TJ Addington‘s Weekday Devos Podcast: Recent Episodes
TJ Addington
TJ Addington shares his thoughts and reflections about scripture in these Weekday Devos. Quick listens, voiced by Bob Lovell, these are great episodes to listen to and spend some time with God each day.
We started this devo series by looking at creation and the amazing fact that we were made in God’s image. We saw how that image was marred by the fall when sin entered our world and how the story of God with mankind has been to rescue images that were broken and reimage us in His image once again.
As we conclude this Big Word’s of the Bible series, I want us to be reminded that the Jesus who created the world, came into the world in the incarnation, died for our sin on the cross, is one day going to return to fully eradicate evil, and usher in His eternal kingdom. It is His second coming.
When He returns, there will be the resurrection of the dead and our souls will be united with our body, only this time a spiritual body like Christ’s. It will be an amazing moment. The Apostle John says, “Dear Friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure”. (1 John 3:2-3)
Think about that. We will be like him because we will see him as he is. In Revelation 7:15-17, that day is described this way: “They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; and he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
No more struggle with sin. No more disease, sadness, depression, relational conflict, injustice, racism, famine, war, or any of the illnesses that plague our planet. We will be with the One who made us and we will be at peace with everyone around us. Satan will no longer have any impact on our lives. There may be tears when we see Him, all those things in life that we may regret, sorrows we have, pain and scars that we have accumulated. There may be tears but God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Once and for all.
There is endless speculation over when Jesus will return. We have been living in the last days since the day he returned to heaven. If He wanted us to know when He would return He would have told us.
What He really wants from us is what the Apostle John said above: “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” He wants us to be living in light of His return, purifying our lives and ready to receive Him when He comes. As you walk through your day today, consider whether you are living in a way that pleases Him when He returns. That is our goal.
Father, I look forward to a day when I am truly like you because I will see you face to face. There will be many tears that you will wipe from my eyes and with those tears wiped away, I will be made whole. And eternally alive in the joy of your salvation. Thank you and help me to live in light of that day. Amen.
You were created for a purpose. You were created to join Jesus in His work in this world. It matters not that you don’t have a Bible degree of some sort. There are no first and second bench Christians. We are all called, all gifted, all designed to join Jesus in His story in our world.
Paul says this in Ephesians 2:8-10 and it should encourage you. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
The word for workmanship here means a unique piece of art. You are unique and the work He created you for in His kingdom is unique. It was prepared before you ever were because He has good works designed just for you. One of the fallacies of our thinking is that we need special training to do something for God. Not so. We just need to be available and use the gifting He has given us with those around us. If one of my gifts is the ability to write, I should write to encourage others. If yours is the practical gift of helps, you should use that to help others. He created you uniquely. Not to be absorbed in yourself but to contribute to His work.
In other passages, these are called spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, Paul writes, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.”
The giving of spiritual gifts is a divine gift. It comes from the Holy Spirit and it is directly related to the purpose with which God created us. The interesting thing is that it also means that we need each other. My gifts compliment your gifts and your gifts are integral to the whole. This is why Paul calls us the body of Christ, and “each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Further he says, “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
I need you and you need me and we all need one another, and it is in the combined giftings that come from the same Spirit that we are a true body of Christ. It means that we need to show up. And it means we need to use the gifts God has given us because that is what makes the body of Christ healthy and whole. You are a part of that body. Let’s be the body together!
Father, I am amazed that you would create a work for me to do long before I was. A part that contributes to your work in our world. Thank you- and encourage me today to show up and use those gifts you gave me. Amen.
Our world is deeply divided. Politics divides. Race divides. Social economic status divides. Even theology divides. Our personal preferences divide. The sad fact is that the church is not immune to these divisions but increasingly is being divided over the very same issues that divide society. Increasingly we have less and less tolerance for those who see things differently than we do. In fact, it is often impossible for fellow believers to even have honest dialogue over our differences in a civil manner. And rather than seek to understand or resolve those issues we often simply leave and look for those who agree with us. Or we ignore and gossip about those we disagree with.
In the letter the Apostle John wrote in 1 John, he directly links the love of Christ with the love of one another. In fact, he talks about those who love their brothers and sisters and those who hate their brothers and sisters. To hate others is to refuse to love them as Jesus loves us and commands us to love. It is a strong word but it is an accurate word when we choose not to love as Jesus loves.
Here is John: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them”. (1 John 2:9-11)
Again. "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love…Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us...God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them…We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” (Passages from 1 John 4)
Those are strong words and deeply needed today in a divided world where division is so ubiquitous. Think of these characteristics of real love from 1 Corinthians 13. “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
I find those words to be deeply challenging and I am sure you do as well. The quality of our relationships with others, especially those we don’t naturally like or agree with is a priority to God. And it is a large part of what it means to walk in the light.
Father, as I think about this teaching of loving one another my mind goes to whose who I find it most hard to love in your family. I pray that your Spirit would help me to love better, be more patient, more kind, more gracious and more generous and more like you. Amen.
We live in a society that places a great value on personal autonomy and freedom. Having traveled to many parts of the world where there are fewer personal freedoms I deeply appreciate what we have. However, those who choose to follow Christ have declared their willingness to live by the ethics, standards, teaching, and truth of His Kingdom.
This is how the Apostle John puts it. “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3-6).
Notice that John says that our love for God is made complete as we obey His word. Obedience is the sign of our love for Him. To obey Him is to love Him. This is not about earning His favor - we already have that if we believe. It is about intentionally aligning our life with His as taught in His word.
John says that “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7).
Loving God, like loving those we are close to is always an act of the will. God demonstrated His love toward us by sending His son to die for us. That was an act of the will. It was a hard love. It was a sacrificial love. On our part, and in response to His love for us and His call for us to live in the light, rather than in the darkness, we choose to obey. That too is an act of our own will as we intentionally align our lives with His even when it is hard for us to do. Thus John says, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3:6).
What is sin? It is going our own way and doing our own thing. The prophet Isaiah put it this way, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.” (Isaiah 53:6). If sin is going my own way, obedience is choosing to go the way of God as taught in His word. Remember, to love Him is to obey him and the closer we walk with Him the better we get to know Him. Obedience is the key to understanding God and to fellowship with Him because it aligns our hearts with His heart and pleases Him.
Father, I want to love you so much better than I often do. Help me to deeply desire obedience, even when it is hard, so that my fellowship with you is deeper and more intimate. Thank you for your amazing love for me. Help me live in amazing love for you today through my obedience. Amen
One of the signs of a Christ follower is that they are generous with their resources. Generous with God through giving and generous toward others who are in need. This should not be surprising because our Father has been incredibly generous toward us, including sending His son to live among us, die for our sins, and be our advocate before the Father today. Generosity is also a sign of obedience.
Consider these words of Paul in 1 Timothy 6:17-19. "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
When Paul tells us not to put our hope in wealth but to put our hope in God he is making a countercultural statement that flies in the face of everything in our world. The reason so many are not generous - including Christ followers - is that we worry we will not have enough rather than trusting God for what we need. In the kingdom of Jesus, we don’t live by the rules of our world but by the principles of the kingdom. And in His Kingdom we are to do good, be rich in good deeds, and generous with our resources.
To be generous is to be like Jesus. To be stingy is to be like the world. But who is wealthy? Probably not many of us think we are wealthy. Let's put wealth in perspective. Fifty four percent of our world lives on three dollars a day or less. Ninety percent of our world lives on ten thousand dollars a year or less. If your combined household income is one hundred thousand dollars a year or more you are in the top one half of one percent of wealth on our globe. The more we have, the more generous we are to be.
Ironically, studies in America show that the more people make, the less of a percentage they give. Why? Because wealth seduces us into thinking we need to guard what we have and accumulate more because it is what we start to put our trust and hope in rather than in God.
Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Father, help me develop your heart. Help me trust you for my needs and like you, be amazingly generous to those around me in need, and to you and your work. Give me your heart of generosity. Amen.
Scriptures are clear that while our sin is paid for by Christ’s death and that He justifies us in the sight of God, regular confession of our sin is part of our journey toward greater Christ-likeness. In fact, the confession of our sin is tied to our commitment to walk in the light as Christ is in the light.
In 1 John 1:5-10 we read this: "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
Walking in the light is a commitment we make when we make Christ Lord of our lives. But until we see Christ face to face, we will do this imperfectly and that means that the regular confession of sin is also a part of our lives. The wonderful promise in these verses is that “If we confess (and admit) our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Our sin should make us sad but His forgiveness and purifying should make us glad.
Confession is tied to walking in the light because it sensitizes us to areas of our lower nature where we are vulnerable to sin. The more often we ask for forgiveness when we know we have stepped out of God’s will, the more sensitive we will be to not repeating the behavior. For instance, if I struggle with anger or impatience and find myself being sharp and unloving with other people, the fact that I need to ask for God’s forgiveness in that area of my life becomes a reminder to watch my attitude and impatience when I feel it coming on.
Confession is not about living in shame. Jesus came to release us from our shame. It is actually about living in the light and in His freedom. My willingness to acknowledge the areas of darkness in my life and give them to God becomes a reminder of my need for Him and for His Holy Spirit to be working in my life every day.
I love many of the prayers of the church related to confession. They remind me of my own sinfulness and of God’s goodness.
I close with this prayer, a favorite of mine and a great reminder of my need for Him. ‘Most merciful God, I confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as Myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.’
The word trinity is not found in Scripture. But the concept clearly is. Jesus talked about His Father and predicted the coming of the Holy Spirit after his leaving. He said that He and the Father are one and that the Holy Spirit would guide the disciples into all truth. In the great commission, the three members of the Godhead are mentioned together: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Even in the creation episode of Genesis chapter one there is reference to God and the Spirit of God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2). When God created man, He says, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,” using a plural for himself (Genesis 1:26).
Jesus himself is credited in Colossians for creating everything that was created. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:15-20).
We are told that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our full inheritance of salvation in Ephesians 1:14, and the one who guides us into all truth, John 14 - 17. In His prayer for us in John 17, Jesus prays to the Father to protect His people, asking that they be one in him as Jesus and the Father are one: “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:25-26).
The trinity is made up of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One in substance, one God in three persons, each with individual responsibility. The Son created all that is. The Father sent the Son to redeem mankind in the incarnation and the Spirit dwells with each of us who have made Jesus Lord of our lives. The Son will return to judge the living and the dead at the second resurrection and we will live forever with God for eternity. As finite human beings, that is hard to understand but that is what Scripture teaches.
As the Nicene creed reads, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty…I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages…I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” One God in three persons. The Trinity, all of whom are involved in our salvation.
Father, there are so many things about you that I find hard to understand. I thank you for the Father who is over all, and the Son who became like me in order to redeem me and the Holy Spirit who daily leads me in your ways. I praise and adore you today. Amen.
This is a big word in the Bible that we don’t talk about much. We don’t like it. Many choose not to believe that it is a real place and we have all kinds of questions as to why a loving God would send those who don’t know Him to eternal punishment. Having said all that, this is a series of devotionals on the Big Words of the Bible and one of those Big Words is hell. It is a sad word and a sober word and a destination God does not want for anyone but it is real and Jesus had a great deal to say about it.
Perhaps the clearest picture of hell is found in Matthew 25. These are the words of Jesus. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I don’t know what hell will be like but I do know that it is life lived in the complete absence of God and His love. I cannot imagine a life or place where there is none of God present.
God has been on a divine rescue to redeem images gone wrong in the fall. Man chose to rebel against God and in response the creator chose to send His Son to pay for that rebellion and bring people to Himself. He came to save us from ourselves, our lostness and eternity without Him.
As Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:16-21).
Father, thank you for your amazing grace and great love that would bring me from darkness to light and from eternity without you to eternity in your presence. Give me a heart of concern for those who don’t yet know you so they too can join you. Amen.
Do you have longings in your heart that never seem to be fully realized? At some point in our lives we realize that the next toy, the next experience, the next business deal or relationship, all good in themselves, will not satisfy our soul. There is a reason for this. We were made for something more, something greater, and something more satisfying than anything in this world can provide. We were made for God and it is when we are finally in his presence that we will be most complete.
This is why CS Lewis wrote, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” We were literally made for another world where every desire of our heart will be satisfied, where none of our struggles with sin, pain, sorrow, sadness will exist any longer and where there is perfect peace in the perfect presence of God.
One of the most beautiful depictions of heaven is found in Revelation 21:1-7. Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘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.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”
Randy Alcorn in his best-selling book entitled Heaven - the best book in print on the subject in my view - writes this. "To long for Christ is to long for heaven, for that is where we will be with him. God’s people are “longing for a better country” (Hebrews 11:16). We cannot set our eyes on Christ without setting our eyes on heaven, and we cannot set our eyes on heaven without setting our eyes on Christ. Still, it is not only Christ but “things above” we are to set our minds on.”
One other passage from Revelation is important: Revelation 22:1-5. “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”
Father, I cannot imagine heaven but you tell us that it is what our heart longs for because you are there and it is what we are made for. Remind me that this world will never satisfy my soul but you can and one day my soul will be fully and completely satisfied. Amen.
It was 2007. I was struggling for my life in an ICU room with massive MRSA pneumonia, multiple system failure, a failed mitral valve, tethered to 15 different machines including a ventilator that breathed for me. Each night, one of my siblings or family would spend the night in my room. This night, it was my youngest sister whom I am very close to. She was standing next to the ventilator, heartbroken, sad, and questioning God as to why God had allowed this to happen, and knowing that the doctors did not believe I would live.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and the presence of another in the room with her. In that moment she instantly knew that whatever the outcome, whether I lived or died, it was going to be OK. She turned to see who it was and there was no one there. But she knew that there had been. An angel sent by God to comfort her in a time of need. She sensed it, felt it, and at that moment her heart moved from despair to a place of peace.
References to angels are sprinkled throughout the Bible. In Matthew 18:10, where Jesus talks about those who wander away from Him and need to be rescued he says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” This is a reference to what we call guardian angels, an unseen presence in our world who are there to minister to us on behalf of God.
Psalm 91:11 says that “he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” The writer of Hebrews reminds us “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2).” I can point to several instances where I believe I have met angels sent from God in a time of need. Perhaps you can as well.
Angels are God’s emissaries to us to protect, encourage, intervene on God’s behalf, and carry out His work in this world. If we could see the unseen world around us we would realize how amazingly active God is: on our behalf and in our world generally. The spiritual forces of good and evil are always active. We just don’t see them except from time to time.
As you walk through your day today, remember that you don’t walk alone. The Holy Spirit lives within you, Jesus walks beside you, and untold numbers of angels are active around you. As Paul says in Romans 8, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Father, thank you for your amazing care for me and for those angels you send to comfort, protect, and encourage. You are an amazing God. Amen
One of the central tenets of our faith is that of a personal God who cared enough to create us, love us and redeem us. So why would we be surprised when God intervenes in significant ways in a miraculous way?
Think about it: The Bible is an account of the miraculous from start to finish: Creation; pregnant at 100; the plagues; the parting of the Red Sea; healings; God’s numerous interventions on behalf of the Israelites; the incarnation (God becoming man is perhaps the central miracle of all time); resurrection from the dead (the companion miracle to the incarnation) and many more. Of course God intervenes in human history for He is the author of history. It is literally His Story!
You and I are also the recipients of small or large miracles when God chooses to intervene on our behalf. CS Lewis said it well when he wrote: “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.” That we are here is a miracle of creation and His family, the miracles of His incarnation and resurrection. So why should we be surprised when He miraculously intervenes in our daily lives?
I have experienced His miraculous healing on several occasions when there was no human reason to explain why I survived. Except the gracious intervention of a loving God who cares for us as a Father for His children. I am a walking billboard of God’s miraculous healing several times over.
Jesus invites us to pray for miracles. In Luke 11, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer. It is a bold prayer with bold requests. But then Jesus goes on to expand His teaching on prayer:
Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
I call this “Storming Heaven’s Gates,” and the one who occupies heaven invites us to do so! Why would He not care about the ones he created, became like us in the incarnation, and lives for us through the resurrection?
God is in the business of intervening on our behalf. Don’t be shy and don’t be surprised if He chooses to do something miraculous in your life. He probably already has, if you were paying attention.
Father, I am here because of the miracle of creation. I am your child because of the miracle of your incarnation, resurrection and salvation. Teach me to trust you in all things and to not be surprised when you divinely and sovereignly intervene in my life. Amen.
Have you ever realized that God had you in mind - yes - you, before the creation of the world took place? In fact, He knew your name, He knew how you were going to be wired, He knew what your personal story and journey would be and even your greatest failures. And knowing all this, He chose you and predestined you for His family.
Listen to these words of Paul in Ephesians 1. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
This is an amazing truth. I know myself well. Too well. I know my failures and my deep unworthiness. You know yourself and your stuff. And yet, God chose me and He chose you. That is amazing love. That is an indication of how special you are to God. How much He loves you and me!
But even more amazing, He chose us for something. He chose us to be holy and blameless in His sight. In His love he predestined us to become sons and daughters of the King of the universe. He lavished his grace on us along with His redemption and forgiveness. And most amazing of all he gave us something of Himself, the Holy Spirit, as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance in Him.
We often wonder if anyone knows our name. If anyone notices our existence. If we are important in a world of billions of people. The answer is yes. God knew your name before you were. He knew everything about you and He chose you to be a trophy of His amazing grace. How cool is that?
Father, I stand amazed that you knew me before I was and chose me even before you had created this planet. All I can say is thank you. I love you. I want to be a trophy of your amazing grace. Amen.
The writer of the Gospel of John was one of Christ’s closest colleagues, along with Peter and James. In John 1:14, John writes these iconic two sentences. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
In his later book, 1 John 1:1-3, he starts his letter with a similar statement. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
In both of these letters, John is emphasizing the truth of the incarnation where God became man in order that the lost creation could be again in fellowship with the creator. This was an extraordinary act for those God created had rebelled against Him and turned their backs on Him. Yet, even knowing this outcome, God had created humankind despite knowing that the cost of that renewed fellowship would be the death of His only Son, Jesus.
And so, God became man in the ultimate act of humility and love. The phrase, from John 1:14, that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us," can literally be translated, “He came and pup-tented among us.” The God of the universe, being born in a stable, welcomed by the pungent smell of manure and the stares of cattle, looking unknowingly at their own creator.
The word incarnation refers to the act of God sending His Son to live among us: fully human and yet fully divine. In all other religious systems, the lost creation works to become good enough to please their God. In Jesus, God lowered himself to become one of us and become our sacrifice for sin - so that we could know God. He did the work, not us. In the incarnation, the one who knew no sin chose to bear our sin so that we could be justified and sanctified through Him.
Here is an amazing thing. The Son of God chose to take on our bodies and live in our world. In doing so, he chose to fully identify with us and the circumstances we face. He knows. He was here. And, when we see him face to face He will still have his body, only now a glorified body with the nail scars in his hands, his feet and the spear scar in his side. Not only did he choose to identify with us in time but He will do so through all eternity.
Father, no one could write a script like this except you. Thank you for the love that compelled you to choose incarnation for my sake and for the sake of all who put their faith in you. Words cannot convey my appreciation. Amen!
Nothing we do in this life, nothing we accomplish, nothing we accumulate, nothing we find success in, no amount of money earned and no accolades received, none of this makes any difference if we don’t take eternity into account in all that we do. I am an avid reader of biographies. The stories of amazing men and women who have changed the course of world history. People who did amazing things and sometimes horrible things. In many cases, these individuals have dozens and dozens of volumes written about their lives. But, in most cases there is no record of these individuals in heaven. No matter what they pulled off in this life, there is no life with God in the next. They did not live in light of eternity.
CS Lewis writes this. “‘If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.’ Those are hard words to take. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism, cocaine or art, whisky or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in a desert, by which choice of route he missed the only well? It is a remarkable fact that on this subject Heaven and HeIl speak with one voice. The tempter tells me, ‘Take care. Think how much this good resolve, the acceptance of this Grace, is going to cost.’ But Our Lord equally tells us to count the cost. Even in human affairs great importance is attached to the agreement of those whose testimony hardly ever agrees. Here is, more. Between them it would seem to be pretty clear that paddling is of little consequence. What matters, what Heaven desires and Hell fears, is precisely that further step; out of our depth, out of our own control.”
Here is a truth to consider. We vastly overestimate the value of our human existence and vastly underestimate the value of our coming eternal existence. The only way to get the equation right and the only way to ensure that what we do on this side of eternity is to live our lives with our eyes on eternity. Again as CS Lewis wrote, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.
In Hebrews 11 we have this pantheon of heroes of the faith. But there is one section that is really important to understand. It is found in verses 13-16. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
They did what they did and followed God where He led with their eyes on eternity. This was Jesus as well who “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He went to the cross with His eyes on heaven and his divine mission to save a people" (Hebrews 12:2). His motivation to do what He did was an eternal heavenly perspective. Likewise Paul wrote, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul endured amazing hardships for the sake of pleasing His Savior and knowing that it would all be worth it when He met Jesus face to face.
Living with our eyes on eternity changes the picture on everything we do. It makes decisions on priorities, relationships, service, money, raising our kids, or living out our marriages in light of an eternal perspective. Some might say, “We need to live in the here and now, not in the future.” They are correct. But to be fully alive in the here and now we must take into account the future because we were not ultimately made for this earth but for heaven. Furthermore, we enter into the Kingdom of God when we accept Christ into our lives. That is when true life begins as we were made for Him in the first place.
We can live carelessly and accidentally, fumbling our way through life, feeding our desires, egos and personal addictions. Or we can invest our lives in things that God is pleased with, knowing that we have this life to invest for Him and that our days and opportunities are numbered.
The parable of the bags of Gold in Matthew 25 is all about living life with our eyes on eternity. It is about a master who went on a journey and who entrusted his wealth to his servants. The wealth he entrusted is like the gifting he has given us to invest on His behalf. After a long time he came home and found that the man who had received five bags of gold brought five more bags because he had invested the funds. The one who had received two bags of gold brought the man two more bags as he also had invested what he had been given. Finally the man who had been given one bag simply hid his bag in the ground and did nothing with it.
To the first two servants, the master said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” These are the individuals who lived their lives in light of eternity.
The servant who had not made any investment was not kindly treated by the master. He had chosen to live life on His terms and didn’t have his eyes on eternity but on himself. In fact, he was not welcomed into the eternal kingdom.
I live for the day that I see Jesus face to face, look into His eyes and see the depths of grace and compassion and mercy that He has. And to hear Him say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come share your master’s faithfulness.”
Father, help me to live my day today in light of eternity. Help me understand that how I invest my time, energies and relationships has an eternal impact. Amen.
Do you ever find yourself struggling between doing what God wants you to do and feeling pulled toward the sinful side of your character? There is a good reason for that. We have a savior but we also have an enemy and that enemy wants to derail your relationship with your savior.
John 10:10 makes the dichotomy between our savior and our enemy clear. In the words of Jesus, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The enemy comes to destroy and the savior comes to bring fullness of life. And that battle takes place every day in our lives.
What you need to know is that Jesus came to destroy the work of the evil one. 1 John 3:7 says, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” But we still struggle with sin and temptation. How do we deal with that spiritual warfare?
Here is what Paul says about this tug of war in our lives. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Paul makes it clear that we are in a struggle and it is against the devil’s schemes and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. If that is true, we cannot defeat this by ourselves so Paul writes that we need the full armor of God so that “you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Unless we understand the realities of spiritual warfare and unless we understand our need for spiritual power to defeat the work of the evil one in our lives, we will be defeated. Spiritual warfare demands spiritual power. That power is available to us every moment of every day through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us. But, we cannot do it on our own, which we often try to do. Remember that Jesus came to destroy the work of the evil one. That is true today in your life and my life.
And remember this: “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Never forget that truth! 1 John 4:4. How close is the help we need? It is within us through the Holy Spirit. Never forget: The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Father, remind me often of the realities of spiritual warfare. Give me the power of your Spirit to say no to the evil one and yes to Jesus. Give me that power today. Amen.
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.” - Acts 2:42-47
We read this account of the early church and say to ourselves, “I wish we could find a group of believers who lived this way - a church that functioned this way.” It is a beautiful picture, and it still happens today when sold out Christ followers live in communion with God and with each other.
At the very center of this picture is prayer. These early disciples devoted themselves to prayer, they met with glad and sincere hearts for common meals and praised God. I am convinced that it was their desire to be in God’s presence through teaching, prayer and the breaking of bread that resulted in such unity and service. Prayer is time exposure to God. It takes us into His presence and produces in us a deeper and deeper desire to be like Him.
As a youngster living in Hong Kong, I would often go up to what we called the Peak on Hong Kong island. From there you could see a panoramic view of all of Hong Kong. This view was particularly amazing at night when the lights of the skyscrapers, cars and numerous boats, along with the ubiquitous neon signs, could all be seen. What I most loved was to take the peak tram to the top and take time exposures of the view, resulting in all the moving lights on the roads and harbor tracing their paths in brilliant living color. The longer the time exposure, the more amazing the sight.
This is a picture of prayer and why I call prayer “time exposure with God.” In prayer, we are in active fellowship with our Lord. The longer we linger there, the more we get to know Him, because this is a two way conversation. In talking to Him about needs or giving Him thanks, our hearts start to realign with His. Our needs and concerns are given to him and in our thanksgiving we realize how good He is to us. He strengthens us, encourages us, and even may drop answers or direction into our hearts as we spend time with Him.
Don’t just settle for perfunctory time with God, but linger a bit and allow Him to speak to your heart. I think of prayer as the bookends of my day. Starting my day with prayer sets my mind and heart in a place where I am ready to follow Him. Ending my day with prayer gives me a chance to thank Him for His faithfulness and ask for His presence, power, and help. Of course, during the day there can be many shorter prayers, but these bookends give our lives a rhythm of time exposure to our Savior. You cannot do this and remain the same.
Father, it is an amazing thing that You desire to fellowship with us. That You delight in our presence with You and that You would enter our lives in an active way as we pray. Give me the desire to spend more time with You both as an individual, with my family, and with my fellow pilgrims. As we do, would You help us recapture the passion and purpose of the early church. Amen.
I don’t meet many people who think they are very good at prayer. It may be that we have a faulty concept of what prayer looks like. We have this picture of men and women of God spending hours on their knees in prayer, and certainly there have been and are those who do so. The truth is that for most of us prayer is a conundrum. We don’t think we are good at it, our minds wander, and we pretty much feel like we are failures, at least when measured against some unknown measure of what prayer should be.
So let's try to simplify prayer. I love the Lord’s prayer because, in that prayer, Jesus teaches us that prayer can be simple. We are praying to the Lord who is in heaven and whose name is honored and holy. We pray that His will will be done through us today, just as His will is done in heaven. We ask that He would provide our daily needs and forgive our sin, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. We ask him to lead us in paths of righteousness and deliver us from the evil one. And we are reminded that His is the power and glory for ever and ever. There is nothing complex about the prayer itself but the themes have amazing reach.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law back in the day would construct elaborate prayers and make a show of their supposed piety. Jesus says, no! Simply talk to me about the important things. Keep it simple, keep it real and be reminded of what is important to me.
This last concept is important. We often come to God with all of our requests and He invites us to do that. But prayer is what I call time exposure to God. And as our hearts are open in His presence we start to understand His desire for our lives and, rather than our prayers changing His heart in some way, that time exposure changes our hearts and we come into greater alignment with Him.
And remember that prayer is conversation with God. I am not personally good at long blocks of prayer by myself. What I am good at is talking to God throughout the day on all sorts of topics. And it often happens that He talks back. Why should I be surprised? We are in relationship with God and conversation is a two way street. As I talk to Him, he drops insights into my heart often about the very things I was praying about. Remember, prayer is time exposure to God and it ultimately brings our hearts into greater alignment with His heart.
We are encouraged to talk to God on all occasions, about all issues, needs, and concerns. Try walking through your day simply conversing with Him. You will be changed and He will talk back.
Father, I thank you that you're a personal God to whom I can bring any and all of my issues. Give me the gift of walking with you in a conscious way through my day both in conversation with you and listening to you. Amen.
We are all familiar with the word prayer but did you know that Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for you? We pray to God but God also prays for us. In Romans 8:34 we read this: “Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Did you get that? The one who died for you and who was raised from the dead, who sits at the right hand of the father is right now also interceding for you.
In Romans 8:26-27 we are told that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf as well. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” In those times when we don’t even know how to pray in our confusion or pain, the Holy Spirit is there praying for us and interceding with the Father.
We often see prayer as some sort of obligation on our part. It isn’t as we will see tomorrow. But think of the love and care of God to pray on our behalf, even when we don’t know how to pray. Even when we don’t ask Him to do so! The extent of His love for us is that he died for our sin, was raised from the dead, saves us, sanctifies us, justifies us, fills us with His Spirit, and then intercedes for us with the Father. You and I are constantly being lifted up to the Father because we are the family of God.
If you want to get a sense of what God prays for you, read the amazing High Priestly prayer in John 17. There He prays that we will be unified with Him and one another. He prays for our blessing. He prays for our protection from the evil one: “protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” He prays that we would be sanctified by the truth of His word. How amazing is it that even when we are lazy in approaching Him in prayer, He is praying for us. That is the extent of His love for you and I.
As you walk through your day today, engage Him in prayer and thank Him often that He is interceding on your behalf with the Father. And know that in those situations where you don’t even know how to pray that the Spirit is praying for you because the Spirit knows our needs and shares them with the Father. It will be amazing to learn in eternity how God interceded for us in this life. Let that encourage you today.
Father, thank you for your intercession on my behalf. Your love and concern is beyond my comprehension. Thank you that you did not only save me but you walk with me through every circumstance in this life. Amen.
It has always made me wonder when I read a certain word in the New Testament. About God, I understand the meaning of the word. About you and me, especially me, I don’t. That word is “saint.”
In Philippians 1:1, Paul opens his letter to the church at Philippi with the words, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi.” In his letter to the Colossians, he says, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.” In Ephesians 1:1, he writes, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.”
The very thought that I am a saint makes me feel uncomfortable because I know me. I know the broken, messed up version of myself, some of which others see and some that I alone see. In either case, I don’t deserve the title “saint,” but there it is in plain sight as Paul writes to the churches. He calls God’s people saints.
The word “saint” is hagios in Greek and it means “different, otherness or holy.” It also means “set apart”. God is hagios, something we understand, but us? Here is the reason that Paul refers to us as saints. Listen to his words in 1 Corinthians 2. “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - their Lord and ours.”
There are two things that stand out here. First, when we come to salvation in Christ and make Him Lord of our lives, he sanctifies us. He cleanses us, wiping away our sins of the past and making us new creatures. And then, He calls us to be holy, to be set apart, to be like Him in our character and our life. So there is the reality of His divine work in our life and then there is the call, on the basis of that gift of cleansing and renewal, to become like Him. Remember that hagios means otherness. We are different because of His work in our hearts and we, in turn, are called to live differently. In the words of Paul, we are “called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We are not sinless but we are called to sin less. We are called to become more and more like the Lord Jesus who saved us. Through the help of the Holy Spirit this is possible because that Holy Spirit is God who dwells in us. Therefore Paul says in Ephesians 4:1, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Wow. He says later in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
In those words we see the key to living like a saint. It’s very simple. We imitate God. We live a life of love toward Him and others just as He did toward us. We bring our attitudes, words, thoughts, and actions into alignment with His. We are saints by definition. And we are called to live as saints by imitating him.
Father, thank you for the work you have done in my heart and life. You have made me a saint, one set apart for yourself. Today, help me to imitate you so that I also live like a saint. Amen.
The Christian life is one of growing to be more and more like Jesus. Listen to these words of Peter in 2 Peter 1:1-11. “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
When Peter says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness,” he is talking about the process of sanctification where we become more and more like Jesus. This process starts when we accept Christ as our savior, continues throughout our lives, and culminates when we see Him face to face at the resurrection of the dead.
There are two keys to sanctification. The first is the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples that “when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” That Spirit lives within us and is, according to Paul, “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession - to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:14)
The second key to our sanctification is our own effort to bring our lives into conformity with Him. As Paul says in Galatians 5:25-26, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Or in Philippians 3:16, "let us live up to what we have already attained.”
If we cannot look back on the past six months and see specific ways where we have grown in our faith and life in Christ, we are not paying attention to the issue of sanctification. While salvation is free and we cannot earn it, we are responsible to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to bring our lives into ever greater alignment with God. As we do that, we experience the abundant life that Jesus promises in John 10:10.
Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit who guides me into truth. Help me today to live by that truth and help me to become progressively more like you. Amen.
We are frail and sinful people, even after our salvation. We are saved by Christ and have all the good news of the Gospel but we still struggle with our lower, ungodly nature and will until we see Jesus face to face in eternity. So the question is, how does God see us once we have given our hearts to Christ and He has forgiven our sin?
This is where one of the big words of the Bible comes in. It is justification. To understand justification, let's look at three passages in Romans 8 where Paul speaks about justification.
In Romans 8:1-4 we read this: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Here is the first thing to know about Justification. Sinful as we are, there is no longer any condemnation from God for our sin because the Son of God paid for our sin in His death. We no longer live with any condemnation.
Then Romans 8:29-30. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
Here is the second thing to know about justification. Through Jesus you are justified. Here is an easy way to remember what that means. When God looks at you He sees you “Just as if you had never sinned.” He does not see the sinful you although we all continue to sin even as believers. He sees us clean and pure because Jesus paid for our sin: past, present and future. Jesus took it all and in the sight of God you are clean.
Finally, Romans 8:31-33. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.”
Third thing to know. Satan cannot bring any charge against you because in God’s sight you have been justified (just as if you had never sinned). You have been made clean by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Wow!
Father, I am amazed that you see me just as if I had never sinned. I rejoice and thank you today. Now, help me to live that way. Amen.
The gospel is directly connected to another big word in the Bible: Salvation. As Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” It is the gospel, the good news of Jesus and His kingdom that brings salvation to those who believe and put their trust in Jesus.
But what is salvation? The Greek root word of salvation is sozo, which means to deliver from dire peril. It is a rescue from a dire circumstance. So let's ask ourselves three questions. What are we saved from, what are we saved to and who is responsible for our salvation? Understanding these three questions will help you appreciate the great gift of the gospel in your life.
What are we saved from? Think of John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus came with the good news to save us from our lostness that results in eternal death and to give us eternal life. Salvation is a divine rescue from our lostness to a new life with Christ. The lostness entered the world in the fall. The price for our new life in Christ was the death of the Son of God to pay the price for our sin.
If we are saved from eternal death, what are we saved to? Listen to what you are saved to - from Ephesians 1. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Did you get all that? Salvation is not merely a ticket to heaven. It is this full, amazing, life in Christ for now and for all eternity.
Who gives this gift? It comes through Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the means of our salvation.
Father, I cannot even comprehend the gift of salvation. What you have saved me from and what you have saved me to. Help me live in thankfulness and in the destiny you have called me to. Amen.
We have seen that the gospel of God is good news that ushers us into His kingdom, brings forgiveness of sin, the presence of the Holy Spirit who is the downpayment on our salvation and through Him, the very presence of God in our everyday lives. In fact, it is the ultimate good news because there is no bad news contained in the gospel. This is why Paul can say in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
How often do you and I need the gospel? Certainly we need it when we come to Christ because it is the good news that brings us into a relationship with Him. But, and this is very important, we need the gospel every single day of our lives. We ought to preach the gospel to ourselves on a daily basis. There is no day that we are not deeply in need of God’s grace, forgiveness, help, power, and intervention. That every one of those gifts are wrapped up in the gospel of God.
It is easy to become complacent about the gift we have in Jesus. It is easy to take it for granted. But, how can we take for granted the fact that we have been rescued from an eternity without God, brought into His amazing kingdom, had our sins forgiven forever, our shame removed and given a purpose that He created us for so that we can join Him in His work? If we can take all that for granted we don’t understand the amazing, incredible gift He has given us.
Every day as I ask God to forgive my sins, I am accessing the gospel. Each time I ask for God’s help in a situation I am accessing the gospel. Each time that I see the fruit of the Spirit active in my life, I am accessing the gospel. The gospel of God is good news every day of our lives until we meet Him face to face where we will be complete.
I don’t know who said it but whoever wrote, “I must preach the gospel to myself every day,” was right. It is the good news contained in the gospel that gives every day meaning along with the healing and renovation of our brokenness. Never tire of the gospel in your life. Never take it for granted. On those days when you are sad and depressed, thank God for the gospel and all its gifts to you. Once we say yes to His good news, we live with that good news each and every day.
Father, I thank you for the gospel and for all the good news contained within it. Remind me every day of that amazing gift and on those days that are hard, remind me again, that gospel is the greatest news we could ever experience every day. Amen.
We have been looking at the implications of the gospel for our lives and our world. As we have seen it encompasses all the blessings of God that come to us with salvation. We have also seen that it brings with it God’s Kingdom to earth. A heavenly kingdom with heavenly values and commitments. This is an important distinction about the gospel because many believers believe that the gospel is simply between God and myself. It is about being saved and going to heaven when I die. Beyond that, the gospel has no other requirements. That thinking is a sad parody, and a totally inadequate understanding of what the gospel is and the kingdom of God that we now inhabit.
Hear me. The gospel is designed to transform all corners of our lives and our world. It is designed to bring God’s perfect will to earth as it is found in heaven (the Lord’s prayer).
There is one aspect of the gospel and His kingdom that gets far too little attention. That is the issue of racial reconciliation. Through the gospel, God intends that the racial divides that our city and our world struggles with are destroyed and that divided people become one in Christ.
In Revelation 7:9 we get a wonderful and amazing picture of heaven. “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Here in this amazing picture, the Apostle John sees the nations and peoples and tribes and languages of this world praising God in one voice, as one undivided people in complete harmony with one another.
My friends, that is what God does and wants to do through the Gospel. The gospel brings peace between us and God. But the gospel is also to bring peace between those of different races, social groups, white, black and brown into one family of God. The church in large part has yet to live out this call of the gospel.
Listen carefully to what Paul says about this in Ephesians 2:14-22. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
The gospel brings peace between us and God. It also is to bring peace between different people groups like the Jews and Gentiles Paul is speaking to. He says, God has destroyed the wall of hostility between us and has formed a new humanity out of many bringing peace between them. This is the gospel mandate for racial reconciliation and understanding and to create here on earth what will be in heaven. This is not an option but a responsibility of every person who is part of the Kingdom of God.
This is also why Forest City Church takes racial reconciliation so seriously. It is the mandate of God, contained in the gospel and central to the kingdom Jesus inaugurated.
Father, in our divided world, would you help me to live out the prayer of Francis of Assisi today:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus continually proclaims that the Kingdom of God has come. Sometimes he calls it the Kingdom of heaven or the good news of the Kingdom. In Matthew 4:23, for instance we read that “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
Yesterday we said that the gospel literally means “good news.” When Jesus proclaims the “good news of the kingdom,” he is clearly saying that the gospel is about a kingdom. His kingdom which has come to earth through Him.
Since the fall of mankind in the garden, the earth had been under the sway of Satan and evil. Now, the God of the universe has appeared in the incarnation, the creator becoming a creature so that His creatures can know the creator and the evil one’s power destroyed through the creator's death and resurrection. This is the most amazing good news a fallen world could ever have.
And with that good news comes a whole different kingdom. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. The gospel changes everything. Those who have accepted the gift of salvation, who have been changed through the gospel are no longer members of the kingdom of this world but are members of God’s kingdom living in this world. In God’s kingdom, all people matter, there is no racism or injustice. It is a kingdom that lives by the ethics and righteousness of God.
This is why we are told to pray, in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God wants His kingdom to come to earth. To our places of business, our neighborhoods, our schools and wherever we work and have influence. And how does it come? It comes through those of us who are members of his kingdom because we have been changed by the good news of the gospel.
Too many Christians today think that the gospel is about one thing only: Gaining salvation so they have a ticket to heaven. That is only one small part of the gospel. The gospel encompasses God’s kingdom. God did not save you simply to get you to heaven. He saved you so that you would join Him in his transformational work in this world to bring the good news and the hope, joy, righteousness, ethics, practices of His kingdom to the places we live and work and the relationships we have. The gospel changes our commitments, relationships and lifestyles and calls us to join God in bringing real transformation to individuals, institutions and communities in the name of Jesus.
There is literally no part of our lives, our communities, our institutions, or our relationships that should not be touched and transformed by the gospel. As those changed by the gospel we are now citizens of heaven and live by the righteousness of God and His Kingdom.
Father, as I walk through my day today, help me remember that I represent you and your kingdom. Use me to bring your kingdom to earth, to the places that I live and work and relate. Help me to be your subversive influence in a world that is driven by its own kingdom priorities rather than yours. May your kingdom come and your will be done through me on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Today’s word in the Big Words of the Bible Devo Series is Gospel. When you think of the word Gospel, what comes to mind? That word, which we toss around often, actually has a lot more packed into it than we realize.
In the first chapter of Romans, Paul writes this to the church there. “I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:14-17)
The word gospel literally means good news. But what is that good news? Paul says that is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. He further says that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed and which becomes available to us through faith. Through the good news of God and his invitation to us to make Him Lord of our lives, we find salvation through faith. This salvation cannot be earned, it is available to everyone and it has the power of God to forgive our sin, make us clean, fill us with His Spirit and give us the power to live righteous lives.
Through the gospel we are introduced to everything that God brings to us. In Ephesians one Paul sums up the fullness of this gift of the gospel, this good news that invades our lives. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Here is what we need to grasp. Everything in that long litany of gifts from God to us is part of the gospel. All of it, and as we will see in coming days, more. Never underestimate the amazing gift of the gospel that changes everything for those who choose to believe. Through the good news of the gospel everything changes in the present and in the future. Because now, the power of God, the gifts of God, the call of God and the Destiny that God has for us are all ours.
Father, thank you for the good news of the Gospel that brings to me all of you. Help me understand, appreciate and live out the call of the gospel as I join you in bringing good news to those around us. Amen.
We cannot leave the fall of mankind without understanding the amazing grace of God. In the aftermath of the decision by Adam and Eve to rebel against God’s command, judgment came and everything changed.
“So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15)
It seems that serpents were forever destined to crawl on the ground as they became a symbol of Satan who had appeared to Eve in the form of a snake. But more important is what God says about the relationship between Satan and the woman and her offspring. First he says that there will be enmity between Satan and Eve which is understandable, given his part in this terrible event. Eve would never forget the awful event that Satan had enticed her to participate in.
