came home from the Mercy Hospital of Western Hills today. His wife is ill and could not take him home, so I went to the hospital and got him. He got home somewhere around 4:00 PM.

Carolyn Sue Hauter Dies

I have received two e-mails today telling me that Carolyn Hauter died yesterday, February 2, 2007, at the age of 59 of a heart attack. I do not have any other information. I have written an e-mail asking for arrangements if possible from any of my readers, but I have not heard back.

Sue was a good friend of mine in Lexington and at Lexington Baptist College. She used to help me address papers and set up a youth paper that I sent to about 300 young people.

Sue never married. She loved Gospel music and country music. She went to as many meetings as she could where the Blue Grass Boys were singing. We will miss her.