top of page

AS FEATURED IN

Moody Bible Institute PNG.png
Church Leaders Logo PNG.png
Hello Christian Logo - Non Transparent B
Exponential Logo.png
Call2All Logo.png
Prescott Pines Logo.png

ENDORSEMENTS

“Mark Alan Williams is one of the best Christian bloggers, especially on sensitive subjects”

-Jason Holland Director of Operations Joshua Nations

“Loving your biblical responses. So much counseling is a chasing after wind, yours offers such a scriptural bridge.”

-Mike Kellogg 

Former host of Music Thru the Night, Moody Radio network and National Religious Broadcasters

Hall of Fame Award winner

“I can’t tell you how much I have appreciated your posts on LinkedIn. Many of them have been quite timely and an answer to prayer. Keep up the good work!!!” 

-Dave Meyers President, ZimZam Global

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • RSS - Grey Circle
Intro
  • Writer: Mark Alan Williams
    Mark Alan Williams
  • May 9, 2019
  • 9 min read



3 Wonderful Life Priorities

Next January it will be 25 years since one of the worst days of my life. I received a phone

call that my mother had a major heart attack and they were hoping she would recover.

But the next day, the news was unfathomable—mom had died.


My mom, Barbara Williams, at age 20 or so. Artwork thanks to Pastor Robert Hatch.

Mom, Barbara Williams, died way too young for me. She was just 69 years old

(6/11/1925-1/31/1995). I grieved deeply for weeks and months. It was devastating.

Elsewhere I have written about how to handle grief—after her grandson (my nephew)


In this article I’d like to focus on some significant lessons I learned from her.


My mother focused on three really important things in life:


1. Faith


The most important thing to my mother was the Lord Jesus Christ.


As a young person, she wanted to be a career overseas missionary, telling people in a

faraway land about Jesus. That was the plan when she married my father Claude. But dad

went to a year of seminary to prepare and then changed career direction—he went into

the insurance business.


But if she had gotten what she would have preferred, mom and dad would have been

missionaries somewhere. Her brother Ken was a missionary in Ghana, Africa.


the church in many capacities. She was a volunteer host on a local Christian radio

program. She was President of the Ohio Women’s Fellowship (or whatever it was called).


mom teaching a rhyme to her grandchildren:


What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would give him a lamb,

If I were a wise man, I would do my part,

What can I give him? I’ll give Him my heart.


At the end she said, “I hope every one of you will do that if you haven’t yet—give Him

your heart.”


So many are preoccupied with making a living, starting a business, hobbies, sports,

climbing the ladder of success, parenting, earning enough for retirement, and so on. And

they forget about the fact that this life is so short, especially in comparison to eternity.


Matthew 16:26 (TLB) “What profit is there if you gain the whole world—and lose eternal

life? What can be compared with the value of eternal life?


In John 14:1-6 Jesus said he was going to prepare a place for us. And he said the way to

get to that place was through Him. It isn’t through good things we do; it isn’t through

living the 10 commandments, it isn’t through Mohammed or Confucius or Buddha, or

meditation, or any other way.


Some people believe that this life is all there is, or they live like it. I am so glad that God

assures us that there is life after this life. How hopeless I would feel if I didn’t think I’d

ever see my mom again.


If eternal life seems strange to you, imagine what life was like before you were born, in

your mother’s womb, where you…

  • …lived in water

  • …didn’t breathe

  • …were in constant darkness

  • …had greatly restricted movement

  • …couldn’t talk

  • …couldn’t see any other people

  • …couldn’t eat, laugh, cry, play sports, learn to read, enjoy a sunset, drink a Coke, try new foods, etc.

Every one of us lived like that before birth. It’s so strange to think about, yet true.


Now imagine that there was some way to communicate with you before birth and to tell

you that life would be very different soon. That you would…

  • …live in the atmosphere of earth instead of water

  • …breathe air instead of amniotic fluid

  • …see a big beautiful world with all the colors of the spectrum—the blue sky, the green grass, the flowers, the blue green waters of lakes, streams and oceans...