But then God says something more interesting. He will put enmity between Satan’s offspring and hers. There will be enmity between Satan’s minions and the offspring of Eve. But then even more amazing is the last phrase in Genesis 3:15, “he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
So catch this. There will be enmity between Satan and Eve. There will be enmity between Satan’s offspring and Eve’s offspring. But, hear this. There will be a single male offspring of Eve who will eventually come and crush Satan’s head once and for all even as Satan strikes his heel. This is the first reference in Scripture to the One who would one day come and defeat Satan. Even on this terrible day that changed all of history, there would be another day that would also change history, the day that a Savior would come and defeat the evil one.
Think about this. From that day forward, Satan knew that he would be defeated by an unknown male offspring of Eve. He lived in eternal fear of who that would be and when that day would come. It is clear he recognized Jesus for who He was when He ministered on earth, which is why Satan tried to entice Him to follow Him in the desert temptations immediately after Jesus’ baptism by John. And, on Good Friday he was ecstatic that God’s Son was crucified! He had won. He had defeated the one who came to defeat him. Little did he count on Resurrection Sunday and on that day he knew he had met his waterloo. He had lost. God had won and all he could do from that day forward was to fight a losing rearguard battle.
How do you explain the amazing grace of our creator? He had created us in His image. We rejected that Image so He sends His Son to die so that the created could once again know the creator. So that he could reimage images gone bad. So that he could bring healing to broken people. So He could make us once again after His image. That is the God we worship. That is His love today. That is His love for you.
Father, Your actions leave me amazed. Help me to understand today your crazy, amazing love for me. Thank you for your work in my life. Reimage me after your heart today. Amen.
Bernie Madoff pulled off the most massive personal fraud in history with his amazing 50 billion dollar ponzi scheme. How had he done it? He was a consummate liar, and like Satan in the garden, promised what he could not deliver: in this case, year after year, returns that were unheard of. And as it turns out, he could only do this by taking money from the next investor to pay off the previous investor.
How has Satan managed to destroy what was good and turn the garden on its head? Very simply he is the consummate liar. Here is Jesus’ description of Satan. “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)
Jesus called Satan a murderer because the end result of his work is death and destruction. How does he bring his destruction? He lies to us so that we reject God’s truth for his lies. Think about some of the lies that Satan has convinced the world of:
Materialism brings happiness. Everyone gets to God in their own way. Truth is relative. Life is about me. The ends justify the means. Scripture is simply a set of moral principles. I can live life by my own principles.
Every human being, each of us, has been directly or indirectly impacted by the lies that Satan has perpetuated. God brings pure truth while Satan brings pure lies. In every way he twists and distorts God’s truth that make it believable. His greatest lie is that God is not good – his lie to Eve in the Garden.
In John 10:10, Jesus makes one of the most profound statements about Satan: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” His main mission and deepest passion is to steal what is good from us, to kill people and to destroy people’s lives, homes, marriages, dignity, sexuality, relationships, and even entire nations.
Where does this malevolent, unrelenting and passionate evil come from? It stems directly from his utter hatred of God. He cannot get at God directly but he can indirectly for God made people in His image. Every human being is an image bearer of God, even if separated from God and even if that image has been deeply tarnished. Therefore, Satan has chosen the only route to destroy God that He can – by destroying His perfect creation, especially men, women, and children who are made in His image.
Every heartache we have suffered, every fear, every setback, every funeral we have attended, every sadness we feel, depression we suffer from, sin we struggle with, physical ailment we deal with, emotions we struggle with – it all goes back to the image being broken in the fall. It was in every way a very far fall, a fall so far that it is impossible to adequately describe its impact. It was an eternal fall as people destined for life with God became absolutely separated from God. It was a massive fall as hearts that once embraced God now rejected Him. It was a fearful fall as people who once treated one another with love now used people for their own purposes. A perfect image became a ruined facsimile of its original form.
Here is an amazing thought. Before creation. Before creating men and woman in His image, He knew that those He created would rebel. He knew that it would take the death of His Son to bring people back into fellowship with Him. Knowing that, He created us in His image.
All of history, from the awful day of the fall has been a story of redemption as God, out of amazing love for rebellious people, put in place His divine rescue operation that would climax with the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus and culminate in a New Heavens and New Earth where God and His redeemed will live for all eternity. You are a product of that love.
Father, thank you for your amazing love that you would create me in Your image, and then when that image was broken, give your Son to re-image me and bring me into relationship with you. Amen.
How did our world get from the Garden of Eden to the evil we see in our world today? Evil that drives wholesale destruction in places like Ukraine but closer to home, evil that lurks in our own hearts which we struggle with on a daily basis. How did a perfect creation become such a ruin? How did we get from peace and tranquility to conflict, relational disconnect and the effects of brokenness we see all around us?
The answer lies in the greatest fraud perpetrated in the history of mankind by the greatest deceiver: Satan. We are all familiar with the story of Eve and the serpents (Satan in disguise) discussion followed by Eve and Adam eating of the one tree in the entire Garden that was forbidden to them. What is important to understand is what lay behind the conversation between Satan and Eve and the consequences of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
The Woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
This discussion reveals the methodology of Satan’s fraud perpetrated in the Garden and what he does with us. Satan questions and twists God’s words: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” He knew all too well what God had said but in raising doubts about God’s instructions, he was intentionally raising doubts about God in the mind of Eve.
When Eve corrects him by saying that there was only one tree that was forbidden to them on pain of death, Satan directly challenges God’s word. “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Not only is God not telling the truth, says Satan, but by keeping the fruit of this one tree from you, He is holding something back from you. God has tricked you and held out on you. In fact, if you eat the fruit it you will not only be like Him but you will know both good and evil.
It was a grand lie, for not only would Adam and Eve not be like God but the consequence of eating from the tree would be separation from God. Part of his promise was true: now they would know good and evil when previously they had known only good. But where his implication was that this would be positive for Adam and Eve, that one act of rebellion brought sin and evil into Adam and Eve’s world and into ours. It literally brought us from the garden to the brokenness we experience in our world and in our own lives. It was a massive, pain filled, fraud that has infected our world from that moment to this.
At the root of Satan’s lie to Eve was this: God is not really good and His word is not entirely true. Once we believe that, all truth is relative. And once all truth is relative, how we live our lives is our choice. And the more that happens the more broken our lives and world becomes.
Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God is called the fall because in that one act, the image they had been given was broken and they fell out of fellowship with God.
Paul puts the affair this way. “Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19). Death came through Adam’s sin but life comes through Christ’s sacrifice to bring us back to God.
Father, how easily I fall for Satan’s lies, just like Adam and Eve. Thank you that in spite of the fall, you sent your Son to re-image broken images. Thank you for bringing me into fellowship with you. Amen.
Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image - part 3.”
Think of the amazing gift we have been given in being made in His image, in being “image bearers” of the Lord of the universe:
- We were created for eternity with an eternal soul
- We were made for a relationship with our creator
- We were given the gift of relationships with one another
- We were granted the gift of moral freedom
- We were given the amazing capacity to create
- We were given the ability to love deeply
The apostle Paul puts all this in perspective in Ephesians 2:10. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The word “workmanship” means a unique work of art, a one of a kind. As unique works of God we were created for a personal relationship with him in Christ Jesus, in order to join him in His work in this world (good works) which God prepared for each of us “in advance.”
In endowing us with His image, He gave something of Himself to mankind. Our very ability to know and love him and one another is part of that gift. I can adore and love my spouse and my children and have meaningful relationships with others because He chose to make me in His image. I can know Him, serve Him, join Him in His work in this world because he made me in His image. I can use all my creativity in loving and caring and serving and living because He made me in His image.
Seen in that light, we cannot ignore the spiritual and human needs around us or of our world and truly be like Jesus. Life is precious. People are precious. Even the most broken individual is a potential son or daughter of the king because all were stamped with His image. No other part of God’s creation was endowed with an eternal soul or an eternal destiny. To care for people and their situations is to see people as Jesus sees them and to love them as He loves them. To live selfishly, immune from the suffering of others, is to reject the nobility God placed within man, even though sin has made much so ignoble.
This should change the way we see people: not through our categories but through God’s eyes. Every individual has God’s divine imprint, is an object of His love, and a potential recipient of His grace and forgiveness if they come to Him. How can we despise what God does not despise? How can we withhold concern for those that Jesus does not withhold concern? How can we turn our backs on those that Jesus would not turn His back to? The fact that we are all made in His image changes the equation for how we view people and their brokenness. We cannot be like Jesus and turn our backs on anyone.
Every time we go out of our way to bring life to a situation, we make the heart of God glad. Each word that encourages, touch that shows love, help that brings hope, or Good News that speaks to the soul mirrors the heart of God toward those He created. None are beyond His grace and none are too broken for his healing.
Father, thank you for creating me in your image. I cannot fathom the implications of that but I thank you and ask that you would help me to treat all who come across our path as those also made in your image. Amen.
Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image - part 2.”
When God created Adam and breathed His breath into him, it was not just life that came to be. After all, animals and trees and fish and birds also have life. It was the breathing of His breath into man and woman. He was imparting to them something even more precious than life itself – an eternal soul which set man apart from the rest of creation. Men and women were designed for eternity.
The soul is that invisible part of us, given by God and that transcends our physical life and lives on into and for eternity. Anyone who has been with a loved one who passed away knows that at the moment of death, it is not just the absence of life that takes place but the very person who was there is no longer there. They have departed and left an empty shell of a body. The essence of the individual, their God-given soul, has left their body. This is the soul that every human being possesses unlike any other part of creation.
Why is human life sacred? Because God imbued it with an eternal soul! This is part of what it means to be made in His image. This is why God was so angry when Cain killed Abel. In the world’s first homicide he had taken the life of a living person with an eternal soul who was made in God’s image. That eternal soul is a reflection of God’s eternal being and when we treat it without the greatest dignity we demean God Himself. How we treat other human beings matters because they are made in His image.
It was the early Christians who fought against the infanticide of unwanted infants in the Roman Empire based on their understanding of the sacredness of life. It was Christians who cared for those dying of the plague throughout history, at the risk of their own lives, because they understood the sacredness of life. This is why Christians established orphanages, hospitals, homes for the elderly, and cared for the disabled. Human life is sacred! It possesses an eternal God given soul. It is to be honored, cared for, and treated with dignity and respect. Anything that detracts from the dignity of human life is to be resisted for it has within it His image.
There are many who see men and women as simply more sophisticated members of the animal kingdom, a natural view if one accepts a Darwinian view of the world. But Genesis 1 and 2 are clear that men and women are qualitatively different from the rest of creation in that they are made image bearers of Him. We possess eternal souls.
God created men and women specifically to have a relationship with him as their creator. In fact, it says that in the cool of the evening God would physically stroll in the garden with Adam and Eve. He took great pleasure in their company. A common view of God for many is that we should be afraid of Him. Yet, the creation account indicates that God delights in the fellowship of His created.
Here is the mystery of God’s heart: That he would want to create us in order to have fellowship with us - to love us and be loved by us. He delights in our worship of Him and in showing His love to us. Of the created order, only mankind has this great privilege!
We often think that we have an obligation to spend time with God: that somehow by doing so we gain God’s favor. Here is the truth: God delights and finds great joy in our presence with Him. It is hard to understand but He, complete as He is in Himself, loves to be in our presence. We were designed for Him! It is integral to being made in His image.
This is why the longings of our hearts are never completely satisfied by anything else – or anyone else. As image bearers we are never complete until we are connected in heart relationship with the One who created us and the closer that relationship the more complete we become. Only God can ultimately fill our souls with meaning. We try to fill it with all kinds of activities, pleasure, and relationships but in the end it is God who satisfies because He designed us for Himself.
Father, I am overwhelmed that you made me for you. Fill me with you so that I become the version of me that you made me for. Amen.
Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “In His Image.”
The last day of creation, when God created male and female, reveals the heart of our amazing and incomprehensible God. Think about this. God is complete in Himself. Long before creation He had the worship of the heavenly hosts but they were created to worship. Was the heart of God restless? We cannot know what was in the mind of God except by what He has revealed to us in His word and the echoes of his creation.
Here is what we do know. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:26-28.
We exist because of God’s love-filled heart. It is a heart made for fellowship and worship. Why God would crave the fellowship of others is hard to fathom but that is His heart, to give and to receive love. The very fact that we exist is testimony to the loving heart of God who chose and delighted to give us life. He did not need mankind but he chose to bless us with life so that we could live in fellowship with Him. Without His love we would not be.
Here is the amazing part. You and I were made in the Image of God. You and I and every human who has ever walked this earth are image bearers of our creator! Think about that. You are made in God’s image. You were deliberately created by God in His image. In some important and amazing way you bear His likeness. He is the God of the universe and you are imaged after Him. Even after the fall when Adam and Eve fell into sin, remnants of that image remained.
Tomorrow we will look at what this means, to the extent that we can understand it. But for now, for today, reflect on the fact that in creating you, God planted something of Him in you. You are made in His image. This separates you from the rest of creation. There is a nobility to men and women because we are made in His image.
Solomon made note of this in Ecclesiastes 3:11 where he says, God, “has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” This is why our hearts have a hole that can only be filled by God Himself. As people made in His image, He has placed eternity in our hearts: a yearning for something more, for our real home and our real destiny here and for eternity and that is always with the One who Created us. If you long for something more that you find elusive, this is why! The only way to satisfy that longing as an image bearer is to know the image maker.
Father, thank you for loving me and making me in your Image. My heart does long for something more because of that eternal seed you planted in my heart. Help me to find the fullness of life in you because you made me for you. Amen.
Today's word in the big words of the Bible devo series is “Creation.”
Before the universe was, there was nothing: a vast dark infinity without time, beginning, light or sound. Except, in that place known as heaven where God resided, One in three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect fellowship, surrounded by multitudes of angelic beings worshiping their God day and night. Here there was the light, delight and joy of God, the music of the heavenly hosts and perfect peace.
God has no beginning but our universe does. Genesis 1:1-2 records, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, Let there be light and there was light. And God said, let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. And God said, Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear. And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from night. And God said, let the water teem with living creatures and let birds fly across the earth across the expanse of the sky. And God said, Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
These simple words contain within them the amazing heart of God. In creating the universe and fashioning our planet, in setting the stars in place with its billions of numbers, in carving out the seas and forming the mountain heights, God showed his creativity.
Into that setting he brought the life of flora and fauna that brings beauty to our days and food for our bodies. The animals of the land, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea reflect not only His creativity but His sense of humor. What child is not delighted to go to the zoo and marvel at the amazing faces that stare back at them and laugh at the antics of chimpanzees or the impossibly long necks of giraffes!
This is no Darwinian saga but the creativity of our amazing God. What do you think He was thinking when He created the kangaroo? Or the peacock? Or playful dolphins and funny looking penguins? Or the dinosaur? Anyone who thinks God does not have a sense of humor has not looked carefully at His creation!
Was creation six literal days? Perhaps. It could also be six longer periods of time as the word for day in Hebrew can mean either day or age. What matters is that our world is a creation of our amazing God who only needed to speak to bring into existence what was not. And to fashion it into the amazing world we live in. And after each act of creation he said, It was good. And after the creation of man and woman said, “It is very good.”
At the center of this creation story was Christ. Paul writes in Colossians 1:15-16, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
Christ created, Christ redeemed when sin entered the world, Christ offers you and I a relationship with Him, and Christ walks with us every day through every situation. From the beginning until He returns, the story is about Him. He is the author of creation.
Father, I thank you that you are at the center of this amazing world. Creator, redeemer, my savior and my forever friend. Help me to see creation through your eyes today. Amen.
I remember dinner conversations at our house with my two boys. From time to time they would interrupt our conversation and say, “That’s a BIG word.” In fact, they loved it when I used big words that they didn’t know and they would say, “what does it mean?” Or, they would go look it up.
Well, the Bible is full of Big words. They are theological words, like sin, salvation, justification and sanctification. They are important big words because they describe something about our human condition but, more importantly, something about God or His work in our lives. So the Big Words of the Bible Devotional series is designed to help us understand those important, but big, words.
Each of these words has implications for us. If we understand them we start to understand God’s work in our lives in a better way. Did you know, for instance, that once you accept Christ as your personal savior that when He looks at you he sees you as clean, even though you continue to sin? There is a word for that in Scripture called Justification.
And did you know that God is on a journey to help your character become like His character? The word “sanctification” has a whole treasure of information about what God is up to in our lives. Or why do we talk about the “fall” of Adam and Eve and how does it impact us all these eons later? We will unwrap that mystery.
At Christmas we talk about the “incarnation.” Sure, we know baby Jesus came to earth but what does the “incarnation” mean? Actually, it is an amazing story where God chooses to come and “be with us.”
We like to say about our technology needs, “There’s an App for that.” Well, when it comes to our understanding of God and His work with us, there’s a Word for that and those words help us unpack the work and love of God in our world and in our lives.
So I hope you will join me in exploring the Big Words of the Bible. As you read your Bible and come across those Big words, underline them. We will probably cover them in this several part series. And remember, this is not about what we know but, more importantly, it is about how God is working in our lives and how He is working in our world to bring people to Himself and re-image us back to what He created us to be.
And tomorrow, that is where we will start. What does it mean that we are made in His Image? We will find out and we will start our journey.
Father, thank you for what you are doing in my life and in our world to bring hope to a broken and hurting world. Help us understand you better as we examine the Big words in your word. Amen.
Central to all the fruits of the Spirit is the last one, self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness are all contingent on our ability, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to control our emotions and behaviors.
We often get ourselves into trouble when we react to people and situations rather than responding to them. A reaction is often emotional and unduly harsh. I react when someone who irritates me punches an emotional button. I react when something causes fear in my heart. I react when something happens that creates anxiety. Reactions are often fight or flight responses that we regret after the fact. Consider words you have spoken, for instance, that you wish you could take back but they were said in the heat of the moment.
The fruit of self-control is an antidote to unhealthy reactions. When practiced, it allows us to respond rather than react. A response is a measured reaction, not one driven by hijacked emotions. The Greek word for self-control, egkrateia, is derived from two words, “in” and “strength” or “power.” Thus, it is living with personal discipline - personal power - that allows us to respond to people and situations in a measured, controlled way and ways which are consistent with the character of God. It means that we have power over ourselves, rather than being driven by our emotions and passions.
This is one of the fruits of the Spirit that requires constant attention for me. When triggered, and we all are, I immediately try to ask the Spirit for the ability to respond rather than react. And to respond with the love, kindness, gentleness, patience, and goodness that the other fruits describe. Our lower nature wants to take us other places. The woman or man who has self-control manages their responses so that they reflect God’s character. It is a daily challenge.
Remember with all of the fruit of the Spirit that these emulate from God who lives within us through the Spirit, giving us power and the ability to live as He calls us to live. We don’t have to do this on our own and cannot. These are spiritual qualities that we can access any time because we have Christ living in us. Think about that. Our secret weapon is not that we have knowledge of truth but we have the author of truth resident in our hearts. That is a game changer.
One of the reasons I keep a journal is to track my spiritual progress or lack of it in the stuff of real life. I can reflect on wins and challenges and remind myself of the power that is available to me. It helps me be more aware of how I am living out the life of Christ.
Father, thank you for the gift of your Spirit resident in my life. Give me an extra dose of self-control so I can respond rather than react. Help me, when triggered, to respond in ways that please you. Amen.
The eighth fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. There is more to this fruit than meets the eye and it goes to the core of who we are.
The spirit of our age is not one of gentleness. It is often harsh, angry, judgmental, and unkind. At its core these are characteristics of pride and ego which cause us to believe we are better than others and therefore have the right to criticize, put down and put others in their place. It is why people are easily angered and ready to say harsh things. A lack of gentleness at its root means that we view ourselves as better than someone else.
Gentleness on the other hand comes from a place of humility. Someone who is gentle is not easily angered, controls their judgements and words, does not take revenge, is not prideful, and is kind and gentle with others. Gentleness easily lets go of offense, is polite and courteous, and treats others as better than ourselves. It is the direct result of a humble Spirit that keeps ego under control. Gentle people refuse to be harsh, to act impulsively, or to say hurtful things.
This is actually nothing less than the character of God who humbled himself for us, (Philippians 2), is gentle and humble of heart, (Matthew 11:28-29), and infinitely kind to us. This is His character which is why it is a fruit of the Spirit. It comes from him. Scripture describes God as being like a tender father or mother, a loving shepherd caring for His sheep, carrying them in His arms. Protecting and providing.
Here is an irony. There is spiritual power in gentleness when we think the power comes from getting in the face of others. Like so many other areas, Jesus turns the thinking of the world on its head. The gentle person exudes a quiet confidence and inner strength that is contagious and powerful. And, because it is the character of God, it has spiritual power and influence. The gentle person ends up with far more influence than the harsh individual. Their quiet, measured, humble voice has amazing power.
As you walk through your day today, be conscious of having a gentle spirit. As we keep our egos in check, treat others with dignity and respect and speak with gentle wisdom, God’s power will flow through us. This is His character. It is how he deals with us. It is who He is and what He calls us to.
Father, would you help me today to be gentle and kind and measured in my interactions and to treat people as you treat me? Give me a spirit of humility and kindness toward all. Amen.
Faithfulness is the seventh fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. It is an interesting word when we consider the context of our world today. Let’s start with the fact that there are no absolutes in our world anymore. Your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth and both are true even when they totally disagree with one another. Two diametrically different truths cannot both be true. But they are in our world.
We live in a relativistic world. Our ethics are driven by our belief system and our circumstances. Our moral choices are equally dependent on what seems best to me. In a world without absolutes there is confusion. This is our world.
Not so with a Christ follower for the seventh fruit of God’s Spirit is faithfulness. It is the Greek word pisteos, which means living with firm persuasion and conviction in the truth. It is a deep assurance in, reliance on, and confidence in God and His truth rather than a life of confusion, hypocrisy, or disobedience. It is a settled faith in God with the requisite fidelity to that truth and conviction.
Unlike a confused world when it comes to truth, God is truth and His word is truth. He and His word are our foundation and our unchanging guide to what is right, what is wrong, and the way we are called to live. As the old hymn says, “We have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure while the billows roll; fastened to the Rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.”
We have the anchor in our Savior and His Word. Our responsibility is to live consistently with that anchor. With His truth. Not only believing (head knowledge) but believing (heart commitment) and doing (matching our beliefs to our lives). Never separate head knowledge from heart commitment and how we live. They all go together. That is faithfulness.
Faithfulness requires that we understand the teaching of God. We cannot demonstrate faithfulness without spending regular time in the word of God, understanding God’s character, His teaching, and His call on our lives. Our objective truth is grounded in His objective Word.
Something else happens as we spend time in his truth. We start to think like Him and we are motivated to live like Him. Time with His Word, and with Him in prayer, and meditation create in us the desire to live faithfully. This is what the Spirit does with our spirit as we spend time together.
Father, thank you that I have an anchor that keeps my soul safe and secure as the billows roll. Thank you that in a relativistic world I have objective truth grounded in the God of the universe. Give me your heart of faithfulness. Amen
The sixth fruit of the spirit is that of goodness. It comes from the Greek word “agathosune” meaning an uprightness of heart and life. It is a word that encompasses our whole life and translates from our minds to our hearts and then to our actions and words. Goodness is integrity of heart and life. Its goodness derives from God Himself who is changing us into His likeness. Into His character which is always good! It is living like Jesus lived.
A life of goodness chooses to say no to those things that are not good and not like God. This is the kind of life that practices Hebrews 12:1-2. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” This is the foundational attitude of the spirit of goodness. Sin isn’t good so we throw off the stuff that hinders and entangles us with our eyes fixed on Jesus and His example. That is a life of goodness.
Romans 12:1-2 says a similar thing. “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Paul contrasts the pattern of this world, which is not characterized by goodness, with the renewing of our minds and being living sacrifices, people who do what God would do in every possible situation. It is a life of goodness, not a life of conformity to the spirit of our world.
A spirit of goodness speaks honestly, cares about justice, tries to mitigate evil and sin in our world. It chooses right over wrong and actively seeks to throw off the sin that so easily entangles. It challenges power when necessary and works for the common good. It confronts evils like racism and stands up for the voiceless and marginalized. It cares about living with goodness personally and spreading that goodness to others for the common good. It reflects the character of God in whom there is no unholiness.
The refrain of the book of Leviticus back in the Old Testament is “You shall be Holy for I the Lord God am holy.” The book goes on to describe how holiness in each part of life matters to God. This is the sense of the Fruit of Goodness. It is living with upright hearts, holy hearts, choosing righteousness over our sinful nature and being agents of God’s goodness wherever we are.
Father, give me a deep desire for your goodness. A desire to live with your goodness and to display your goodness in my thinking, heart, words, and actions. Today! Amen
The fifth fruit of the Spirit is that of kindness. Again, because kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit living with us, we need to look at God’s kindness to us which is the description of what we should understand by kindness.
Again, the place to go is the Gospels because it is there, in the person of Jesus, that we see what kindness looked like. Think with me about how Jesus interacted with people. He was deeply compassionate about their circumstances and brokenness. He spoke with gentleness and respect. He gave honor to those who society didn’t honor.
In fact, this is what he said about himself in Matthew 11:29-30. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” These are words of kindness. He describes himself as gentle and humble in heart with an easy and light yoke.
I am often challenged by the contrast of the life and example of Jesus and the harshness that Christians can show to one another. Preaching against certain sins can be harsh. Spirits toward one another can be critical. Judgements made about other believers can be cutting. Lack of forgiveness and holding onto grudges is commonplace. Hard words in the name of truth show up all over on social media - directed at other believers. And we can find ways to justify all of these.
Except… they are not the fruit that comes from God. From Jesus. Because that spirit is a spirit of kindness, gentleness, respect, compassion and humility. This is not our natural tendency, especially toward people we don’t like or agree with. None of the fruits of the spirit are natural tendencies. They are the direct result of God living within us, and our exposure to Him gives us the motivation and the power to relate to one another as He relates to us. The fruit of the Spirit is simply us mirroring to others how God relates to us. It is us passing Him along to those around us.
Ask Jesus to nudge you whenever you are tempted to respond unkindly, think about someone unkindly, or be harsh or hard in any way. If you ask, He will. And then, choose the way of Jesus, rather than the spirit of our world. Pass on the kindness that God gives to you every day and you will be amazed at how people respond. And please, let's not join the unkindness of our day in relating to those we don’t agree with. Our world and our fellow believers would not be so divided if we specialized in kindness. Ask Jesus to help you be kind, especially when you are tempted to be harsh.
Father, thank you, thank you, thank you for your kindness toward me. Thank you for your gentle and humble spirit. I pray that you would give that spirit to me to pass on to others. Amen.
We live in an impatient world. Especially when it comes to other people. If someone does not live up to our expectations it is easy to write them off. If we disagree with another’s politics it is easy to allow that to create relational distance. We just don’t have much room for disagreements, people who disappoint us, or ministry situations that don’t go our way. I would call our age, an age of impatience.
And yet, patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. That is because patience is part of God’s character. Think for a moment about your own life. You and I know the deficits we have and then think about God’s patience with us. He can wait years, sometimes decades for us to respond to his promptings. He does not force us but He also does not abandon us. He is gentle, patient, loving, and kind. We would be in major trouble if God’s level of patience were the same as ours. Fortunately it is not.
Patience has many facets. In fact, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is all about what it means to be patient. “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs…It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” What a beautiful picture of patience. This is not the spirit of our world. This is often not even the spirit in the church. It is the Spirit of God.
Here is the thing about God as it relates to us. He takes a long view of our growth. He puts up with our foolishness without writing us off. He perseveres with us when we fall short. He believes in us when others don’t. He forgives us when we fail. Every time.
Paul says to the Ephesians, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 4:32-5:2).
At the heart of our impatience with people is often the issue of forgiveness. They fail us in some way. They irritate us. They disappoint us and we don’t do as Christ does and forgive them. Rather, it is easy to allow our irritation to get the best of us or even abandon them. This though, is not the way of Jesus, or the way that He has called us to. The way of the Spirit is kindness, forbearance, forgiveness, compassion and love. That is the foundation of patience.
Before we pray, think of the individual that you have the hardest time being patient with. With that person in mind, let's pray.
Father, I confess my impatience and I long to be more like You. Would you remind me daily of your patience with me and help me through your Spirit to be more patient with others. And help me to forgive, live in love, have compassion, and become more like You. Amen.
Yesterday as we studied joy we concluded that “Joy is not the absence of difficulty but the presence of God.” A similar truth is found in the Gift of Peace.
Peace is an unlikely state of being in a world that is so full of conflict, evil, and circumstances that bring anything but peace. It is the upper room discourse in the Gospel of John where we find the best teaching on peace.
Start with this truth. Peace is not the absence of trouble. In fact, Jesus told His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
Further in John 14:27, Jesus makes it clear that He is the giver of peace and it is a supernatural peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Our peace is grounded in the power and goodness of God and it can prevent our hearts from being troubled and our hearts fearful. The peace of our world is an absence of trouble. The peace of God is peace in the midst of trouble.
Twice in John 20, Jesus says to the disciples who were living in fear, “Peace be with you.” Think about your circumstances today. The uncertainties you face, the unknowns you have in your life and then hear the whisper of God to you, “Peace be with you.” As Paul says in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Again notice the connection between our trust in God and His peace in our lives. Trust and peace, like trust and joy go hand in hand. The more we press into Him, the more peace and joy we experience.
If you lack peace today, there is an answer. Spend more time with the giver of peace. It is amazing how time in His presence changes our perspective because we start to take on His perspective which is one of peace and joy.
Peace is a gift from God. It is not dependent on events or circumstances of life. In fact, it is the antidote to the circumstances of life which are anything but peaceful.
Father, thank you for the gift of peace. May you fill my heart with your peace today. Allow me to walk through troubled times with the supernatural gift of your peace. Amen.
The second Fruit of the Spirit is that of joy. If you look the word up you get definitions like “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” The problem with that is that there is plenty in life to rob us of pleasure and happiness. Certainly, I have met people who are naturally joyful. My wife Cleo fits that description. On the other hand there are people, and I am one of them, who struggles with depression and can find joy elusive. So the question is, what is meant by joy as a fruit of the spirit?
If you survey the use of the word in the New Testament there are places where it is used as a synonym for happiness. For instance, when the Christians were scattered in Acts 8, Philip was in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. The populace paid close attention to what he said and witnessed evil spirits driven out of people and the lame and paralyzed healed and it says, in verse 8, “so there was great joy in that city.” The gospel brought hope to the hopeless and with it joy.
What is interesting to me is the proximity of joy and the Holy Spirit. For instance, in Acts 13:52 we read, ‘And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” There is a connection between Joy and the Holy Spirit because it is the Spirit who brings real joy.
We have a similar connection in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Again notice that it is God who fills us with joy and peace as we trust him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our joy does not come from our circumstances, which would often create anything but joy. But Biblical joy comes from God Himself who fills us with His joy as we trust in Him. Thus, the closer we press into God, the more joy we experience. Not because of our circumstances but because God fills our hearts with His peace and joy in spite of our circumstances. Biblical joy is a state of being that comes directly from God and is not tied to our circumstances.
This was true even of Christ as faced the cross. Consider these words in Hebrews 12:1-3. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Joy is not the absence of difficulty but the presence of God. Think about that today. Joy is not the absence of difficulty but the presence of God.
Father, thank you that despite my circumstances, in you I have joy. Help me find joy in your presence today. Amen.
What is the one characteristic of those who you like to hang out with? What character trait makes you want to spend time with them? The answer can usually be summed up in one concept. They are people who love you and show you that love. In that love you feel accepted and valued and wanted.
This is why Paul introduces the Fruit of the Spirit discussion with these words: For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” Galatians 5:14. Loving our neighbor as ourselves is the second greatest command behind loving the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength.” Love of others is the single greatest obligation we have as Christ followers because it is who God is and it is how He has loved us.
Now Paul is writing to the congregation of the Galatians. And even among them and, for that matter, among us there are times when rather than love one another we, in his words, “destroy one another.” What destroys others? Gossip, unkind words, judgemental attitudes, envy, critical spirits, or as Paul says, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy. Ouch. Even among God’s people, but it doesn’t need to be that way. It should not be that way.
To love others is to want the very best for them. In fact, it is to want for them what we would want for ourselves. Love is a choice that we make to extend to others the very attitude that Jesus extends to us. It is the most countercultural and radical thing we can do in a world that is obsessed with self and self interest. It is a choice to see and treat others as Jesus sees and treats us.
Here is something to consider. In John 10:10, Jesus contrasts His character with Satan's character. He says this, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The thief or Satan wants to rob us and diminish us and hurt us while Jesus came to give us life and fullness of life. Here is what is interesting. In every interaction and relationship we have we either give life like Jesus or rob life like Satan. The deciding factor is whether we are demonstrating love or selfishness because love always gives life.
Here is the thing about love. It is easy with those we naturally like and hang out with. It is harder when it involves people that irritate us. Yet Jesus does not differentiate between the two. Our posture toward people is to be one of love and concern. To love is to make ourselves vulnerable, to hurt as Jesus did in His earthly existence. Sometimes the most painful situations are those when we show love to people who don’t respond in love.
One of the tragedies of life today is that there are so many things that divide us. Politics, race, and ironically, even theology. We have elevated so many things above Jesus and the Gospel that things that should not divide do and relationships that should not be broken often are. We don’t have to agree with someone to show them love. They don’t need to live up to our standards to love them. Loving actions, attitudes, and words are a decision that we make because Jesus calls us to love one another.
What does that love look like? Paul gives us a definition in 1 Corinthians 13. Think about someone who is hard to love as you listen to this definition. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
The only way to live with that kind of love is to access the help and power of the Holy Spirit. But remember, this is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit is the key to living with love. Through the help of the Spirit we can live in love and love one another as Jesus loved us.
Father, help me to love well. Especially with those who are hard to love. May your love flow through me as the Holy Spirit lives in me. Amen.
Many Christians today have a lot of Bible knowledge - especially if they have been around the church for a while or grew up in Sunday School. What is often lacking in our Christian walk is not knowledge but what is called the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. That encompasses how we think about others, how we treat others, and how we demonstrate the love of Jesus to others. Relationships among fellow believers in the church often lack the magnetic love and grace that Jesus demonstrated in the Gospels and in our own lives.
I recently did a comprehensive review of the culture of a large church, interviewing 70 people in the process. One of my findings was that the church is known for a fairly harsh, critical, judgemental, and fearful culture rather than a culture of joy, grace, and Jesus. Unfortunately, they are not alone even though many of these attitudes are hidden in the church behind spiritual language.
Whenever this is the case, the problem is a lack of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the lives of those who call themselves Jesus followers. This is the subject of Galatians 5:13-26.
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Think about this. Jesus attracted people to himself precisely because He epitomizes the fruit of the Spirit. It is His fruit. It is who He is. Yet, all too often what we encounter in relationships is not His fruit but the kinds of attitudes and behaviors that Paul tells us to leave behind. Every harsh word we utter, every time we are impatient with others, each broken relationship we have not attempted to heal, all bad attitudes toward others reflect our lower nature rather than God’s fruit.
In the next days, we will look at what it means to live by the Fruit of the Spirit rather than by the Spirit of our Culture. For now, remember that every interaction we have with others is either characterized by the Fruit of God’s Spirit or the Spirit of our Culture, and there is a large difference.
Father, thank you for bringing to our attention what it means to live by your fruit. In all my interactions today, remind me that I can reflect you or reflect my culture and that you want me to be Jesus to those around me. Amen
Jonah is the only book in the bible that ends with a question. Let's review chapter four of the book. “But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "Isn't this what I said, Lord when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."
But the Lord replied, "Is it right for you to be angry?" Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" "It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead." But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not be concerned for the great city of Nineveh, where there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"
Let's talk about Jonah's racism for a moment. The Ninevites were mortal enemies of the Jews and had treated them with great cruelty. Jonah had reason not to like them. Plus, he was one of the chosen, the Jews whom God had blessed and from whom the Messiah would one day come. The Ninevites were often oppressors of the Jews. They were uncouth, violent, and harsh people. Jonah despised them, which is why he ran from God's assignment and was so angry when God spared them. When it came to the Ninevites, Jonah was a classic racist.
A racist is "prejudiced against or antagonistic toward people based on their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group." Jonah's antagonism ran deep, and he told God he would rather die than God be gracious to them. But notice again the question that closes the book of Jonah. “And should I not be concerned for the great city of Nineveh, where there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"
God knew how bad these Ninevites were. That is why he was going to judge them and destroy them unless they repented. But what would have caused the heart of God to have compassion for a group that had oppressed His people?
Jonah gives the answer to God in verse 2. "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." Here is Jonah's second death wish. First in the running from God and now when He sees that God will not destroy the Ninevites. His antagonism ran deep!
Why was God's heart different? Because God created all people in His image. That image was destroyed in the fall when Adam and Eve sinned, but the remnants remain. He sees all people the same. Broken and needy images that He wants to re-image, restore, and heal. There are no exceptions. God wanted Jonah to see the Ninevites in that light, and He wants us to see all people in that light. There is no racism in the heart of God. There are no groups more deserving than others. None deserve His grace, but we all have access to it and should see our neighbors in the same light.
There are no people more deserving of God's grace than other people. None of us deserve it. Americans don't deserve it more than other nations. White Americans don't deserve it more than others. God sees all people as men and women made in His image. All are equally precious to Him, and all come as equals before the cross to be made whole. Anytime we catch ourselves looking down on anyone for any reason, we are violating the heart of God. Anytime we marginalize a group or an individual, we violate the heart of God.
This is perhaps one of the greatest lessons in the book of Jonah. He finally got the picture. We need to as well.
Father, give me a tender and compassionate heart toward all those made in your image. Help me spread your love and compassion to all and keep my heart from any thought that I am more worthy than others. Amen
Spiritual growth is an interesting thing. It happens in fits and starts and often comes in painful ways. This was undoubtedly true for Jonah. So it is fair to ask if Jonah learned anything from his Nineveh odyssey. We can say unequivocally that he did, even though it is not stated.
How do we know? Very simply, Jonah himself wrote the account. He is the only one who would have known all the details, and he wrote a very honest, candid, and transparent account of what happened, how God rescued him and gave him a second chance, the amazing response of the Ninevites as well as his racist and harsh attitude toward them. Oh, and then his bitterness toward God, selfishness, and sense of entitlement. It's all there. And it is only there because he learned something which he wanted others to also learn.
All of us screw up. We all have multitudes of areas in our lives where our profession of Jesus does not match our praxis of the "Jesus life." We are broken images of God that He is re-imaging back into His likeness, and it can be a messy process. But the fantastic thing is that if we love God, there is always progress. Sometimes easy, mostly hard, and sometimes painful as we discard from our lives the selfish and sinful ways we gravitate toward and create new pathways of followership and obedience.
Look back over the past six months of your life and ask yourself where you have seen progress in your spiritual life. The last year or the previous five years. Think about the circumstances that created the most growth as you yielded to God in difficult times. How has your own brokenness brought new and fresh change?
I keep a journal. I don't always use it daily, but it is almost always with me and used regularly. Why? Because I want to remember what God is teaching me. I want to learn from my mistakes, challenges, and areas where I know He wants me to grow. It is really, in the end, a journal of growth. Sometimes messy like the story of Jonah, but one way or another, God breaks through our defenses and helps us see new paradigms of Himself and obedience.
One of the things I love about Jonah is that he didn't whitewash his actions or attitudes. What you see is what you get. He is honest about his feelings, and he is honest to God. There is no fancy evangelical church-type language in his discussions with God. He is raw, and he is candid. And in recording the whole thing, including the stunning rebuke of God to his racist and sinful attitudes, he is telling us that he heard and learned. No one would write what he wrote unless he wanted to record his own growth because there is nothing redeeming in his attitude. And evidently, Jonah had his own journal.
Here is something to remember about spiritual growth. Often it comes the hard way because that is when God has our attention. And often, God orchestrates circumstances in our lives to catch our attention. For example, when God gave Jonah a leafy plant to give him shade in chapter four, he got Jonah's attention. Then, when God allowed a worm to kill that plant, He got Jonah's attention again. In the end, God did not want Jonah to be comfortable but to catch his attention, and he did. God did this out of love for Jonah and so he would understand His heart for these people - and even their animals.
This is why I keep a journal. It is to reflect on life, God, and my spiritual journey and be aware of what God is trying to teach me at any given moment. Spiritual growth starts with a desire to grow and then an awareness of what God is doing in our lives. The more aware we are of Him and our need for renovation and growth, the better we are equipped to respond to His promptings and align our lives with His.
Father, thank you for your tender love in my life, encouraging me to follow you better and know you more intimately. Help me to be sensitive to your leadership so that I develop your heart. Amen
The book of Jonah is about a missionary God and His desire for His people to have missionary hearts. A missionary heart desires for those who don’t know God to have a chance to respond to Him, hear His good news, and know He wants them to live in a relationship with Him. This kind of heart is so important because one-third of the people on our planet have never heard the name of Jesus or had the opportunity to say yes or no to him.
Scripture teaches us that we are lost without Jesus. Lost in our sin. Lost in our spiritual confusion and futile desires to find true meaning in life. And, even more importantly, lost from an eternal relationship with Jesus in this life and the next life. There is such a thing as heaven and hell. There is life with God and life without God. And the choice we make makes all the difference. But to make that choice, someone has to tell us there is a choice.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:9-15. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
We are blessed to live in a country where access to the Gospel is commonplace. But we live in a world where that is not the case. Having traveled the world for most of my life, I have encountered how God is changing lives in every corner of our globe when there are people who are willing to go and share the Good news. That is what missionaries do! It is what Paul and Barnabus did in the New Testament. And it is what my parents did when they moved to Hong Kong in 1960. I saw firsthand what happened when the Gospel came to people who had not heard the Good news.
In Egypt, there are cities called “garbage cities.” Like in Cairo, these cities are made up of the people who collect garbage and become the recyclers of that garbage. The trash is collected and spread out in their little villages up to the waist around their makeshift homes. Goats forage through and eat the food, and anything that can be recycled and sold is put into piles. Kids and adults all work in the garbage. Sanitation is almost non-existent, and everything in the makeshift home comes from the trash. Income may be two dollars a day which buys food.
Yet there is hope in this village. Egyptian Christians have established a school, clinic, and playground that is clean and safe. I have a picture of a wonderful family standing outside their home, with garbage all around, smiles on their faces, and a newborn baby in the arms of the mother. They are one of the few Christian families in the village, and their joy comes from their relationship with Jesus. Someone came and shared the good news, and they are the recipients of God’s goodness now and for eternity.
