The PREMISE

I can’t say that I actually remember a time in our dating days, or early in our marriage, when Piper and I took hands and verbally agreed that we would live our life together following the Lord’s Word, His directions, His love and most of all, His peace… We just sort of did it… and as far as I can recall, NEVER stopped.  It just became a way of life for us.  In the early days, I didn’t really know much at all about God’s Word but I wholeheartedly trusted my wife’s discretion, guidance and daily example.  I also had the fortunate opportunity to personally learn from the teaching and example of the Pastor and some wonderful men in the Baptist church where I began my personal walk as a Christian.

I guess that the Pastor and leaders of the church saw some potential in me as they asked me to step into a leadership role as the Youth Minister within a few weeks of Piper’s and my marriage.  In the previous five years to our nuptials, we had become increasingly involved in the church family and most of the 300 or so families in the church knew who we were.  I must also add the caveat, that from what I could see when I started going to the church with Piper, that she seemed to be “The Little Darling” of the church!  It felt like everyone and their uncle knew her and liked her!  (I mean… who could resist that sparkling personality, those cute freckles and her exuberant smile?)

Her parents, especially her Mom, were very involved in the lay church leadership and it seemed like Piper was introduced to most of the activities and many leadership roles at a very young age.  She was also active in many of the girl’s groups and in her teens, with the women’s adult fellowship gatherings and well as the women’s Bible study groups.  In the early days, I kinda felt like her side-kick, until we began to be seen as more of a tag-team in whatever activities we were involved with in and before the church.  After we left that church some eight years later, we became elders and/or Assistant Pastors in every other church we were a part of.

In the years that followed our beginnings together back in September of 1970, we developed a certain PREMISE that we choose to live by.  After awhile it just became a part of who we were.  I noticed earlier this morning that the Psalmist did a pretty accurate job describing Piper’s and my PREMISE that tended to guide our lives.  David wrote in Proverbs 27:1-2,

“The Lord has always been our revelation-light to guide us along the way for He’s always been the source of our salvation to defend us every day. (Therefore) we’ve feared no one! We’ve never turned back and ran from you, Lord; Thank You for the way You’ve always surrounded and protected us.  And when evil ones came to destroy us, they were the ones who turned back.” (The Passion Translation – personalized for us)

When I think about who Piper and I were… This Is It!  It’s what we STOOD for.  It’s how we THOUGHT and FACED everything in life.  It was the PREMISE by which we justified our life.  The Oxford Online Dictionary describes a PREMISE as, “A statement that an argument claims will induce or justify a conclusion. It is an assumption that something is true.”

I learned the hard way through much anger, confusion and frustration, that even though we followed this same PREMISE throughout our 48 years together… that there were some who were close to us that NEVER got it… Who NEVER understood (or took the time to understand) the PREMISE that guided us.  But in the end… when push came to shove… their response only made us stronger, and caused us to see the validity of our life-long, continued stand on this PREMISE.

Psalm 40:4 could be considered the proof to our PREMISE as described in Psalm 27.  It states that “Blessing after blessing comes to those who love and trust the Lord. They will not fall away, for they refuse to listen to arrogant people and those who turn to fantasies, frenzies or falsehoods.” (The Passion Translation/God’s Word ©/Apostolic Bible Polyglot)

As one of my bosses liked to say at Agilent Technologies, “Been There, Done That and Won the T-Shirt!”  That combined translation of Psalm 40:4 perfectly expresses what we saw throughout our lives and especially during the final eight years of Piper’s journey on this earth.  One of the special things that gives me great joy and peace about Piper’s last years, is that she went out EXACTLY the way she would have wanted it… EXACTLY according to the PREMISE by which we lived our life together!

Do you have a PREMISE by which you live your life?  We all know by the sudden upheaval in our lives due to the Corona Virus, that certain things can change almost overnight… but the PREMISE by which we live can and should be the solid foundation that holds us steady when it seems like life as we knew it is being turned upside down! 

Have a good rest of the week!  And as you do, say with me… “I’m expecting the PREMISE of my life to carry me through the rough times that are sure to come.”