Living A.D.
Dave Faust
We use certain abbreviations without giving much thought to what they mean.
When you watch TV, do you care that CBS stands for the Columbia Broadcasting System? When you talk about Washington, D.C., do you consciously consider the fact that D.C. stands for the District of Columbia? And why all these references to Columbia, anyway?
When you listen to the radio, you can select an AM station or an FM station. Unless you're more technologically sophisticated than the rest of us, you probably don't know or care that these abbreviations mean "Amplitude Modulation" and "Frequency Modulation."
A.M. finds its way into daily life in another way as well. If you quiz your friends, chances are most of them won't know why we refer to the morning hours as A.M. (Ante Meridiem, "before noon") and the rest of the day as P.M. (Post Meridiem, "after noon").
Have you ever worshiped in a church building where the communion table or pulpit bore an inscription that said IHS? As a boy I concluded these letters stood for In His Service, but IHS actually is a partial transliteration of Iesous, the Greek name for Jesus.
Most everyone knows that B.C. means Before Christ, but what about A.D.? Some assume it means "After Death" (in other words, after Jesus died). Actually these letters come from the Latin Anno Domini, which means "in the year of our Lord."
Christ is history's dividing line. His arrival changed everything, even the calendar. In the B.C. era, God spoke in many different ways, "but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son" (Hebrews 1:2). Christ permanently altered the flow of human history, and our personal lives can be divided into two parts as well: what our lives were like Before Christ came into our hearts, and what our lives are like After Deciding to follow Jesus.
Our days and years are not our own. Every tick of the clock belongs to Jesus. 2007 is the year of our Lord. So was 1954, the year I was born. So was 1975, the year I was married. So will be 2030, whether or not I live to see it. Every day provides an opportunity to praise Jesus like the crowds at his triumphal entry who shouted out, "Blessed is the King of Israel!" (John 12:13).
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Evidently the heavenly Father wanted people of all cultures to comprehend the message, for the sign was written in three languages: Aramaic, Latin, and Greek (John 19:19-22). Still, many didn't understand Jesus' role as king—and sadly, many still don't.
King Jesus changed the world when he came to earth—and your personal world changes when you accept him by faith as the king of your life and join him in the watery grave, baptized into his death, burial, and resurrection.
You don't have to know what the Latin phrase Anno Domini stands for, but you need to know what Jesus stands for. He stands for you, a sinner saved by grace. He stands for peace with God. He stands for a sense of purpose so deep that every year can become "the year of our Lord."
This column first appeared in The Lookout on Apr 1, 2007.
Lives on Loan
In August my wife Candy and I took our daughter Melinda to college. She is the youngest of our three children. For her, it's time to spread her wings. For us, it means an empty nest (with a few feathers left behind).
Living and Active
I met Feng Min at a dinner for international students at the University of Cincinnati. A few days before, he and his wife had come to the United States from China. Since the meal was sponsored by Christians, we bowed our heads and prayed before the food was served. Feng Min asked me what we were doing. It turns out, he had never seen anyone pray like that before.