Never underestimate the investment in God’s work worldwide, especially investments that train indigenous leaders globally to do what they can do in their context better than we can. This is what people with missionary hearts do. It is why God asked Jonah to preach in Nineveh. You can help change lives for eternity through your efforts, financial commitments, and participation in God’s global work.
Father, thank you for your heart for people who have never heard of your goodness and love. Thank you for allowing me to help share the good news. Give me a missionary heart for those in my community who don’t know you and those globally who need to hear the Good News. Amen.
Chapter four of Jonah has to rank as one of the most humorous passages in Scripture. Humorous, except that it also speaks directly to you and me. “But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Jonah had gone out and sat at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm that chewed the plant, so it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not be concerned for the great city of Nineveh, where there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
Jonah has such antipathy toward the Ninevites that he is outside the city in the scorching heat, waiting for the city to be destroyed. The Ninevites had treated him with respect, as evidenced by their repentance. But his anger at them and God’s goodness caused him to go to the desert and want to die.
Now you gotta say that Jonah was a pretty gutsy guy to tell God he had a right to be angry with him. The good news is that you can tell God anything, but this episode speaks to a deeper issue. That issue is whether we live for ourselves and our desires or God and His purposes.
Here is a truth to consider. Life is not about me. It is not about you. It is about living in obedience and fellowship with the God of the universe and contributing to His purposes on this earth. Life is ultimately about God. Ironically, His purposes for us are the best we could ask for. He came to give us life and life abundant; John 10:10. It is when we go our own way for our own purposes that we get ourselves into trouble and lose our joy and focus. This was Jonah. He simply wants to die on the eve of a great victory for God’s purposes.
When we focus on fulfilling God’s purposes for our lives, we experience joy, peace, and significant fulfillment. But when we focus on ourselves and our selfish desires, these experiences elude us. Even though they are what we are searching for in our selfishness. It is a matter of focus. The evil one comes to steal, kill and destroy, while Jesus came to give us life and life to the full. Focus on God and His purposes, and we experience the best. But, focusing on ourselves and our selfish desires causes what we want to elude us. And ultimately, it leads to the depression Jonah finds himself in.
This is true even in ministry. Why do we join God in His work? If it is for our own recognition or reputation, we are operating out of selfishness rather than out of a desire to make God look great. In fact, that is the crucial difference: If my motivation is to make me look good, I am operating out of selfish motives. If my goal is to make God look great, I am where God wants me to be. Remember, life is not about me but about Him.
Father, I admit there are times I love to make myself look good rather than make you look great. Give me the right motivation today. Life is about you, and I want to make your name well known and your reputation great. Amen
Jonah’s mission to Nineveh had turned out to be a smashing, outstanding success. The people repented from the king on down. The people turned from their violent and evil ways, and God graciously relented and didn’t bring them the destruction he had threatened. You would think it was time to celebrate, praise God, and thank God for His goodness to Jonah and the people. This has to rank as one of the greatest revivals in history.
But no. Jonah 4:1-4 says, “But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord when I was still at home? That is why I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
Wow, we say. But not so fast. Have you ever noticed that we want the best for people we know and like but not necessarily those we don’t? Or that we believe we deserve God’s goodness, but certain people we know don’t? This goes to how we see people. Jonah saw the Ninevites as undeserving pagans who didn’t deserve the grace that he knew God would give. He had a superior attitude toward the Ninevites rooted in the racial animosities between the Ninevites and the Israelites.
This is a global problem of sinful racial attitudes. Actually, it is not always racial, as anytime we look down on another or a group of people we disapprove of, we do the same thing Jonah did. We are taking a superior attitude that assumes we deserve better than others. And we could not be more wrong.
God says to Jonah in chapter 4:11: “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left - and also many animals.” Jonah was willing for all 120,000 people to perish than to have God spare them. That is what happens when we demonize other groups, see ourselves as superior, or consider one group more important than another.
God’s concern for the Ninevites was very different from Jonah’s. God saw the Ninevites, evil though they may have been, as people made in His image. As we all are. We are flawed images, to be sure, because of sin, but every person you meet is made in God’s image and a potential Son or Daughter of the King of the universe. This is why CS Lewis wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.” Every person you talk to has an eternal soul, was created in God’s image, and He sent His son to re-image broken images through his death and resurrection. So there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.
If this is true, how we see, treat, and love those different from us is of eternal importance. If I kept a list of all the groups that Christ followers I know look down on and treat as inferior to them, the list would be long. And having traveled extensively across this globe, that attitude can be found everywhere. People speak derisively of certain immigrants, groups with an alternate lifestyle from theirs, countries that they think are backward and pagan, and/or maybe the panhandlers on all the major intersections in our cities. That attitude affects how we interact, minister to, and treat people in those categories, whatever they are.
We say at Forest City Church that we are a church with long tables and low walls. We will always put another leaf in the table for the next one who wants to come. They come to a place of radical hospitality, acceptance, grace, diversity, community, and fellowship around the person of Jesus Christ. All are welcome and safe, no matter how broken. All are appreciated and honored regardless of ethnicity, generation, background, or beliefs. All are invited to a long table where grace and love are the languages, and the magnetic love of Jesus is displayed in practical and meaningful ways.
We intentionally invite the outsider and the marginalized to come to the table and community as Jesus did. This is a place where you have nothing to prove, nothing to lose, and nothing to hide. You never leave unseen, and healing and wholeness comes to the hurting and wounded. This is how God sees people and values them. This is how Jesus treated people in the Gospels, which Jonah missed in how he saw the Ninevites.
Father, forgive me for those times that I look down on people made in your image. Forgive me when I don’t see them as you do, and thank you for re-imaging me through the Holy Spirit. Please give me a passion to see everyone I encounter find you. Amen
The book of Jonah raises some interesting issues related to God in the Old Testament. For example, some think the Old Testament God is different from the New Testament God. Or in the Old Testament, God is portrayed as harsh and vindictive, while in the New Testament, God is described as loving and kind.
The book of Jonah challenges those incorrect assumptions. Think about this. No one in the ancient world DID NOT want the Ninevites to be destroyed. They had treated everyone around them with violence and ruthlessness. They were the bad boys on the block, and no one wished them well.
No one, except God. In fact, later in the book, which we will examine later, God says this to Jonah. “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left - and also many animals.” What is stunning is that God would care about these bad boys, but He does. That is a heart of compassion. That is God’s heart.
Think back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose violence and treatment of visitors to the city gave it a reputation that was not unlike that of Nineveh. The Lord had determined to judge the five cities of the plain called Sodom and Gomorrah, and he told Abraham that the outcry against the cities “is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”
Abraham asks the Lord, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of fifty righteous people in it?... The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people…I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
Then Abraham says, what if you find 45 righteous people, and the Lord says, for the sake of 45, I will spare it. So Abraham asks about 40, then 30, then 20, and finally ten, and God says, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” Think about this. God would not judge the cities if there were just ten righteous people. He would spare the cities for the sake of ten.
God hates evil and violence and injustice and unrighteousness. But He is equally concerned for those He created, and time after time, throughout the Old Testament, you see His patience, grace, and opportunity for people to repent or change their ways.
Psalm 8 reminds us of His love for His people. “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants, you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim in the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.”
The God of the Old Testament is the same as the New Testament. The difference, of course, is that we see God in the flesh in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. That changes everything because we see God up close and personal. We see how He interacted with people and His amazing grace. But make no mistake, the book of Jonah showcases that grace and love as well. And because of His compassion, Sin City was not destroyed when they repented.
Father, help me to see your gracious and righteous plan throughout the Scriptures. Thank you for your deep concern for all that you created and help me to have the same concern for people as you do. Amen
The Christian life is a life of repentance. That is the way of the cross. At the cross, Christ died and was raised to life so that we could die to sin and be raised as new people in His kingdom. It starts when we ask Him to be our Savior, but it continues daily as we live cruciform lives. That is the true Christian life, daily taking up our cross to follow Him. So likewise, salvation starts with repentance, but it continues daily as we work with the Holy Spirit to strip out of our lives the stuff that does not please God and put on those attributes of the Spirit that do. Seen in that light, repentance is a lifestyle rather than a one-time event.
I love how the author of Hebrews puts this. In Hebrews 11, we have the pantheon of heroes of the faith: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Samson, David, Samuel, and many more who lived lives of radical faith. Then in chapter 12:1-3, with these heroes of the faith in mind, the writer says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
The highest calling we could be called to is a life of radical faith and followership of Christ. But what gets in the way of that calling? As the writer says, those things that hinder and the sin that so easily entangles. Think about that description of sin. It entangles us. It distracts us. It holds us back. It weighs us down. It gets in our way and keeps us from running the race with freedom and energy.
What does the author tell us to do? He says, "Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles." Throw it off, get rid of it. In fact, do the same with things that may not be sinful but hinder our forward progress with Christ.
CS Lewis put it this way: "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased."
Satan loves to present us with substitutes for the life that Jesus wants us to have, but they are cheap and meant to detract from our happiness, joy, and service. This is why Paul often talks about a lifestyle where we take off those things that are not pleasing to God and put on those things that are. This is not a one-time thing but a daily choice.
Listen to Paul's comments in Ephesians 5. "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible - and everything illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand the Lord's will."
Genuine repentance is a daily practice. It is choosing to say no to sinful practices that displease God and hold us back. And to say yes to Him and choose to follow Him in joy and obedience.
Father, remind me today of things you find displeasing in my life so I can run the race without distractions or entangling sin. Give me the will to throw these off so I can run my race with perseverance. Amen.
Do you like short sermons? Here is one of the shortest sermons in History, Jonah 3:4. "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth."
The Ninevites knew who the God of the Jews was. They had conquered the Jews several times. Everyone in the neighborhood knew who Yahweh was. So how in the world did this short message bring about the repentance of a whole city? And a pagan audience at that, who had been antagonistic toward the Jews.
There was nothing sophisticated about Jonah's sermon. They could probably read his attitude of disgust toward them. It would have been hard to hide. Yet the whole city repented. How did that happen?
The answer is straightforward. It is God who convicts us of our sin and need. Not persuasive words. I have preached messages that were not that great and had people come to me and tell me how transformative it was. That is simply the Holy Spirit working in their hearts, regardless of what I said. Sometimes I wasn't even speaking on the topic that touched them. It is God who works in our hearts to bring change. It is the Holy Spirit. It is always the Holy Spirit.
This is how Paul described his preaching to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God's power."
Did you catch that? "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power."
Remember this: If God is convicting you, pay attention. Pay attention if He grips your heart on something because He is speaking. The Ninevites paid attention, and they were spared disaster. It was not Jonah's compassion or creative message that got their attention but the Holy Spirit.
If we want a movement of God in our congregations, we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will work among us. If we want to see a church of long tables and low walls where everyone is welcome, we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will show up. In every epistle of the New Testament that Paul wrote he speaks of his prayer for the people in that congregation. How often do we pray for our congregation?
It is prayer and the Holy Spirit that change people and motivate congregations to great things. We can have the best strategy and plan, but nothing will happen without God's power through His Spirit. In fact, the seven most scary words in Scripture are in John 15, where Jesus says, "Without me, you can do nothing."
Here is the funny thing. Jonah didn't even want the Ninevites to repent, but they did when God touched their hearts. So it all comes back to the Holy Spirit.
Remember when God touches you to pay attention to His Spirit. Remember to pray that God will be at work in your congregation. Remember when you minister to people who don't know Him that it will be the Holy Spirit that convinces them, not you. So talk to them and minister to them but talk more to God, who can change their hearts.
Father, thank you for the incredible power of your Spirit that could move an entire city to repentance with a very short one-sentence sermon. Remind us that it is always through your power that people change. Help me to be a person of prayer for others.
We read this in Jonah three. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened."
This is an amazing reaction to Jonah's teaching. Obviously, word spread quickly through the vast city. It may well be that Jonah's recent story was also known. I can imagine that he was bleached white from the acids in the fish's stomach and probably looked like death warmed over and was impossible to ignore. Whatever the cause, fear of God's impending judgment gripped the city from the king on down.
Sackcloth was the rough, cheap cloth used to transport grain. Putting on a sackcloth was a sign of humility and contriteness. It should be noted that the Ninevites, although much stronger than Israel, would have known of the Israelite God and the things God had done. They knew enough to believe that Jonah's prediction of their imminent destruction was a real threat. Besides, this was literally called Sin City in the day, and they also knew that whatever God did, they richly deserved it. So the king called everyone to turn from their evil ways and the violence that they were known for.
In this series, we have recognized God as a "Missionary God." Think about this. The Ninevites were evil and violent people. And their evil had reached a level that God would no longer ignore. Yet, despite their wickedness, God chose to give them a chance to repent - and they did. And in response, the text says, "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened." Jonah wasn't happy with God's grace, as we will see. The Israelites wanted the Ninevites totally destroyed. But the heart of God is not our heart. He does punish unrepentant evil, but His heart is that people repent and choose to follow Him. His heart is a heart of grace and love.
There are times with nations that God brings circumstances so dire that its people wake up and recognize their need for God. In the United States, we have had two Great Awakenings where hundreds of thousands of people came to Christ. I pray for that to happen once again. But unfortunately, it does not occur in good times but in hard times when we recognize our need for God's intervention.
In our lives, God can allow circumstances that also cause us to pay attention to Him. He loves us so much that He wants to get our attention and wants us to turn from those areas of sin that we know are not in alignment with His will for our lives.
Repentance is a beautiful thing. When we repent, we declare that we will follow Jesus rather than our base desires. Repentance leads to God's blessing as it did with the Ninevites. It is a reminder and invitation for us to do the same today.
Father, thank you for your incredible patience and love. And thank you for not leaving me in my sinful ways but calling me to repentance and change. I am deeply grateful. Amen.
With Jesus, no failure is final if we are willing to repent and once again follow. Jonah discovered this about his God having prayed the prayer of a man in deep need. And so we read at the end of Jonah 2 and the beginning of Jonah 3, And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.
Notice that God’s call and instructions had not changed. What had changed was Jonah’s willingness to listen and obey. I don’t know about you, but I am a member of the second chance club. Maybe the third or fourth chance group. Life gives us plenty of opportunities to fail and start over. That has been my story and I suspect you have your own stories on this front.
I remember a time when I had gone through a very traumatic season and I questioned whether God could still use me. A friend flew halfway around the world to spend a weekend with me, listen to my story, pray with me and encourage me. I will never forget his words. God is a God of second, third, fourth, chances. People may not want you to succeed but He always does. Don’t worry about what people think, but only what God thinks. He is the God of second chances, third chances. He wants to use you and He wants to bless you.
I know many who carry great wounds. Some are self-inflicted, some are inflicted by others. Some are even inflicted by God’s people who can be cruel and unkind. They make you question your usefulness to God. They make you question your worthiness to serve Him. Sometimes the shame, real or imparted on you by others, just wants to make you curl up in a ball and become invisible. It can be deeply painful. But wait!
I think of Jesus and Peter. You remember that Jesus had told Peter that he would betray Him and Peter said that would never ever happen. Yet it did on the very night of Jesus’ crucifixion. When Peter realized what he had done he was devastated. I cannot imagine the guilt, sadness, and depression that Peter must have felt over his betrayal of His Lord. In terms of screwing up, it doesn’t get much better than this.
In one of the most poignant scenes in the New Testament, Jesus meets His disciples on the beach. You remember that he called out to them in their boat and asked if they had caught anything. They said no. He told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat and they were nearly swamped with fish. Peter immediately realized it was Jesus, jumped into the water and swam to shore.
After eating breakfast together on the beach, we read this account. It is found in John 21 and is the close of the Gospel of John. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
You remember that Peter had betrayed Jesus three times. Now, Jesus asks him three times, “Do you love me?” There were no words of recrimination, no accusations, no reminding Peter of his betrayal. Just three questions and His final statement. “Follow me.” That is the God of second chances. That is grace. That is mercy. That is God’s love.
Can you imagine the weight that was lifted from Peter in that conversation? And remember that it was at the beach that Peter was first called by Jesus to follow him three years earlier. Now at a beach, He graciously reinstates that call and softly says, follow me.
If you need a second chance, a third chance or a fourth chance, whatever the number is, allow God to say to you today. It’s OK. Follow me. Again. Answer my call, again. I died for your sin and was raised for your salvation. Follow me.
Father, what can I say? Unlike so many around me, you are ever gracious and loving. Thank you for giving Jonah and Peter second chances and thank you for doing the same for me. Amen
There is nothing more amazing than the grace of God. One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning, who wrote, among other books, The Ragamuffin Gospel. In His autobiography, "All is Grace," he writes this:
"My message, unchanged for more than fifty years, is this: God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be because nobody is as they should be. It is the message of grace…A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five…A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin, wraps him up, and decides to throw a party. No ifs, ands, or buts…This grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us…Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough…Jesus is enough."
Grace is enough. This is what Jonah was about to experience. He is doing battle with God, but God, rather than doing battle with him, simply gives him grace. That is our God.
We pick up the story in Jonah 1:11. "The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, "Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased." Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights."
Jonah fully expected to die that day. But, and it is a big but….God chose to give him grace and preserve his life by providing a huge fish to swallow him. And in case you think that's got to be a fable, Jesus spoke of the event in the Gospels as an actual event. He believed it, and I do as well.
You see, God is consistent. He is consistent in wanting people to repent and follow Him. He consistently gives people second, third, and fourth chances in his love. He is consistent in wanting us to repent. And most of all, He is consistent with his amazing grace in our lives. Yes, He pursues us when we resist. And yes, He wants our obedience. But, (and it is a big But…) he does so with grace time and time and time again.
Again, my friend Brennan Manning on God's grace: "That in the end, my sin will never outweigh God's love. That the Prodigal can never outrun the Father. That I am not measured by the good I do but by the grace I accept. That being lost is a prerequisite to being found. That living a life of faith is not lived in the light; it is discovered in the dark. That not being a saint here on earth will not necessarily keep you from being in that number when the march begins.
The big fish God deliberately provided was a gift of grace. Jonah thought he would die, but God said I will rescue you. Jonah thought he was done, but God said I will reboot your mission. As Manning says, "But if I've learned anything about the world of grace, it's that failure is always a chance for a do-over." And that is what God is doing with Jonah.
Father: Thank you for your grace. Undeserved, often unasked for. Always surprising when we experience it. Thank you….thank you. Amen
Yesterday we asked ourselves, "have we ever run from God" and I suggested that all of us do that from time to time. We looked at some possible reasons Jonah ran, thinking He could outwit God. Today we want to look at some of the reasons we resist the call of God. Whether we are actively running or passively resisting, we are doing just what Jonah did.
I think that in many cases, we resist the call of God out of fear. In fact, the currency of our world is fear, while the coinage of the Kingdom is faith. I recall many conversations with people who shared their struggle with financial generosity with God. The fear is that they will not have enough if they tithe or are generous with God. And so they run by simply not being obedient to His promptings and teaching. I think Jonah was also fearful. The Ninevites were known to be violent, ruthless, barbaric people. I am sure Jonah had a tremendous amount of fear in his stomach as he tried to visualize what would happen to him if he went to that wicked city. Fear is a normal human emotion but always remember that while fear is the currency of our world, the coinage of the Kingdom is faith and trust in the one who calls us.
We can also resist the call of God out of lifestyle choices. Many years ago, when my father was church planting in the Chicago suburbs, he told his elders that God was calling him to medical school and missions. Some very successful business people were on that elder board; one of them founded one of the largest businesses in Chicagoland. They asked him, "Why would you throw away your life by going into missions?" Like God's call to Jonah, that decision didn't make sense. And from a human perspective, both parties were right, but from a divine perspective, they were wrong. What we sometimes don't see when God calls us to do something is the beauty of what He is calling us to. It may impact our lifestyle, but it never affects our happiness, and the latter is far more critical than the former.
Another reason we can resist God's call is our reputation or what others might think of us if we do what He has asked us to do. Think of Noah building a massive ark on dry land because God told him to do so. As a result, he was the world's laughingstock... until it started to rain.
As a church, we have taken a firm stand on God's call for racial reconciliation and being a church where all are welcome: Anyone and everyone. This is not always popular because our lives have become so immersed in politics rather than Biblical teaching. As well as our upbringing about who is welcome in a church and who is not. Swimming against the tide is not easy; the easy way out is to fit in and not rock the boat. Yet, when God calls us to do something, He asks us to come out on the water with him, even in the storm, as Peter did when he got out of the boat. The other eleven disciples figured getting out of the boat was inconvenient. Peter took the chance and experienced a life-changing lesson.
I think the fourth reason we often resist God is that of convenience. God is all about bringing transformation to individuals, institutions, and communities. He is an active God, involved in our world, and He calls us to actively work to bring bits of His Kingdom here on earth. That means that our agenda is no longer simply what we desire but what He desires for us to be about.
Saying yes to God and his calling on our lives and hearts is what it means to follow Jesus. As Paul told us in Romans 12:1-2, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
If God is calling you, prompting you, convicting you, encouraging you in any way, say yes in faith, knowing you can trust Him and that He wants to use you significantly in our world. When we follow, we experience His joy. When we resist, we rob ourselves of His joy.
Father. Forgive me when I drag my feet when you call me. Give me greater faith in your plan for my life and how I can contribute to your work in this world. Thank you for your great kindness to me. Amen
There is a fair amount of humor in Jonah’s decision to run away from God and the assignment he had been given. As if he could hide from God! The one who sees everything and orchestrates our lives. But that didn’t stop Jonah from trying: He was dead set against going to Nineveh, so he hopped a ship to Joppa and then to Tarshish to run from God.
So Jonah finds himself on a ship, and “the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’”
“Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.’ They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, ‘Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’
He answered, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ This terrified them, and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so).”
Have you ever run from God or something He wanted of you? I think the honest answer for all of us is yes. We may have resisted His truth before we said yes to him. Many of us have areas of our lives where the Holy Spirit has prompted us to act, but we are still resisting. Maybe you have had a conviction on something but have chosen up till now to resist acting on that conviction. You may be debating whether you want to bring an area of your life into alignment with what He asks of you.
There are many ways to run from God, as well as many reasons. At the core, Jonah resisted because it was not convenient for him to do what God had asked of him. Nineveh was a dangerous place for him, especially if you were calling it to repentance for being wicked. He also didn’t think they deserved mercy. And his own reputation with the Israelites was potentially at risk. “Why would you do this?” he would be asked. He didn’t want to look like a fool.
As you read the book of Jonah you have to ask the question: Is the book more about the Ninevites or Jonah himself. The answer is both. God wanted the Ninevites to repent, but He also wanted Jonah to understand His heart, and He wanted Jonah to see life as He sees life. And that is true for us as well. When God calls us to do something, it is because it is best for us and His work in our world. And that is why God does not just let us go our own way and do our own thing, but he keeps trying to convince us to follow Him wholeheartedly. Not because He is a capricious God but because He is a good God who wants the best for us.
And so, God brings a storm. And Jonah immediately knows that He is the reason and that He cannot run from God. Because God loves us, He keeps after us because He is our Good Shepherd and wants the best for us. John 10:10 says, "I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full." But life to the full depends on our followership of the Good Shepherd. When we respond to His promptings, we participate in His work in this world and experience the life He wants us to live.
Remember this: God will do what He needs to get our attention because He loves us enough to convince us to follow Him wholeheartedly. Jonah is a reminder that life is easier when we simply respond to his loving call. We cannot run from God. He cares too much to let us do that.
Father, I admit that there have been times when I ran from you by not following the promptings of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Forgive me. Thank you for chasing after me in your love and grace. Help me in those areas where I might be resisting you today. Amen
For many years I was involved in international missions, traveling to some 60 countries where our organization worked. It was always interesting when I spoke in churches about working in difficult places, whether closed Muslim or Communist countries or areas where we Americans were not particularly welcome. The question was often, "why would we care about them?" As if to ask, "Do they deserve to hear the Good News of the Gospel?" Many thought not. After all, these were enemies of our country, so why go and share the Gospel?
Here is what we often forget. Our God is a missionary God. In fact, many people asked Jesus the same question about why he spent time with sinners and who some thought were the scum of society. Jesus simply answered, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." (Matthew 9:12).
When you think about it, neither you nor I deserved to hear of Jesus. We heard because God cared. We are simply recipients of His grace.
And so we come to the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. Of course, we know the story of Jonah because of Jonah’s encounter with a fish when he tried to run away from God and God’s call on his life.
So the story starts in Jonah 1. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
Why did Jonah run from God’s assignment? It is simple. He didn’t believe that the Ninevites deserved to hear about God. To give some context, the year is approximately 760 BC. Nineveh was a large city, had an evil reputation, was ruthless in its treatment of captured cities and citizens, and for a time was the largest city in the ancient world and the seat of the neo-Assyrian empire. Bluntly put, the Ninevites were bad bros, and everyone knew their reputation and feared them. Its reputation among historians was as a great, lawless, and, eventually, ruined city. Its wickedness is so great in Jonah’s time that God sends Jonah to preach to them.
Jonah had no intention of cooperating with God. To him, Nineveh didn't deserve the opportunity to repent! They deserved nothing but God’s destruction. But Jonah, and indeed you and I, often miss the heart of God, which is a missionary heart and always has been. It is why Jesus’ last words to his followers before His ascension was what we call the Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20).
As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17).
This is God's heart and what Jonah didn't like. Why share the good news with bad people? Why give those who deserved to be judged for their evil a second chance? Because of God's heart. The same heart that He calls us to have. A heart for needy people. A heart that people hear the Good News of a good God. A heart for those who have never heard of God's love.
Jonah didn’t like God’s mercy. The nation of Israel didn’t think the Ninevites deserved anything but destruction. But they forgot what we often forget. We didn’t deserve the Good news of God either! Yet, Jesus made sure that we heard, and we are now a part of His family.
Here is a truth for us to remember. Those we look down on, those we think are evil or undeserving, are the same people who need to hear the Good News. That is the heart of God and the heart He also desires us to have. Remember, it is the sick who need a doctor.
Father, forgive me when I look down on others and don’t see them as worthy of your grace. Neither was I. But you gave me a chance to respond to you. Help me to do the same with others. Thank you for your missionary heart, and I pray that your heart will become my heart.
Have you ever been surprised when you prayed for something and God gave you what you prayed for? Prayer is funny that way. We ask God for something that we really need but many times we don’t actually believe that He will answer in the way we desire. We don’t actually believe!
In the days after the resurrection of Jesus, Herod was persecuting the early church and seeing that the people were pleased he proceeded to seize the Apostle Peter, intending to put him on trial. As Peter was sitting in prison, being guarded by four squads of four soldiers each - to ensure that he didn’t get away, the church in Jerusalem was earnestly praying for him.
The night before his trail, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, secured by two chains with sentries guarding the entrance. “Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,’ the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.’” (Acts 12:6-11).
That was a spectacular, miraculous and amazing answer to the prayer of the church that Peter would be released. But when it dawned on Peter that he was free, “he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. (Acts 12:12-17)
Here is the irony. The very people who were praying for Peter didn’t believe that he could be at the door! How often we pray and pray but don’t believe in the back of our minds that God would actually answer. And if He does, we have a hard time believing it.
God does not always answer our prayers in the way we want Him to. But we need to live with the faith that He has the power to do what we ask if it is in line with His will. Praying with faith is the only way to pray. He is capable of doing anything. And when we don’t have the faith, we simply say, “Lord, increase my faith where it is weak.” He can do that as well.
Father, would you increase my faith? Would you be as bold in answering my prayers as I am in praying them? Show your power to those who don’t believe. Help me believe! Amen
Our prayer lives can be rich or very shallow. When our prayers strictly revolve around ourselves and our needs it tends to be on the shallow side as it is far more about us than it is about God. About our desires rather than His desires. In fact, there is a practice that separates shallow prayer from rich, God centered prayer, and that is the subject of Psalm 1.
“Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”
The Psalmist starts by talking about what the Christ follower does not do: walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of mockers. All of these simply reference men and women who choose not to model their lives after the values of God. When we ignore Him we reject His ways and these three descriptions fit us.
In contrast, the man who is Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on that law day and night. Here is the one thing that differentiates shallow prayer from deep prayer. It is the practice of meditating on the law or thinking deeply about Scripture on a daily basis. Here is why it makes a difference. Meditation is like time exposure to God and it is as we meditate on His word that our minds are brought into alignment with His. In the process we start to think more like Him and to pray for things that God deeply cares about.
In Hebrews 4:12-13 we read this about God’s word. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Scripture is powerful. Scripture and meditation is even more powerful as it penetrates deeply in our soul. Then you add prayer as we literally pray that what God’s word says would become a part of our own lives, and you have a life changing combination that changes everything in our lives. That is the secret of a deep prayer life.
God desires that we bring all our requests to Him. He invites us to do so in many places. He also desires that our hearts begin to align with His heart and that we start to understand what is important to Him and make those things important to us. As we do so through Scripture, meditation, and prayer we become deeper people and we start to care about those things He cares about.
Father, would you reveal more of your heart to me as I intentionally meditate on your word? Remind me to pray through the Scriptures I meditate on asking you to make my heart like yours. Amen.
Well, you say, I would never want to scare off unbelievers. But we do it all the time and we use an age-old technique that has been honed to perfection by some. In fact, there is a great example of this from Jesus’s day in Matthew 9:9-13.
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Tax collectors were members of the ancient mafia. They had the power to steal, bankrupt those who didn’t comply and collect all the tax they could. They had a quota they had to send to the Emperor or local ruler and they could pocket the rest. Thus they had a built in incentive to raise all that they could to the detriment of the population.
So here came Jesus and He tells Matthew, who then became a disciple, to follow him. Matthew threw a dinner party at his house for a bunch of other tax collectors and “sinners” (the terms could be used synonymously). The Pharisees, who were the religious of the day, asked the disciples why Jesus would spend time with the riff raff. That is what many do today when we stay clear of people whose lives are messed up. They are not the nice people, the safe people, or the religious. They are messy and have a lot of issues, maybe addictions, are sometimes crude in their language, maybe even a criminal record. Whatever it is, many believers stay clear as did the Pharisees. And that is a proven strategy to scare off unbelievers. After all, they can read our judgment and disapproval. So they too stay clear.
Not so Jesus. Rather than judging, staying clear or huddling with the righteous, Jesus is right there in the middle of the party. He came, after all for the sick, not the healthy. Not only that but He quotes an Old Testament passage that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. He desires that our hearts are broken for the broken more than that we keep our religious traditions. We belong among the broken so that we can love them like Jesus, rather than keeping our hands clean with our prayer meetings where we can pray that the lost will somehow find Him.
He would ask, if not you - Who? If not now - when? If not compassion for brokenness, what? The broken know they are broken and they are some of the most open to the love and good news of Jesus. When was the last time you were found among the broken, on purpose? And “on mission” for Jesus?
Father, forgive me for judging the broken more than I love the broken. Forgive me for staying safe with my Christian friends rather than engaging my unbelieving friends. Develop in me your mercy for the lost and my willingness to engage them in your name. Amen.
We have an uncanny ability to be highly critical of others and under critical of ourselves. In fact, if you listen to the normal chatter in the workplace, church, or neighborhood, you will normally hear a fair amount of analysis of other people and their lifestyle, decisions or personality. Of course, only those not there will be analyzed. This plays out in marriage as well where one spouse or both are critical of the other spouse. And the closer one knows another, the more areas they can be critical of.
This is a trap. It is a trap of pride because we feel the right to judge others. It is a trap of focus because rather than focusing on our own issues we focus on the issue of others, which of course is more comfortable than dealing with our own stuff. It is a spiritual trap because the focus on others robs us of the appropriate focus on ourselves and bringing our lives into alignment with Christ’s. It is a trap because we have little ability to change what others do but full ability to change what we do.
Jesus spoke to this trap in the Sermon on the Mount. “You look at the bit of sawdust in your friend’s eye. But you pay no attention to the piece of wood in your own eye. How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye’? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye? You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend’s eye. - Luke 6:37-42, NIRV
When it comes to judging and evaluating people, our first and most important focus should be on ourselves rather than others. Anything else is prideful hypocrisy, yet we do it all too often. David got it right in the Psalms when he would pray that God would evaluate and test his heart to see if there was any wicked way in him. His focus was first on his own heart and soul and a deep desire to see His life reflect that of God’s.
Here is something to consider. What would happen if every time we thought or said something critical of others, we reminded ourselves that the focus should not be on them but on us first. Ironically, we are often critical of others for what we ourselves are guilty of. We project on them our own issues. Self evaluation is far more important than other evaluation. It is also more humble and real. It is easy to be critical of others. It is far harder to face our own truth.
Don’t get caught in this trap. Instead, be gracious toward others and more reflective of our own lives. We will be better for it, and please Jesus in the process.
Father. Please forgive me for the many, many times I have been critical and judgmental of others while ignoring my own stuff. Give me a gracious spirit toward others and a reflective spirit toward myself. Help me become more like you. Amen.
We often don’t realize how much of our personal worldview is dictated by the tapes we play in our head. Those tapes often come from our childhoods or our assumptions about ourselves. Often these tapes are fake news that has a toxic hold on our thinking. Here are some examples.
“God cannot use me because of the things I have done in my life. I will never get victory over my habitual sin. If people knew the real me they would not love me. I need to live up to other people’s expectations in order to be loved. If only I worked harder at my spiritual life, God would love me more. I am unworthy of God’s love - or anyone else’s. I will never conquer my constant anxiety about what people think of me.”
Every one of these thoughts is false. They are toxic thoughts that rob us of self worth, of peace, and they diminish the joy Jesus made us for. In John 10:10 Jesus says that the Evil One comes to steal, kill and destroy. How better to do that in your life than to make you believe lies like the ones above that keep you from experiencing what Jesus wants to give us: life and life to the fullest.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” You see, that is our battleground. What we believe either keeps us from experiencing true joy and blessing, or contributes to it. But how do we transform our minds?
In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul gives us a key answer. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Strongholds are those things that hold us back and keep us from being all that God wants us to be. Often those are strongholds of the mind. Things we believe that are not accurate, tapes we play that are strongholds of the one who wants to rob us of joy. How do we demolish those strongholds? Paul says, “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Literally, Paul says, arrest those thoughts that are not true and replace them with God’s truth.
When our thought is “I am unworthy,” we replace that lie with this truth. “God has made me worthy.” When our thought is “God can’t use me because of my sin,” we replace that lie with the truth that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. When we think, “I cannot overcome that habitual sin,” replace that lie with the truth that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Taking our thoughts captive is one of the most powerful things we can do because falsehoods repeated in our thinking diminish our lives while thinking truthfully contributes to wholeness and spiritual well being.
Be conscious today of what you think and ask yourself, “Is that thought true or false?” If it is false, replace it with God’s truth about yourself. Take your thoughts captive and experience life like God designed it to be.
Father. Would you help me to see the truth about myself from your perspective as the one who has redeemed, forgiven and called me to join you in your work? By your Spirit, help me to be aware of the untruths I tell myself and replace them with your truth. Amen.
Our world has a pecking order that is based on money, power, race, beauty, popularity, education, occupation and where one fits in the socio-economic strata. It has always been that way in a fallen world. But there is another world - the Kingdom of God - where those rules don’t apply. Jesus has a way of turning conventional wisdom and practice on its head and this area is no exception.
Writing to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Paul writes this. “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’”
God doesn’t play by man's rules. Or Hollywood’s. Take Mother Teresa, that tiny woman who worked exclusively among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. She was from a place almost no one knows - in what was, at the time Yugoslavia, who became one of the most famous Roman Catholic nuns and a missionary to India. Yet, this poor, tiny woman, with no money and no power and no social standing ended up telling the wealthy and powerful truth about God, His values and His love and compassion. As Paul said, “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.”
God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That was true of David, a shepherd, Paul, a zealot, Timothy, a shy kid, Mother Teresa, and you, and I. He shows His power through people who have no power. He shows His wisdom through people who the world thinks are unsophisticated. Why? Because He is the giver of true life, true wisdom and true power. It is Him working in us that makes the difference. You see it has never been about us but always about Him.
God wants to use you, an ordinary person - today - in ways that please Him. You say, “I am not important.” God says, “That’s the point. It is not about your importance or wisdom or wealth or power. It is about Me who accomplishes my work through you.” All we can say is WOW! He wants to use me!
There is nothing more satisfying than to be used by God in small or big ways to bring bits of heaven to earth. To show love when others don’t, to help when others cannot be bothered, to speak truth when others are silent and to be the hands and feet of Jesus when others need Him. You may be considered ordinary people but you are God’s people carrying out His work.
Father, I want to thank you for saving me and using me. I am amazed that the God of the universe would not only care about me and adopt and redeem me but then use me to do His work in a world that focuses on wealth, power, and status. Thank you. I am available to be used by you today. Amen.
Nothing worthwhile happens without opposition. Someone will tell you 're crazy, the idea won’t work, you should not put energy into that, or there are those who just want to shut you down. They may not understand what God has put in your heart and called you to, may simply be jealous or it could be the evil one who doesn’t like that you are pushing into darkness with God’s light. Most of us have experienced that.
This happened to Nehemiah when he was doing an impossible task from most people’s perspective, rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem after a remnant of the Jews came back from captivity. There were enemies of the Jews and especially Nehemiah - Sanballat, Tobia and Geshem - who conspired against him and tried to shut down the rebuilding process.
Four times they had sent Nehemiah a message to come and meet with them. The meeting was a diversion where they could do Nehemiah harm or convince his leaders to shut down the building of the wall which would protect the city. Four times they invited Nehemiah to their consultation and four times he said no. The fifth time, they did what so many do today, sent an open letter to Nehemiah which of course was public and spread gossip and untruths. We do it by copying people on emails or using social media in our day.
I love how they started their letter. “It is reported among the nations - and Geshem says it is true - that the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall” so come let us confer before the king hears about it.
In other words he is spreading rumors and disinformation, fake news as it were, to stir up dust, intimidate and threaten Nehemiah with the King hearing their rumors. This was serious stuff but Nehemiah had faith and grit and was not deterred.
First, he simply sent a short reply “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” No explaining, no defensiveness, no fear. He just called a spade a spade. Second he prayed to God saying, “Now strengthen my hands.” They then sent a gentleman to prophecy against him - what I call “God talk” to force his hand. He saw through it and ignored it.
When God calls us to do something, opposition will often come. Don’t cave. If God asks you to do something He will provide a way through the difficulties. Don’t let anything deter you. Be unapologetic, ignore the criticism and move forward with faith and prayer and grit.
Father, give me the courage to hear your voice and the courage to keep going when things get tough. Help me trust you, rely on you and keep going, knowing that you are more powerful than any who would detract from your call. Thank you for using me. Amen.
You have been uniquely gifted by God to make a contribution to the common good of your church. Think about that. God has gifted you in a specific way and that gifting should contribute to the common good and to the unity of those with whom you find a church home.
This is what the Apostle of Paul says. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Unity in the church is not as frequent as we would desire. Many of us have left churches that were in conflict and where there seemed to be more ill will than good will. Where this is the case, it is often because we are not operating out of our God-given giftedness but in the flesh.
Seven times in these verses, Paul emphasizes the fact that these gifts are given to us by the same Lord, the same God and the same Spirit. God, in his infinite wisdom, distributes His gifts to His people by His Spirit for His work in the church. As Paul says, each of our gifts contribute to the common good of the congregation.
Now it is interesting that Paul was writing to the church in Corinth here which was a very divided church. Church divisions are not a new thing. They exist because we often live out of our lower nature rather than God’s nature. So Paul is making the point to the Corinthians that if each of them were living out God’s call on their life with His gifting, that the church would be unified rather than divided. After all, each of our spiritual gifts are given by the same Lord. A divided church is a sign that its people are not contributing to the common good through the use of their gifts. In fact, many churches have more spectators than they do participants and spectators find it easy to express their opinions without getting involved.
So here are the questions today. What gift has God given to you? Are you actively using it for the common good in your church? And do you have a commitment to the unity of the church, knowing that the same Lord gives each of us different gifts for the common good? Are you a spectator or participant?
Father, I thank you today that you have gifted me uniquely to contribute to your work in the local church and in your kingdom. Forgive me when I have been a spectator rather than a participant. I pray that through the use of my gifts that I would contribute to the common good of my church. May we be unified in you as you are the Lord of each one of us. Amen.
What are you proud of? All of us have accomplishments and have achieved goals that we can look back on with pride - especially when we had to work for them, exert ourselves and go beyond what we thought we could do. My wife, Cleo, is proud, for instance, that she has a college degree, being the first generation of her family from a rural province in the Philippines to get a degree. The distance from that fishing village to a University education is a long one but she and her siblings all went to the university, the one who went before helping the one behind, financially. It is a big deal and one to be proud of.
Pride is not always a bad thing. But for us who follow Jesus there is a source of pride that ought to go before all others. Listen to what the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24.
This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
When you think of what people are often proud of, they often fall into three areas. We are proud of how wise we are and, therefore, what we have accomplished in business or some other arena. Others are proud of what they can do through their connections, ability to get things done or negotiate. Or, we are proud of our riches, the stuff we own and therefore the stuff we can do based on our money. I know people in all three of these categories who are not only proud of their accomplishments, ability or possessions but who want others to know what they have done and become.
God raises our sights to a much higher level when he says this: “But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me.” Above all other things, the most important is that we know Him. Now let's qualify that because there are many who know a lot about God: they can quote scripture, debate theology, argue doctrine and even tell you what you should do on the basis of their knowledge. But that is not what God says here.
He says to boast that they have the understanding to know him, not simply to know about Him. To know Him is to have a personal relationship with Him, to be personally connected with Him.
And what does He want us to know about Him? “‘That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” He wants us to personally experience his kindness, justice and righteousness and in knowing this about Him, practice them in our own lives. Knowing Him and His character should be the thing of highest value in our lives and as such the thing that we pursue above all other things. And in the end, if we are going to boast, this is what we should boast about: We know God and His character and we have become more like Him in the process.
Father, like many I have things that I am proud of. But teach me that above all these things it is knowing you that matters. It is your character in me that matters. Because only these things cross the line from time to eternity. Amen.
My major in college was Ancient History. I studied this discipline because I was fascinated with the Old Testament and wanted to understand the context in which the Old Testament books were written. Because I spent many years traveling the world, leading a mission agency, I had the opportunity to see the sites of much of that history: Roman, Phonecian, Jewish, Arab, Asian, and many more. There is nothing more moving to me than to walk the paths that have been traveled for thousands of years. Somehow it links the past to the now and many of the lessons learned then are being learned today once again.