  • …that you would be able to move and travel the world

  • …that you would be able to talk and laugh with your family and others

  • …that you’d be able to experience all sorts of foods, emotions, thoughts, ideas

I wonder: would you believe the one telling you of such things?


Likewise, some people doubt that there is anything after this life. They imagine that when

we die our bodies go to the grave and that is it.


But God says there is more, lots more, an eternity more. He says that He is preparing for

us a place in His eternal kingdom that will be very different from what we have now:

  • We will have new imperishable bodies that will not grow old and feeble!

  • There will be no more pain!

  • There will be no more crying!

  • There will be no more sorrow!

  • There will be no more death!

  • We will have eternal joy!

Revelation 21:4 says “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”


The question is if we will believe that just as the transition into life as we know it now

was so strange, the transition to the next life is to something much different than what we

know now?


And will we believe that we need to be ready for death and eternity by accepting Jesus

Christ as our Savior from sin and the Lord of our life. As Jesus said in the passage cited

earlier: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through

me.” (John 14:6)


Question: Are you truly ready to meet your maker and to hear Him say “Well done, good

and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21)?


My mother was not only ready to meet her maker, she was ready to hear His

commendation of “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21) She lived her

faith in Christ 24 hours a day—it was the number one priority in her life.


It was mom who taught me the lines I’ve remembered so often:

“Only one life, twill soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.”


What else do we do on earth that really matters in the end, except to serve God?


2. Family


Mom’s second priority was her family.


She devoted her child bearing and child rearing years to those tasks and gave herself to us

5 kids selflessly. And that isn’t easy with a brood of 3 boys and 2 girls. We could drive

her crazy. I remember on more than one occasion her saying to us naughty boys

“Ooooooooh, I could just beat you.”


But don’t worry, she never did, although she gave a spanking now and then as needed.


Proverbs 17:6 (NIV) “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.


A friend said in a letter, “Perhaps the greatest impression Barbara made on me concerned

her family. She always had pictures to share and explained who each one was, including

all the grandchildren. It seemed she was always traveling one way or another to visit.”

She and dad were a lovingly devoted, inseparable team. Their example of devoted love

for 45 years makes them as Paul Harvey used to say, “Champion Lovers.”


As both mom’s and dad’s parents became advanced in age, they had a place for them in

their home. When my dad’s mother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and became very

difficult to care for, mom continued to care for her in her home. This selflessness for her

mother-in-law caused my dad to call her an “angel.”


Question: If any of my family members died today, would I have any regrets?


One of the things dad was able to say which is so wonderful is that he didn’t have any

regrets. How great to be able to say that there isn’t any big thing that you wish you

wouldn’t have said or done. And nothing big that you wish you did say or do.


I too don’t have any regrets. Oh, it would have been nice if I could have seen mom more.

But we were able to get together at least two or three times a year. The year before she

died Carolyn and I got to take a trip to England with mom and dad. Then in November

they came out for Thanksgiving.


We talked often on the phone and every time we said good-bye, I told her I loved her. I

am so glad I did that. That wasn’t something we did so much in earlier years. But we

learned to express our affection, and that helped to make it so that I don’t have any

regrets today.


How about you and your family.

  • Do you express your love?

  • Are you doing things that are building happy memories?

  • Are you spending precious time with your loved ones?

  • Are you letting the petty things drop instead of making a mountain out of a mole hill?

  • Are you speaking lovingly and kindly all the time, or will there be words you regret?

  • Are you committed to working through the hard times?

An evangelist told of the famous author Thomas Carlisle. He had married his secretary

and dearly loved her. But he was wrapped up in his own interests and desires and treated

his wife as if she were still his employee. Eventually she was stricken with cancer and

confined to bed a long time before she died.