The Old Testament also talks about ancient roads. For instance, in Jeremiah 6:16, the Lord says through Jeremiah, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
All of us experience crossroads in our lives. Junctures where we must make choices as to which road we will take. It can happen daily in small or large ways. It is those times when we have a choice whether we will choose to follow God or go our own way. And candidly, the modern thing to do is to follow modern mores and practices, and often our own desires. I am sure you can think of any number of examples of where you have stood at such a crossroad.
What is the Lord’s counsel when we stand at those crossroads? First, He says look. Consider, think about the options that are available to you, and each of us do have options. But then He says, here is what you should do: Ask for the ancient paths - the paths that I told you to walk in. They are not modern in terms of the values of our society but they are true and good paths because they are the paths and ways of God.
These, says the Lord, are the good ways and if you will walk in them you will find rest for your souls. Here is the irony. When we choose paths that are modern but not in line with God’s teaching we never find peace. In fact, we find complications, sadness, lack of satisfaction and trouble.
But the ancient ways, the ancient path, the path of the Lord gives us rest for our souls. That is peace, satisfaction, goodness and a sense of well being. Those ancient paths connect us back to the teachings of God which come from a place of holiness, righteousness, peace and love. Given for our well being.
Remember this week when you stand at a crossroads and have choices to make. Look and ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it and you will find rest for your soul.
Father, teach me the joy of your ancient ways. The roads that connect me and my generation to your timeless truths for my life. Help me to choose the old way, not the new way. The good way, not the compromised way. You are the Ancient of Days, the beginning and the end and the author of the good and ancient paths.
The apostle Paul was a mentor to Timothy who became a pastor in the New Testament. I love to read Paul’s advice to Timothy because it is so practical and relevant in our day. In fact, we find the same challenges in our churches today that Paul counsels Timothy on in his personal letters to him.
Timothy was a young man when Paul wrote his second letter. In 2 Timothy 2:22 - 26, Paul gives Timothy four words that are practical for each of us today: They are flee, pursue, avoid and practice - two negative and two positive admonitions.
Here is the passage: “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”
First, flee or run from “the evil desires of youth.” These are the sinful temptations that come to us all and which young people who are exploring their oats are especially prone to. For each of us those evil desires may be different depending on our temperament but they are those things that we know are not right. Don’t just walk away, says Paul, but run from them. They will hurt you.
Second, pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace. I love those words. They are the very things that make us look like Jesus. Think about relationships and character that is infused with righteousness, faith, love and peace. Think of the difference these character traits would make in our divided and conflict- filled world.
Third, avoid quarrels and resentfulness. Both of these disrupt relationships and poison our own hearts. They hurt others and us. Quarrels create resentfulness and resentfulness can create quarrels. Both contribute to conflict rather than peace. Paul puts these in perspective when he says “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.” How many relationships among Christians are fractured because of these issues that, in the end, make no difference.
Finally, practice kindness and teach or counsel others with gentleness and truth. I have noticed a trend in our day to use truth as a weapon. There is often a harshness to it that is at odds with the gracious manner of Jesus who shared truth in truth and grace. It is why people actually listened to His truth. He did not use truth as a cudgel but communicated it with gentle grace.
Like John Lennon who wrote the song Imagine, I imagine a community where relationships look like this. Where people are truly pursuing the character of Jesus and running from the crass and ungodly practices of our world. The result is a kind of relationship that is uniquely like Jesus.
Father, teach me to avoid the evil and pursue the character of Jesus. Remind me often that my relationships should be characterized by righteousness, faith, love and peace. When people are around me, I pray that they will see you in me! Amen.
World events have many asking if the second coming of Christ is near. It is a natural question as many of the signs that Jesus and the prophets gave seem to have been fulfilled or are being fulfilled in our lifetime. In my youth there was a greater emphasis on prophecy in Scripture than there is today. Books like “The Late Great Planet Earth” were widely read, as was the film, “A Thief in the Night.” Larry Norman’s song, “I wish we’d all been ready” and more recently the Left Behind series have both intrigued many and caused fear that somehow, we would miss the moment.
Even in the early church there was speculation about when Jesus would return. Here is what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
We don’t talk about it much but Jesus is going to return and it will be a surprise to many who are preoccupied with their own affairs, living life in the moment and asleep to the spiritual realities of life. His return will be a great day for those who know Him but a dreadful day for those who don’t. That last statement ought to be an encouragement to us to share the Good News of Jesus with those who don’t know Him because their eternal destiny is at stake.
How then should we live in light of His return to this earth? Paul uses the analogy of light and darkness, night and day. He calls us children of the light and children of the day. In other words, we are to live wide awake spiritually, paying attention to those things that Jesus wants us to focus on rather than sleepwalking through life.
In fact, we are to live in light of His return whether it takes place in our lifetime or not. Our words, actions, attitudes, and priorities have eternal meaning. Those whose focus is on joining God in His work in this world will see the results of that focus in eternity when we are with Him. This is why Paul says to be “self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” We are metaphorically dressed for battle, taking the offense for God and the defense against the Evil One. We live awake, engaged and ready.
Father, it is easy to forget the eternal perspective in all the activities of life. Remind me often to be awake and engaged in Your work. I want my life to reverberate through eternity because of the opportunity I have to serve you today. Amen.
Our world is increasingly polarized and it is easy for us to judge others who don’t believe what we do politically, theologically or in how they choose to live their lives. I remember a time when my kids were teenagers and they announced to us that their friends' parents believed that we were bad parents because of how we raised the boys and what we allowed them to do. In fact, we can find many reasons to judge one another within the body of Christ. Even what a speaker wears on the platform can become a subject of judgment and public comment.
The tendency to judge others for their convictions or lifestyle choices is nothing new. It was happening in the church in Rome and Paul devoted considerable attention to this topic in Romans 14 and 15. The controversy was over whether people could eat food offered to idols as the pagans regularly did, how one practiced the sabbath, and other issues where people’s convictions differed.
Paul counseled the believers in Rome to extend to one another space and grace. Space to make decisions based on their conscience in areas of life where there is no obvious right or wrong, and grace to resist the temptation to judge or look down on others for choices they make. Paul reminded the Romans of three things in this regard.
First, that we all make choices that we believe honor God, so why would we judge one another? “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” Romans 14:7-8
Second, we will give an account for the choices we make to God one day. It is not our place to judge others but to ensure we are living in a way that pleases God. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.” Romans 14:9-13
Third, Paul uses the example of Christ, who accepts us, to encourage us to accept one another. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15:7.
There is a wonderful beauty in the church when we are able to encourage one another, accept one another, and give the space and grace that Jesus gives to us. The world has enough divisiveness and we are called to unity, peace, grace and patience with one another. That is a congregation that is inviting and loving.
Father, forgive me for my tendency to judge my brothers and sisters when they don’t agree with me or live like me. My judgment of them is a sign of my own sinful nature. As you have given me space and grace, help me to extend that to others. Amen.
How we see our lives in relation to God’s work in this world has a lot to do with how we finish our race for Jesus. It is a race toward a finish line and if you are a Jesus follower you are running that race. However, it is possible for us to forget that we are in that race and instead simply focus on our concerns and what Jesus calls the cares and concerns of the world.
As Christ followers, we don’t live for ourselves but for Jesus. Toward the end of his life, Paul knew that God wanted him to go to Jerusalem. He also had the sense from Jesus that he would suffer for his faith there. In Acts 20 we have a poignant scene as Paul said farewell to the Ephesian elders who had come to see him on his journey at Miletus. This was part of his farewell message to the elders.
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
One of the marks of Paul’s life was his commitment to follow Jesus wherever He led him. He is on his way to Jerusalem and he has been warned that prison and hardships are facing him. That did not deter him. Rather, he makes this amazing statement: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
Paul understood that his life did not belong to him. He had been bought by Jesus through His death and resurrection. He had been bought with the price of the blood of Jesus. He also knew that he was running a race for Jesus and his goal was to complete the work God had given him.
Have you considered the fact that your life does not belong to you and that you are running a race for Jesus? Do you know what it is that God wants you to accomplish in your life? If not, why not ask Him. He will show you if you ask. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 2:10. “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Each of us has a task He wants us to complete. These are called good works which God prepared for us as we serve Him.
How are you doing in your race? Are you focused on your own concerns or God’s? Are you asking Him to direct your steps as Paul did or are you directing your own steps? Can you trust Him in times of trouble and hardship or do you want a life of ease? You are running a race. The thing we need to consider is whether it is our race or God’s.
Father, thank you for the reminder that I am running a race for you. Help me to understand the work you have for me and empower me by your Spirit to finish the race well. I want to be able to say like Paul that “my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.” Amen.
Have you ever faced a challenge or situation that you knew you could not manage by yourself. A situation where you said to yourself that only God could get you through this one. That if Jesus doesn’t show up you don’t know what you would do. There are times in life that you just know you cannot make it through - without God.
Moses had one of those moments when he came down the mountain with the ten commandments to find that the Israelites had fashioned a calf of gold in his absence and were worshiping this idol. To say he was angry would be an understatement. But he was also deeply concerned about leading these people who were so quick to complain and go rogue on him. He knew he could not do this alone.
Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:7-23
It is interesting that Moses asked the Lord two things. First that He would go with them. And second he said, “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.” Not only did he want the presence of God in his situation, but he had a deep desire to grow spiritually and so that his life would find favor with God.
We often ask God for His intervention in our lives but how often do we ask Him to teach us His ways and transform our lives? It is clear that God was pleased with the heart of Moses both to experience the Lord’s presence in his leadership and to allow God to transform his life.
The response of God was Yes, I will go with you. More than that, “I will give you rest.” I will give you peace of mind. I will calm your nerves with my presence and help. That is exactly what we need when faced with situations that are beyond us. It reminds me of the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Lord adds one other amazing statement to Moses. “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” We have a God who hears us, who goes with us and most importantly, out of the billions of people on this planet who knows us by name. That ought to encourage us today.
Father, I want to echo Moses' request today. Be with me as I face the situations in front of me. More than that, change me in the process by your Holy Spirit. And thank you that out of all the people on this planet that you know me by name. Amen.
Discipleship to Jesus is a process of giving more and more of ourselves to God. It is a lifelong process and everytime we think we have given it all, the Holy Spirit gently points out another area of our lives that needs transformation. One of the areas that we often struggle with is that of being generous to God with our financial resources. Studies show that only 2 percent of those who call themselves Christians tithe.
There is a remarkable passage in the last book of the Old Testament - Malachi - where God challenges the people to come back to Him and not to rob Him. Those are strong words, but you remember what Jesus said when He spoke of how we invest our money: Where your treasure is that is where your heart is. So ultimately, for God, our generosity to Him is about our hearts. This is a topic that we often don’t want to talk about but it is one of those areas of Christian discipleship that matters to God.
Here are Malachi’s words. “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. Malachi 3:6-12
This is the only passage in the Bible where we are encouraged to test God. He is asking us to test Him and see if he does not “throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” That is an amazing statement. How would you like to be the recipient of so much blessing in your life that there isn’t room for it all. It may or may not be material blessing but God’s blessings are the best one can have.
What is so amazing here is that God truly wants to bless us. He wants to provide for us. He wants to drown us in His blessings but there is a correlation between our discipleship to Him and His blessing. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul says this about giving. “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
God’s goodness to His followers who are generous with Him is ironic in that the reason we withhold from Him is that we are afraid that we will not have enough. In fact the opposite is true. Test God in this and see if He does not respond as He promised.
Father it is hard for me to wrap my head around your generosity and blessing but I am very thankful. Would you help me to develop a generous heart toward you? Calm me fears of not having enough and help my heart to be with you - and my treasures as well. Amen
Life satisfaction is an elusive thing. Perhaps it is chased by more people than anything else. And it makes sense. We want to enjoy life and we long for our lives to have some kind of meaning. The problem for many is that this enjoyment and meaning are elusive and fleeting. In one of the ultimate ironies of life, we can have it all and not enjoy it.
Look at what Solomon wrote: “This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.
I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.” Ecclesiastes 5:18-6:2
Why do some enjoy the gifts of God and others do not? I think CS Lewis sums it up well in one of his writings. “What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could ‘be like gods’ – could set up on their own as if they had created themselves – be their own masters – invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history – money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery – the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
“The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
This is exactly the point that Solomon is making. Possessions and wealth without God cannot yield happiness. But if we live lives focused on God, we will enjoy the blessings He gives to the full. And He does give them to us for our enjoyment and His kingdom work. But we always need to remember that happiness and peace come only from Him and without Him it is not to be found. When we make Him central, happiness and peace follow.
Father, I want to enjoy all that you give. To be occupied with gladness of heart as Solomon says. Help me to always put you first and keep you central in my life. And in doing so to enjoy and appreciate all of your gifts. Amen.
What are the issues that consume your heart and mind? What do you worry about? Think for a moment of those things you need at this time in your life. It could be material things, it may be financial or building a business or getting ahead in your job. For some it is parents that need care or kids that are pushing the limits. All of these are legitimate needs and they can consume our thinking and our outlook on life. And….they produce the byproduct of worry! Anxiety! Maybe fear!
I can remember periods of my life where despite my outward persona I struggled with worry and anxiety. These were not pleasant times. It is easier to deal with external challenges than it is to deal with our internal angst which can sap us of happiness and keep us up at night.
Jesus has a way of challenging our perspectives and He does it once again in Luke 12:22-31 where He speaks to our worry, anxiety, and fear. Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you — you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Notice that Jesus does not say that our needs are not real. In fact, He says that the Father knows that you need them! Our needs are not the issue but what we do with those needs is. Our world is consumed by people striving to meet their needs and chase their desires. Jesus says that the “pagan world runs after all such things.” This is their obsession, and the end goal of their lives - getting what they want and need. Without God, that is what you are left with.
Jesus says. Don’t chase this stuff. Don’t even chase your needs because your father knows that you need them. There is only one thing to chase: Seek his kingdom and these things will be given to you as well. Think about this: If we chase after our needs we end up spiritually empty. But if we seek God’s kingdom first and foremost, all the rest of what we need will be given to us by God as well. That is a great promise and a very good deal.
Think today about how you can seek God’s Kingdom in your life. Seeking His kingdom is about our personal obedience and followership. It is about caring about the things that God cares for like justice and fairness. It is to share Jesus with those who don’t know Him. It is to participate with Him in the places that He asks you to live out your faith. Seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Let's keep our focus on the right things and God will take care of the other things.
Father, thank you for your promise of provision for my needs. Help me to leave my concerns in your hands and focus on seeking your kingdom in all areas of my life. Show me where you want me to join you and I will make that my priority. Amen.
It can be one thing to start something and another to finish. I suspect every one of us has found this to be true in some aspect of our lives. At the start of a marriage, for instance, there is excitement and a high level of engagement. As time goes on it is easy to let life take over, to get lazy and pay less attention to those things that we once practiced to keep our marriage vital.
The same is true in our spiritual lives. Think of what your faith was like when you first believed. How excited you were to discover the things of God. The time you spent in Scripture and prayer, the desire to use your gifts in ministry and how easy it was to share with others your new-found faith. Compare those days to today. Is there a difference in your engagement with God, in your ministry or desire to please Him?
Going the distance with Jesus is the challenge for each of us. In Colossians 2:6-7, Paul gives us some clues as to how we can do this. “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
The key word here is “continue.” Continue to live in Him. Continue to be rooted and built up in Him. Continue to be strengthened in the faith as you were taught. Continue to be overflowing in thankfulness.
Spiritual vibrancy does not just happen. We need to nurture it, pay attention to it and be intentional about it. Spiritual vibrancy is impossible without regular time with Jesus. In John 15, Jesus says,”I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Every day we make a choice as to whether we will invest in our spiritual lives by remaining in Him.
Just as we need Jesus, we need fellow Christ followers who will encourage us, walk the journey with us and sharpen our faith as we sharpen theirs. The Jesus life was not meant to be lived in isolation from others. Fellowship and community are a hallmark of the New Testament church and the life of Jesus with His disciples.
Then there is the admonition to continue to be overflowing with thankfulness. Those who overflow with thankfulness to God are people who are remembering God in all of life. Thankfulness is a constant reminder of God’s blessings in our lives which in turn keeps us connected to Him in a daily, moment by moment way. I have learned to say a quiet “Thank you Jesus” throughout my day and each time I am reminded of God’s presence and goodness to me. I do it quietly but audibly so my own ears hear it.
What is your strategy for continuing in your faith and keeping that faith vital? Today, meditate on what it means to continue so that you don’t lose your spiritual vitality.
Father. It is easy for me to lose my vital connection with you in the busyness and distractions of life. Help me to continue in a vibrant and ever strengthening faith and to live with moment by moment thankfulness for your amazing work in my life. Amen.
We live in a day, especially in the western world, where we believe that the Christian life should be one of ease, comfort and material and physical blessing. One of the symptoms of this is the reaction of Christians when they suffer from a severe illness or face some significant personal suffering. Often the question they ask is “Why did God do this to me?” As if God were responsible for the situations we face in life and should not allow us to be inconvenienced or suffer in some way.
There are amazing promises of God to His people, too many to enumerate. Just read the first two chapters of Ephesians or the first chapter of Colossians. There is no more fulfilling life than that of a sold out follower of Jesus Christ. Nothing compares to the life He has to offer. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come to bring you life and life abundant,” and He does.
But consider the life of Jesus. It was not a life of ease and comfort. He was constantly harassed by the Pharisees, had most of his followers abandon Him along the way, endured a great deal of sorrow and ultimately went to the cross. He was frequently tired, was betrayed by one of His own, was a threat to the powers that be, both Roman and the religious establishment, was maligned, threatened, and even betrayed by His own disciples.
Jesus understood the cost of followership. He said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” - Luke 9:23-26
Following Jesus requires us to be willing to take up our cross daily. To obey Him when it is inconvenient, to put up with those who think our followership is foolish, to take stands for justice and fairness when it is unpopular, to speak up when unrighteousness needs to be confronted, and to be willing to be unpopular with those who don’t care about those things God cares about.
Jesus said, “whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” That is the equation. Jim Elliott gave his life to bring the Gospel to the untouched tribes in South America. After he died, these words were found in his journal: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” He understood God’s equation. “Jesus said, What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self.”
The Christian life is not a life of ease. It is to follow Jesus and following Him will mean that we face some of the same things He did. But we follow willingly knowing that it is a life of eternal blessing and that we are not fools to give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.
Father. I pray that you would help me take up my cross daily and truly live for you in all situations, regardless of the cost. I am willing to give up that which I cannot keep to gain what I cannot lose. Find me faithful and give me strength to walk the road you walked. Amen.
Few things are more fun and interesting than being around young children. Their curiosity about life, observations on all manner of things that we take for granted make us laugh and take notice of life seen through their eyes. They see the world through fresh eyes and their perspectives are not only humorous but they remind us of the beauty of our world and people and life that we have lost over the years. It is refreshing and challenging.
For years, our family vacationed in Montana near Yellowstone park. One particular year, the park was burning and the fire was almost impossible to contain. It consumed vast areas of some of the most beautiful scenery in our country. My son Jonathan, who was very young at the time, was deeply disturbed by the fires in the burning park. As we drove through the haze Jonathan scrunched up his eyes, folded his hands together, and asked Jesus to stop the fires. I thought to myself, wow, he’s serious. But as an adult I knew it was unlikely.
That night the rains came and the fires went out. Because of his prayer? All I can say is that he prayed and it happened. He had the faith of a child, believing that God actually acts when we pray. And put me to shame. After all, I am grown up and have all kinds of reasons why God would not answer an audacious prayer.
The faith of a child. In Luke 18:15-17, we read this: “People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’”
What does it mean to receive the kingdom of God like a little child? It means that we believe and trust God in a childlike way, taking Him at His word, believing His promises and simply following him with a simple, believing, faith. This is a humble faith that sees the greatness of God where our pride and ego don’t get in our way. It is the faith of my son Jonathan who fervently believed that God would stop the fires And He did.
As adults it is easy to be jaded and cynical about our faith. We can take it for granted, and often don’t believe that God can truly enter our lives and make a difference. We have all kinds of reasons why we don’t believe that will happen. But Jesus says, “anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Meditate on that sentence. Ask yourself, as you walk through your day, what the faith of a little child looks like. Keep it simple. It is a simple faith, a believing faith, a humble faith. And a saving faith.
Jesus, I am all grown up but I long for that kind of simple faith. Would you help me un-complicate my view of what it means to follow you, believe your promises and put my life daily in your hands. Amen.
Have you ever noticed that many around you have a plan for your life? Family, friends, your boss and many others. If we are not careful, it is easy for us to be pulled in many different directions rather than focusing on those things that we believe God has called us to do. In addition, many of us have a hard time saying no to good things that can easily crowd out the best things which is why an account from Jesus’ life is so fascinating. It is found in Luke 4:38-44.
Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Reading this, one could say that Jesus was “on a roll” of healing and miracles and the people were clamoring for more of his time. And that would make sense. Ministry was happening and the crowds were enthralled. “Stay longer” they said, “don’t leave us, we need you.” But Jesus does something surprising under the circumstances. He declined their request, saying that He must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns also, because that is why I was sent.
But don’t miss one other detail. After all this marvelous ministry, Jesus went to a solitary place by himself. It was a place where He could be alone with the Father in prayer. He did this regularly. It was where He recharged his energy and communicated with the Father. It is also why Jesus always stayed on mission. He was clear about what God had called Him to do because He stayed close to the Father. Being on mission requires us to take time to think, reflect, and talk to God. He is ultimately the author of our mission.
Because He had spent time with the Father He was able to differentiate between the many voices who had agendas for His life and make decisions that were consistent with what God had called Him to do. In the end, He said no to the crowds so that He could focus on a larger mission.
Each of us has those voices telling us how we should spend our time and energy. What we should say yes to. Some of those voices, well meaning as they are, distract us from what God has called us to do. That is when we need to say a gracious no in order to say yes to God’s mission for our lives. The clarity and courage to do this comes out of our time and relationship with the Father so never neglect that priority.
Father, it is an amazing thing to be given a mission by you. Help me to discern between the good and the best, between the expectations of others and your call. Give me the courage to say a gracious no when it would conflict with your calling on my life. Amen.
Wisdom cannot be microwaved! It comes from deep reflection, asking the right questions, and careful self-analysis. That is why it is in short supply today. Our world values quick answers and fast results. It favors the busy. Wisdom, however, favors introspection, truth and self-analysis.
Given that, what are some of the keys to becoming a person of wisdom? There are four characteristics of a wise individual.
First, they engage in times of solitude
I am indebted to Henri Nouen on his insights into the necessity of solitude for personal transformation. He often wrote of the necessity of solitude - without the distractions of media or others - where we were forced to think deeply about the scaffolding of our lives. In fact, he suggested that we often avoid solitude because of what we might find when we have to face our true selves. Wisdom favors those who can and will look deeply into themselves, like King David, to see if there are any displeasing ways in us.
Second, they have a source of truth
There is no wisdom without an unchanging source of truth that becomes the mirror against which we examine ourselves. For Christ followers, this is Scripture. But here is the problem: Most of us are too busy to read Scripture and think through its implications for our lives, decisions, thinking, attitudes and words. We want wisdom but we don't want to pay the price for it. Or, we read the latest book on leadership, self-help (good as those are) and ignore the foundational truth of God's Word on which wisdom is always based.
Solomon said it this way in Proverbs 2:1-8. "My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones."
Third, they learn from the wisdom of others
Wise individuals are readers. They have the humility to understand that they need many mentors and many of those mentors can be found in reading the wisdom of others. I don't have many books - I have many mentors on my shelves. Each one teaches me something about life and challenges my thinking.
Fourth, most keep a journal
Why keep a journal? It helps us to reflect on our lives, lessons we are learning, changes we would like to make and clarify our next steps. As Solomon wrote, finding wisdom is like mining for it, searching for its nuggets and bringing our lives into alignment with that wisdom. There is no better way to accomplish this than to take the time to clarify your observations and commitments through the discipline of writing.
What is the common denominator in introspection and wisdom?
The common denominator - and one reason there is not enough wisdom evidenced in our world is that it takes time. Wisdom cannot be microwaved. It is developed over time, taking the time to think deeply so that we can apply the principles to our lives and live with intention and wisdom. We can live fast and come to the end of our lives having missed the most important truths by which to live or we can live slower and take the time to live out those truths today.
Father, I want to be a person of wisdom. Teach me to search for it diligently. Teach me to develop the habit of introspection so that I can think deeply about my life in relation to yours. Help me to take the time I need to think deeply so that my life is lived deeply rather than shallowly. Amen.
I have always been fascinated by the greetings to specific people that Paul includes in his epistles. Far from being an unapproachable theologian, he obviously had significant personal relationships and deeply appreciated people that he encountered. A great example of this is found in the personal greetings that Paul ends his letter to the Romans with.
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.
Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, whose fidelity to Christ has stood the test. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.
Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas and the other brothers and sisters with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people who are with them.” — Romans 16:1-15
Paul’s life was filled with people as ours should be. He cared about them as we should. He took the time to let them know of his love, appreciation, and prayers. He knew them by name and their stories. He encouraged them and prayed for them. Each one was precious to him. Paul was a theologian and Apostle and he recognized that the gospel is about people, redeeming them and calling them into work for the gospel alongside him.
How are you doing with the people in your life? Do you love them as Paul did? Do you pray for them and encourage them as he did? Too often we get so wrapped up in our own lives that we forget to care for those around us. To know their story, to call them to something greater than themselves, to thank them and let them know that they are noticed. Are there people who you should reach out to today to thank and encourage?
Father, thank you for the many people around me who have ministered to me, encouraged and prayed for me and contributed to who I am today. Bless each one of them and help me to be a faithful friend who cares for them with equal measure. Amen.
One of the most significant books of the last century was Victor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning.” Victor was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps who experienced unbelievable suffering and cruelty. He was also a deep thinker who asked the questions about the meaning of life, of joy, and of suffering.
Writing about the pleasures we pursue in life, Victor wrote: “Ironically enough, in the same way that fear brings to pass what one is afraid of, likewise a forced intention makes impossible what one forcibly wishes... Pleasure is, and must remain, a side-effect or by-product, and is destroyed and spoiled to the degree to which it is made a goal in itself.”
Similarly, he said this about suffering. “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”
We may not ask the ultimate questions about life with the eloquence of Frankl but we all ask them. Ultimately, apart from God, true meaning and satisfaction in life eludes us. Success is better than failure but it does not ultimately satisfy. The same with money and fame. All of us ask ourselves from time to time, is this all there is?
There is a wonderful passage in Isaiah 55 where the Lord speaks directly through Isaiah with this invitation. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” Isaiah 55:1-3.
Think about what the Lord says about what He offers. Water and bread, those things that sustain us in body and soul at no cost. We cannot buy satisfaction. No toys, salaries, or possessions will give it, but God offers it absolutely free to those who accept His invitation. When He says, “Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy,” He is reminding us that ultimate meaning cannot be bought but can be received! In Him we eat what is good, and our soul will delight in the richest of fare and our souls will live. It is in God that our search for meaning is fulfilled. For life satisfaction, there is a God answer or no answer.
So how do we appropriate the water and bread that satisfy? How can our souls delight in the richest of fare? The answer is this. To the extent to which we integrate God into our lives we will find the meaning and satisfaction we seek, in the midst of success or suffering, in plenty or in want. The more Jesus we put into our lives, the more of His satisfaction and meaning we will experience. Remember that as you walk through your day today.
Father. Thank you for this amazing invitation to life that satisfies in the presence of your company. Help me to live there today and keep me from chasing meaning in ways that will never satisfy. Help me to find it in You alone. Amen.
Do you ever wish that you could hear more clearly from God? I certainly do. There have been times in my life when I would have given anything to know what God wanted me to do. I believe that God still speaks to us. In fact, the question is not whether God still speaks but if we can hear Him when He does. Jesus calls us friends and sons and daughters. Friends talk to friends and parents with their children. It is a game changer in our lives when we are able to learn to hear His voice.
In John 10:3-5 Jesus says, “The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
What is the secret to hearing His voice? An account from the life of Elijah may give us a clue. He had just tussled with Ahab and Jezebel, the evil king and his wife, and was running for his life as Jezebel had vowed to kill him. He arrived in a cave after traveling 40 days and nights - discouraged and ready to hang up his calling as a prophet. If Elijah ever needed a word from God, it was now.
God came to him in his discouragement, 1 Kings 19:11-13: “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.” And in that gentle whisper, God spoke words of grace and healing to Elijah and gave him direction for what he should do.
What does it take to hear a gentle whisper? Quietness! Times when we can sit in the presence of Jesus with attentive hearts and minds. Perhaps the reason we don’t hear God more often or more clearly is because we are so busy and distracted that His whisper is not heard. God will not compete for our attention. But He longs for it because He loves to be with us. He died for us. He adopted us. He blessed us. He gives us His goodness every day, but too often we are oblivious to His gentle whisper because we are not paying close attention.
If you find this to be true in your life, reconsider that daily time that we often call “Quiet Time.” Quiet time is Jesus time. Us and Him. Worshipping, talking to Him, reading His word, meditating on His truth and talking to Him. And with hearts wide open, listening to Him. He is there. The question is whether we can hear Him.
Father, I want to hear You more often and more clearly. Thank You for loving me and talking to me. Help me to hear Your gentle whisper in my life and remind me often that I need to take time to be quiet with You. Teach me to hear Your voice. Amen.
When it comes to forgiveness, there is one principle that we often ignore to our own peril - and it has a nasty effect on our relationships. That is the foolishness of taking up the offense of others. Here is how it works: A friend of mine is wronged in some way - or more accurately, I perceive they were wronged by some individual. Because of my loyalty and relationship with them, I choose to pick up my friends' offense, holding a grudge and even anger against the one who hurt my friend. Now, not only is my friend in a position of relational discord with another, but I am as well. I am now angry with someone who did nothing to me, real or perceived.
Now think of how absurd this is. In the first place, the wrong (if it was a wrong) was not perpetuated against me. Second, I don’t even know the facts but only my friend’s version of the facts, which is, at the most, half the story. Third, I now carry unforgiveness in my heart toward another which is not a Jesus thing to do. Fourth, I have no way of resolving the issue since it was not with me in the first place and the final and most absurd thing is that when my friend forgives the one who offended him, I continue to carry around my animosity because I have no way of resolving an issue that I was not a part of.
In addition, it is not unusual for people who have taken up the offense of others to badmouth the individual or individuals they hold responsible for hurting their friends. This is nothing short of gossip since the truth is that I don’t have the facts myself and even if I did I have no license to spread bad information about another. This is doubly true when I was not involved in the first place and often the information shared in this scenario is nothing less than character assassination because it is just wrong.
Taking up the offense of others creates relational chaos and is sin. Unfortunately, it happens all too often and many times in the church of Jesus.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul gives us explicit instructions regarding our relationships and attitudes and actions toward one another. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” - Ephesians 4:29 - 5:2
If we live with this kind of relational clarity and cleanness toward one another, there is no room for taking up the offense of others, harboring grudges, or bad attitudes toward others. If you are harboring such an attitude in your own heart, consider Paul’s words and have the courage to let it go, repent before Jesus and forgive those you harbor animosity toward.
Father, forgive me for those times when I have taken up the offense of others and created animosity in my heart toward others. Remind me that this is not the route to relational cleanness with others and help me forgive those I hold grudges against. Amen.
There are many mistaken notions about forgiveness which, if not understood, can cause us to question whether we have truly forgiven those who have wronged us. Almost all of us carry with us wounds inflicted by another. Some of those wounds go back to our childhoods and are intensely painful to remember. Often we wonder how old we will be before we are freed from their grip. I want to look at four myths about forgiveness that are not Biblical and should not cloud our understanding of this important issue.
Myth one: Someone has to ask for forgiveness before we give it. If only life was that simple. Here is one of the most difficult things about forgiveness: those who have hurt us rarely apologize to us, ask forgiveness, or acknowledge the depth of their hurt to our hearts, souls or bodies. In fact, we don’t forgive primarily for the individual who wronged us but for our own sake. I wrote in a recent blog post that when we refuse to forgive, we allow ourselves to be incarcerated in a cell of bitterness even while we have the key to unlock the cell door - forgiveness - but we choose our dingy cell to the joy of sunlight, freedom, and peace. The one who wounded you may well not deserve your forgiveness, but you deserve to forgive them so that you don’t live life in the prison of bitterness.
Myth two: Forgiving means forgetting. Our memories don’t work that way. We don’t forget moments or periods of intense pain. They are indelibly locked in our brain. The pain we feel when we remember those events may start to fade with time and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives but we will not forget. The goal of forgiveness is not to forget. Rather, it is to be free of the bitterness and hate that we feel for those who wronged us. The more freedom we experience, the more healing we can experience. As we heal the memories don’t go away but the pain associated with them starts to recede.
Myth three: Forgiveness relieves us of the pain of the wounds inflicted on us. Not so. The pain only recedes with the passage of time and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we heal, the pain may become less painful and there may come a day when there is no pain left. But that only happens when we choose to forgive and give up our bitterness.
Myth four: It is easy for a Christian to forgive. Not so. Forgiving others is one of the most difficult things we will ever do and the greater the wound the harder it is to forgive. This was the topic of one of Jesus’s parables: The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. As Jesus was dialoguing about this parable, He had this conversation with Peter: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” - Matthew 18:21-23
Why would Jesus say this? He said it because of how hard it is to forgive. In many instances, forgiveness is a process of forgiving, and forgiving, and forgiving until finally we don’t need to forgive any longer. It is a hard discipline that must be exercised time and time again until the pain has receded and the bitterness is gone. It may be the hardest thing you will ever do.
Father, I thank You that You forgave me and the price You paid for that to happen. My prayer is that You will help me forgive those who have wronged me. I long to be free from bitterness and the PTSD I experience when I just hear their name or see something that reminds me of them. It is a hard thing to do, to forgive, so help me do it no matter how many times I must repeat it. Heal my heart Lord. Heal my heart. Amen.
For many of us, one of the greatest struggles of our lives is to forgive ourselves for choices we have made, actions we have taken, or perhaps words we’ve said. The thing about past sins is that they can be as real to us today as they were then. Often they are secret sins. But the problem is that we know. In spite of confessing them to God many times over, we can’t forgive ourselves.
The lack of self forgiveness often has devastating results on our relationship with the Father and our own involvement in ministry. We have become convinced that He cannot truly forgive our sin. It was too egregious, too serious. And so we live our lives in silent confession, hoping that He can forgive but never really feeling forgiven. This directly involves our involvement in any kind of Christian service because we don’t feel that God could, should or would use us. So we live quietly in the shadows, never being all in and always feeling inadequate and unworthy.
If this applies to you, I want you to listen carefully to several truths. First, God’s grace always exceeds our sin. You cannot out sin God’s ability to forgive. Paul makes this clear when he says that, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (Romans 5:20) There is no sin that God cannot or will not forgive. He sent His one and only son that, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God is in the business of forgiving because of the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross.
Second, you cannot separate yourselves from God’s love. Again Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died - more than that who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God, and he is also interceding for us.” - Romans 8:31-34
Third, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Fourth, who are we to deny God’s work of forgiveness by refusing to forgive ourselves? If He has forgiven us, we must do the same. Satan will always sow seeds of doubt in our mind regarding our sin but 1 John 1:9 makes it clear that when we confess, He purifies us from all unrighteousness. All of it! Every last bit of it.
If you have a hard time forgiving yourself, ask God for His help. Sometimes it helps to do something to intentionally experience what God has already done for you. Take a piece of paper and write on it those sins that continue to bother you. Then as you thank God for His forgiveness, put that paper in your fireplace or burn it in your sink (don’t burn down the house). As you clean the sink of the ashes, you are reenacting what God has done with your heart. Thank Him, and every time you remember that sin again, think of the ashes in the sink that you cleaned up. Whatever you do, don’t live in guilt when God designed you for freedom, and don’t live in the shadows when God designed you for the light.
Father, I need Your help on this one. Help me accept Your forgiveness of my sin and help me to take the step of forgiving myself once and for all. I don’t want to question Your grace in my life. I believe, but help me in my unbelief. Amen.
There are few things in our lives that are as toxic to us, and others, as unforgiveness. It is deadlier than cancer and the longer it lasts, the more powerful it becomes. Like some amoeba in a horror film, it eats away at our hearts, robs us of our joy, dries up our spiritual life and brings dysfunction to our relationships. It is a heart killing, joy robbing, soul numbing and relationship destroying condition.
Why don’t we forgive? We want our pound of flesh! To forgive someone who has wronged us is to let go of our deep need and desire for revenge. It is to refuse to hold something against another who has hurt us. It is to give up the bitterness that we nurse - and it does not seem fair to us. After all they don’t deserve it, have not apologized, don’t know how badly they hurt me and I don’t want to let them off that easily.
And so we allow ourselves to be incarcerated in a cell of bitterness even while we have the key to unlock the cell door - forgiveness - but we choose our dingy cell to the joy of sunlight, freedom and peace. It is a bad tradeoff.
To refuse to forgive another is to forget that we have been like the one we don’t want to forgive. We didn’t deserve forgiveness, we were repeat offenders in God’s eyes and we don’t even want to think about all the stuff God forgave us for - nor do we need to because He freely forgave and released us from our guilt and shame.
Paul put it this way: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans 5:6-8
Given this fact, we have no choice but to forgive those who have wronged us. Our obligation is this according to Paul in Ephesians 4:32 - 5:2. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
To forgive is to be like Jesus, and I want to be like Jesus. To forgive is to free ourselves from the bondage and weight of bitterness, and I want to live in freedom. To forgive is to remember how often God chose to forgive us and continues to do so, and I want to remember His grace in my life. To forgive is to live in freedom!
We need to ask ourselves today. Who do I need to forgive? Who have I been nursing bitterness toward? In what relationships do I need to be an imitator of God and choose to forgive? For our sake and our freedom and our obedience.
Jesus, my heart is convicted today. I want to be like You. I want to forgive others as You forgave me. Help me with those people in my life where I am nursing bitterness and have not forgiven. Help me to leave aside bitterness for the freedom that comes from You. Amen.
Why do bad things happen to good people? We live between a perfect creation and a perfect re-creation, between two perfect bookends of history. But in the interim we live with the scars of a world undone - and our own lives are undone - until we invite Christ to become Lord of our life. And even then, we live in Satan’s territory, temporarily, for Christ has overcome the world on the cross but, until He returns in person, the scrimmages between the forces of good and evil continue. The divine D-day settled the matter, but the final battle has not been fought.
When I think of the cross, as Private Ryan stood before the grave of the one who gave his life for Him, I wonder, why me? Why would God care so much that He would give His life for me? Why would he reclaim men and women lost in sin? Why would He re-create what we destroyed? Why would He carry my brokenness on Himself in my place?
That is the real “why” question when all is said and done. It is not, “why do we suffer?” It is, “why does God redeem us and give us hope?” It is not, “why is life unfair?” It is, “why is God willing and wanting to enter into my situation with me?”
Each of us who has made Jesus Lord of our lives is a trophy of His amazing grace. Listen to how Paul describes us: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” - Ephesians 2:4-7
In His divine rescue operation, God made us alive in Christ when we were dead in our sinfulness. And then, while we continue to live for a time in this broken world, we are figuratively already seated with Jesus in heaven, for we are His children. Why? So that for all time, the amazing love, mercy, and incomparable riches of His grace would be evident for all to see.
As long as we live in this world, we are the visible champions of God’s grace. As those who know us watch how we handle adversity, pain and sorrow, they also see the hope that we have in Jesus. We will have trouble in this world, but we can live with His peace, and that peace is proof that He has indeed overcome the world and won the war against evil. The divine D-day is only awaiting the final inevitable outcome of Satan defeated and Jesus victorious. And on that day, all that was wrong will be made right.
Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” We will overcome because He has overcome! Even our broken hearts become a way for Him to prove to a watching world that He is Lord!
Father, I thank You that although we live in a sinful world that touches each of us personally, that You have overcome the world. I ask today for Your peace: a peace that passes human understanding because of Your divine rescue operation for me. Amen.
Much of life is lived on the surface, superficially, accidentally, and without deep thought. People are often busy, distracted, and unfocused. However, those who have experienced pain in their lives have been transformed in the process and display a depth of life and thinking that is radically different from the norm. If you are one of those, you have been given a great gift and God wants to use that gift to influence others.
There is nothing like faith, forged in suffering. Each of the faith heroes of Hebrews 11 had a suffering-forged faith that gave them an unshakable trust and confidence in the living God, and they were therefore willing to suffer and even die for Him. They displayed a perseverance and resolve that was unusual. Speaking of Moses, it says, “He persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). If God has met you in your pain, you, too, have seen Him who is invisible; you have felt His presence and experienced His love and grace.
That depth should have a direct impact on our jettisoning the sin that we have allowed to linger in the shadows of our lives. We exchange that sin for a wholehearted, non negotiated followership of Jesus. Why continue to live with the junk when we have experienced the fellowship of Jesus in a new way and been recipients of His generous grace? To do so is to negate the very lessons that God made possible for us to learn through our pain.
The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it well: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” - Hebrews 12:1-3
Our pain reveals what is truly important. It reveals parts of our character that need transformation. It reveals sin that we have allowed to linger. Pain is the great revealer of sin, character, and dysfunction. Therefore, it is an opportunity to deal with those areas God wants us to deal with. Not to do so is to lose a great opportunity to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles so that we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Don’t short-circuit the opportunity to grow through authentic attention to the sin that your pain reveals. This is a part of God’s work and it is required for those who desire to go deep with him. The heroes of Hebrews 11 would tell us this: Don’t waste your pain. Use that pain to go deep with Jesus and to throw off the stuff that holds us back. Transform your broken dreams into a better and faith filled future. That is what David did, and Moses, and the heroes of Hebrews 11. Let's join that bunch by allowing God to transform us in our own pain. I can trace every major spiritual breakthrough in my own life to pain that I endured. Today, looking back, I say to myself, I never want to go through that again, but I would not trade its lessons for anything. What about you?
Father, You are the author and finisher of our faith and You are able to turn broken dreams into something beautiful as You work in our lives. Do that in my life. I choose to trust You with my future. Amen.
It has been my observation over the years that when dreams are compromised or broken there are two common reactions. The first reaction is to blame God and, in one’s pain, to move away from the One we hold responsible. The second is to recognize our need for God and move closer to Him. For those who move away from God, the result is a lessening of hope, the beginning of bitterness toward God and allowing those broken dreams to diminish their lives.
For those who choose to press into God in their pain, the result is a deeper understanding of God, a closer relationship with Him, lessons learned in the middle of the pain and, most important of all, a deeper hope and trust than before. In every period of brokenness we face this choice, and it is a choice. Do we press in or lean out when it comes to Jesus?
Why do some choose one route and others a different route? Why do some come out stronger and others weaker? I believe the answer is found in a simple principle: If we have a history of trusting God and pressing into Him, we will do so when the chips are down and we face bitter disappointment. If, on the other hand, we have been careless in our relationship with God, don’t know Him well or don’t have a history of truly trusting Him, we will likely blame Him in the bad times because we didn’t get to know Him in the good times. Ironically, it is not God who is to blame but ourselves and the choices we make each day to trust Him.
King David’s dreams were shattered when his own son Absolom tried to take over the kingdom and rip it from his hands. As David was fleeing Absolom and his men, this is what he wrote. As you read it, remember that David’s son had committed treason, Absolom had found many men to rise up against his own father and David was running for his life. Against this background, he wrote these words. It is found in Psalm 3.
“Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, ‘God will not deliver him.’ But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”
He starts by acknowledging his situation and his many foes. In fact, many were saying “God will not deliver him.” That was the word on the street. There was plenty of bad news. Not only was David’s kingdom threatened but now he had to deal with his own son being at the heart of the insurrection. There is no good news there.
But David knew who God was and he had cultivated his relationship with God for all of his life. As depressed as he was, he knew that the only thing to do was to lean in on the one who had always sustained him. He knew that, “from the Lord comes deliverance,” and he chose to put his trust in Him.
If your dreams have been shattered, do the only thing that makes any sense and press into Jesus and allow Him to heal you and transform you in the process. If you are in a good place today, do the same because there will come a day when your heart is also shattered. Both are choices each of us makes.
Father, I thank You that You have the ability to sustain us when the chips are down. Thank You that from You deliverance comes. In good days and bad, help me to trust You and press into You so that I never need to wonder if You will be there for me. Amen.
God’s greatest goal for our lives is not to make us happy and content. His greatest goal is to help us become like Him in character and heart. It is in the hard times that we actually develop the faith that brings us true joy in life. Thus our pain, from whatever direction it comes, gives us the gift of turning our hearts in need to the only one who can truly satisfy our hearts: Christ. In the moment, all we may feel is pain. In the scope of life, if we turn to Him, that pain develops in us deep faith and character that looks like His character.
This is the message of Peter in 1 Peter 1:6-7: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
The first time life came undone for me was early in my career when the church I was serving encountered problems, forcing me to take a different path. I chose to resign and move from California back to Minnesota to figure out what to do next. It had been a dark night of the soul, and I was physically exhausted, emotionally wounded, and deeply clinically depressed. From my perspective at the time, my dreams were shattered, I had been mistreated, and I no longer wanted to continue as a pastor. The trajectory of my life had taken a 180 degree turn, and like an errant missile, exploded.
It was a painful and long recovery that took a full ten years. But it launched me on a journey to understand God’s grace in my life - a journey that continues to this day. Redeeming my painful experience in that church, God gave me a consulting and writing career to help church leadership become healthy and effective. As with Joseph, God took what was ugly and painful and full of despair and redeemed it for His purposes, and in the process grew my heart more like His heart.
As God uses our pain to help us become like him in character and heart, we actually find ourselves becoming content and happy. The route to that contentment and happiness is not the one we would choose, because it runs through the river of pain, but it emerges on the other side with an authentic contentment and happiness that we couldn’t have by any other means. And in the process we begin to understand the promise of Jesus: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
Here is what you need to know if your dreams have been shattered: God is not the author of your pain - pain comes from living in a broken world. But God will take your pain and redeem it for His greater eternal purposes if you will allow Him to do that. The route to true fulfillment and purpose is often found in a detour through unwelcome pain. God wants to take that pain and use it for His glory. He will use our suffering to build His character and heart in us more fully.
Father, I thank You that Your greatest desire for me is that I become more like You. Help me to see the pain that I walk through in that perspective. Remind me that my pain will be redeemed for greater things than I can imagine - a me that is more like You.
When our dreams are broken, as many inevitably will be, it can leave behind painful scars. We deal with emotional pain, physical trauma, limitations, and life issues that are impacted by our situation.
Instinctively we ask the question: “Why? Why me?” The “why” question makes me think of Joseph in the Old Testament. He was the favorite son of his father and, because of his brother’s jealousy, they sold him to a passing caravan as a slave. (How is that for family love?) Don’t you think Joseph, who was most likely a teenager, was asking, “why me?” He ends up in the home of a high official and demonstrates his skill and trustworthiness to the point that his master gives him full control of his household. But his master’s wife has eyes for him, and when he refuses her advances, she claims he tried to rape her. He is thrown into jail for years. Again, I can imagine him asking, “why?” He had been faithful to his God and his master and this is what he gets in return!
In his pain, in his shattered dreams, in that prison, he discovered the goodness and presence of God. “But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did” (Genesis 39:20-23).
Then, you remember the cupbearer and the baker for the King who asked Joseph to interpret their dream for them? He told them that the baker would die and the cupbearer would be released. The cupbearer promised to tell the king about him. But once out of prison, the cupbearer promptly forgot Joseph and another two years passed in prison. One thing Joseph had to conclude: Life is not fair, people are not fair, and circumstances are not fair. It does not take long in life to realize all three of these things to be true.
But God had not forgotten Joseph, and one day it was Pharaoh who had a dream that none of his advisors could interpret. Now the cupbearer suddenly remembered the prisoner who had accurately interpreted his dream, and he told Pharaoh about Joseph. Pharaoh summoned Joseph who interpreted the dream and gave him wise advice. Recognizing that the Spirit of God was on Joseph, Pharaoh made Joseph the second in command in Egypt to oversee the storing and distribution of food for the coming famine.
As he had predicted to Pharaoh, there were seven years of great harvests and then seven years of famine. Joseph had led the effort to store food for the day of famine and one day his brothers came from their homeland to purchase food from Egypt, as all the surrounding countries were forced to do. Imagine the scene when the bothers, who had sold Joseph into slavery, stood before him, now a high official of Pharaoh, not knowing who they depended on to purchase food for their family. Never was there a better opportunity for Joseph to get revenge, but he understood that God had a purpose in his suffering - that what his brothers meant for evil, God redeemed and used for Good - as God always does if we let him.
“Joseph said to his brothers...I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt...God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:4-7).
When your heart is broken, remember these two lessons. First, God is always there with you no matter how great your pain. And second, God always redeems our pain for His glory, if we will let Him.
Father, would You redeem the broken dreams I have suffered for Your glory? I thank You that I don’t walk through times of pain by myself but that, like Joseph, You are always there and always blessing me. Remind me often of Your presence. Amen.
If a broken heart has come because of the actions of another, or maybe our own actions, there is nothing more important than forgiving those who have hurt us, and in some cases that means receiving God’s forgiveness and forgiving ourselves.
When Jesus was asked how often we ought to forgive those who have wronged us, His answer was seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:21-22). In other words, always forgive, as many times as needed. Since that is such a hard thing to do, we have to ask ourselves why we would do it - especially to those who have inflicted huge pain in our lives.
We don’t do it because they deserve it. They may not deserve it. Ever! But, there are two principles we need to remember, one spiritual and one personal. The spiritual principle is that God chose to forgive us when we did not deserve to be forgiven. We did not deserve His forgiveness, yet He granted it to us fully and completely when we made him the Lord of our lives. Thus, Jesus insists that we forgive one another as He forgave us (Matthew 18:21-35), and to do so “from your heart.” Jesus actually says that He will not forgive those who refuse to forgive others.
But there is a deeply personal reason to forgive. When we refuse to forgive, we are held hostage by our bitterness until we do. In effect, we are held hostage by the pain inflicted by others and, instead of becoming free, we become bitter. I am always reminded of this when family members of homicide victims are interviewed at executions. Sometimes they vow that they will never forgive the one who took the life of their loved one. After the execution they are asked if they feel any better now that justice has been done, and they are just as angry and bitter as before. Not even the death sentence or life sentence relieves them of their pain and bitterness.
Sometimes our “dark night of the soul” is the result of our own sinfulness or foolish actions. The amazing thing about grace, is that there is no sin that Christ will not forgive, and there is no situation that Jesus does not want to redeem and use for our growth and His glory.
John writes in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The hard part is often forgiving ourselves! We continue with guilt and regret long after God has forgiven us. Although we may have regrets, we need not live with guilt once the Lord of the universe has forgiven us. If He is willing to forgive, we must be willing to forgive ourselves.
There is a phrase I love: “Don’t resaw the sawdust.” The sawdust is the residual of our sin, now forgiven. Physically you cannot resaw sawdust, but that is what we often try to do, time and again, by constantly revisiting our sin. We want to learn from our sin, but we cannot wallow in our sin that has been forgiven. The thief, who comes to steal, kill and destroy, loves it when we try to resaw the sawdust. The Good Shepherd who comes that we may have life and have it to the fullest, tells us to let it go, for our sin has been covered by His blood spilled on the cross for us! He paid the penalty, and we can move on in forgiveness and grace, learning from our past, but pressing into our future. Without forgiveness of others or ourselves we cannot move on from our pain.
Father, this is hard. It is hard to forgive those who hurt me and it is equally hard to forgive myself. Help me do what You have commanded me to do, many times if necessary, so that I can live in freedom rather than in bondage to my past. Amen.
Life is lived either on the defensive or the offensive. When our hearts are broken, there is a time when we are living defensively - just hanging on, trying to get our minds around our circumstances, sometimes just trying to survive another hour, or another day. I know, I’ve been there. Broken hearts are deeply disorienting, dislocating our lives and forcing us to deal with our understanding of God. We realize the security we thought we had doesn’t exist. It can be deeply exhausting.
But, there comes a day when the initial shock has worn off, when survival has turned into coping, and it is time to move from defense to offense. This is not an easy transition. It is far easier to live life defensively. It is sometimes easier to live in our own pain than to move beyond our pain. But here is the principle: Christ followers were not meant to live on the defensive but on the offensive.
Remember what Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Choosing to live offensively means deciding that we want the life to the full that Jesus offers. Otherwise, we allow the thief to steal that fullness of life and settle for a life diminished, less than it was meant to be.
When the initial shock wears off, what we are left with is fatigue, often depression, anger, sadness and uncertainty. And we face the question: Will I stay on the defensive, accepting less than can be, or will I go on the offensive and fight for what can be? The journey will be difficult for a while, but we can refuse to allow the thief to steal what does not belong to him. Remember, the Good Shepherd came to bring us life and life to the full, regardless of what we have been through.
One of the most significant offensive plays, when life has come undone, is the posture of our mind and heart - what we think about and what our hearts choose to embrace. Slow down for a moment and consider these words of Paul:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice!... The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is amenable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things… And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:4-9)
Living offensively is not easy. It is easier to live defensively. It is easier to live with our disappointment, anger, depression and sadness, because that is how we feel when our hearts have been broken. And that is exactly what the thief wants us to do. The choice we make is whether we allow the thief to steal what God intended for us, or whether we push back and say, “NO!” I will not live with a diminished life. I am going to claim what the Good Shepherd wants to give me. I hope you will join me.
Father, You are the Good Shepherd, who came so that we can have life and have it to the full. You know the pain I have suffered and the wounds I have received. Now I ask You to heal my life and bring me toward wholeness and healing. Give me the courage to leave behind the wounds of the past and to press into a new future, full of Your grace and presence and power. Amen.
When life comes undone we are tempted to respond in different ways:
- Anger: “Why would God allow this to happen to me?” I don’t deserve this.
- Denial: “I will just ignore this and it will go away.” These are people who don’t live in reality or deal with their pain.
- Depression: “I can’t handle this.” I allow myself to sink into despair.
- Retribution: “I am going to get the person who did this to me.” Think of a spouse that has been abandoned for another person.
None of these responses, while deeply human, lead us to a healthy place. We do not control life’s circumstances, but each of us has a choice as to how we respond to them. There is a better choice and one that God wants us to choose: to simply trust Him in whatever pain we face. To join God’s hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11.
All of us have scars from life. I don’t want just scars, I want divine scars. Divine scars come from times when life comes undone - when hurt, tragedy, pain, unfairness, sorrow, and difficulty come into our lives - and we allow God to change our hearts in the process. They come when we choose to trust Him in our loss, rather than turn to bitterness or despair. They are scars that have been redeemed for a higher eternal purpose.
I am fascinated that when Jesus rose from the dead, He rose with a new body, but still a human body, and He still bore the scars in His hands and feet. In fact, Jesus chose to identify with us as humans from the point of His incarnation, and when we see Him in heaven, we will see Him in human form with the scars.
These scars are divine scars. They represent His death and resurrection for us. They represent His willingness to follow, even when it was hard. His ultimate test came on the Thursday evening prior to his death when, through intense struggle, He chose to say “YES” to the father in those faithful words, “My Father, if it not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matthew 26:42).
God’s greatest goal for our lives is not to make us happy and content. His greatest goal is to help us become like Him in character and heart. This will mean times of sorrow and suffering, just as He faced sorrow and suffering. In fact, it is precisely in those times of hardship that He has the greatest opportunity to mold our hearts, character, priorities, and commitments.
And what happens when we suffer while following Jesus? When we choose to trust when the chips are down? When we experience sorrow as He experienced it? Paul puts it this way in his own life: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)
I don’t know your situation. Life comes undone in so many ways. What I do know, is that God will give you what you need today, in this hour, in this moment, and will continue to do so as you walk your unique journey. There are scars, but they are divine scars that will change you in ways you cannot imagine. And you are sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings. Allow this amazing fact to encourage you and give you hope: If you are sharing in His sufferings, you are also sharing in His presence, for this is a fellowship of His sufferings.
Father, there are times when I am weary and wonder if I can go on. I ask You to be what I need at this moment. Transform my scars into divine scars that will mold and change me and honor You. I rejoice that my suffering is not without purpose, and that in my suffering, I share in the fellowship of Your sufferings. Amen.
Let’s just say it. There is nothing fair about life. It throws us curves that leave us reeling, and sometimes we throw the curve all by ourselves. One thing I have learned in my own life, and in the lives of others, is that there is plenty of pain to go around. Everyone suffers that pain. Sometimes in private and sometimes in public but all of us experience it. So here is the question: If life is not fair, what does God want to do in our lives when we come apart? When our hope and our hearts are broken?
I call it the Ragamuffin gospel and it is found in Isaiah 61:1-3. This is what the Lord wants to do in our pain. And this is what He wants to do in our life.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
Think of these adjectives: Poor, brokenhearted, captives, prisoners, mourners, grief, ashes and a spirit of despair. These are descriptors of those whose hearts are broken. Captive to their grief, prisoners to their bitterness, living with a spirit of despair and not caring about their circumstances beyond their pain.
I have seen many people like this around the world. There have been times in my own life where I lived in that gutter. And it is a gutter, a terrible place to be. Picture yourself there, sitting in that gutter, your clothes unwashed, your heart broken, your mind distracted, your eyes full of tears and a heart full of despair.
Then, from a distance, you see a man, and he comes directly toward you (yes you) with eyes full of love. He reaches for your filthy hands, lifts you up and says, “I have good news for you. Just for you. Made for you. I am going to comfort you. I am going to put on your head a crown of beauty to take the place of your tangled, unwashed, filthy hair. I am going to provide to you the oil of joy in place of your mourning and a beautiful garment of praise instead of your despair. Not only that but you will be a display of God’s splendor.”
Would you ever be the same? This is the ministry of God, through Jesus, to those whose hearts are broken, who live in despair and who long for wholeness but are sure it cannot come to them. It can, and it does, if we will open our hearts to what God wants to do in us through the pain we are suffering. Embrace it, and He will embrace you. Open your heart, and He will fill it. Ask for healing, and He will bring it. It is why Jesus came and died and lives again. It is called salvation, redemption, healing and joy.
Jesus, what can I say to that? Thank You. I open my heart today and ask You to fill it. I embrace You and ask You to embrace me. I ask for healing and I ask You to bring it. Thank You for Your amazing love for a ragamuffin like me. Amen.
Like a tsunami breaking over our lives, it washes over us bringing fear, shock, and uncertainty - and we know that our lives are forever changed. In its wake, the landscape of our lives is left rearranged and unfamiliar and our brains struggle to make sense of a new and unfamiliar reality. These are the times when some event or some person breaks our heart and we think there is no way to repair what has been shattered. They are indelible moments that we never forget and the wounds can take long to heal.
It is not unusual for us to ask, “Why God? Why me?” But in truth, the question is, “why not me?” We suffer because we live in a broken, fallen world where disease exists, death comes, people mistreat people, nations go to war, justice is often scarce, natural disasters disrupt, famine and drought come, wars rage, and the list could go on. All of this is the result of sin, which infected the garden in the beginning and will exist until Jesus comes back to establish His perfect kingdom.
The real question when our hearts are broken is not, “Why me?” Rather, it is, “Why would Jesus choose to walk through my pain with me?” Why would the king of the universe choose to enter into our pain, sorrow and woundedness with the intent of healing our hearts?
The prophet Isaiah speaks of the ministry of Jesus 800 years before Jesus was born. This is how he described that ministry: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” - Isaiah 61:1
In Psalm 34:18, David writes, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Here is what I want you to know: God has a special place in His heart for the brokenhearted and crushed. In fact, the Psalm tells us that the Lord is close to those who are suffering and wounded, whose hearts have been broken. But that is not all! Jesus was sent by God to bind up the brokenhearted. That is who He is and what He does.
Often, we focus on the wrong thing when our hearts are broken. We focus on why it happened to me, rather than on the promise that God is never closer to us than when our hearts are broken. This is vitally important to understand because, in our pain, it is easy to blame God and move away from Him. What He really wants is for us to understand He is close and wants to bind our wounds, but that happens only when we press into Him.
If you are hurting today, if your heart is broken, take some time to meditate on Isaiah 61:1 and Psalm 34:18. Tell God your deep hurt and pain. There is nothing you can say to Him that will offend Him. And then take Him at His word that He is there with you, that He is close and that He longs to bind up your wounds and bring healing.
This is what we read in Hebrews 4:14-16: “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Father, I thank You for a love so deep that You promise to bind up my wounds and be close to me when I am brokenhearted. I pray today that You will heal the wounds of my life and heart and start me on a journey toward full healing. Amen.
Worry and anxiety are real issues for almost everyone. David talks a great deal about worry in the Psalms - issues he could not fix, situations that he was concerned about and those who were his enemies and wanted to hurt him. His situations were no different than ours, but he was able to give those worries back to God because he understood God. Psalm 139 gives us a framework that can give us confidence in God when we experience anxiety and worry. Think about these six truths in light of the things you worry about.
- God knows you fully. “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.” There is nothing that God does not know about us. Nothing. He knows our situation, our wiring, our needs and our thoughts.
- God protects us. “You hem me in - behind and before; you have laid your hand on me.” Think about that. God’s hand is on you today. Right now. And He protects you from all sides.
- God’s Spirit is with us always. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” There is nowhere and no circumstance where God’s spirit is not there with us. In addition to His presence, David says God’s right hand holds us fast.
- There is no darkness in our lives that God does not penetrate. “Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” This ought to be great encouragement to those of us who suffer from depression. It is a dark place - I know - but God has the ability to meet us there as well.
- God created us and knows our wiring. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. When I was woven in the secret place… your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” There are no surprises to God. There is no situation we face or path we walk that He did not know we would walk. If He knows, He is also prepared for all situations we face. He knew the challenges we would face even before our birth.
- God’s word is our encouragement. “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” It is in the daily immersion of our minds in His word that we are encouraged again and again and which drives back the discouragement of worry and anxiety.
All of these truths lead to the last words of Psalm 139. David prays this: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Why does David ask God to search him and know his anxious thoughts? Because he knows that those thoughts are not necessary and hold him back. He also knows that there is no need for him to live with anxious thoughts, given who God is and how He cares for us. The next time you find yourself in a spiral of worry, read Psalm 139 and pray His promises to you back to God.
Father, I am amazed again at Your goodness and care for me. Your knowledge of me is a great gift. Your presence with me is a great encouragement, and the ministry of Your Spirit to me is a promise I claim today. Search me and know my anxious thoughts so I can leave them with You where they belong. Amen.
Life lived with God is a journey to freedom. It is a journey from selfishness to selflessness, from sin to righteousness, from facades to authenticity, from living by the expectations of others to that of pleasing an audience of One, from our sinful nature to a life in the Spirit. Every step toward freedom is a step in the right direction. Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Freedom in Christ is a wonderful place to live.
As citizens of a world that has been interrupted by Satan, we are held captive by many things: pride, independence, materialism, success, self-sufficiency, the expectations of others, sinful habits, distractions from those things that are most important, worry, fear and selfish hearts.
Every time one of those captive makers is stripped from our lives, we become more free, more like the person God created us to be, and our hearts more like His. In a divine reversal, what we consider to be the ultimate disaster can, in fact, be a freedom maker.
Once I have experienced a great failure, I no longer need to worry about failing. Once I have lost my self-sufficiency, I no longer need to try to be self-sufficient and am free to rely on God. Being stripped of our pride gives us freedom to receive from others when we need it. No longer do we have the need to be self-sufficient in all things.
When I have not lived up to the expectations of others, I realize that not only can I not pull that off, but I don’t need to. Another step toward freedom! Have you ever thought about how much time and energy we expend in trying to live up to the expectations of others? Authenticity means that we no longer need to work to prove something, but we can simply be what God made us to be. Our highest goal is not to please people but to please an audience of One - our Father. Again, that is freedom.
With humility comes a “nothing to prove, nothing to lose, nothing to hide” view of life, which leads to authentic and worry free living. Authentic living is about being who God created us to be and not someone else’s version for us, whether they be our parents, our in-laws or others. The question is no longer “what I have to do to please other people,” but what I need to do to please God.
Our main question should be, “What do I need to do to please the Father and stop worrying about what others think of me?” Not only will we not please everyone else, but that is not the call on my life or yours. Pleasing the Father is our calling. His priorities for our life, time, energies and heart are what count. He is the One we will give account to one day. No one else’s opinions will matter on that day, so we should stop worrying about the opinions of others.
When we can shed the expectations of others, stop worrying about what they think of us and simply follow the path God has given us, we start to experience great freedom. As Paul wrote to the Colossians in 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Father, would You help me to live in freedom rather than in worry and anxiety? Teach me that Your opinion is the one that ultimately counts and that I need not live by the expectations of others or worry about what they think. May my life please You in every way instead. Amen.
Living a life of worry and anxiety is not what God created us for. Yet when we are preoccupied with worry, it seems like we cannot turn it off. We find ourselves in conversations, but thinking about our issues. We try to pray, but cannot get our minds off of our anxious thoughts. Worry and anxiety literally put a stranglehold on our thoughts, steal our joy and turn our days (and nights) into one long, bad movie of anxiety.
The life of Jesus gives us a significant clue as to how we can live without worry and anxiety. It is something that took me years to realize, but when I did, it made all the sense in the world, and I now see that practice throughout the Gospel accounts. It is this: Jesus was always fully present in the moment and, in doing so, didn’t have time for worry.
Take for example the time when little children were “brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them” in Matthew 19. The disciples rebuked him because they saw the children as a hassle. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to these.” The disciples were distracted, but not Jesus. He was fully present and available to the children. We are not available when we are distracted, so being truly present is critical.
There are numerous times when Jesus was on His way somewhere specific, but the crowds kept following Him. In one instance, He was leaving Jericho and two blind men shouted to Him, “‘Lord, Son of David have mercy on us!’ The crowd angrily told these men to be quiet but they just shouted louder. Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you,’ he asked. ‘Lord,’ they answered, ‘we want our sight.’ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.” (Matthew 20:29-34).
In these and many other examples, we learn a secret to Jesus’ life. Wherever He was and whatever He was doing, He was always fully present. He was not distracted by the past or the future. He was just fully there - in the moment - engaging with the situation or the people at hand. Being truly present throughout our day drives out distractions like worry and anxiety. The clue in this account is that Jesus, being present, stopped and interacted with these blind men. He was on His way out of Jericho but was still present for those who needed Him.
What did Jesus do with his own concerns? He took daily time to be with the Father, away from the crowds and other distractions so that He could be fully present with the Father. It was there that He left His burdens and concerns. Again, by being fully present.
When you find yourself being distracted by worry and anxiety, remember that this is not how Jesus designed you to live. Be sure that you find a time each day when you can be present with the Father and leave your burdens with Him, even if they are the same burdens you have left for days before. That is where your burdens belong. Only He can carry our anxiety and worry and He wants to do that for us. And then, rather than ruminating on things you cannot change or cannot control, simply practice being present where God puts you in your day and with the situations or people God gives you. Don’t try to multitask by being distracted by worry. Simply pay attention to what is in front of you and leave your worries with Him and for your time with Him.
Father, I confess that I am often not fully present in the things and people You put in front of me due to my distractions. Help me to learn to be fully present so that I can be focused on those things You want me to focus on, and to leave my anxiety with You. Amen.
The battle of worry and anxiety is actually a battle between fear and faith. We often don’t think of worry that way, but this is the reality of worry and anxiety. At its root, worry is about fear. Fear of what could happen or is happening.
Our world is driven by fear. Fear causes the wild fluctuations in the stock market. Fear that we won’t have enough keeps us from giving generously to God. Fear of failure keeps us from trying new things and stepping out of our comfort zone. Fear of what others will think of us keeps us from speaking up when we should. Fear of the unknown keeps us from following the promptings of Jesus when they come.
There are many examples of fear in Scripture. I love the humanness of the disciples because I can relate to that humanness. They had seen Jesus feed the five thousand, cast out demons, heal the blind and the mute, and raise a girl from the dead, yet there were still instances when they found themselves deeply fearful.
One of those times occurred when they found themselves without Jesus in a storm and then saw Jesus walking toward them across the water. “‘It is a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus, But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. ‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:22-31).
Two things Jesus says here stand out. First he says, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” The command “Do not be afraid” occurs 365 times in Scripture, one for each day of the year. Worry is fear and fear is the human condition, but it is not what Jesus wants for us. Why? Because of His second statement: “You of little faith, why did you doubt.” If God is all powerful, all good, and loves us endlessly, why would we doubt that He has our particular situation under control, that He is with us and can deal with anything we are facing?
We do not need to carry fear or worry or anxiety. Jesus wants to do that for us, and for Him, it is no burden because He is always sovereign over our situation. You see, the opposite of worry and fear is faith. Fear holds us back while faith drives us forward. Fear says be cautious in all things, while faith says, be bold in your followership. And here is our question today: Is our life driven more by fear or by faith? Caution or boldness?
What do you fear today? Your worry and anxiety is nothing other than fear. Jesus would say to you the same thing he said to Peter: “Take courage, it is I, don’t be afraid.” Letting go is always about choosing faith over fear.
Father, I have often been like the disciples. In spite of all the things I have seen You do in my life, I still latch on to fear and worry. Like Peter, I can have faith one minute and fear the next. Would You teach me to daily take courage from You and to give my fears to You. I want to live free and unafraid. Amen.
Worry is the enemy of a life of peace. It is also wasted energy that saps our spirits, causes us anxiety, distracts us from issues at hand and leaves us emotionally drained. It is also antithetical to the life that Jesus created us for: a life of peace and childlike trust in Him. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” How many of us would like to live with that kind of peace rather than the anxiety and worry we often live with?
We will examine how we can let worry go and live with a peace that passes understanding. The first key is to determine what we choose to focus our minds on. Here is the principle: All thoughts are either positive or negative. Positive thoughts that reflect God’s hope yield peace and a sense of well being, while negative thoughts yield worry and anxiety.
This is why the Scriptures remind us often to fill our minds with God’s word. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:15-16). Notice that all of these are positive thoughts rather than negative thoughts. Elsewhere, Paul tells us, “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).
Don’t gloss over these scriptures. They give believers the recipe for peaceful hearts. It involves allowing God’s peace to dwell in our hearts, thankfulness, letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly, rejoicing in God, presenting our requests to God with the resulting promise that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. All of these practices drive worry and anxiety from our lives. In fact, we are told to give those worries to God and allow Him to carry them for us.
Here is the issue we face daily: We must make a choice as to whether we will walk through our day practicing these principles or allow ourselves to wallow in worry. God promises us peace, but we choose whether we will access that peace or whether we will allow our minds to be diverted by worry. Anxiety is natural and each of us has reason to be anxious. But as anxiety and worry crop up in our minds, we have the option of choosing to give God our worries and dwell on the hope that He promises.
I was once in the ICU in Thailand, on a ventilator and not expected to live. I had massive pneumonia, septic shock, multiple organ failure, congestive heart failure and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. They don’t sedate people in Thailand when they are on a ventilator. I was wide awake, barely able to breathe, knowing the prognosis and expecting that I would not make it through this second major illness far from home. My mind kept going to the thought that I would not make it this time. This was the end. I was going to die. Every hour on the vent was like 24 hours, very painful and I was on the vent for 11 days.
I was alone with my pain and my thoughts. And I had to choose: would I dwell on the likely outcome or would I choose God instead? I made the decision to choose God and hope. Every time I started down a trail of worry I ran these words of Jesus through my mind: “Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” It was a battle, but I won the battle of peace over anxiety, regardless of what God chose to do with my life. I chose to let go of fear and allow God’s Spirit to bring peace to my soul. You can do the same today.
Father, I pray for Your peace. I pray that You would relieve me of my troubled heart and allow You to carry my fear and anxiety. Give me the peace that passes all understanding today. Amen.
Letting go of things that are holding us back is a process. It starts with a recognition that there is something in our lives that needs to be let go: A relationship that has been damaged, shame over sin that has us convinced we cannot be used by God, regret over decisions that we wish we could undo and do over. Whatever it is, the process starts by recognizing our need. But to truly let it go, there are often times when we need to act, make something right, so that we can move on with God’s help.
In David’s case, he had to confess his sin with Bathsheba and ask for God’s forgiveness. When Zaccheus was transformed by God’s grace, he said to Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” He was willing to make restitution for his actions. Then there was the situation with Paul and Barnabas, where they had such a sharp disagreement over whether to include John Mark in their mission trip that they had to part ways in ministry.
Letting go can take many forms, but there are times when we must take action to make things right where we can and choose to move forward, rather than living in the pain of the past. Often, this includes forgiving ourselves or those who have hurt us. This may be the most crucial step in moving on from hurt we have experienced.
In Matthew 18: 21, “Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’”
I never understood the significance of this passage until I had been hurt badly. What I wanted was revenge. My pound of flesh. The wounds were deep and the damage excruciatingly painful. But the quiet voice of God kept telling me, “If you want to let go and move forward, you need to forgive.” It took some time but I finally was ready to forgive, but it was not a one time thing. I had to forgive and forgive and forgive and, over time, God started to remove the hurt and the pain and translate my pain into constructive energy. But I understood the words of Jesus here, and to forgive until the need to forgive is no longer present. Then I was free.
Letting go is a journey toward freedom. It starts with our thinking, moves to our heart, is verbalized with our mouths and finally includes whatever action we need to take to bring closure and let it go. Those who are willing to take the journey find personal freedom with the Holy Spirit’s help. Those who refuse the journey because they choose bitterness or loss over forgiveness and opportunity will never experience the amazing life that God designed us for.
Which do you choose today?
Father, I choose life today. The life You intended me for and that Jesus died for. I don’t want to settle for anything less than what You intended for me and redeemed me for. Help me to take whatever action I need to take today to let go of those things that hold me back so that I can experience Your fullness of life. Amen.
We often underestimate the power of our voice in dealing with pain, trauma, disappointment, broken dreams, hurt relationships or our own sin as a part of letting go and moving on. The Apostle Paul talks about the importance of our voice when he says, “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
There is power in saying out loud what is in our hearts, which is why we have the Psalms as David expressed his sin, faith, questions, praise, truths about God and a lot more “out loud,” recorded for all time. Cleo (my wife) and I have a habit of praying as we start our devotions together by saying, “Lord, we know that you are here with us in the empty chair across from us. We thank You for Your presence and that we can talk to You in person this morning. Bless our time together.” And then we pray in His presence, out loud. In doing so, His presence becomes more real and after all, He is there!
In fact, there are many references in the New Testament to the power of our voice. In Ephesians 5: 19-20, for instance, Paul says, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” James 5: 13-16 likewise says this: “Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
God has called us to live in community and not in isolation. When we need to let go of issues in our lives so that we can move forward, the truths that we have discovered in Scripture and the truths that are now in our hearts through time with God and meditation need to be verbalized. Just as in creation, each of the days begins with “And God said,” so there are important times when we need to verbalize the truth about ourselves, our situation, and our God and His promises so that we hear it with our own ears and, even more powerful, so someone else hears it and can affirm and encourage us on our way.
When I verbalize a truth I internalize it. When I am willing to speak the truth, I am making a statement to myself and to others as to what I need to do to move on. Part of that may be repentance of my own part in what has occurred. It may be a statement about forgiving others who have hurt me. Whatever it is, there is power in speaking the truth out loud whether about God, ourselves, our situation, others, our pain or forgiveness. If you doubt me - try it.
Father, just as You spoke in the beginning, and Jesus spoke in the Gospels words of life and healing, help me to speak the words that I need to speak. Give me a few safe people that I can verbalize my commitments to who will affirm and encourage me. Above all, I will speak to You. Amen.
Yesterday we looked at the role that our thinking plays in letting go of our past: our hurt, our wounds, sin, choices or relationships that have gone south. You know that it is painful to hang on to stuff that we cannot change, but for some strange reasons we find it equally painful to let go - as if by running it through our mind time and time again that somehow it will magically change. Of course, in our clearer moments we know that you cannot re-saw sawdust but we do a marvelous job trying to do so.
The renewing of our minds is fundamental to this process of letting go. We have seen how Scripture is key to understanding how God sees us, our situation and how He wants to free us for His use. But somehow, the truths that we put in our minds need to get to our heart, because until the truth of our situation and the truth of God’s word can move from our minds to our hearts, we will not be able to let go.
I am convinced that David teaches us the key to engaging our hearts in the Psalms. The Psalms come out of David’s deep meditation around God, His word and his (David’s) own life. It was as he soaked himself in God’s presence that he was able to see his own issues clearly, the truths of God’s word and then allow the Holy Spirit to speak to him with clarity about what he needed to do. It is in God’s presence that His truth moves from our heads to our hearts and we experience God’s presence most fully and His direction most clearly.
No Psalm more epitomizes this process than Psalm 51, where David is brought to repentance for his adultery with Bathsheba. Read this slowly and allow your own heart to be touched as David’s was as he wrote this:
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
There is nothing theoretical here. There is no defensiveness or justification. There is simply deep contrition coming out of David’s time with God. The truth that Nathan had delivered to David had moved from his mind to his heart and now he was willing to deal with the truth of his sin and in doing so, be forgiven, let go and move on. The more we take time to meditate on God’s word, the clearer will be our path forward and the more free we will become.
Father, would You teach me to soak in Your presence and meditate on Your word. Help me see myself clearly, my situation with clarity and my path forward with confidence. As David said, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.” Amen.
This week we are looking at the art of letting go of those things that hold us back and keep us from moving forward in freedom. That process always starts with our head - that is, thinking like God wants us to think rather than how others want us to think, or Satan, who wants to steal our joy and diminish our life.
I know this challenge intimately. In my early years, I went through deep pain in a church I was leading. I won’t go into details, but the situation robbed me of all joy, brought on clinical depression, made me question my call to serve the local church, or God for that matter, in full time ministry. I felt like a failure and as an inward processor, all the tapes in my head told me I was a failure, that God could not use me and that I was unworthy. How is that for your first full time ministry? I suspect that while the details differ, you can think of times when you felt this way and maybe still do.
One day, a young man who attended my church handed me a book called “The Father Heart of God.” I don’t know why he decided to give it to me. Maybe he sensed my pain or maybe he was just following God’s prompting to share it with me. It is a short book, but profound - about the grace and mercy and love that our heavenly Father has for us. I devoured the book and the scriptures that were shared, and I realized that my view of God was flawed. In fact, there was nothing I could do to make God love me more and there was nothing I could do to cause God to love me less. God is love and He chooses to chase after us with His amazing grace so that we can be redeemed of our past, whether it is distant past or recent past, and live in His mercy and grace.
I started to read the Scriptures in a new way, paying special attention to those passages that talk about how God sees us. When the old tapes played in my head about my unworthiness, I would meditate on those passages. I had to retrain my mind so that I thought biblically.
This is exactly what Paul wrote about in Romans 12:1-2 (NIV):
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
If we are going to let go of our failures, perceived or real. If we are to move beyond those who have hurt us or ways that we have hurt ourselves through sin or poor judgment, the first step is to allow our minds to be transformed by understanding how God sees us, the grace and mercy we live in, the truth of His forgiveness and the reality that He came to give us life and even abundant life (John 10:10). The evil one wants to rob us of our joy, while Jesus came to redeem every part of our lives on an ongoing basis.
If you are having a hard time letting go of something that is holding you back or robbing you of joy, I challenge you to read the Scriptures often and meditate on God’s promises to you, and look at how God sees you. He calls you a saint who has been chosen, redeemed, adopted, forgiven, gifted and called. Until you understand these kinds of truths, you cannot be free. Seek them out, learn them and meditate on them.
Father, I thank You for Your amazing heart for me. How can I question Your heart or Your grace in my life if You died for my sin? Redeem me today from all that holds me back and help me see in Your word Your love and regard for me. A sinner, saved and now seen by You as a saint. Thank You. Amen.
All of us have times in our lives where we find ourselves paralyzed, depressed, hurt, or deeply wounded. It may have come from the hand of another or from our own hand in decisions we made. But wherever our pain comes from, unless we are able and willing to let it go we will continue to live on the margins, in bitterness, or with diminished hope. Especially painful are wounds given by fellow believers. The Apostle Paul understood pain and wounds inflicted by believers and unbelievers. In fact, there were false apostles in the Corinthian church who tried to marginalize him, hurt his reputation and who spread false rumors about his character. It doesn’t get more hurtful than that. In response to those false apostles Paul wrote this:
Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? - 2 Corinthians 11:21-29 (NIV)
You can hear the pain and frustration in these words. These were wounds designed to hurt him to the core. They were aimed at the things he cared the most about: faith, followership of Jesus, character, and his humility. How was it that Paul was able to overcome these kinds of circumstances and keep on going strong? How did he let go so he could move on? The answer is actually found in his letter to the Philippians where he wrote this:
“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
Like us, Paul had to come to terms with his wounds and the people who wounded him. He had to come to terms with relational breaks like he experienced with John Mark and Barnabas. He had to forgive those who had hurt him so that he didn’t live in bitterness. He also had to forgive himself for times when he admits he did not live up to God’s standards - calling himself the most wretched of sinners. Like us, he had to let go and move on.
Above all, Paul trained himself to let go of the past, which was behind him, so that he could reach for the future, which was in front of him. He lived his life looking forward, not behind, with the goal of pleasing God with whatever time he had left.
As you look at your life today, are you looking back or looking forward? Is the past holding you back or are you, like Paul, straining toward what is ahead? It is the difference between a diminished and a renewed life.
Father, I give to You today the wounds, bitterness, sadness, and broken places of my heart. I want to live life looking forward, not backward. I want to live in freedom, not burdened with the past. Help me to embrace Your vision for my future and let go of anything that holds me back. Amen.
From time to time, I have had people with the gift of prophetic prayer pray over me. Each time, it has been an amazing experience as they have shared the heart of the Father for me. Even more amazing, is that what they shared came to reality in my life and each time I knew in my heart, this was from God. There are wonderful blessings that God pronounces over His people in Scripture, where God reveals His heart for us. One of them is found in three stanzas of Psalm 67.
“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” (Verses 1-2). Now stop and think about this for a moment. What if you knew that today, right now, God was going to be gracious to you and bless you, and more than that, make His face shine upon you - the light of all His glory and grace as He actually looks at you - you personally, today, now? That is exactly what He is doing right now. And why? So that His ways would be known on earth and His salvation known among all nations as we experience His blessing and share it with others. I hope that changes your day today. It should.
“May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, O God, May all the peoples praise you.” (Verses 3-5). This is the only real response to the graciousness and blessing of God! To praise Him. To thank Him. To live with a, “Thank you Jesus,” on our lips throughout our day. God is good and He is powerful and He rules justly. Every breath we take is His breath in our lungs. Every new day we experience is a day of grace from Him. Every tough road we walk is one that He chooses to walk with us.
God is always there, ready to be gracious to us and bless us. His face always shines upon us. How we respond is our choice, but the response that He is pleased with is one of praise and thanksgiving. There is no situation we face that will not be transformed by an attitude of thanksgiving to God. That is why I practice the discipline of saying, “Thank you Jesus,” dozens of times a day, even when things are going poorly for me, because I know He is there and He is blessing me, notwithstanding my circumstances.
“Then the Land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.” (Verses 6-7). Twice the Psalmist says, God will bless us as we experience His graciousness and blessing as we live in thanksgiving. God responds to our praise and thanksgiving with even more blessing, because that is His heart for us and He loves it when we live in thanksgiving to Him, rather than in selfishness or even pity for ourselves. His generosity to us results in our generosity to Him in thanksgiving, which results in His continued generosity and blessing to us.
Let’s make it our goal to live this way today. Recognizing His blessing, living with thankfulness and expectant of His continued blessing.
Father, what can I say but thank You for Your graciousness and blessing to me. Help me to live constantly aware of Your goodness and saturated with thankfulness to You. I bless You, praise You and thank You from the depths of my soul today. Amen.
Often, when I read the Scriptures, especially the prayers that are recorded for us, I am challenged about my own prayer life. I think about the things I pray for, and certainly we are told to bring all our prayers and petitions to God, which I do regularly. What challenges me are the kinds of prayers that men and women of God have prayed that rise above the everyday things I often bring to God.