After her funeral, Carlisle went back to his empty house. Disconsolate and grieving he

wandered about downstairs thinking about the woman he loved. After a while he went

upstairs to her room. There he sat on the chair beside the bed on which she had been

lying for months. He realized with painful regret that he had not sat there much during

her long illness. He noticed her diary. While she was alive, he would never have read it

but now that she was gone, he felt free to pick it up and thumb through its pages.


One entry caught his eye “Yesterday he spent an hour with me, and it was like being in

heaven, I love him so much.” He turned a few more pages and read “I listened all day to

hear his footsteps in the hallway, and now it’s late. I guess he won’t come to see me.”


Carlisle read a few more entries and then through the book on the floor and rushed out

through the rain to the cemetery. He fell on his wife’s grave in the mud sobbing “If only I

had known, if only I had known.” The sad thing is that he did know. He just didn’t do it.

And all of us also know what to do, the question is, will we do it?


Thankfully the past is over, and the future is ahead of us. Will we do it right from now

on?


My beautiful mom—beautiful inside and out.

3. Friends


Mom and dad were extremely friendly to strangers. They could enter a completely new

place and within a few minutes have a new group of friends.


But that doesn’t mean they were shallow. Many at mom’s memorial service had been

friends for 30 and 40 and a few for even about 50 years. Mom was good at making

traditions such as “BLT night” where every year she had a group of friends over on

Sunday evening after church for BLT sandwiches. She also had a group of “birthday

buddies” who were ladies who went out to celebrate each other’s birthdays.


My dad shared a letter that friends from my parents’ college days sent to him. They

summed up my mother’s ability in this way: “Barb made everyone she knew feel as if

he/she was one of her best friends, and in fact, they probably were—everyone was special

to her.” Yes, mom was like the Lord in that she just loved people.


Proverbs 17:17 (BBE) “A friend is loving at all times, and becomes a brother in times of trouble.


Mom was loving at all times, even times of trouble. The child of a family we had been

friends with for years contracted AIDS from homosexual activity. Mom and dad knew

that homosexual practice is wrong according to the Bible, but that didn’t keep them from

sticking with that family, visiting their friend in the hospital and eventually attending the

funeral.


At the memorial service for mom we gave a few people the opportunity to speak about

how mom impacted their lives. One of the Courts girls spoke up, from a family of four

children who lived with their grandmother down the road from us.


I don’t know how our families had gotten acquainted, but I knew how we got to know the

Courts kids well and that was because we picked them up for church each Sunday. Our

family had 5 kids, so that meant picking up 4 more for a total of 9 kids. It meant mom

and dad had to drive two cars to church instead of riding together as a family in one car. I

know it was a hassle for my parents, but they gladly picked them up and took them home

each week for months and years. And the daughter shared what an impact that had on her

and how she is a Christian today because of that caring and witness.


Question: If people were given an opportunity to speak at a memorial service for me,

would anyone share about what a great friend I was or how I impacted their life?

Another way to ask this question is “When you get to heaven, who will come up to you

and say, “I am here because of you?” I hope there are many who say that!


A FINAL NOTE:

If you are not sure that you have received God’s gift of salvation through Jesus, learn

about how to be positive HERE.


To help you in the new life in Christ, we have created a series of lessons called

“Discipleship Journeys with Jesus.” They’re available online without cost at

djjministry.org.


Help Spread the Word!

If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media

or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical

guidance. Thanks for your help!


Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won't miss

any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You'll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock





  • Writer: Mark Alan Williams
    Mark Alan Williams
  • Sep 3, 2018
  • 4 min read

Updated: Mar 26, 2019

Some Christians Are Confused About This Issue

Podcast (listen-to-this-article-here): Play | Download (Duration: 9:32 — 17.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Living together before marriage is becoming increasingly common in many places around the world. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) it is also becoming more prevalent amongst those who call themselves Christians. In fact, recently I became aware of some Christian parents who were actually insisting that their daughter and her boyfriend live together before marriage to “try things out and make sure they work.” I was astounded, but I understand this is not that uncommon.