I love, for instance, the prayer of Solomon when he became king. God appeared to him during the night in a dream and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 1 Kings 3. Can you imagine God asking you that question? I can think of all kinds of possible answers, but Solomon doesn’t give any of those answers. Here is how he answered:
“Solomon answered, ‘You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on the throne this very day.” Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern you and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” - 1 Kings 3:6-9
Now if God asked me the same question, I hope that I might answer like Solomon, but the truth is that so many of my prayers are about me. Solomon’s prayer, however, was about what he needed to serve God - wisdom or a discerning heart. This pleased God, because it was not a selfish prayer but a God centered prayer. God promised him that because he had asked for discernment and wisdom, it would be his, along with great riches that he had not asked for.
This is a reminder to me that our prayer lives need to revolve not simply around my needs but also those things that are dear to His heart. He loves to meet our needs, but He is pleased when we pray for the advancement of His kingdom. This is why we ought to be praying for the lost to come to Christ, that the church can have a deep Gospel impact in the community and the world, that justice would be the norm in our society and that racial reconciliation would take place around the world.
Here is our challenge: As we bring our own needs before God, let’s pray for those things that He also values. Solomon gave us an example. Lets do likewise.
Father, would You teach me to pray as the great figures in the bible prayed? Today I ask You specifically to give to me what I need to make a difference for You in the places I go and the people I meet. I thank You in advance. Amen.
A life of faith requires strength and courage. God calls us to places we don’t expect, life throws us curves we didn’t sign up for, and forces of unrighteousness around us can look impossible to change. Like David facing Goliath, we encounter Goliaths in our own lives that cause anxiety, wake us up at night, and often keep us focused on the Goliath, rather than on the God who defeats our Goliaths.
This is why I love Joshua 1:6-9. Here, the Lord gives Joshua his instructions for taking over the leadership of Israel from Moses on the verge of entering the promised land. “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua had no idea what was in front of him as he led the people to take the promised land, but three times God says to him, “Be strong and courageous.” This is not because the people were stronger than their enemies but because God was. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord you God will be with you wherever you go.” Our fears are not God’s fears. He has no fears, nor limitations. What He asks us to do or gives us to deal with is always possible because of His power. Our job is to recognize that and to be strong and courageous no matter what the circumstances.
There is another instruction that God gives Joshua: “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
The key to being strong and courageous is always to stay close to God. And to follow Him in obedience. As we do so, He gives us just what we need for each day and we are reminded through His word that He is with us and for us and what it means to follow Him closely. Our relationship with Him keeps our hearts fresh and our courage high. Neglect Him and our hearts grow stale and the giants we face become fearsome to us.
Today, ask the Lord for strength and courage to face the day and take the time to refresh your heart and soul in His word. Remember the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
PRAYER
I thank You that You are more powerful than issues or challenges that I could face. And, that You are with me wherever I go. Give me strength and courage today and the confidence that You have my situation under control. Amen.
If you have ever tried to swim against the tide, you know how difficult it is. The tide wants to pull you in its direction no matter how hard you try to swim. In fact, it can be dangerous to try. The pull of the tide is a lot like the pull of the world on our lives. The values, priorities, sinful practices and philosophies of our day are like a powerful force pulling us in its direction. But we need not be pulled by the tides around us. I am always encouraged by the stories in Scripture of real people who face real problems with all the same personal issues that we have and yet swam against the tide of their day.
One of those was Noah. This is what Scripture says about his day: “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” - Genesis 6:5-8
Of all the people on the face of the earth, there was one man and one family who found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Think about being in the minority - yet they swam against the tide. Here is how Noah is described in Genesis 6:10: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” What does it mean to be righteous? It is to walk with God. That is a beautiful description of what God desires from us. That we simply walk with Him and in His ways.
Sometimes we over complicate our faith. As John wrote in 1 John 2:5-6, “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” What does God want from us today? To walk with Him and to follow His direction for our lives whether in our relationships, financial decisions, our families, marriages or work. To simply walk with Him. In doing so, like Noah, we show our love for Him.
Noah was not a perfect man, but he walked with God and was called righteous by God. He wanted what God wanted and he alone in his generation swam against the tide. Even when God told him to build the ark, where there was no water, and a big ark at that, Noah simply followed God’s instructions to the laughter of those around him. He didn’t care what others thought but only what God thought. Looking foolish for the sake of God was fine with him. He knew that he answered to an audience of One.
Today, simply concentrate on walking with God. Be aware of God in all that you do and God will bless you as He did Noah.
Father, my heart desires to walk with You and to swim against the tide of unrighteousness in our day. Remind me often of the picture of simply walking through my day with You and in the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to please You in all that I do. Amen.
In James 2:1-13, James speaks to us about an issue that is common among Christians, as well as the population in general. It is the showing of favoritism - showing preference to those who are more important than others or wealthier than others or who can benefit us more than others. In fact, James calls this behavior a judgement of others and evil. “If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
James defines favoritism as when we think less of those who are different than us, or who cannot do anything for us. It can be hidden in our hearts, or it can be evident in our actions. Favoritism is at the heart even of racism, where we elevate one group in our thinking or actions and see others as beneath us in some way. What we are really doing when we show favoritism, says James, is to judge those who we look down on as less worthy than we, and he calls that evil. Strong words indeed.
He continues, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” The antidote to showing favoritism is to live out the royal law of Scripture to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” You see, none of us like to be looked down on or judged. None of us like to be marginalized or be invisible to others. None of us like to be treated as “less than” by others, so living out the royal law means that we will not do any of those things to others. In God’s sight we are equal. The cross of Jesus is the great leveler.
The Apostle closes this teaching with these words: “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement.” - James 2:12-13
James reminds us that we are accountable for our attitudes, words, actions and thoughts. He is calling us to a higher standard than our world lives by. In the world, relationships are determined by what others can give back to us. In the Kingdom, we treat one another the way Christ treats us. This is the Royal Law.
And then this wonderful phrase that every one of us ought to live by: “Mercy triumphs over judgment!” Take a moment and think of all the judgmental thoughts we have on any given day or with people or populations we look down on and then listen to these words again. “Mercy triumphs over judgement.” Jesus said the same thing in the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Remember today that any favoritism we show, any people we put down in our hearts, any time we don’t live by the royal law, we are passing judgment on another individual. And then remember that Mercy always triumphs over judgement. Let us choose mercy over judgement. It is what Jesus did, and does, for us.
PRAYER
Father, I know I have been guilty of judging others all too often. Forgive me and remind me when I have judgmental thoughts that You gave me mercy. Help me to remember always that mercy triumphs over judgment. Help me to be known for my mercy and love, not my judgment and pride. Amen.
How much does God care about one human being who does not know Him? Think about one person you know who does not yet know Christ. Keep that special individual in mind as you consider the words of Jesus in The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Luke 15:1-7:
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
As usual, Jesus was drawing a crowd, and those most interested in His message were tax collectors (a despised bunch) and so-called sinners. The religious leaders, Pharisees, and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Here is the truth: Jesus was never shy of spending time with the riff raff of society, those that others would not dare to be seen with. And unlike the religious leaders who despised these people, Jesus always welcomed them and spent time with them. He didn’t judge but showed His gracious grace. Who doesn’t want to be around someone like that?
Unfortunately, it is possible for us to do the same thing as the religious leaders and teachers of the law. We can send subtle messages to those whose lives are a mess that they need to clean themselves up before we accept them. Many churches are not safe for those whose lives are messy because they feel judged and unaccepted. If someone told their messy story in your church would they get looks with raised eyebrows, or hugs for showing up?
But here is the point of the parable. If a shepherd loses a sheep, he leaves the 99 and goes out on a rescue mission to find and save it. He moves toward the injured and lost, rather than moving away from them as so many Christians are tempted to do. This was Jesus. He didn’t wait until the messed up came to Him, he went to them and showed them His grace. He accepted them and then shared the Good News with them. Without judgement. Without approbation. Just grace. Pure grace.
Why? Because God does not want any to spend their life and eternity without Him. And like the shepherd who finds the lost sheep and calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep,” so in the same way there is a party in heaven when one sinner repents! That is God.
What is our heart for those who are without God? What is our willingness to go out of our way to spend time with them and find ways to share the hope that we have? Are we ashamed to hang out with people who have messy lives and even bad reputations like the tax collectors of Jesus’ day? Seeing people have a chance to say yes to Jesus is our God given ministry. Will we say yes to Jesus so that others can say yes to Him?
Father, I pray today for the individual that came to mind earlier who does not know You. Give me Your heart so that I will be intentional in spending time with them and sharing the hope I have with them. I pray that they will be in heaven with me one day. I want to be there when they throw a party. Amen.
What do you think it was like the day after the crucifixion of Christ? Did Pilot wake up with a guilty conscience and wonder if he had done the right thing? Did the guards, who had mocked Jesus and then seen Him on the cross, wonder if an innocent man had died? Did the crowds, who had called for His life, keep an embarrassed silence in a quiet Jerusalem? Someone was nervous, for they asked the Roman garrison to post guards at His tomb. On the day after, Jesus' friends mourned, the Romans were nervous, and some who had watched the execution were sure He was the Son of God.
It had to be a day like no other in Jerusalem. It had to be a day of quiet and consideration. It had to be a day of sober doubt after a day of impetuous action. I'll bet there were many disturbed consciences that day. The day between death and resurrection. A day of uncertainty and guilt. A day of hopelessness and sadness. But it was done and there was no undoing the events of the night before.
We have days like that! I have experienced whole periods of life that hang between hope and despair. Uncertainty reigns. Sadness is prevalent, maybe dominant. It is the time in between life as it was and life as it will be - but not yet knowing what will be. It is the dark night of the soul with all the questions, uncertainties, and unknowns. It is those times of personal chaos when we have no idea and little hope that life will become whole again. It is the loss of hope most of all.
It is the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It is real and it hurts and all of us experience it just as the disciples did, only in different ways. But there is another day coming...we know and we look forward to that day of hope. Always remember in the day of despair that morning comes, and it comes with hope and resurrection power and salvation. In the in-between times, we need the words of Habakkuk, "Be still and know that I am God." Easter comes and so does Hope.
There is a whole book in the Old Testament devoted to those in between times. It is the book of Lamentations. To lament is to mourn and to be in sorrow. Jeremiah is literally walking through the burnt out ruins of Jerusalem after the Babylonians had destroyed the city. The city is largely deserted, the temple in ruins, most of the population had been taken into exile into Babylon. Think of the pictures you have seen recently of the cities destroyed in Ukraine and you get the picture. People living in the middle of rubble, hope gone, lives destroyed, bank accounts empty.
Jeremiah is deeply distressed as he wanders through the ruins and then these amazing words. “Because of the Lords’ great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’”
In the time of pain and hopelessness Jeremiah says, “your mercies are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” Great is your faithfulness.
Jeremiah was living in that “in-between time” as we also experience. Where life hangs between Hope and Despair. It is the dark night of the soul with all the questions, uncertainties and unknowns. It is those times of personal chaos when we have no idea and little hope that life will become whole again. But we know from Easter that there is another day coming. Jeremiah knew that there was another day coming because he knew the character of God, who is always faithful. His mercies are new every morning. Tomorrow, as we celebrate Easter, we are reminded once again of His faithfulness and mercies toward us.
Always remember in the day of despair that morning comes, and it comes with hope and resurrection power and salvation. In the in-between times, we need to remember. Easter comes and so does hope.
On Easter morning:
- The evil one was defeated once and for all
- Our sins were paid for on the cross
- Jesus rose victorious from the grave
- We received hope of our own future resurrection
- Death was defeated
- Hope was restored
- The world was forever changed
- The Holy Spirit came
No matter what you are going through today, remember, Easter comes and so does hope. With God it is always so. The in-between times are not the final word. Easter and Jesus and the resurrection are the final word.
Father, thank you for the hope you give us daily in spite of our circumstances. Hope that is grounded in Easter when you rose victorious and our sins were paid for once and for all. Great is your faithfulness. Amen.
The word for today: Hope. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.
This is day 40 of our forty day Lenten adventure. Thank you for sharing them with me. If you have been challenged or blessed by these Devotionals I would love to hear from you. How has God challenged you in these 40 days? You can reach me at tjaddington@gmail.com. Be blessed.
Things are not always what they appear to be!
One of the lessons of Good Friday is that what appears to be true is not always true. On this day, the cosmic battle between Satan and God culminated in what Satan thought was his greatest victory. That battle had been waged from the time of the fall when God made it clear that one day Satan would be defeated (Genesis 3:15). But on this day, Satan knew he had won. The Son of God is on the cross, alone, abandoned even by His Father, who didn't seem able to rescue Him. Thirty pieces of silver were all it had taken, the best deal ever in the history of evil.
The disciples knew it was over. Jesus' friends knew it was over. The religious authorities knew it was over - their problem solved, a rival gone. Not only that, but evil had won over good and righteousness for those who cared. For the followers of Christ, this was the ultimate sadness. They had expected righteousness to triumph, but instead, evil had prevailed. The one who had called Himself the Son of God, dead on a bitter cross. The dreams of a new kingdom were shattered. Hope itself in the person of Jesus. Gone.
Little did they know that what appeared to be the final chapter was only the beginning of a new chapter. Out of the jaws of apparent defeat, Christ would not only be resurrected, but in that resurrection, he sealed the fate of Satan, evil, and unrighteousness for all time and made it possible for the created to have a relationship with the creator. The apparent defeat was only the prelude to total victory! Things are not always what they appear to be.
Not for one moment had the events of Good Friday been out of the control of the heavenly Father, even though it looked like the Father had lost all control. He is always sovereign, and nothing under His control can ever be out of control. The world learned that on Easter Sunday but on Good Friday it could not understand.
Think about your own life for a moment. Where are the areas that seem to be out of control? Where does it feel like evil has won? Where are the areas where you feel apparent defeat, discouragement, sadness, or pain? It is easy to see the Good Friday moments in our lives when it is clear that God has not acted, and we need His help. However, it is harder to wait for the resurrection moments when God shows up, as He always does, and redeems what we thought was unredeemable - often in surprising and unique ways.
I have had whole seasons of life when it seemed that the darkness prevailed over light. I remember leaving my pastorate years ago, depressed, defeated, and convinced that I had failed. I had been caught in a power struggle where the "bad guys" won, and the rest of us left the church. I was out of a job, out of hope, clinically depressed, and even, at times, suicidal. Yet out of that experience came a new journey to understand God's grace, and a new passion for helping hurting churches so that leaders could lead with greater health and less pain. What looked like Good Friday to me, where life was hard and hope was scarce, turned out to be anything but. I came out of the experience with greater faith, wisdom, and understanding. Yes, it took a while, but it happened. I now realize that what seemed out of control was always in His control, and what seemed like failure to me was part of the building blocks of future ministry.
Whatever your circumstance, you can be sure that Easter is coming and that things are not always what they appear to be. In the end, nothing that is in His control can ever be out of control.
How do we deal with the Good Friday moments of life when life is hard and hope is scarce? Sometimes you have to borrow faith from others. When my faith is thin and fragile, I can borrow faith from someone whose faith is strong. That is why relationships are so important in the Christian family. We don’t exist alone. We need one another. When I am weak I need someone who is strong and when I am strong I can lift up the weak. Never be ashamed of needing to borrow the faith of others.
We also need to keep our relationship with Jesus current. If He is the vine and we are the branches (John 15), then we need to stay connected to the vine. There are plenty of times in life that we don’t know what God is up to and times when we are discouraged and perhaps even despair. But there is never a time when we cannot stay connected to Him, knowing that He is the source of life and hope.
Remember in the Good Friday moments this truth: “Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:34-39).
Clearly things are not always what they appear because behind the realities that we see, there is a spiritual reality that is always present and God is always up to something. While life may seem to us to be out of control, nothing under His control can ever be out of control. That is the lesson of Good Friday. And that is true today in those areas of your life where life seems out of control.
Father, on this day the world thought that evil had prevailed. We now know that You prevailed against evil once and for all. Remind me often that life is not always what it appears and that nothing under your control can ever be out of control. Even in my life today. Amen.
The question for today: What things in my own life do I need to remember are under God’s control today?
If you have been challenged or blessed by these Lenten Devotionals I would love to hear from you. How has God challenged you in these 40 days? Write to me at tjaddington@gmail.com
We pray for a lot of things and we are invited to do so on a regular basis. We have a heavenly Father who loves to hear from us and if you listen, He also loves to speak to us. But have you considered how He prays for you? In John 17 on the night of his arrest Jesus prayed for His disciples and He prayed for you and I. In this prayer we see the heart of God for us and it reveals what He cares about for us.
“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
What does Jesus want for you? He wants you to have eternal life and to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent. He doesn't call you to a religion, a church or a denomination. He invites you to know Him and to know the Father and this is eternal life. Knowing God and being in relationship with Him is the most precious gift we could ever have. This is why He died. This is why He took on Himself our sin. So we could genuinely know Him and live in a loving relationship with Him. It changes everything.
Then Jesus prays for His disciples. “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”
Did you catch what he prayed here for us? That we would have the full measure of joy within us. Even though we live in a broken, crazy world He says that we can live with the full measure of joy because the joy is found in a person - Jesus Christ. Not in our possessions, success or any other place, but in the person of Jesus. Then He prays for our protection from the evil one. You and I know that the evil one’s greatest desire is to derail our relationship with Jesus and our joy. So He prays for our protection and for our sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirit changes our character into His character.
And then He calls us to a mission in our broken world. “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” His mission to bring the Good News to the world is now our mission. His work is now our work. We are now His ambassadors to a broken world. This is why he wants us to be sanctified. So that we represent His character and love to a world that is in desperate need of both.
But then He prays for you and I who will believe the message because someone was faithful to share it with us. “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
What does He pray for us? He prays that we would be one. That just as He and the Father are one he prays that we as His children would be one. In fact He says I have given to them the glory that the Father gave me so that we could be one, “I in them and you in me” so that we would be brought to complete unity.” I am fascinated that Jesus would pray for our unity together as members of His family. Why? Because our oneness is proof to the world that the Father sent the son and has loved us as the Father loved Jesus.
There is something supernatural about the unity of the Father and the Son. And there is something equally supernatural about the unity of you and I together. Only the Spirit of God can take people from different ethnicities, social classes, political persuasions, disparate backgrounds with all our personal baggage and dysfunctions and make us one. That is the proof to the rest of the world of the divinity of Jesus. Unfortunately all too often we don’t live as one but that is what He calls us to and that is what He prays will be the case.
Finally He prays “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
We will be known, Jesus prayed for our love.
Father, remind me today that I have been called into a living relationship with you and a supernatural unity with my fellow believers. May I love you well and love your family deeply. Amen.
The Question for today: How is my love quotient for my fellow believers?
If you have been challenged or blessed by these Lenten Devotionals, I would love to hear from you. How has God challenged you in these 40 days? Write to me at tjaddington@gmail.com
John 13 through 17 are some of the most significant chapters in the Gospel of John. They are called the upper room discourse, where Jesus shares some of the most intimate moments with the disciples just before his arrest and crucifixion. Last words are important words, and these constitute his last words to the disciples before his death.
I love how John 13 starts. "It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end." Here is Jesus staring death in the face, and despite His imminent suffering, He loves his own to the end. That is Jesus, and hopefully, we will love and serve to the end of our lives as well.
We read, "The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."
No one had washed the feet of the disciples when they came into the upper room for supper. In fact, there was no one to do it. That was the job of lowly servants, and no one was going to humble themselves to wash one another's feet. Except for Jesus. The God of the Universe who had left heaven for Bethlehem, who had lived among us for a season. The one who would shortly give His life on our behalf. He was humble enough to do what no one else would do. He loved them to the end.
'When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
He calls us to a life of service toward one another with these words. Can you imagine what relationships would look like among God's people if we had the same humble, sacrificial and loving attitude toward one another? It would transform our relationships and bring a new level of humility and service to one another. He loved them to the end and tells us to do the same. If it was not beneath Jesus, it should not be beneath us.
And if you think that washing the disciples' feet was significant, remember that Jesus also washed the feet of Judas, who would shortly betray him. And he reclined at dinner with the same. What can we say to this except that Jesus loved them to the end?
What does it mean to wash one another's feet? It means that we look for ways that we can serve one another. It may mean that we share resources with one another. It may mean that we give up precious time to help someone and even those who we don't naturally gravitate to. It may not be convenient, but it is about loving one another well. It is not loving others when it is convenient but when it is needed.
One of my favorite authors is Henri Nouen. His writings on spiritual transformation are amazing and insightful. Where did he get his insights? In large part in ministering to special needs people who lived in spiritual communities for them around the world. His life was transformed as he ministered to and served people that most of the world ignores and marginalizes. It was humbling, and it was a far distance from his speaking at Ivy League schools and rubbing shoulders with the important and learned. And it changed his life, and the insights he gained have transformed many other lives. But it started with humble service. He would say that he was the recipient of the blessings of that service and that those he served taught him the most profound spiritual lessons of his life.
A bit later on this evening, in John 15, Jesus said this: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for I have made known to you everything that I learned from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”
Notice how Jesus directly links our love for Him with our love for each other. And He connects the fruit that we bear with our love for Him and for one another. "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." Follow my example. Show the same love to one another as I have loved you, and by the way, I no longer call you servants but friends, and I have chosen you to bear fruit so love each other.
The church and Christians, in general, need a reformation of love toward one another, and it must arise out of humility and be grounded in the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated to his disciples and us. Jesus loved them to the end, and let us do the same.
Father, would you give me the humility to wash the feet of those around me in practical acts of service? Teach me to love as you love and to care as you care. And thank you that you call me your friend. Amen.
The question for today: How can I better love those around me?
What is your greatest aspiration in life? It is probably what you think about the most. It may be treasuring our family - something all of us should do. It may be whatever version of success we are shooting for. For some it is the pursuit of meaning through all kinds of various avenues that span the healthy and sometimes the unhealthy. All of us are searching for something and that something becomes our aspiration. Our goal. It becomes our focus.
As we have seen repeatedly in this Lent Series, Jesus had a way of turning conventional wisdom on its head. And on this question of life aspiration He does it again. In fact, He says that if you love this life you will lose it but if you hate your life in this world they will keep it for eternal life. So much for our aspirations, but let's look more closely at a conversation Jesus had after he came into Jerusalem on the week before His crucifixion. It is found in John 12:20-28.
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
What did Jesus' words have to do with the Greeks who came to the disciples and asked to see Jesus? These Greeks wanted to get close to Jesus. Many wanted to get close to Jesus. He was a popular guy, especially as He healed and taught in parables. Lots of people like to get close to Jesus. We want all the advantages that He brings. We want His blessing and often we don’t know what we are actually asking, just as these Greeks didn’t know what they were asking.
Let me tell you what it means to be close to me, He says. In fact, the hour has come for me to be glorified. I tell you that “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. He is here predicting His coming death. But He goes on to say that “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
If your aspirations are anchored in this world and this life, says Jesus, you will lose your life. This world is lost and the aspirations that are focused on this life are not about life. It is a fallen world and its focuses are sinful rather than righteous. But if you love me and my kingdom, and my values and my work as the goal of your life, then you will also experience eternal life. In fact, He is saying that just as I will die, you too must die to the values and focuses of this world. “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
If you want to be near me. If you really want to know me. Then you need to follow me and part of that following is dying to all the sinful ways of this world and becoming alive to the life that I give. This is called the cruciform life. A cruciform is something in the shape of a cross and following Jesus means that we embrace the cross in our own lives. The cross is a symbol of death and there is no life in Jesus without a death to self and a transfer of the leadership of our lives from ourselves to Him. With that transfer we learn to embrace His cruciform life, centered on the cross and the life that He gives to us.
This is why those who follow Him look so different from those who don’t. They have embraced Him and in doing so have embraced our own death to self to be made alive in Him. The cruciform life.
Then Jesus makes this amazing statement. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Knowing the cost of the cross where He took on Himself every sin you and I have ever committed” He is deeply troubled. But rather than run from His cruciform assignment he says, “Father, glorify your name.”
Jesus is declaring that His sole aspiration in life is to glorify the name of the Father. It was all about the Father. That was his aspiration even knowing what the cost would be. It was a kingdom aspiration not an aspiration of this world. It looked forward to eternity rather than being planted in this world. Whatever would glorify the father, He was in. This is the cruciform life. This is the vision and aspiration that Jesus calls us to. This is what it means to know Jesus and to love Him and this is when we experience life that is truly life.
So we come back to the original question. What is your aspiration in life? What drives you? What are you willing to give in order to join Jesus in a cruciform life? Remember the words of Jesus: “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.” But then these words. “My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
Father, I don’t like death to self but I want to follow you. Where you go, I want to go. Where you are I want to be. Help me to live the cruciformed life. Glorify your name through me! Amen.
Question for Today: Is my goal in life to live the cruciformed life and glorify the name of the Father?
Palm Sunday marks the final week’s journey toward the cross on Calvary. This journey was not only about you and I, even though it included us. It was a journey to see untold hundreds of millions on this planet come to a saving knowledge of God and therefore to bring hope and new life to each of these.
Because we are often so self-absorbed we forget the global implications of the death of Christ. John 3:16 says it well: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He died for people all over the world. God loves the world and we are to love what He loves. In Matthew 28 Jesus gives us the mission to carry out his mission…globally: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” He does the same thing in Acts 1:8 where he tells his followers, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The mandate of Jesus was global and our mandate is global. Yet it is a fact that American churches and Christians spend the vast majority of their giving on themselves at the expense of the world.
I once had an interesting conversation with a gentleman who left a church I was a part of because the church sent money to India to train evangelists. His reasoning? We have enough needs in our backyard, we shouldn’t be sending money to India. Ironically, those in our own country have multiple ways to hear the Gospel while in India, most have never heard the good news. In like fashion I have had people say, “Why would you send missionaries to Muslim countries or communist countries?” Why? Because we are to go wherever Jesus is not well known. Jesus died for the world. In the thinking of those above, certain people don’t deserve to know Jesus. Ironically, they don’t either, but someone shared the Good News with them. None of us deserve God, which is why it is all about God’s grace in our lives.
I have had the privilege of traveling to over 60 countries. Many of these are called “creative access countries” because you cannot send traditional missionaries there. Yes, they are places like India, Muslim nations or communist countries. Never have I found a place where God is not at work. Ever. A little known fact is that in Saudi Arabia, a place hostile to Christianity, there are many, many secret believers. The common factor in their conversion? Jesus appears to the heads of families in dreams and explains that He is the Messiah. When the head of the household comes to Christ, so do the members of his household. There is no place on our planet where God is not at work.
What hinders the spread of the Gospel is often our own inattention to the world. Our own lives absorb our time, energy, attention, and giving. Yet our hearts are to be global, just as Jesus’s heart was global and just as He calls us to make disciples of all nations.
When my father, a civil engineer by college degree, a seminarian by graduate school, and then a doctor via Medical School told his small church plant in Arlington Heights, Illinois that he intended to go to Hong Kong as a medical missionary, many of his successful friends told him not to throw his life away. He was undeterred and was one of many missionaries who went to Asia where the church has gained an amazing foothold in my generation. Millions and millions of Asians are part of God’s Kingdom because of a generation of missionaries who were willing to go, and countless others who supported them financially and in prayer.
Jesus calls us to be global Christians. As global Christians we ought to be concerned for any place in the world where the Gospel is not known, where the name of Jesus is largely unknown, or where the church is under significant pressure. One of those places at this very moment is Ukraine. I just learned that a major seminary leader in Ukraine was executed by Russian forces. I knew Vitaly and I know that God has been doing amazing things in Ukraine. It seems fitting that this Easter week we make an investment in the Gospel by giving to organizations such as World Relief, one of the premier Christian aid organizations on the planet. Look them up and join me in making an investment in Jesus’ name.
Here is a principle to encourage you in spite of the depressing news from Ukraine or other places. Nothing happens in our world, good or bad, that does not first pass by the hands of God and which He does not use to build His church. God is always up to something. Count on it.
It has been said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. This is often the case. In many parts of the world, pastors don’t believe they are qualified to lead until they have suffered for the sake of Christ. It is a humbling experience to be with them and listen to their stories. Our own situation is so very different.
Let me encourage you to develop a global heart. Pray for Gods’ work around the world. Generously support mission and evangelism work globally. Find ways to encourage those who go, as well as Christians on the global scene. A good way to start is to go online and make a gift to World Relief in the name of Jesus.
Father, forgive me for my self-absorption. Forgive me for not paying attention to what you are doing globally. Give me a heart for what your heart beats for. May my investments financially and in prayer result in many coming to know you. Amen.
The Question for Today: Am I willing to make a contribution to World Relief for Ukraine in Jesus’ name?
This Sunday we celebrate the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on the week of his death and resurrection. As He entered the city he was surrounded by people shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven.” How did Jesus go from this adulation to an arrest, trial and crucifixion within one week? As Jesus entered the city the whole place was abuzz and stirred up with people asking, “Who is this? The people in the crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21).
The thing about Jesus is that He always surprised those who encountered Him. When adults shooed children away from Him when teaching he rebuked them and with kids on his lap said, unless you become like one of these you will never see the Kingdom of Heaven. In a day when men didn’t give women regard, Jesus went out of His way to honor them. When people rebuked blind men from calling after Jesus to regain their sight, Jesus stopped and healed them. When a woman spent a fortune on perfume to wash the head and feet of Jesus, He honored her while others were convinced she was wasting good money. When the Rich Young ruler asked what He should do to please God, Jesus replied give it all away and follow me. I don’t know about you but He has constantly surprised me as well. Being God, He does not fit our limited understanding.
This certainly was true as Jesus entered Jerusalem. The crowd got one thing right. He was the Son of David and He did come in the name of the Lord. Everything else they got wrong. They were sure the king would set things right, kick out the Romans from Jerusalem and liberate the Jews. After all, that is what a Messiah does.
Yet when Jesus enters Jerusalem, instead of taking a right to the Roman headquarters in the city, He takes a left to the temple. “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’ The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord have called forth your praise.’” (Matthew 21:12-17).
The surprises would continue to come as the week went on. Jesus ate with the one who would betray Him. He washed the feet of His disciples, something they didn’t have the humility to do, and then called them friends. When, at his arrest, one of his followers cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest, Jesus healed it. When before Pilate, Jesus refused to defend Himself. And then the King was killed before His ultimate surprise when the resurrection took place and death was put to death!
In every instance, where Jesus surprised people, He was fulfilling a larger, deeper and eternal purpose. Think about that truth. In every instance, where Jesus surprised people or surprises you, He is fulfilling a larger, deeper and eternal purpose. Just as on Palm Sunday and the week that followed, we may not understand what He is up to. It may not make sense to us and we may be praying for outcomes that are different than we are experiencing.
But one thing we can be sure of. Whatever our circumstances, God is always up to something that has a larger, deeper and eternal purpose. Even when it doesn’t look like it in our lives. Just as the King didn’t look like He had life under control when He entered Jerusalem.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:31-39. “What then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has Chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus entered Jerusalem with a larger, deeper and eternal purpose than anyone understood at the time. You may be wondering what God is up to in your own life today but be assured of this. He is the King and He has you, as Paul pointed out. But Good Friday teaches us that when God surprises you, He does so because he has a larger, deeper and eternal purpose for you. You may not know it today, but one day you will.
Jesus, I thank you that you entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to die so that I could be liberated from my sin. And thank you for the resurrection that gives me eternal hope. Help me to trust your larger, deeper and eternal purposes in my life. Amen
The Question for Today: Where do I need to trust the larger, deeper and eternal purposes in my life?
There seems to be a dichotomy between how Jesus practiced truth and treated people and how believers practice truth and treat people. I am always fascinated by the interactions that Jesus had with people whose lives were far from Him. That is until they met Him. Think of the Rich Young Ruler exchange or the conversation with Nicodemus, or the conversation with the woman at the well or the many people He healed.
Here are some observations. First, Jesus was a magnet for people who needed grace. Second, Jesus had a way of sharing truth that was not offensive to those who heard it. Third, Jesus was infinitely gracious toward those He interacted with.
Now I contrast that with what I see in many Christian circles today where we lead with our truth and the Bible and judgements around the lifestyle choices and situations of those we come into contact with. Gandhi put his finger on the issue when he wrote “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Even though I don’t want to admit it, I believe Gandhi is right. I speak for myself, and many I know, and admit that we often don’t look like Jesus.
What are many Christians known for? We are known for all the things we are against. We fight culture wars and target sins we think are the most egregious (which usually means they are not our sins, which are many). We can be critical, judgemental, and even harsh in our words. And we cloak it all in Scripture, using the Bible as a hammer to prove our point. I find this really interesting because this is not how Jesus engaged those who didn’t know God. He didn’t use Scripture as a hammer. He entered into relationships and dialogue and did so in an amazingly grace filled way. He connected with people. He was for the people He connected with. Rather than condemn those who were in sinful lifestyles he had empathy and compassion for their situation and engaged with them.
Jesus especially loved dinner parties where he mingled with whoever wanted to show up. In fact, the very people that we often won’t hang with because their lifestyle is sinful. And then we wonder why they don’t show up for church. I wonder if we have not been more conditioned by the church experience we grew up with than we have the Gospels and the example of Jesus. We have prioritized truth over grace and acceptance and relationships and love.
There is a foundational verse in John 1:14. This verse ought to inform our understanding of how we approach those around us. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Where the text says that He made his dwelling among us, the literal translation is something like He came and pup-tented with us. He came and camped with us. This fascinates me because there is so much emphasis among some Christians of being very separate from the world. That was not Jesus’s style. He came to live among us. That is why He was able to identify with people. He was the most approachable individual who ever lived and I want to be that way. He was a magnet for people and I want to be that way.
John further says that Jesus came full of Grace and Truth. So let's talk about the order of those two words. Grace comes before truth. That is because truth without grace is harsh and hard. Yet many believers try to lead with truth (this is what the Bible says) and in the process they push unbelievers away. And even fellow believers. Think of the many moralistic messages that are posted on social media. It may be truth, but it is often lacking in grace and usually not understood at all by unbelievers. In the process we lose the very people that many of us would like to reach.
The grace that Jesus exhibited was magnetic. It drew people to Him and He didn’t lead with social media (OK I know there was none in the day) but He led with relationships. This was in contrast to the teachers of the law who were usually in the business of condemnation rather than grace, acceptance and love. The teachers of the law were known for all the things they were against, for calling out sin and judgmental attitudes. In contrast, Jesus was known for His love of people, compassion for their brokenness, and great tenderness in how He dealt with them. It was always grace and truth in that order.
As I read the Gospels I am more convinced than ever that we need a new movement of grace in our day that is for people and that is like Jesus. The more grace we possess, the more people will gravitate toward us and Jesus. The less grace we possess, the more we repel people and we become the barrier to them finding Jesus.
At the heart of being a practitioner of grace is the practice of accepting others rather than judging others. It is easy to judge. Especially because it makes us feel better about ourselves. If I can judge others I can ignore my own ubiquitous shortcomings. Yet, the only reason we have a relationship with Jesus is because He accepted us with grace. He didn’t tell us all the things that were wrong in our life but invited us into relationship knowing that, over time, His Spirit would change us. He didn’t try to fix us but brought us into a relationship. Rather than judging, He loved and rather than condemning He showed mercy and compassion. I want to look like Jesus and I bet you do too.
I have a vision of a people of God who are so gracious and loving and full of grace that we are magnets for both believers and unbelievers. I have a vision of a people who look and act with the grace and love of Jesus. In this Lenten season, as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, let's live that resurrection life out with His grace and love.
Father. Save me from judgmentalism and harshness and give me a vision of a life so characterized by your grace that people are attracted to me and then to you. For you are the source of grace. Amen
The Question for Today: How can I live with more grace toward my fellow believers and unbelievers?
Prayer. We believe in it, sometimes doubt that God is hearing us, wonder if we are good enough to bring our requests to Him or how bold we can be. And, we wonder why it seems that God answers some requests and doesn’t seem to answer others. We love prayer, are confused by prayer, frustrated by prayer and know we need prayer. To all of that Jesus gives one word of advice. He tells us to storm heaven's gates.
In Luke 11, Jesus taught his disciples how to pray with The Lord’s Prayer. It is a bold prayer with bold requests. But then Jesus goes on to expand His teaching on prayer: Then he said to them, Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.”
Then the one inside answers, “Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.” I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:5-13)
Jesus is inviting us to be bold in our requests! He is inviting us to make BIG requests. He is affirming that when we pray God hears and when life comes undone doors open. He is making the point that, just as we would not be stingy with responding to the requests of our own children, He would never be stingy with us, His children.
If Jesus invites bold faith, if He invites BIG requests, we ought to take Him up on His offer. What is it that you need today? Be bold, pray BIG, and wait for a loving Father to answer! During my long illnesses I was the recipient of the prayers of many and God chose to heal me when humanly there was no possibility that I would survive.
For thirty days I hovered between life and death in the ICU and the private prayer blog that was set up was accessed from 75 countries and all fifty states. It’s not that I have that many friends. God simply raised up an army of people to pray. Several years later I met a woman and I asked her about her spiritual journey. She said, you have a lot to do with it. I was confused as I had never met her. She said, I was following the blog about your situation and I was amazed that God chose to heal and that so many specific prayers were answered. I never knew that God actually cared enough to hear prayer or chose to intervene in people’s lives. She said, “that impacted me profoundly.”
Here is why I think so many people were profoundly impacted by the story of my illness. We often pray, not believing that God would actually do something BIG, or that we could make truly bold requests. That God can and does the miraculous in our day. But He did, and they saw it, and it changed their understanding of prayer, faith, and God’s ability to do BIG things. If Jesus invites bold faith, if He invites BIG requests, we ought to take Him up on His offer. What is it that you need today? Be bold, pray BIG, and wait for a loving Father to answer!
It can be hard to be bold in our prayer if we are not used to doing this. There is another hard part of prayer: We are to pray boldly and pray BIG, but we are also to pray for God’s will to be done (see Matthew 6:10). That is hard, because while God always answers the prayer of faith His perfect answer is not always our perfect answer! God chose to heal me, twice, in His sovereignty. He does not always do that. That does not mitigate bold and BIG prayer. It requires that we understand that God’s perfect will is sometimes unseen by us. Even Jesus, on the eve of His arrest and death, prayed, “’Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:42-44)
Let that sink in for a long moment. Jesus was in agony over what was before Him. He pled with His Father to remove the cup of suffering from Him, but even as He prayed boldly and with a BIG request, in the same breath He said, “yet not my will, but yours be done.” Did God show up? Yes, an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. Did God remove the path of suffering from Him? No!
Ultimately, life is not about us but about God. Ultimately, God’s eternal purposes are far greater than we can ever comprehend this side of heaven. If Jesus was bound by His Father’s will and willing to submit to that will, why would we, His followers and children, be exempt?
Bold prayer, prayer that storms the gates of heaven is unapologetic in its requests and BIG in its scope. But it is not bold without praying for God’s ultimate will to be done. That is the boldest prayer because that prayer invites God to do what is ultimately best from His perspective, not ours. It is like the prayer of Jesus in the garden—a prayer of deep submission to His perfect will and an invitation for Him to use our lives for His deepest and greatest purposes. That is BOLD prayer. And BOLD faith.
Father. Teach me to pray big and bold prayers along with the courage to pray for and be submitted to your will. Amen.
The Question for today: What bold and big prayer should I be praying for today?
Nothing we do in this life, nothing we accomplish, nothing we accumulate, nothing we find success in, no amount of money earned and no accolades received, none of this makes any difference if we don’t take eternity into account in all that we do.
I am an avid reader of biographies. The stories of amazing men and women who have changed the course of world history. People who did amazing things and sometimes horrible things. In many cases, these individuals have dozens and dozens of volumes written about their lives. But, in most cases there is no record of these individuals in heaven. No matter what they pulled off in this life, there is no life with God in the next. They did not live in light of eternity. CS Lewis writes this. “‘If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.’
Here is a truth to consider. We vastly overestimate the value of our human existence and vastly underestimate the value of our coming eternal existence. The only way to get the equation right and the only way to ensure that what we do on this side of eternity is right is to live our lives with our eyes on eternity. Again as CS Lewis wrote, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
In Hebrews 11 we have this pantheon of heroes of the faith. But there is one section that is really important to understand. It is found in verses 13-16. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. They did what they did and followed God where He led with their eyes on eternity.
This was Jesus as well who “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He went to the cross with His eyes on heaven and his divine mission to save a people (Hebrews 12:2). His motivation to do what He did was an eternal heavenly perspective. Likewise Paul wrote, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul endured amazing hardships for the sake of pleasing His Savior and knowing that it would all be worth it when He met Jesus face to face.
Living with our eyes on eternity changes the picture on everything we do. It makes decisions on priorities, relationships, service, money, raising our kids or living out our marriages in light of an eternal perspective. Some might say, “We need to live in the here and now, not in the future.” They are correct. But to be fully alive in the here and now we must take into account the future because we were not ultimately made for this earth but for heaven. Furthermore, we enter into the Kingdom of God when we accept Christ into our lives. That is when true life begins as we were made for Him in the first place.
We can live carelessly and accidentally, fumbling our way through life, feeding our desires, egos and personal addictions. Or we can invest our lives in things that God is pleased with, knowing that we have this life to invest for Him and that our days and opportunities are numbered.
The parable of the Bags of Gold in Matthew 25 is all about living life with our eyes on eternity. It is about a master who went on a long journey and entrusted his wealth to his servants. After a long time he came home and found that the man who had been entrusted with five bags of gold brought five more bags because of his investments. The one who had been entrusted with two bags of gold brought the master two additional bags as he also had invested what he had been given. Finally the man who had been entrusted with one bag simply hid his bag in the ground and did nothing with it.
To the first two servants, the master said, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” The point of the parable is that God has entrusted each of us with different gifts and opportunities to invest on His behalf. When we invest wisely, like these two servants, we are living with our eyes on eternity just as they were living with their eyes on their master’s eventual return.
The servant who had not made any investment was not kindly treated by the master. He had chosen to live life on his terms and didn’t have his eyes on eternity but on himself. In fact, he was not welcomed into the eternal kingdom.
I live for the day that I see Jesus face to face, look into His eyes and see the depths of grace and compassion and mercy that He has. And to hear Him say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come share your master’s faithfulness.”
Father, help me to live my day today in light of eternity. Help me understand that how I invest my time, energies and relationships has an eternal impact. Amen.
The Question for Today: How can I best orient my life around an eternal perspective?
Winston Churchill, late in life, was asked to give the commencement address at his former high school, where he hadn’t made a good impression during his tenure there. He slowly walked to the podium and gave one of the shortest commencement addresses in history. “Never give up! Never, Never, Never, Never, Never."
To give up is to give in to the thief rather than to embrace the plan that the Good Shepherd has for our life. See John 10:10. The thief wants to diminish our lives while the Good Shepherd wants to bring fulfillment to our lives. But we make the choice as to whether we will embrace diminishment or fulfillment. To stay in the game is to stay where Jesus wants us to be, as players and participants in His divine drama to reach and change the world. To step away is to miss out on the work God prepared for us to do according to Ephesians 2:10-11.
I have noticed a tendency today for people to be deeply involved in ministry and then at some point they say, “I’m done.” Not only do they retire from ministries they have been involved in, but they often retire from church attendance. Some have said to me, I will never go back. I’m done. Ironically, studies show that the single most productive decade of a person’s life is the decade of their seventies, and in many cases those same people have decided that they no longer want to engage in ministry.
Paul was no different. In Philippians 3 he lists his many qualifications from the world’s point of view and then says that the only thing that matters to him is to know Christ Jesus my Lord. In fact, he says, I consider everything else garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in Him. And then he pens these amazing words. Remember that he is writing at the end of his life and ministry that has seen amazing spiritual results, and which included deep physical danger and trials. The litany of things that he endured is long. If anyone had reason to sit back and enjoy a respite from God’s work, he did. But no. Listen to his words found in Philippians 3:12-14.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
That is Paul’s version of Winston Churchill’s speech, Never Give Up. “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Not only was Paul not going to give up but he was moving forward with all his might and energy to complete the work that God had called him to. He was relentless. He was committed. He had resolved. He was not going to give up.
Why do people give up and drop out? I think there are several reasons. First, we get tired. We get tired because we are often pressed by our local church to serve, serve, serve. So we do. Until we lose our energy and we say, “I’m done.” Now don’t get me wrong. Every one of us ought to be a participant in our local congregation. But, when we substitute service and sacrifice for inner transformation and life change we will burn out, and many do. Our activity has become a substitute for the inner work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and that won’t sustain us.
This was the discussion Jesus had with Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Second, we misunderstand the nature of service and ministry. It is not just about doing things. It is about understanding how God has gifted and wired us, and the part that He wants us to play in His Kingdom work. Ephesians 2:10 says it well. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God has special work for you and for me. He created us for that and when we join Him, we feel His divine smile and amen on our life. If we are in our lane we don’t get overly tired because it is not about activity but about joining Him and partnering with Him, and that is an amazing journey. This is part of what Jesus meant when He said that He came to give us life and life abundant. It is life lived in Him, and it is life lived for Him, and it is life lived in service to Him.
The most joyful Christians I know are fully engaged in their work for Jesus. They are joyful because they are exactly where God wants them to be. To have an eternal purpose in life is one of the great gifts God gives us, if we will take it. Those who do find great joy in the journey. Those who don’t lose out on a great deal of joy.
Never give up. Never, Never, Never, Never, Never… until you see Jesus face to face.
Father, Help me to find my lane of service for you. Help me to never substitute activity for the work you want to do in my life. And give me resolve to go the distance until I see you face to face. Amen.
The Question for Today: Am I fully in the game or have I pulled back from Jesus?
Few things test our faith like pain and suffering. When we face deep difficulties, we are tempted to respond in different ways: One is anger: Why would God allow this to happen to me? I don’t deserve this. Then there is Denial: I will just ignore this and it will go away. These are people who don’t live in reality or deal with their pain. Another response is Depression: I can’t handle this and I allow myself to sink into despair. And then there is the response of retribution: I am going to get the person who did this to me.
None of these responses, while deeply human, lead us to a healthy place. We do not control life’s circumstances but each of us has a choice as to how we respond to them. There is a better choice and one that God wants us to choose, to simply trust Him in whatever pain we face. To join God’s hall of fame of faith in Hebrews 11.
All of us have scars from life. I don’t want just scars, I want divine scars. Divine scars come from times when life comes undone - when hurt, tragedy, pain, unfairness, sorrow, and difficulty come into our lives - and we allow God to change our hearts in the process. They come when we choose to trust Him in our loss rather than turn to bitterness or despair. They are scars that have been redeemed for higher eternal purposes.
I am fascinated that when Jesus rose from the dead, He rose with a new body, but still a human body, and He still bore the scars in his hands and feet. In fact, Jesus chose to identify with us as humans from the point of his incarnation, and when we see Him in heaven, we will see Him in human form with the scars.
Those scars are divine scars. They represent His death and resurrection for us. They represent His willingness to follow even when it was hard. His ultimate test came on the Thursday evening prior to his death when, through intense struggle, He chose to say “YES” to the father in those faithful words, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42)
Many forget that Christ suffered not only in His death but in his life. Seven hundred years before His birth, the prophet Isaiah accurately described Christ in these terms: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.” (Isaiah 53:3) Think about the words “despised,” “rejected,” “sorrows,” and “suffering.” These words were the reality for much of Jesus’ life and ministry. His life was a life of choosing to follow His father, and that following included suffering and hard times.
Jesus told His disciples that their life of following Him would be like His following His Father, and that it, too, would include hardships. “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39) The cross we are to take up is like the Cross of Jesus - a symbol of suffering. And following Him will mean losing our lives for His sake: Giving our lives to Him for His purposes rather than pursuing our own.
Why does God allow divine scars? God’s greatest goal for our lives is not to make us happy and content. His greatest goal is to help us become like Him in character and heart. That will mean times of sorrow and suffering, just as He faced sorrow and suffering. In fact, it is precisely in those times of hardship that He has the greatest opportunity to mold our hearts, character, priorities, and commitments.
And what happens when we suffer while following Jesus? When we choose to trust when the chips are down? When we experience sorrow as He experienced it? Paul puts it this way in his own life. “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (Philippians 3:10-11)
The phrase “fellowship of sharing in his sufferings” is an amazing phrase. When we join Christ in His work, we also join Him in the sorrows, grief, and suffering. No longer am I experiencing sorrow, grief, and suffering by myself and without purpose. Now I do it in fellowship with Jesus - with Him and for Him. In the process, we are profoundly changed and become more like Him.
We should be proud of the divine scars we wear today. They are the result of following Jesus when the chips are down, of forging faith in the hard times, of learning to take the next step and walk to the next bend, and trusting God to be present. Divine scars are worthy scars. They change us. They make our hearts more like the heart of Jesus. Wear your divine scars with pride. They are proof of your faith forged in the realities of everyday life - and even of life undone.
Father, there are times when I am weary and wonder if I can go on. I ask You to be what You need for me in this moment. Transform my scars into divine scars that will mold and change me and honor you. I rejoice that my suffering is not without purpose, and that in my suffering, I share in the fellowship of your sufferings. Help me to see Your greater purposes in what I am walking through.
The Question for Today: What divine scars do I have in my life that I can thank God for today?
The longer we live the more wounds we acquire. Many of those wounds come from our childhood and their trauma raises its head over the years. Many of us live with a great deal of pain beneath the surface. That pain causes us to wonder if God can actually use us, it keeps us from stepping into our purpose. It makes us wonder if we are good enough. And often, the pain that we feel doesn’t go away and we carry it beneath the surface, silently and relentlessly.
That pain robs our joy, and even tests our faith. Whether it was an abuse situation, a traumatic event, such as a divorce or a miscarriage or a serious illness, it creates uncertainty and pain. Like a Tsunami it rearranges the landscape of our lives, sometimes in an instant. One day life is normal, and the next day our lives are thrown into confusion and chaos. Like a drowning person, we find ourselves fighting to get back to the surface so we can take a breath. Pain, fear, and uncertainty have taken over. It is hard to even grasp this new reality as our minds and hearts shout, “This cannot be!”
No matter how strong our faith, such events often create a crisis of faith. To not ask hard questions about God’s love and faithfulness in the trauma of life undone is abnormal, maybe irrational. Never is our understanding of God’s love, grace, and mercy more challenged, and the answers more important, than when life is hard and hope is scarce. We hang on to faith by the tips of our fingers as our minds work to encompass issues we have never had to understand except in a theoretical way. To all of this there are no easy answers and often just more questions. The life undone forces us to question and reexamine the very core of what faith and life are about. I have asked these hard questions, and I am sure you have as well.
Here is what we do know. Jesus came to heal broken people. If you carry wounds in your life, Jesus wants to bring healing and make you whole. Eight hundred years before Christ, the Prophet Isaiah wrote this about the coming ministry of Jesus. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
Because Jesus can heal our wounds does not mean that he always does.There is a mystery to physical healing that we cannot fathom. Paul prayed for his thorns in the flesh to be removed and God said no, “you are made perfect through suffering.” Yet when I had my first serious illness and people were fasting and praying from around the world, He chose to heal to the amazement of the doctors and nurses involved. Sometimes people will say, “you didn’t have enough faith,” but that is simply not true. We simply cannot understand the mind of God because His will involves our own spiritual transformation and dependence on Him. Thus He may heal in one instance and not another because it is His perfect will. God is not a genie in a bottle who jumps to every request we have. He is the sovereign Lord of our lives who cares for us deeply and in that care may heal or may not heal completely.
I have watched healing take place and I have seen it not take place this side of heaven. Make no mistake, there comes a day when we are completely healed. It is one of the wonderful gifts of a new body in heaven. No pain, no sorrow, no tears, no aches or pains. In heaven we are completely whole. In either case, now or then, God does in fact answer our prayers.
One of the reasons God allows suffering and pain in our lives is to share His comfort with others. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7: ”Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”
Did you catch the biblical truth here? “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” That is a powerful statement. In fact, the writer of the Hebrews says that Jesus can identify with us because he lived among us and experienced all that we experience except sin. Likewise when we suffer we experience God’s comfort and are far better equipped to give that comfort away. We have received it and needed it and so we are able to give it away to others.
What a brilliant strategy on God’s part. He allows us to join Him in His sufferings and in doing so we are able to minister to others along the way. Never stop asking for the healer to work in your life. Never stop praying for that healing. And never stop allowing God’s comfort to you to roll over over to others. When we have suffered we are in a position to comfort others.
Father, Thank you that you are a God who heals. Whether this side of heaven or the other side. Work in our lives, heal our hearts and bodies and give us the wonderful capacity to comfort others. Amen.
The Question for Today: Who needs the overflow of God’s comfort to you today?
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
What are you chasing? We are all chasing something. Experiences, money, love, success, pleasure, fame, affirmation, fitting in, health, or other things. We are chasing what we think about, dream about, and focus our minds on. It is what we yearn for because we are convinced that if we achieve that goal, we will be fulfilled and content. Our goal is self-actualization. Becoming something. And ultimately, it is about filling the God-sized hole in our hearts.
In chasing these things, the irony is that we miss the main thing, which is Jesus and His kingdom. CS Lewis famously wrote that ‘We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.'
When Jesus came, he came announcing a kingdom. His kingdom. And he said that the greatest treasure we could have is to be a part of that kingdom. This is how he put it in Matthew 13:44-46. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy went out and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
The point of these two parables is that these guys sold it all and bet the farm on the Kingdom of God. They understood that there was nothing more precious and nothing more important and nothing more valuable than God’s kingdom, and they went in, all or nothing. They knew something that many others don’t know, and that is that chasing after Jesus and His Kingdom as the center of our lives brings greater joy, satisfaction, and life than all the other things we have chased. Those other things are like mud pies in a slum compared to a holiday at sea. So not only are we too easily pleased per CS Lewis, but we miss out on the joy of betting it all on Jesus and His purposes.
Chasing Jesus is to make Him our first priority in all things. Chasing His Kingdom is to join Him in His work in this world. It is to see all of life as sacred, not just Sundays. It is to see everything we do and think as important to Him and desire what He desires. But here is the cool thing. He says that when we put Him first and care about the things He cares about, our lives are richer and better and fuller and complete. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” So, Jesus says, you can chase after money and security and worry yourself sick over all kinds of things or embrace me and my purposes and find real and true life.
This Lenten series has been about less of us and more of Jesus. Of bringing our lives more fully into His will and embracing His purposes for our lives in a new and profound way. That is what it means to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. Every time I take a further step of obedience in my life, I seek His Kingdom. Each time I bring another area of my life into conformity with Him, I am chasing after His Kingdom. When I put to death areas of sin in my life, I am seeking His righteousness. When I care about the helpless, the powerless, and those marginalized in society, I am chasing His righteous purposes in our world.
The Kingdom of God is about allowing God to transform our lives into one that looks like His and to bring His values, mercy, grace, and love to every place we inhabit. When my wife Cleo serves her clients at the assisted care facility she works at, she brings the love and care of Jesus into that place. When my friend Sue visits shut ins and those with health challenges, she brings the love and hope of Jesus to people whose outlook can be bleak. When my friend Roger invests in at-risk kids and shows them that there is a bigger vision for their lives, he is bringing Jesus and His hope to those who have lived in cycles of poverty sometimes for generations.
In fact, when Jesus and His Kingdom are our first priority, we become Kingdom builders with Him. He placed you where you are to bring His hope, His renovation, His Good News to the corner of the world you inhabit. And here is the crazy part. When we go all in, all the way, all the time, we experience life as we have never experienced it before. So hedge your bets and lose. Go all in and win. God doesn’t call me to change the world, but He invites me to join him in bringing his light, grace, and hope to my small corner of the world.
Are you all in, or are you hedging your bets? When we hedge our bets, we hedge God’s joy and blessing in our lives. I want to play the full hand He has given me because I know that in the end, I will experience true life if I do.
Father, help me to go all in and seek your kingdom and your righteousness today above all other pursuits. Help me to chase real life, not pseudo-life. Don’t let me settle for building mud pies in the slums, but rather embrace your amazing vision for our world as you transform me and others into your likeness. Amen.
The question for today: What can I do today to chase after His kingdom and His righteousness and be a kingdom builder with him?
Do you ever long for a generous, gracious word of encouragement? Think for a minute of how you feel when you are with a critical individual who is critical of others and maybe of you? A word of encouragement is like a glass of cold water on a parched day. It lifts the spirits and more importantly it makes me want to be better. That is the thing about encouragement. It creates a desire to be more like Jesus and calls out the best in us.
Here is the funny thing. Critical people often think that they are being helpful. After all, if you can fix this or that or be more of this or that you will be a better person. But, critical spirits kill the spirit and deplete the soul. I have known critical people who wrap their words in spiritual language which is even more devastating because now their criticisms are wrapped up with the implication that God is just as critical of us as they are. I call it playing the God card.
Think of the interactions that Jesus had with ordinary people. He was kind and encouraging, even when giving a challenge. Grace pervaded his conversations and grace is not critical but kind and uplifting. Truth was always clothed in grace.
In First Thessalonians 5:11, Paul tells the Thessalonians “encourage one another and build each other up.” Encouragement builds up while criticism tears down. Encouragement makes me want to do better and go farther and stay true while criticism makes me feel discouraged and less than and defeated. Every time I am encouraged I grow my passion to do more of what I was encouraged in. One of the most powerful ways to build others up and help them to continue in their lives and spiritual growth is to encourage them often.
Think about this. In every interaction we have we either build others up or we tear them down. We are either giving life with our words or taking life with our words. Here is something to think about. When our words give life we follow the example of Jesus. When our words take life away we follow the evil one. In John 10:10, Jesus says that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The evil one wants to detract and destroy while Jesus comes to give life. When our words give life we follow Jesus. When our words detract from life we inadvertently default to taking life.
Why do we struggle with being people of encouragement and easy to be people of criticism and critique? Ironically it is usually our own brokenness and sin. It is our pride that makes us believe that we are better than we are rather than understanding that we too are broken and sinful people who need grace each and every day. In fact, the criticisms we have of others often hide our own struggles in the same area.
None of us need more criticism than we already receive. All of us need more encouragement than we get. Listen to what the writer of Hebrews calls us to: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25).
Let’s be honest. Life can be a long slog. There are times where we feel we are living in the desert. Times when the heavens seem to be closed and God silent. Times of stress and hard times in our marriages or with our kids. Times of illness and tough circumstances. We often look at those around us who look like their lives are all together and without stress. The truth is that we all live with either public or private pain and we all long for encouragement to keep the good fight, go the distance, get through a certain season and just finish well.
If you have ever run a marathon you know the power of those who line the route and cheer you on. You can be ready to quit and all used up and suddenly there are people along the route who literally give you their energy and passion to keep going, finish the race and go the distance. The encouragement of others actually gives you what you need to keep going. You are running on borrowed energy and borrowed resolve to go the distance.
The writer of the Hebrews uses this same example. In Hebrews 11 we read of the heroes of the faith who prevailed against overwhelming odds and then in chapter 12:1-2 writes, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
These heroes of the faith cheer us on and encourage us. We are challenged to be people who cheer others on, encouraging and building up and finding ways to spur one another on. When we do this we live like Jesus. When we do this we help others live like Jesus. We have no idea how powerful our encouragement is in the lives of those we encourage. The more we do it, the more we cheer others on. There have been times when I was just ready to give up. To quit. And it was the encouragement of some individual who brought me back to life and gave me the energy to go on. Those are my heroes. They were used by Jesus to give me life and I will be forever thankful for their ministry in my life. I know their names and remember their words. Words of Jesus and words of life. That is the power of encouragement.
Father. It is easy for me to criticize. Help me to resist that temptation and become an expert in encouragement. Remind me in every conversation that I can build up or discourage. Use me to bring hope and encouragement to others. Amen.
The Question for Today: Who needs my encouragement today and how can I bless them?
I am what is considered a “Third Culture Kid.” As a missionary kid, I grew up in a country that was not mine and then came back to a country that was not mine. I questioned, where do I fit? How do I go home? Where is home? It is said that third culture kids are most at home in airports. Maybe that is why I have flown over three million miles in my lifetime. The other thing about third culture kids is that they tend to look at their own culture from the outside since they grew up on the outside. There is a sense in which they never feel like they fit in. They exist between two cultures. So, if you think I'm strange, you have a good reason!
You may not have thought about it, but you are a third culture person. In fact, you have two passports. The first passport is from the country in which you were born. The culture in which you live. The second passport is from heaven, the country you now owe your highest allegiance to, and where you are going. This means that you live in a dynamic tension between your birth culture and the family of God into which you have been adopted.
This is why 1st and 2nd Peter call us aliens and strangers in this world. For instance, in 1 Peter 2:11-12, Peter writes, "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."
Peter is reminding us that many of the values and practices of the culture around us are different from the values and practices of our Kingdom, Jesus' culture. That is why I say that we live in a dynamic tension between our home culture and our newly adopted culture in Jesus.
In adopting us, we are now citizens of God's Kingdom while still living in our home culture. Here is how Peter describes it in 1 Peter 2:9-10. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
So what are the implications of having two passports as Christians? The first is that we need to recognize that the values and practices of our home culture and our kingdom culture are not identical. They are vastly different. This is why those who genuinely seek to follow God stand out. They are different.
For instance:
- They are humble when others are proud
- They forgive when others hold grudges
- They treat their enemies well when others treat them as enemies
- They are people of grace where others make you earn their love
- They stand up for the helpless where others take advantage of them
- They are people of truth, whereas others use truth selectively
- They care about justice, where others care mainly about themselves
Here is the point. When the values of our home culture are different from the values of our kingdom culture, we must always default to the kingdom culture. That is what it means to follow Jesus. We live in a dynamic tension between two kingdoms but must always default to God's Kingdom.
A second implication is that we will not always fit in. When I came from Hong Kong to finish high school as a teenager, I didn't fit in. I had come from a school with 21 different nationalities represented. Now, everyone was from the east side of St. Paul. I had traveled the world and lived in a world-class city. My classmates' definition of travel was going to Wisconsin deer hunting. I was used to candid dialogue and now found myself kicked out of my social studies class for challenging the teacher.
I didn't always fit in. And, neither do believers who live in a pagan society. Again Peter, in 1 Peter 4 says, "For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do - living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you." We won't always fit in, but that is OK. As Peter said, "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."
The life of Jesus was a life lived against the grain. Against the cultural trends that kept people in bondage. It was a life of freedom, which our Kingdom passport gives us. We are free to live like Jesus and no longer bound to our old way of life. We will be different as we live out our Kingdom values that are counter to many of the values of our world.
Embrace your third culture status as people who have two passports and belong to two kingdoms. Just be sure that when you must choose between the two's value systems, you select the Kingdom values even if it makes you stand out. You are, after all, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession.
Father: thank you for giving me a kingdom passport through your death and resurrection and work in my life. Help me live in the dynamic tension between two kingdoms and default when I need to to your eternal and righteous kingdom. Amen.
The Question for Today: Are there areas in my life where I have not yet chosen God's Kingdom culture over my home culture and know I should?
If there is one word that describes Jesus it is the word grace. John describes Jesus this way in John 1:14. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, Full of grace and truth.” He says further, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Jesus was a person of Grace who offers us grace and invites us to live in His grace. It is the greatest gift we could ever have.
I had a favorite uncle. His name was Warren. The thing that was so wonderful about Warren is that when you were with him you always felt absolutely accepted and loved. There was no judgment. It was pure acceptance and love. It was very different from a lot of Christians I knew who were critics and legalists rather than lovers and acceptors. To be in Warren’s presence was to feel totally accepted. That is grace.
In the passage we read from John above, it says Jesus came full of grace and truth. Phil Yancey writes this in his book, Vanishing Grace, “The church has worked tirelessly on the truth part of that formula: witness the church councils, creeds, volumes of theology, and denominational splits over minor points of doctrine. I yearn for the church to compete just as hard in conveying what Paul calls the “incomparable riches” of God’s grace. Often it seems, we’re perceived more as guilt dispensers than as grace dispensers.”
To be a grace dispenser we need to live in that amazing grace ourselves. Perhaps our problem is that we don’t understand grace. Paul writes this about how we come into relationship with God. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved…and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9).
How did we come to God? By grace. We did nothing except choose to believe. And even this was grace. We didn’t come into relationship with Him out of any goodness on our part. In fact, we were dead in transgressions but by His grace we were saved. In fact, there is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make Him love you less. We exist as Christ followers in His grace from start to finish. We live in His grace.
We often think that we need to live up to some standard in order for God to accept and love us. That is not true. He loves us regardless with an amazing love. He calls us out of that place of love and grace to follow Him which means changes in our lives but it is not out of earning any love from God. You cannot earn His love. He offers it freely along with his forgiveness and salvation. Period. Full stop.
This is what I experienced when I was in the presence of uncle Warren. He exuded love and acceptance and grace. He was like Jesus. Unlike a lot of other people I have encountered whose acceptance you needed to earn and whose critical spirit wounded you and you never felt good enough. Many churches are like that but that is not Jesus.
It is no secret that we Christians can be the most critical and unloving people, both with each other and with those who we perceive to be antagonistic toward God. When we are critical and unloving to fellow believers we miss the point of grace which is that it cannot be earned. If God accepts them I need to as well. In our critical spirit we kill the grace of Jesus, and in effect, require others to earn our love even though Jesus freely gave us His love.
When we are unloving to those who don’t claim to be believers in the name of defending truth we miss the spirit of Jesus as well. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors, prayed this about those who he could see as enemies or ungodly. “God, help me to see others not as my enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage and compassion to offer your Living Water, which alone quenches deep thirst.”
In a New York Times Opinion Piece, Peter Wehner wrote this. “If you find yourself in the company of people whose hearts have been captured by grace, count yourself lucky. They love us despite our messy lives, stay connected to us through our struggles, always holding out the hope of redemption. When relationships are broken, my wife Cindy told me, it’s grace that causes people not to give up, to extend the invitation to reconnect, to work through misunderstandings with sensitivity and transparency.
You don’t sense hard edges, dogmatism or self-righteous judgment from gracious people. There’s a tenderness about them that opens doors that had previously been bolted shut. People who have been transformed by grace have a special place in their hearts for those living in the shadows of society. They’re easily moved by stories of suffering and step into the breach to heal. And grace properly understood always produces gratitude.”
That was my uncle Warren. That is Jesus. That is what we all long for and that is the gift of grace. As Philip Yancey says, we can be guilt dispensers or grace dispensers. I pray that God would make me much more of a grace dispenser as I understand how God loves and accepts me.
Grace dispensers are like magnets to others because they exhibit the character of Jesus. Churches that are places of grace and acceptance are all too rare and so beautiful when found. So here are two questions for us today. Are we living in the grace of Jesus rather than trying to earn his love? And, are we like Jesus in dispensing his Grace to all those around us. Even those we consider ungodly and our enemies?
Father. Thank you for your amazing, unmitigated and undeserved grace. I need it every single day. Help me to embrace your grace and pass it on to everyone around me. Amen.
The Question for Today: Who can I extend grace to today?
We studied the issue of transformation in our last Lent devo. It focused largely on the transformation of our minds as the content of our minds is at the center of how we live our lives. Today the focus is on our words, actions, and interactions with others. In all of these, Paul asks us in Ephesians to trade up. To literally trade our tendencies for crude behaviors for behaviors that reflect the Holy Spirit we have resident in our lives. The fact that we must be reminded of these things often in the Scriptures is indicative of how easy it is to live out of our sinful nature rather than our spiritual nature.
What are some of those crude behaviors that we should abandon? These are all found in Ephesians 4 and 5. And, they are exceedingly practical.
The first has to do with truth. “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” We don’t like to think of ourselves as liars but it is very easy to shade the truth and be less than honest. Paul says, trade up from falsehood for whatever reason to truthfulness because we are members of one body, one family as it were - the family of Jesus and He is a person of truth.
Then there is the issue of anger. “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Notice that Paul does not tell us that anger itself is sinful. There are things that should cause us anger. But, rather than allowing anger to lead to sinful behaviors, he tells us not to allow anger to cause us to sin. And, to keep short accounts with anger and forgiveness so that it does not fester and become a foothold in our lives for the evil one. This last principle is so important given our ability to carry around grudges and bitterness for years which leaves us open to the devil.
Then there is the issue of what we say and think. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
I don’t know about you but these are convicting words for me. When we are frustrated or angry we say things that are not Jesus. In ways that are not Jesus. With attitudes that are not Jesus. In fact, when we say and do these things we actually grieve the Holy Spirit of God who lives within us. Paul says, trade up and don’t drag the Holy Spirit into your crude behavior.
His final words here are practical and beautiful if practiced. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you. In other words I am to treat others just like God treats me. He says further, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
I love the admonition to “walk in the way of love” like Christ does. Here is a very practical suggestion. When you start to feel frustrated and irritated or angry, ask yourself, what it would look like in this situation to walk in the way of love. I needed to ask that question recently when talking to a customer service person who didn’t feel my love - or the love of Jesus in our interaction. All of us have people or situations in our lives where our responses would be different if we chose to walk in the way of love.
Why is all this important? Because we have traded darkness for the light of Jesus and therefore we should live like Jesus “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.”
As I write this I think of some folks that I know really need to pay attention and trade up their words, attitudes, and actions. The problem is that I need to do it as well. These are areas where we are all vulnerable and need to trade up our conduct so that it matches the new life and light of Jesus. If we did, Christians would have a much different reputation among unbelievers. Too often we can legitimately be seen as harsh, critical, judgmental, unkind and sometimes uncouth.
So Paul says, trade up. Trade up. Let our words and actions reflect our moving from darkness to light. Not because we now have a bunch of rules but because we now have an example to follow in Jesus.
OK Lord, today got personal. I admit it. And I know my own sinful tendencies. Help me to trade up my sinful tendencies for a life where I choose to walk in the way of love. Remind me often, Lord, of the way of love. Amen
The Question for today: Where do I need to trade up and walk in the way of love?
The Christian life is a lifelong process of transformation and change from who we were before we met Jesus to becoming more like Jesus. That process requires our active participation and a desire on our part to become like Him.
Here is how Paul describes the process in Romans 12:1-2. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - that is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
We often forget that we still need a lot of transformation in our lives. No matter how long we have known Jesus, there is more that He wants to do in our lives. In fact, this very process of transformation is called our true and proper worship by Paul. We come and worship together weekly. But we live lives of worship as we offer our bodies and minds to Jesus on a daily basis and work with Him to bring them into conformity with His character. As we renew our lives through His Spirit we are actively worshiping Him.
That renewal starts in our minds. As Paul writes, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Everything in the Christian life flows from a commitment to see renewal in our minds because how we think and what we think directly impacts our words, behaviors and practices.
Here is Paul's motto. Don't conform but be renewed. Here is a principle to consider. The patterns of our world are generally not Godly patterns. The world says, purchase more stuff and you will be happy. God says, follow me and you will be happy. The world says, keep what you have so you always have enough. God says, be willing to give it away and trust me. The world says, organize your life around yourself while God says, organize your life around me. The world says, "I have a right to have whatever attitude I want," while God says your attitude should be like mine. In every way, the patterns of the world are challenged and changed by Jesus. It is the change from a sinful and selfish mind to a renewed and Jesus-centered mind.
So how do we see that continual renewal of our minds? First, we need to look in the mirror on a regular basis. That mirror is Scripture because it is in Scripture that we see what God wants for our lives and are confronted by our own sinfulness. Hebrews 4:12-13 says this about the experience of reading Scripture. "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
If you ever wonder why you do not see more renewal in your life, remember that there is a direct correlation between renewal and God's Word. His Word is the mirror that reflects His character to me and which shows me where I need to change. Personally, I like to keep a journal to record what I see and reflect on what I read.
One of the errors that many Christ-followers make is to equate Biblical knowledge with life transformation. They are not the same. I can know all kinds of biblical truths and live an untransformed life. The key to all Scripture study is to ask, "How does it apply to me," and "Where does God want me to change?" Knowledge of Scripture is not the goal of Scripture study: Life change is!
There is a second factor that is critical in renewal, and it is what we allow into our minds. Listen to these very practical words from Paul. "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8). What we put into our minds profoundly impacts our thinking, renewal or lack of renewal. People of renewal are discerning people of what they allow into their minds, what they feed their minds on because they understand that the patterns of this world don't equal the teaching of Jesus.
The renewing of our minds requires intentionality on our part. Renewal does not happen by accident or osmosis. It is, as Paul says, our spiritual act of worship. It is something we intentionally do and, with the Spirit's help, see ongoing growth and change in our lives.
So if we want more renewal and less of the patterns of the world in our lives, we need to ask three questions. First, am I regularly looking into the mirror of God's word? Second, am I discerning and wise with what I fill my mind with? Third, am I focused on regular life change?
Our goal is more transformation and less of our old sinful self that reflects the patterns of this world.
Father. Give me the heart to see you transform my life and give me a desire to make that transformation a priority. I am tired of this world's old patterns, and I want to look more like you. Amen.
The Question for Today: What changes do I need to make in my life to see more transformation?
God put you on earth for a purpose. Think about that. You are not just a random human. God created you for a specific purpose. Paul says this in Ephesians 2:11: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” You are God’s handiwork. You were created in Christ Jesus to do good works and for an assignment that he prepared in advance for you to do. That is what Paul says.
Too often, however, we don’t live life on mission but simply allow those around us to define our mission for us. Here is something to consider. Everyone has a plan for your life. Your parents, your kids, your employer, your friends and sometimes even your church. We have more opportunities to fill our calendars than we have time to do it. Our lives are full and busy and what often gets lost in the process is time for those things God has called us to. We are too busy and distracted to live out our purpose.
How do we know what that purpose is? How do we know what those good works are that He prepared in advance for us to do. The answer to that question usually revolves around how He gifted us and how He has motivated us. For instance, one of my close friends is in His sixties. He is a successful investment advisor in Phoenix. For his whole life, he has mentored others. He mentors kids in the hood who don’t know their potential. He mentors men at church who are looking to grow. He just loves to mentor and develop others. It is what he does. It is what he is good at.
He also mentors non-profit boards. He sits on a number of boards and helps those ministries do what they do better. Wherever he finds himself he is in a role of developing others. These are the good works God prepared for him and this is what God gifted him to do. I have known him for at least two decades and his commitments have not changed.
What makes Roger unique, however, is that he understands the kind of ministry God has for him and he intentionally makes time to do what God gifted him to do. This means that there are other things that he needs to say no to. In fact, no is one of the most powerful words in any language and rather than being a negative word it can be very positive. When I graciously say no, I am doing so because what has been requested, good as it is, would take me away from something more important. No leaves me an opportunity for yes. Otherwise, we are too distracted with all kinds of good things and miss the most important things.
In the Gospels, even Jesus said no to his disciples. After a particularly fruitful couple of days when there was a great deal of healing and teaching, the disciples found him one morning and said, “Hey, this revival thing is working well. We need to keep it going.” OK that is the Addington rendition of the text. But it’s pretty much what they said. Jesus, though knowing His Father’s priorities for His life and ministry said no. I need to preach to others who have not yet heard. He said no in order to say yes
Remember that the most precious commodity any of us have is not money. It is time. Money can come and go. You can lose it and get it back. Time just goes! You can never get it back. Every time we agree to do something we are writing a check. A time check. And if we are not careful we can write too many time checks and in the process lose the ability to do those things that God created us for. We allow good things to get in the way of the best things.
I know that God has called me to write. It is why I am writing these devotionals and actually write five a week even when we are not in Lent. That means that I must leave time for the writing. I am up early this morning doing that very thing.
It would be a real bummer to get to heaven and realize that God had gifted and equipped us for some really powerful stuff but that we missed it because we were too distracted and just didn’t pay attention. The truth is that each of us has a very powerful role to play in His divine drama in this world. We have the opportunity to be players on His divine stage for a period of years called life, joining Him in what He is up to in our world. That is an amazing thing. In His kingdom, there are no little people and there are no little assignments.
Walt pulls people together to get stuff done. Steve preaches in a way that captivates our hearts. Eric has the ideas and vision to chart a course. David organizes the church board. Saray makes sure the details are taken care of. Charmon captures the hearts of kids - and the rest of us because we are still kids. Bob uses his voice in these devotionals to communicate well. Loren lifts her voice to lead us in worship. Carrington creates worship experiences. Steve creates opportunities to mentor at-risk kids. Think of the beauty of that multiplied by many others, each of us as we play our role for Jesus. It is an amazing symphony of ministry that we do on behalf of Jesus as we join him in His divine plan for this city, at this time. That is powerful and beautiful and effective.
Think through your life today and ask yourself the question, “Where is my place in His divine drama?” Then consider whether you are giving it the time that you should be. After all, you are unique and you were created for a unique purpose. Don’t allow distractions to keep you from the mission He created you for.
Father. Thank you for how you have gifted me and for the passions you have planted in my heart. Would you keep me from distractions so I can best fulfill the work you put me on this earth for. Amen.
The Question for Today: Am I living out my God-given purpose or am I too distracted?
OK, this Lenten post may generate some controversy. You can send your email to Eric Parks rather than me if it does. But I did wait till day 20 to address an important issue: We need far more of Jesus and far less of politics.
Before you send Eric your email, let me say this. Politics matter. As believers, we should be involved in the political process as we have opportunities. Essential values and issues are at stake. So we are not saying that politics don't matter. But let me explain.
Christians in the United States have elevated politics and the political arena above Jesus too often. Have you ever noticed that each election is the “most important the nation has had” come election time? When a candidate for the Supreme Court is put forward, their election or defeat has the fate of our nation in the balance. My response is that it is more important who is in my house than who is in the White House, important as that is. My candidate might not win the White House, but Jesus will be in my house.
In fact, so profoundly are the political convictions of many held that they cannot even have a rational or kind conversation with those who might think differently. There is almost zero tolerance for views that differ from ours in the political arena, even among believers. My observation is that when it comes to political views, we often violate most of the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It's almost as if these spiritual qualities are exempt when it comes to political views. Instead, we can be short, dismissive, impatient, rude, and unkind. I know of people who have left their church over political differences with others in the church, and I scratch my head and ask "What is that all about?" Politics is one of the most divisive topics in our society, and unfortunately, Christians are not exempt from being divisive or dividing over political views.
So why would we say "More Jesus and less politics?" As important as our political process is, Jesus is far more important. Here is something to consider. Neither Jesus nor Paul had much to say about the politics of their day. Their focus was on the gospel and the transformation that Jesus brings. And here is the crucial thing. They did not look to their government to solve their day's most profound human needs. Instead they knew that only through the work of Christ could lives be changed.
Paul put it this way in Romans 1:16-17. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith." If we put as much energy into sharing the Good News of Jesus as we do our politics, I wonder where we would be as a nation today.
Politics should not divide fellow believers. It only divides when we elevate our political convictions above Jesus and the Gospel. If, however, we keep Jesus and the gospel preeminent, we understand that our ultimate hope is not in a political party or any candidate but in Christ. And it is Christ that binds us together, not our politics. If we divide over our politics, we have our priorities in the wrong place.
I am always interested in how much time we spend talking about world and national events, policies, and legislation and how little time we spend talking about God's work in our world. If He is our ultimate hope, He should be a part of the conversation. God says to the Israelites in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Unfortunately, we often lose this spiritual component when we argue about political issues and neglect to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. That is when God hears from heaven, forgives our sin, and heals our land.
Jesus wants His will done on earth as it is in heaven. We ask that every time we recite the Lord's prayer. But His will is often done on earth as we live out our faith and His values in our places of work, neighborhoods, among our friends, and where we have influence. We want to see policies enacted that are fair and just, and we ought to fight for those things, so legislation matters. But, pay attention to the prophets. The issues that God calls the nations and their leaders to in the prophets are issues like injustice, caring for the alien among us, ensuring that the poor have something to eat, that laws are just, courts are fair, and the powerless are protected. Ironically, many of the issues that evangelicals hold dear politically are personal preferences but not issues that Scripture addresses. Yet we often allow those personal preferences to divide us and ignore justice and equity issues. We cannot ignore what God doesn't ignore.
The next time you get into a political conversation, remember that we need more of Jesus. We need Jesus in our attitudes. We need faith in God to be our ultimate hope. We need the fruit of the Spirit to invade our political discourse. And, we need to bring issues to God in prayer and pay attention to what He pays attention to. Remember, Jesus is above politics. He is over all, in all and through all.
Father: Help me trust you rather than put my hope in any political system. Give me gracious words in political discussions. Help my heart be like your heart and your concerns to be my concerns. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
The question for today: Is my hope in the political system or in Jesus?
Have you ever experienced unlikely conversations with someone you didn't expect and which stuck in your mind? In my travels around the world, I have encountered many unlikely conversations. One that stands out was a plane ride from Tokyo to Seattle next to Charlie Daniels. He wore a hat with the Biblical reference Romans 5:8 on the front. If you don't remember, that verse says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So I innocently said, "Charlie, what does Romans 5:8 mean?" He quoted the verse and explained it to me. I looked at him and said, (Remember this is the guy who wrote, "The Devil went down to Georgia to see what he could see"), "I didn't know you were a Christ-follower." He smiled and said, "I accepted Christ as a young kid, but I didn't live most of my life close to Him." We continued to talk about spiritual things and it turned out he was returning from doing a ministry concert in Japan.
I love unlikely conversations. Jesus was a master at them. Take His famous exchange with the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee, and it says he had to go through Samaria. Now it is true that going through Samaria was the fastest route to Galilee. Still, the truth is that Jews routinely walked around Samaria rather than through Samaria. Samaria was like the neighborhood or part of town you don't want to go through. It was populated by Samaritans, who were considered cult followers and sinners by the Jews. But, of course, that is just the kind of people Jesus specialized in, so He takes that route.
We pick up the story in verse 4 of John 4.
Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
"Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
I love this conversation. Jesus loved to engage people, draw them out and turn an ordinary and unlikely conversation into one that brought life. This was unlikely because most Jews would not have been on that side of the tracks. It was unlikely because Jews didn't talk to Samaritans and most Jewish men would not have engaged a Samaritan woman. It is a fascinating conversation as Jesus skillfully turned the conversation from water to living water. It was a humorous conversation as Jesus knew more about her than she thought He knew. And it was a grace-filled conversation because Jesus never condemned her for her lifestyle but introduced himself as the one who gives living water. In fact, not only was she not offended by Jesus's honesty, but she brought her whole village down to meet Jesus.
I have learned to look for unlikely conversations, and I invite you to do the same. Rather than hanging back, let's find ways to engage people like Jesus did. That's what I did with Charlie Daniels and his hat. As Jesus illustrated, even a cup of water can turn into a conversation if we let it. Some years back, I lived in Nashville and, in my spare time, was a Lyft driver. I did precisely 5,000 rides. What always amazed me was that I could engage people and be in a deep conversation within three to five minutes. All I had to do was be willing to ask some questions, and they engaged. And I am by nature an introvert, so it wasn't my bubbly personality.
During this Lenten season, as we consider the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, let's pray that God would give us opportunities for unlikely conversations. We happen to have the best news that anyone could have regarding a Savior who has radically changed our lives. We don't need some special gift of evangelism. What we need is to keep our eyes out for unlikely conversations and let them go where God leads them.
Father, I confess that I am often shy or don't pay attention to opportunities for conversations you put in front of me. Remind me to look for those conversations that can lead to spiritual things. Surprise me, Jesus. Amen.
The Question for Today: Who can I have an unlikely conversation with if I pay attention?
“Love must be sincere” Romans 12:9
The test of our theology is not the creed that we subscribe to, important as that is. The test of our theology is how we treat people because to be a Christ follower is to love people like Jesus loves them. Unfortunately there is plenty of unkindness among God’s people. Most of us have experienced it. At times we have probably also contributed to it. But, Jesus makes it clear that to follow Him is to treat people as He treats them which means a whole lot more love and a whole lot less unkindness on our part.
It is instructive to see how much attention Paul pays to the practical theology of how we treat others. A classic passage is found in Romans 12:9-13. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”
What does sincere love look like? It means that we hate evil and cling to what is good. Being diligent to eradicate evil or sin from our lives is critical to being a person who loves. Goodness becomes part of our DNA that then spills over to others. Going a step further, Paul says to be devoted to one another in love.
This is all about actively looking for ways to love one another and love is usually demonstrated in practical ways. It is loving someone through serving them in some way. Practicing practical acts of kindness and being an encourager and actively seeking the best for one another. This is a lot different than a lot of the gossip and backbiting that takes place even in the church. Think about this: it is far more common to say something unkind about another individual than to speak well of them.
Paul does not tell us to love the people we like or naturally gravitate toward. That is a given. He wants us to love all of God’s children and seek the very best for them at all times and in all situations. The key to this is profound. We are to honor one another above ourselves. Every one of us is pretty good at taking care of ourselves. The way to love even those who we would not naturally gravitate toward is that we honor others above ourselves. I know how I treat myself. If I honor you above myself, I will treat you with special consideration and love.