So, I’d like to help those who are Christians understand what the Bible says about this topic.

Here are the three Scriptural points I’d like to say on this subject, which I will elaborate on below.

God prohibits sex outside of marriage.God gives prohibitions to protect us, not to rob us of pleasure.Sex within marriage is not just God’s suggestion, it is His mandate.


Here are my explanations of these three points related to living together before marriage:


1. God prohibits sex outside of marriage.


Hebrews 13:4 says “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (ESV)


The word for “sexually immoral” in this verse includes any sex outside the marriage relationship of a man and a woman. It’s the Greek word PORNEIA from which we get our word pornography.


The same word is used in 1 Corinthians 6:18 which warns: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (ESV)

Sexual immorality is not just to be avoided, Christians are to “flee” or run away from it as fast as they can.

This is a far cry from living together before marriage that some try to legitimize!


Having marriage plans in the future doesn’t mean it’s OK to live together and have sex now. Christians are to maintain purity until the marriage covenant is formalized.


For those who have violated this teaching the answer is to confess sin, receive God’s forgiveness and begin a new path of purity.


2. God gives prohibitions to protect us, not to rob us of pleasure.


It is very important to understand that not living together before marriage is God’s instruction not to rob us of pleasure but to protect us.


How so? Because there is a deeper bond in sexual relations than the mere physical union. If it were merely a physical act, then no one would care who had sexual relations with anyone. However, married people care very deeply that their spouse is exclusive in their sexual expression. Likewise, those in a committed dating relationship want faithfulness also.


In fact, part of the design of sexual expression is to seal the bond between a husband and a wife (see the next point for a deeper explanation).



1 Corinthians 6:18 says it this way, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’” (ESV)


In other words, you must not become one flesh with anyone that you don’t want to be joined to in marriage for the rest of your life. If you do, you’re cheating yourself and the other person.


1 Corinthians 6:19-20 gives this challenge, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”


For those who are engaged to be married, the same rules apply: wait to have relations until after the marriage has taken place.


3. Sex within marriage is not just God’s suggestion, it is His mandate.


When it comes to sex within marriage, the picture changes completely. Not only is sex permitted, it is commanded by God.


1 Corinthians 7:4-5 says, “A wife belongs to her husband instead of to herself, and a husband belongs to his wife instead of to himself. So don’t refuse sex to each other, unless you agree not to have sex for a little while, in order to spend time in prayer. Then Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” (CEV)


This one of God’s commandments that is usually quite easy to obey!


Within marriage God WANTS us to find sexual fulfillment and great joy. He has made this abundantly clear, stating here and in other places that married couples are to find fulfillment in each other.


Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe.Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.” (Proverbs 5:18-19 ESV)


Conclusion:


Cultural norms change, but the “new morality” is just the old immorality that God has corrected in the Bible. Living together before marriage was a bad idea 2,000 years ago when the Bible was written, and it is just as bad today.


Instead, let’s use sex as God intended—a major part of the glue that makes a married man and woman “one flesh” until “death do us part.”


If you’re not sure you are indeed a Christian, please go HERE to learn how to be saved now.


Help Spread the Word!

If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!


Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth


  • Writer: Mark Alan Williams
    Mark Alan Williams
  • Jul 2, 2018
  • 4 min read

Updated: Mar 26, 2019

He was born prematurely and died within a week.


Podcast (listen-to-this-article-here): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:35 — 17.6MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS


The brother I never knew died on the date I’m publishing this article: July 2, in the year 1959. I was just a little over four years old at the time. I never met or saw Scott. But I’m looking forward to doing so in heaven.



This is the official death record for my brother Scott who died within a week of birth.


What do I know or remember about this brother I never knew? Not much at all. However, two things stand out in my memory about Scott and the events surrounding his passing:


First, Scott in his casket in the trunk of our family’s car. Seriously. My parents got permission to transport him in his tiny casket to Northern Michigan where Scott was buried in the family plot near Rudyard, where my grandparents lived. How could I forget that, even though only four years old!


I remember trying to console my mom, saying “But you told me that Jesus will make everything OK, didn’t you mom?” She tearfully responded “yes” but my four-year-old mind didn’t understand everything—only that mommy was very sad.


Of course, mom (and dad) recovered and healed over time. And the effect on me? Well, please let me tell you about that:


Two lessons I learned from the death of the brother I never knew:


1. I have peace about dying and confidence in my future because of the verified truth of the Christian faith.

A lot of people think that it doesn’t matter what someone believes, or that everyone is saved, or that many paths lead to heaven.


Much of the time their beliefs are based merely on wishful thinking. But that’s not a solid foundation to stake your eternity on!


Recently I’ve been reading a wonderful book by Lee Strobel called The Case for GraceIn it, Strobel recounts a conversation with Dr. Craig James Hazen, author and currently a professor at both Carolyn’s and my alma mater, Biola University.


Hazen makes a summary statement on page 85 that caught my attention: “So Christianity is different, first, because of grace; second, because it’s testable; and third, because it paints a picture that matches the way the world is, in a way that other religions don’t.”


His points are well worth a short summary. Hazen points out that Christianity is unique and reassuring because of:


A. Grace vs. Works


All other religious systems are “works” based—if you do enough good, you hope to attain heaven-worthiness. The problem is that no one ever knows if they’ve done enough “good deeds” to earn heaven. No one ever has true assurance.


In contrast, in the Gospel we read that “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 NLT)


I love those last four words of promise that “you will be saved.” It’s a rock solid promise of God.


B. The Bible is Testable


His point here is that Christianity is proven by the study of the factual evidence for Christianity. There is not enough evidence to “force” someone to believe, but for the honest inquirer, there is enough evidence for belief in the message of Christ.


This is in contrast to religions such as Islam. Hazen recalls talking with Muslims who, when presented with evidence about the biblical Jesus as opposed to the Koran’s representation of Him, respond that evidence doesn’t matter, only the Koran is truth. He writes:


“I’ll insist that we talk about the evidence — the best historical data about Jesus — but again they’ll say I’m missing the point: the Qur’an is the Word of Allah. You see, for them everything stops with that assertion — there are no arguments, nor is there any evidence that can possibly count against it.” (p. 85).


On the other hand, the Bible is verifiable in so many ways. I have suggestions for some great apologetics websites in my Recommended Resources page.


C. Christianity Matches Reality


Regarding the issue of reality, Strobel asked Hazen for an illustration, and he responded:


“Sure — consider the problem of evil, pain, and suffering. Christians approach this by affirming that these are real and explaining that Christianity offers a cogent explanation for their existence. If you move into Eastern religious traditions, almost every one of them renames evil, pain, and suffering as maya, or illusion.” (pp. 85-86).


2. Based on the Bible’s promises, I’m looking forward to meeting the brother I never knew in heaven.


Why do I have this hope?


For brother I never knew (Scott), the Bible indicates that there is hope of heaven for those children who die prior to the ability to understand and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ.


Most Bible students believe there is an “age of accountability” that a person must reach before they’re held responsible for receiving salvation. Often it is thought to be age 13 because Jews considered that a child becomes an adult at age 13. However, the age likely varies with each individual. For me, it was at about the same time Scott died, that I professed faith in Christ in a Sunday School class when I was about four years old.


So, regarding the brother I never knew but will see in heaven, I have a confidence based on solid evidence that I will meet him there.


How about you? Have you received this free gift of salvation? To do so, please go HERE to learn how and do so now.


Help Spread the Word!

If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!


Additional resources about related subjects on this site:

NOTE: Facebook is random. Email is reliable. Subscribe via email and you won’t miss any of my articles, podcasts or videos. You’ll also get my eBook: 10 Prayers to Unlock Heaven on Earth



Search
bottom of page