This includes sharing with others what we have. Paul says, “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” I often wonder if we do this as well as Jesus wants us to in our independent western society where we have the expectation that people should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. As one who has worked in many cultures I have often observed much greater generosity among believers than here in the west, where we ironically have much more. I have been in situations where believers who could not afford to do so wanted to bless me with what little they had. It was a humbling experience.
I am also intrigued by Paul’s admonition for us to practice hospitality. Inviting people into our homes and to our dinner table is an intimate experience. It invites conversation, kindness and relationship. And, it is an intentional act on our part to open ourselves to others. I am challenged by this because we are so busy that we often don’t have time to practice hospitality and what suffers are the kind of loving relationships that Paul calls us to. It is also not lost on me that in the Gospels we constantly have Jesus at dinner parties or simply breaking bread with others. In that society, as is true in the Middle East today, this was not a rushed affair. Dinners were long and filled with conversation, good food, levity, and serious matters. I have often had dinners in the Middle East starting at nine pm and ending after midnight. That is serious hospitality that leads to deeper relationships. And it is in the context of relationships that love flourishes the best.
It is interesting that Paul’s comments on how to love others well include these instructions that almost seem out of place in that context. “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” How do these words fit into the conversion of loving others well? I think the answer is this: we cannot love others well unless we keep our spiritual temperature high. Jesus is calling us to a life of generosity and kindness. A life of unselfishness and sharing. A life where we open our hearts and our homes to others. All of these characteristics are matters of our own spiritual commitments. The more we stay in a great relationship with Him, the better we can love one another. Our love for Jesus fuels our love for each other.
Take some time today to think about your relationships with other believers. Are they most characterized by love or by unkindness? Are our words, words of encouragement or criticism? Do we welcome others into our hearts and our homes? Even those who we would not naturally hang with? Do we practice the art of honoring one another above ourselves? And who would not want to be a part of a congregation that practiced such attitudes?
Father, help me to love members of your family well and to welcome them into my heart and my home. Help me to become an expert in simple acts of kindness that bless others. Help me to love like you love.
The Question for Today: how can I demonstrate this kind of love to someone today?
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
As I write this my heart is heavy with what is happening in Ukraine. The evil of Mr Putin, the savagery of his army and the suffering, death, and destruction of a nation. That this could happen again in our day is mind boggling but I have concluded that the veneer of civilization is very thin. There are times when I just have to turn the news off for my own mental health. It is all too depressing and sad and evil. And there is nothing I can do except pray and contribute to the needs of those displaced.
So what do we do with the concept of joy? I look around and think about my own challenges. As we accumulate years we also accumulate worries, anxiety, and concerns, all of which can mitigate against joy.
I am convinced that we often have an incorrect definition of joy. We see it as something to pursue because we all want it, but it often remains elusive. We try to buy it with our purchases thinking that the next toy or experience will bring us joy but we find out that it doesn't. We pursue it with our lifestyles but come up deficient. There are moments of joy but they are not lasting. And inevitably something comes along that robs us of the very thing we are pursuing. In the end we confuse joy with happiness which is dependent on our current circumstances. Joy, on the other hand, is a state of being that is not dependent on our circumstances.
Joy is something we all want but many find it elusive. So how do we understand Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit?” I want that joy and peace and I want to overflow with hope in a world that lacks hope. How do I get there?
Let me suggest that there are three parts to the answer to this question. The first has to do with the source of joy. In a consumer world, we often buy into the lie that joy can be purchased. I cannot be! If you read Scripture carefully you discover that the source of joy is God Himself. It is not our circumstances, our wealth, our toys, all the good things that happen to us which disappear when all the bad things happen to us. No. The source of joy is not a thing. It is not a circumstance. It is a person - Jesus Christ!
Joy is listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22. If it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, the only way to truly access it is through the Holy Spirit! In the Psalms there are 57 references to joy and every single one of them is connected to God Himself. Psalm 16:11, for instance, says “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” The joy we experience has to do with the presence of God in our lives, not any circumstances we are encountering. Again, in John 15:11, Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” The source of joy is nothing other than Jesus Himself. This is true of all the references to joy in the Scriptures. They are related to our relationship with God, not the circumstances we live with, good or bad.
If Jesus is the source of joy it makes sense for us to quit trying to find it in external circumstances. It cannot be found there. It is ultimately only found in God. As CS Lewis said, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” Only God brings joy. That means if we want to pursue joy, we need to pursue God because He is the only true source of Joy. Again, CS Lewis “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone.”
I want far less sadness in my life and far more joy in my life. To get there I need to do only one thing: Make it my life long goal to pursue God. My joy is found in Him, and Him alone, and only He has the ability to infuse my life with joy, regardless of the circumstances I face. That is a profound statement.
If we want joy we need to understand the truth of Hebrews 12:1-3 where we read about Jesus and His joy in the midst of suffering. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
For all of us, joy is a choice and the choice is whether we will pursue joy on our own, trying to find it in all the ways that the world searches for it. Or, whether we will pursue our relationship with God and in the process find the joy that He promises and gives. And, which is not dependent on our circumstances.
He is the source of true joy. In order to find that joy, He must be our focus. It is always a choice that we make. I struggle deeply with the events of our world, such as Ukraine today. I struggle with the event of my life. But ultimately my joy and your joy are not dependent on any of these external factors. They are dependent on our relationship with our creator who created us for Him. In Him there is joy.
Father, I confess I have often chased after joy in all the wrong places. Yet you offer it to me free of charge, found in a relationship with you. Help me to pursue you better and, in the end, experience far more joy and far less disappointment in my life. Amen.
The Question for Today: Am I chasing after joy by chasing after Jesus?
We live in a day where tribalism is a powerful force - even within the church and among God's people. Tribalism has been defined as "the behavior and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one's own tribe or social group. That tribe can be ethnic; it can be political, or any group we identify with.
This tribalism can be and has become a divisive force in our society. But, more importantly, it is dividing God's people along racial or ethnic lines, theological and political lines. The reason for our division is that we are unable to live with people whose views differ from ours. So, rather than live in the dynamic tension of differing opinions, we divide and choose to spend time creating friendships with our tribe while ignoring or avoiding other tribes.
One could say, "well, that is just the way society works." But there are significant issues with the growing tribalism we watch. First, there is the tendency to elevate our tribe above other tribes. Our political view is correct, and yours is wrong. Our view of social issues like racial justice is right, and yours is wrong. But, in doing this, we are elevating ourselves and our opinions above the views of others.
Further, in dividing, we avoid the possibility that we "see through a lens darkly," to quote Paul. Other members of God's family have experiences and views that should challenge my opinion because none of us see our world and its issues clearly. Your differing views challenge me to rethink mine and vice versa.
Our defensiveness regarding our view being right and the views of other believers being wrong begs the question as to why we are closed to differing opinions. One could say it is conviction, but more likely, our unwillingness to seriously consider the views of others is more about pride and comfort. We are comfortable with our group, our tribe, and pride keeps us from considering that there are things we may be wrong about.
But the most significant issue with our tribalism is the biblical mandate to live in unity with fellow believers. Paul writes to the Ephesians in chapter 4:1-6. "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
The foundation of our unity together is not our politics, not our life experiences, not our socio-economic group, and not our ethnic groups. All of those influence our lives and can pull us apart. The foundation of our unity is that above all of our many differences, we share One Spirit, which forms One body and worships One Lord in One faith; demonstrated by One baptism into God's family with One God and Father who is over all, in all, and through all.
This is the amazing power of God. Only He can take people from every walk of life, background, ethnic group, and political persuasion and make them One through the common Spirit that we all share. When we fragment and separate into our tribes we violate the oneness that Paul talks about. When we go tribal, we short circuit the work that God wants to do in us as he molds us into one people from many peoples.
In John 17, in Jesus' prayer before his arrest and crucifixion, He makes a remarkable statement. "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." The model of our unity is the unity that Jesus, the Spirit, and the Father have. Further, the proof for the world that Jesus is who He says is our unity. Why? Because it is proof of God's power as he takes all of our differences and makes us into one unified body.
But, that kind of unity is complex. In the Ephesian passage we read above, Paul says about the hard work of unity: "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."
Think about how worked up we can get over our differences. The strong words we can exchange. The attitudes we can have toward those who differ from us. And then think of this. We are called to be completely humble and gentle with one another. To be patient and to bear with one another and our differences in love. Finally, to make every effort to keep unity through the bond of peace. These are the only attitudes that make unity possible in a disunified and tribalized world. These are the attitudes you and I are called to as members of God's family.
Remember this: Jesus, the Spirit, the Father, the Gospel, and the faith we profess all stand above our differences and are the foundation for unity despite our differences. That is the miracle of what the Holy Spirit wants to do among us.
Father, I confess that I am tribal by nature but give me a greater sensitivity to preserving and building and keeping the unity to call your people to. Give me humility, gentleness, patience, and love with those who I disagree with, and help me focus on the oneness we have in You. Amen.
The question for today: How can I fight my own tribalism and contribute to the unity of God's people?
One of the challenges of life in Jesus is that of living in freedom rather than in bondage to rules and regulations. This isn’t because Jesus gives us unnecessary rules and regulations. It is because we often create those rules because we believe they are necessary for Godly living, and then we impose them on others as well. In fact, if you have been around any church long enough, you discover what is acceptable and what is unacceptable and I am not referring to the teaching of Scripture but to the rules we impose.
For instance, growing up, I was not allowed to play outside on Sunday. Not sure why but it was a rule in our household. We also didn’t have a television because they were not conducive to Godly living. Nor did we go to movies or school events where dancing was taking place. In some churches and whole denominations, drinking alcohol is prohibited. The joke in the south, where this is prevalent, is that everyone goes to the next county over to purchase their liquor because they don’t want to be seen purchasing it in their own backyard. In other churches you must tithe ten percent of your income. Some people have a highly regulated set of rules for how you raise your children, ostensibly based on Scripture. Others have rules for how you date or don’t date if you are single.
All of these are personal convictions that are legitimate to hold. But, they are personal convictions and should never be imposed on others. When we do we become legalists who are making rules that Jesus does not make and imposing rules for living that He does not impose. It is called legalism. The problem with legalism is that it moves our faith from a personal relationship with our creator to a set of rules and laws. The former is life giving and vibrant. The latter is dead faith and trying to earn God’s favor with rules and regulations. One focuses on a relationship with Jesus and the other on traditions imposed by men.
Those who make such rules are very good at trying to convince you that you should keep them, and equally good at creating guilt if you don't. But remember Paul’s words. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Paul calls legalism, with its rules and regulations, slavery. We become slaves to rules as a way of pleasing God. Don’t go there, says Paul. He says to the Galatians “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1).
Does that mean that we are free to do anything? Not at all. Paul writes, “You my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:13-15).
Paul is saying three things here. First he tells us not to become enslaved to a bunch of rules and regulations that are not from God. Second, to live in freedom. But third, to not use our freedom to indulge our flesh - to get involved with things that are not good for us. And finally, rather than living by rules and imposing those rules on others, we are to simply focus on loving each other.
Living by rules and regulations creates friction and dissension. The human tendency is to keep adding to those laws and regulations, and lots of energy goes into making sure that everyone is toeing the line. Ironically many people look for rules in their Christian lives. Jesus gives us principles to live by but there are many areas where we make lifestyle decisions based on our conscience. But they are our decisions and not binding on others.
And our decisions in areas of life that Jesus has not specified are based on our freedom. We are free to choose how we live because Jesus has called us to freedom. Our choices are based on our conscience and are not to be imposed on others. Nor can others impose their decisions on you.
Paul actually calls legalism, or the imposition of rules and regulations that Jesus has not specified, another gospel. He calls it this because legalism assumes that if you keep these rules God will be pleased with you. This was the religion of the Pharisees. They had rules for everything and keeping those rules meant that you were pleasing God. Jesus, however, said no! That is not true faith and that is not the gospel. The Gospel is trusting in Jesus for our salvation based on His death for our sin.
Are you living in the freedom that God called you to in Him? Are there lifestyle decisions that you are keeping that someone else has told you to keep but where Jesus and Scripture are silent? Is your relationship with God more about rules and regulations than it is a relationship with Jesus? If so, Jesus invites you to a life of freedom, unconstrained by the rules of others. He really does!
Father, help me to live in your freedom and to use that freedom to serve you and others. Free me from the burden and guilt of man made rules and regulations and give me joy in my relationship with you. Amen.
The question for today: What are the rules and regulations I have adopted because someone told me to? Do I agree with them? Does Jesus demand that I keep them?
Jesus was a master storyteller. His stories, or parables, were intriguing, sometimes shocking, but always very personal in their application. They speak directly to our lives. One story that describes each of us in some way is the Parable of the Sower found in Luke 8:4-15. Pay close attention to this parable because you are there.
While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still, other seeds fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.” When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering, produce a crop.
Since we know Jesus and want to follow Him, I will focus on two kinds of soil that apply to us. The first is the seed sown among the thorns. These are people who hear, but life’s worries, riches, and pleasures choke them as they go on their way, so they do not mature.
All of us fall into this trap at times in our lives. Perhaps we live most of our life here, or maybe it is a particular season/s of our life. We want Jesus, and we want to grow. Still, we are distracted, majorly distracted by the worries and anxieties of life, by the pursuit of wealth and stuff, and by our desire to experience the good life (our pleasures). Here is the individual who is so busy in their work, busy with life, and so consumed by activities that God gets marginalized, and space for God becomes scarce. Too often, we run on fumes in our busyness and what gets lost is space for God in our lives.
There is a cost to this kind of lifestyle. Jesus says that the result is that people living in this zone don’t mature. Instead, life’s worries, riches, and pleasures choke their spiritual growth.
In all honesty, one of my greatest fears in life is that I don’t mature as a Christ-follower. I fear not getting to a place of spiritual maturity and continued growth throughout my life. One of the most strategic things we can do is be honest about how much space we are giving God in our lives, how much growth is actually occurring, and how intentional we are about becoming more like Jesus. Whatever picture we paint for the outside world, we know in our heart of hearts how serious we are about maturing in Him.
Jesus contrasts the seed that falls among the thorns with the seed that falls on good soil. “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”
Here is where we want to be. Notice how Jesus describes those who are good soil. They have noble and good hearts. Why are they described this way? Because they hear the word, they retain it and apply it, and the result is a crop of righteousness in their lives.
So what is the critical difference between those whose spiritual growth is choked out and those who are good soil? Three simple things. First, those with good soil are not distracted, and they have space and time for God. The word of God intentionally nourishes their lives. They learn that word, retain that word, seek to understand it, and then apply it in their lives. None of this happens without intentional effort. It is an arrangement of our lives so that God is not lost and we have space for Him. We make space for Him. We intentionally find time for Him and His word, and we apply that word equally deliberately to our lives. That is good soil, and it bears a generous crop of spiritual maturity and righteousness in our lives.
Which of these two kinds of soil describes you today? If you are not entirely in the good soil description, do you want to be? If the answer is yes, what changes do you need to make to your life so that God is more central, so you have more space for Him, and what can you do to better understand and apply His word to your life?
Father, I pray that you would help me live with Good soil that hears your word, understands your counsel, and applies it to my life. I want to experience the harvest of righteousness. Help me experience more of you, Jesus, and fewer distractions. Amen.
The question for today: How do I need to rearrange my life to give more space and time for God and His Word so that I live in good soil rather than among the thorns?
One of the challenges of life in Jesus is that of living in freedom rather than in bondage to rules and regulations. This isn’t because Jesus gives us unnecessary rules and regulations. It is because we often create those rules because we believe they are necessary for Godly living, and then we impose them on others as well. In fact, if you have been around any church long enough, you discover what is acceptable and what is unacceptable and I am not referring to the teaching of Scripture but to the rules we impose.
For instance, growing up, I was not allowed to play outside on Sunday. Not sure why but it was a rule in our household. We also didn’t have a television because they were not conducive to Godly living. Nor did we go to movies or school events where dancing was taking place. In some churches and whole denominations, drinking alcohol is prohibited. The joke in the south, where this is prevalent, is that everyone goes to the next county over to purchase their liquor because they don’t want to be seen purchasing it in their own backyard. In other churches you must tithe ten percent of your income. Some people have a highly regulated set of rules for how you raise your children, ostensibly based on Scripture. Others have rules for how you date or don’t date if you are single.
All of these are personal convictions that are legitimate to hold. But, they are personal convictions and should never be imposed on others. When we do we become legalists who are making rules that Jesus does not make and imposing rules for living that He does not impose. It is called legalism. The problem with legalism is that it moves our faith from a personal relationship with our creator to a set of rules and laws. The former is life giving and vibrant. The latter is dead faith and trying to earn God’s favor with rules and regulations. One focuses on a relationship with Jesus and the other on traditions imposed by men.
Those who make such rules are very good at trying to convince you that you should keep them, and equally good at creating guilt if you don't. But remember Paul’s words. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Paul calls legalism, with its rules and regulations, slavery. We become slaves to rules as a way of pleasing God. Don’t go there, says Paul. He says to the Galatians “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1).
Does that mean that we are free to do anything? Not at all. Paul writes, “You my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:13-15).
Paul is saying three things here. First he tells us not to become enslaved to a bunch of rules and regulations that are not from God. Second, to live in freedom. But third, to not use our freedom to indulge our flesh - to get involved with things that are not good for us. And finally, rather than living by rules and imposing those rules on others, we are to simply focus on loving each other.
Living by rules and regulations creates friction and dissension. The human tendency is to keep adding to those laws and regulations, and lots of energy goes into making sure that everyone is toeing the line. Ironically many people look for rules in their Christian lives. Jesus gives us principles to live by but there are many areas where we make lifestyle decisions based on our conscience. But they are our decisions and not binding on others.
And our decisions in areas of life that Jesus has not specified are based on our freedom. We are free to choose how we live because Jesus has called us to freedom. Our choices are based on our conscience and are not to be imposed on others. Nor can others impose their decisions on you.
Paul actually calls legalism, or the imposition of rules and regulations that Jesus has not specified, another gospel. He calls it this because legalism assumes that if you keep these rules God will be pleased with you. This was the religion of the Pharisees. They had rules for everything and keeping those rules meant that you were pleasing God. Jesus, however, said no! That is not true faith and that is not the gospel. The Gospel is trusting in Jesus for our salvation based on His death for our sin.
Are you living in the freedom that God called you to in Him? Are there lifestyle decisions that you are keeping that someone else has told you to keep but where Jesus and Scripture are silent? Is your relationship with God more about rules and regulations than it is a relationship with Jesus? If so, Jesus invites you to a life of freedom, unconstrained by the rules of others. He really does!
Father, help me to live in your freedom and to use that freedom to serve you and others. Free me from the burden and guilt of man made rules and regulations and give me joy in my relationship with you. Amen.
The question for today: What are the rules and regulations I have adopted because someone told me to? Do I agree with them? Does Jesus demand that I keep them?
Day 13 - More Gratefulness and Less Ingratitude
I don't know how long you have known Jesus personally but let me ask you: Where would you be today without Him? What do you think your life would look like without his presence? These are important questions because we often take our relationship with Jesus for granted. And yet, He has changed absolutely everything for us. His presence and work have impacted our eternal destiny, power for living today, joy factor, marriages and families, work, relationships, and many other aspects of life. Life is never the same once we know Jesus.
Except… we can forget and take all of these things God has done for us for granted. In fact, there are probably many days when we do just that. In forgetting His presence and His work in our lives, we can lose gratefulness for all He has done for us. And when we lose our gratitude, we move from a relationship with Him to mere religious practice. As a result, gratitude can become ingratitude toward Him.
In Jesus' day, the Pharisees didn't understand Jesus, and especially they didn't understand those who loved Him with an irrational love.
Let's listen in on a conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus found in Luke 7:36-50.
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. "Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not kiss me, but from the time I entered, this woman has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
This is a deeply moving scene. You have a woman, well known in the community as a sinner, which was a term for the most despised people in society. She was probably a prostitute and was considered a pariah by the religious elite and others. As Jesus and the Pharisees were at dinner, this woman came in through an open door and poured expensive oil on the head of Jesus. Then, overcome by emotion, she began to weep, and as her tears fell on the feet of Jesus, she let down her hair and wiped His feet with her tears and her hair.
All of this was scandalous to the Pharisees. To have a woman like this interrupt their dinner, to have her pour oil on Jesus' head and to do then what they were too proud to do and had not done, wash His feet and wipe them with her hair. It was all too much. Then, even more shocking, she began to kiss His feet—an act of love and honor in the middle of a crowd that was there to dishonor Jesus.
This woman appreciated something that the Pharisees didn't. She was confident that Jesus would show her grace and forgive her. Perhaps she had already been touched by His grace and knew that Jesus either could or had changed her life. She was unashamed of showing her love, honor, and affection, and then Jesus made this statement to the Pharisees. "I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."
You see, the Pharisees didn't appreciate Jesus. The sinning, but now forgiven woman did. She knew what life looked like without Him, and she wanted to experience all that Jesus offered. The Pharisees lived in self-gratitude. The woman knew that she owed everything to Jesus.
Which brings me back to my original question: Where would you be today without Him? What do you think your life would look like without his presence in your life? How has he made a difference in your life, and do you live with great gratitude and love toward Him? Or do you take Him and His work in your life for granted? That is a profound question. Our love for Him is directly connected to our understanding of what He has done in forgiving us, redeeming us, giving us New Life, and making us His family. Nothing is the same with Jesus, but it is easy to forget that and live with ingratitude. So in this season of Lent, let's live grateful lives.
Father, thank you for the witness of this sinful woman who loved you, was forgiven by you, and experienced life change through you. Thank you for the example of her deep thankfulness. Please help me be as thankful as she was for your work in my life. Amen.
The question for today: How can I live with a higher level of gratefulness toward Jesus and never allow my relationship with Him to become merely religious practice?
If there is one thing that many of us are experts in, it is judging others. We judge their motives, their lifestyles, their personal choices, their theology and, often, simply the differences between how we do things and how they do things. It is truly ironic that we live each day in the amazing, patient, unmitigated grace of God and yet often don’t extend that same grace to others. In fact, many of us have experienced far more judgment from fellow believers than we have grace.
Why do we have such a propensity to judge others? One obvious reason is that, as fallen human beings, we love to transfer our weaknesses and failures to others. If I can convince myself that I am better than someone else I can then feel better about myself. It is far more comfortable to look at the failures and struggles of others than it is our own. It is not easy to look at our own failures and struggles, which is why we often don’t pay enough attention to our own lives.
In fact, as humans who struggle with a lower nature, we elevate our goodness above what it actually is and we devalue the goodness of others beyond what we should. This is all about our own pride and our need to make ourselves better than we are. That is why we elevate our own righteousness and underestimate our unrighteousness. And when we feel righteous we are quick to play the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others and tell them how they should live. All of this comes from our own pride because, if we understood how broken we ourselves are, we would be very slow to judge others.
When it comes to judging others Jesus says “cut it out.” Listen to his words in Luke 6:37-42. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Ouch! That hits home. At least it does to me. I am guilty all too often. Maybe you are as well.
Jesus tells us first that He uses the same standard against us that we use against others. “Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you…For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
This really comes down to this principle. How we desire to be treated by God, and how we are treated by God, ought to be our guide as to how we treat others. He is slow to judge and quick to extend mercy. He forgives us often. Many times per day. He is gentle with us even when He desires to see change in our lives. He is not harsh but kind. Jesus says elsewhere that He is gentle and humble of heart so that we can learn from Him. Think of being a part of a congregation where we are kind, gentle, patient, forgiving, and genuinely want the best for others. Too many of us have experienced the very opposite of that.
But Jesus makes another observation. Our focus should be on the plank in our eye rather than the sawdust in someone else’s eye. In other words, He says, rather than focusing on what others should and should not be doing, we ought to be focused on areas in our own lives that need growth and renovation.
Think about those who are more concerned about the quality of their own spiritual lives, about dealing with their own brokenness rather than fixing other people. There is great hypocrisy when we focus on the issues of others and ignore our own. Furthermore, God is ultimately responsible for helping others grow and develop. We are responsible for our own lives. We are responsible for understanding our own brokenness and working with the Holy Spirit to become more whole.
When we do focus on our own needed areas of growth we become highly compassionate individuals toward others. Why? Because we are no longer operating out of pride but deep humility and, in understanding our own brokenness, we are able to then understand the brokenness of others. The more I understand my struggles, the more I can empathize with others. And, as I become healthier because of my own work, I can help others out of a healthy and merciful place rather than out of pride and judgment.
How can we apply these principles? First, ask God to convict you when you are ready to judge others, whether in how you think about them, gossip to others about them, or you are thinking of speaking directly to them. If we ask this, he will help us.
Second, ask yourself the question. What are the three most important areas where my life needs renovation? Write them down, pray about them and develop a strategy to deal with them. Your focus is then in the right place - your own life rather than judging others. The evil one would have us focus on the issues of others while Jesus would have us focus on our own issues. That is when our attention is in the place it should be.
Finally, rather than judging, try encouraging. Every one of us needs far more encouragement and far less judgment. Let's become like Jesus who encourages constantly, forgives quickly, is patient, gracious, and loving. Love beats judgment in every way and every day. Love is a magnet while judgment repels.
Father, would you give me patience and love for people and help me to be quick to love and slow to judge. Quick to forgive and slow to be critical. Quick to focus on my own issues and slow to focus on the issues of others. I ask this in your powerful name.
The question for today: What issues should I be focused on in my own life rather than focusing on the issues of others?
"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." (2 Corinthians 9:6).
The Christian life is a journey from selfishness toward generosity. In fact, this is inevitable because, as we grow in Jesus and understand the amazing generosity of God toward us, we are compelled to emulate Him and follow Him in a life of generosity. To be like Jesus is to be generous. To be like Jesus is to release the gravitational pull of stuff and money by becoming experts at sharing what we have with others.
When reading the Gospels, if you pay attention, you'll realize that Jesus talked more about money and possessions than He did about any other single subject. There is a good reason for this. The power of money and possessions can only be overcome by generosity. I gain freedom from the gravitational pull of money and possessions by generously sharing what I have with God and others.
If we want less of us and more of Him in our lives, it includes less selfishness with our possessions and more generosity. To know Him is to follow Him. When Jesus says that we cannot serve God and money, he acknowledges the power that money can exert over our lives. It can be, and often is, a rival God. All rival Gods to Jesus threaten our followership to Him.
Paul talks about the issue of generosity in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Therefore, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God can bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever."
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform not only supplies the needs of the Lord's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
This is an amazingly rich passage, which can be summed up in the first sentence. "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." Therefore, our generosity toward God and His people results in His generosity toward us.
But we say, if I am generous, I may not have enough! To which Paul replies: "God can bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 'They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.'"
In fact, the blessings that come from God through our generosity go beyond having what we need financially. Paul goes on to say, "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." Our generosity results in a harvest of righteousness.
There is an intrinsic connection between our generosity and the quality of our spiritual lives. They are connected. Perhaps it is because selfishness is all about us, while generosity is about living like Jesus. Being self-consumed diminishes our spiritual lives, while generosity brings a harvest of righteousness. Therefore, my generosity is connected to the quality of my spiritual life and followership of Jesus.
Our generosity has a ripple effect among God's people. Again Paul. "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else."
Money and possessions have a hold on our lives that is only overcome as we become generous people. We gain financial freedom when we are willing to share what we have. It is one of the great ironies of the Christian life where Jesus turns conventional wisdom on its head. Remember this: to be generous is to be like God. And our generosity results in God's generosity to us. And finally, our generosity has an impact on our whole spiritual life. Generosity brings a deeper spiritual life.
My father taught me by example what a life of generosity looked like, and I will be forever thankful. I am not generous because God demands it. He never forces us but instead wants us to give what we desire in our hearts because He loves a cheerful giver. I am generous because God has been so amazingly generous to me.
He forgave me and rescued me. He redeemed me, adopted me, and gave me an eternal purpose. He invites me to His table every day, gives me true life, and blesses me in ways that are amazing and undeserved. He is indescribably generous, and I simply want to emulate Him in that generosity. And He continues to provide as I share what I have. Paul desires that for each of us.
Father: Thank you for your generosity to me, including that you gave up your very life to rescue me from my sin and reconcile me to you. You emptied yourself for me. Help me become more and more like you in my own generosity to you and others. Amen.
The question for today: Is there something I can do today to become more generous to God and His people?
Day 10, Less Living With Lies and More Truth
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”
Do you believe that God can and wants to use you? Do you believe that you are qualified and able to be involved in ministry with Jesus? Do you truly believe that God has completely and totally forgiven you of your sin and made you clean and worthy in His sight? Do you believe that God wants the very, very best for you and wants to give it to you?
If you are like many, the answer deep in your soul is “no!” I am not good enough; I have too much stuff in my past for God to bless me. I don’t have the training to be involved in ministry; God could never use me in any significant way, I have too many issues and sin to be used by Him. And so we sit in the shadows, sure that God could not use us and bless us and give to us the life we know He promises.
John 10:10 is one of the most significant statements in Scripture about who Jesus is and who Satan is. Satan is called the thief whose only mission is to steal, kill and destroy people like you and me. Why is this the mission of Satan? The answer is simple. Satan hates God with an undying hatred. But, he cannot hurt God, so he targets those who are made in God’s image - you and me. In hurting us, his real intention is to hurt God. To keep us from God, hurt our relationship with God, and prevent us from experiencing all that God designed us for. He wants to rob us of the joy Jesus promises and, if he can, cause us to end up in the ditch of life, hurt, ineffective, bitter, and missing out on God’s blessings. He wants to destroy us.
Satan is the life-taker! Jesus is the life-giver. Jesus says, “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.”
I have come to give you the life you have never experienced,
a joy that you have never known,
a relationship with me you could never dream of,
a life mission you could never have believed,
and an eternal destiny that is your true home.
Hear what Jesus is saying. Satan is the life taker, but I am the ultimate life-giver.
So how does the Evil One steal, kill and destroy? He tells us lies. Listen to what Jesus said about him in John 8:44, speaking to those who opposed him... “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Satan tells us lies that rob us of the life Jesus designed us for if we believe them. Here are some examples.
- With what you have done, God could never forgive you!
- You are not qualified to be involved in ministry. You have too much stuff in your past that disqualifies you.
- You don’t really need to follow that instruction of God. It’s ok if you fudge a bit. God is simply holding back on you. It’s ok to compromise just a bit.
- You are not good enough.
- You are too sinful and broken.
- You can never overcome that besetting sin that you struggle with.
What is the common theme of these lies? They are designed to convince you that you are not good enough for God, cannot know the true life He offers, and they are designed to keep you discouraged, joyless, and ineffective. But, and hear this: They are lies. Lies!
Here is the truth:
- Jesus forgives us fully and completely, and when He looks at us, He sees a clean and redeemed son or daughter of His.
- We are fully qualified to represent Him because He made us qualified.
- He came to give us life and a life overflowing with His joy, meaning, and purpose.
- There is nothing you can do to make Him love you more and nothing you can do to make him love you less.
- He is the giver of life in all circumstances and all situations.
- As His child, you have the power to resist the lies and temptations of the Evil One.
- You are fully forgiven, fully qualified, fully His family and fully loved.
Satan knows that if he can convince us to believe his lies that he can hurt us in many ways. So Jesus says, resist the lies of the thief and believe the truth of your Savior. Take some time today to reflect on the lies you have bought into that are from the thief and not from the Savior. And then, banish those lies to the ash heap and embrace the truths of the Savior. It will change the direction of your life in every way.
Father: I admit that I often believe the lies of the thief instead of the truths of the Savior. Help me recognize those lies and embrace your promise to give me life and, more than that, the fullness of life or life abundant. Help me live in the abundance of the life you came to give. Amen.
The question for today: What lies have I believed that I need to abandon for the truth of the Savior?
Less Comparison and More Thankfulness
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 1 Corinthians 12:27
Comparing ourselves to others is a deadly trap. It robs us of joy, makes us feel inferior, and not enough; it creates envy for those who are more beautiful, more successful, more gifted, more wealthy, have more toys. And all kinds of other mores. When we compare, we lessen our worth and live with disappointment, envy, sometimes anger, and usually discontent.
Here is the irony of comparison. First, even those you compare yourself to often compare themselves to someone else. In other words, while you think that your life would be so much better if you were like them, they feel their lives would be so much better if they were like someone else. The goalposts of life change because there is always someone else to compare ourselves with and, in the process, create discontent and disappointment with our own lives.
Why should we compare ourselves less? Reason one is that God has uniquely created you just as He wanted to for a purpose that only you can fulfill. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
When Paul writes that you are God’s handiwork, he uses a word that means a unique, one-of-a-kind work of art. There is no one like you and never will be. You were crafted and created uniquely by God for good works. And get this: He prepared those good works for us to do in advance of our even being here. God has a purpose and plan for your life that no one else can fulfill the way you can.
That is why we ought to have less comparison and more thanksgiving. God created and crafted you to join Him in His work in this world. Those you compare yourself to cannot do what God made you for. Nor can you do what they were created for. We are all one-of-a-kind creations that are unique and special and called.
Paul gives us a second reason not to compare ourselves in 1 Corinthians 12, where he writes about spiritual gifts.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work.
“Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”
So Paul is repeating this truth from Ephesians, but then he goes to the question of “who is more important in all this?” Because the truth is that when we compare, we are wishing we were more important, and those we compare ourselves to are perceived to be more important.
Using the analogy of the human body, he says this: Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor….Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
None of us is more important than the other in God’s kingdom. We are one body, and the same Spirit distributed all our gifts. Therefore we need to repent of comparing ourselves to others and live in thanksgiving for who God made us and the ministry He has called us to. If we were to rid ourselves of the trap of comparison, we would live far healthier, joyful, and satisfying lives - just as we were created for.
The belief that we would be happier if we were more like others is a lie of the Devil, who wants to poison our joy and make us feel less than who God created us to be. So don’t fall for it. Instead, live in thanksgiving for the unique you God created and the unique way you can contribute to His kingdom.
Father: Thank you today for how you made me and gifted me. Help me never compare myself to others but to live in thanksgiving for the unique me you created and help me join you in your work with the gifts you have given. Amen.
The question for today: Who do I need to stop comparing myself to, and how do I live in daily thanksgiving for who God made me?
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Anxiety and worry are a part of the human condition. It is easy for someone to say, you shouldn’t worry, but I don’t know anyone who can go through the situations of life without anxiety and worry. We are finite human beings, and the fact that we cannot know the end from the beginning makes worry a part of life.
That being said, moving from worry to faith, from anxiety to dependence on God, is one of the journeys that Jesus invites us on. He does not want us to live with worry and anxiety but to live with faith and trust and allow our concerns to be carried by Him and not by us.
I find it interesting that the words “do not be afraid” are repeated 365 times in the Bible, once for every day of the year. We need to hear these words every day because we need them daily. Scripture reminds us not to worry about having enough money for tomorrow because God looks after His own. We are told not to worry about the future because each day has enough worries of its own, and He carries them for us. We are told not to be anxious but to give our cares to Him.
There is an antidote for worry, and that is prayer. As Paul says in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We are invited in all situations, in all circumstances to bring our anxieties to Jesus in prayer and petition, and present our requests to God. Interestingly, Paul says that we should do this with thanksgiving. Why Thanksgiving? Because He is capable and able to intercede in our situation and carry our worries for us. And the exchange is this: We give him our anxieties, and he gives to us the peace of God which transcends all understanding. And that peace will guard our hearts and our minds - where anxiety and worries live - in Christ Jesus. I’ll take that exchange any day.
Some years ago, I was on a flight from Bangkok to the United States, and just as the plane was ready to take off at the end of the runway, the flight attendant saw that I was sick and had lapsed into unconsciousness. I woke up with my 20-year-old son kneeling beside me, and I heard the pilot announce that we were returning to the gate for a medical emergency. I asked my son if that was me, and he said, “yes, dad.” A few minutes later, we arrived at an unknown hospital to figure out what was wrong.
They thought I had suffered a seizure, but there was no evidence of this with a brain scan. But over the course of the day, I went from sick to very sick to needing to be intubated in the ICU. A year earlier, I was intubated for a month in a coma in the United States for multiple organ failure and MRSA pneumonia and never should have survived. It was a 45-day hospital stay that took me years to recover from. Now a year later, still in recovery, I found myself in the same situation in a foreign country: organs shutting down, massive pneumonia, and knowing that my odds were not good.
I asked the doctor if they were going to put me into a coma like the year before, and he said no. “We will put you under to intubate you, and then you will be awake.” So, an hour later, I found myself awake, with a garden hose contraption down my throat, hooked up to some 15 pumps of various kinds and a breathing machine, and massive, unbelievable pain.
That first night I contemplated my odds. They were not good. I asked God to remove my pain, but that didn’t work. And then, as I reflected, my mind kept going back to a message I had preached about Peter getting out of the boat and walking toward Jesus and Jesus saying to him. Do not be afraid. And I asked God to take away my fear of death and the fear of the unknown. It was a gigantic struggle that first night, and it was repeated again and again as it would be 14 days before I was off the ventilator. But amazingly, God did exactly what He promised, and I traded my fear and anxiety for a supernatural peace that only God can give.
The pain did not lessen. In Thailand, they didn’t provide pain medication, and with massive pneumonia, you feel like you are breathing through mud. Every hour they would disconnect the breathing machine, bag me to breathe, and vacuum out my lungs so that I could breathe again freely. That experience was like having a heart attack, and every hour felt like twenty-four hours of terrible pain for fourteen days. But, I traded fear for peace because of God’s promise. I realized that the greatest gift is when we come to the end of all of our resources, and all we have left is Him. Then we realize that He is all that we need.
Jesus is inviting you today to trade your worries and anxieties for His peace. That takes place as we bring our concerns to him daily in prayer and petition - with thanksgiving. And He can take those anxieties on Himself and leave us with supernatural peace. So whatever your anxieties are today, He invites you to give them to Him.
Father, I freely admit that I need more of your peace and less of my worry and anxiety. I give you my deepest fears and anxieties today and ask that you fill me with your peace that passes all understanding. Thank you for your goodness to me and your desire to carry my burdens yourself. Amen.
The question for today: What worries and anxieties do I need to give to Jesus in exchange for His supernatural peace.
Day 7 - Less Busyness and Obligation and More Space for a Relationship With Jesus
“Be still and know that I am God.”
When you are used up and tired out, frazzled and discouraged, where do you wish you could go? For me, it is a stream in Montana where I am fly fishing in pristine water, the mountains in the background, and the big sky that gives Montana its name, Big Sky Country. For me, it is a place of peace, restoration, and refreshment. It is where I can step out of the rush of life and experience quietness and rest for my body and soul.
I am sure you have a place like that, as well. It is where we wish we were when we wake up in the middle of the night with anxiety on our minds. Our lives are so very full, so packed with people and activities, so filled with obligations that we often lose our joy, our purpose, and our connection with God. The more we wish we could go to our place of peace, the more we probably need to live with less noise, busyness, and obligation.
Why is this so important? Scripture says in several places and in several different ways to “Be still and know that I am God.” How hard it is to just be still. Being still is turning off all the external stimuli that bombards us constantly. It is finding time to be alone with God because there is a connection between stillness and experiencing the presence of God.
Think of this as space. You have a limited amount of space in your life. That space is filled with all the things that make up our lives. Family, relationships, kids, ministry, work, recreation, television - whatever it is that fills your space. However, the question is this: How much space is left for God in your day or week? Each of us has the same amount of space in a 24 hour day. But is there space left over for God? Or is He crowded out?
One of the things that stands out with Jesus is that he routinely went away alone, up the mountain to quiet and secret places, where He could be with His Father. So here is the God of the universe making Space for His Father because He needed it just like we do. So again, the question. How much space do you make in your life for God, or is He crowded out?
Here is the interesting thing. It takes some space to recognize and live in the presence of God. “Be still and know that I am God.” It is stillness in making space for God that we best recognize His presence and feel that presence. The reason is simple. Like in any relationship, where there is no quality time, the relationship suffers. That is why we spend quality time with our spouse or close friends. It is in quality time together that we know and appreciate one another.
I wonder how often we miss out on God’s personal touch on our lives because we are too busy to let Him in. When we fill our lives with wall-to-wall activities, we start to live out of obligation instead of in the grace and peace of Jesus. Our lives become activity and obligation without rest and the grace, peace, and presence of God. That is a common tradeoff in a world with too little space for God.
Lent is a time to be still and know that He is God. To be still and silent enough to experience His loving presence and allow Him to restore your peace. Instead of activity and obligation, it is a time to carve out space for Him to occupy.
One of the significant figures in the Old Testament was a prophet by the name of Elijah. In 1 Kings, we find him running for his life from an evil king. He is tired, worn out, discouraged, hungry, and used up. It was one of those kinds of seasons of life. Finally, after traveling forty days and nights, he reached a place called Horeb, the mountain of God, and he went into a cave to spend the night.
Let’s pick up the story from 1 Kings 19:9. “And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” So the Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. A fire came after the earthquake, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Did you catch that? The Lord was not in the wind. He was not in the earthquake. He was not in the fire, but he came with a gentle whisper. It is often how God talks to us. But unless we make space for Him and find times when we can be in His presence without distractions, we don’t experience His peace or hear His whisper. That whisper and that presence are exactly what we need on a regular basis.
God designed us for Himself. So when we are overcommitted and tired for long periods, the chances are that we are doing things He never asked us to do and living out of obligation rather than in fellowship with Him.
Father, teach me to make plenty of space for you in my life. Teach me to turn off the noise and distractions and obligations that keep me from your presence and from hearing your voice. Remind me often that space for you is the most crucial space in my life. Teach me to be still and know that you are God. Amen.
The question for today: What can I do to live a less distracted life and make more space for Jesus in my day?
Day 6: Less of me and more of the Spirit in my relationships
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25)
It is easy to be good and pleasant to those we like. But, it is a lot harder to do the same with those who irritate or, worse, anger us. Or, people we frankly just don't like very well. People we disagree with. People we find offensive or situations where our emotions get the best of us. It is easy for our emotions to hijack our "goodness" in all those cases.
We say words that reflect our emotions, which can be harsh and unkind. Think of emails you have written that you wish you could take back. Or words you spoke to a family member or friend that you wish you had never uttered. Angry, unkind or negative words that hurt someone. It may have made us feel good at the moment, but we know they were not words that pleased God.
We can say the same for how we treat people. We can give them the cold shoulder, ignore them or mistreat them. The ultimate way to hurt them is to gossip about them, share negative information or drop subtle hints that it would be good to pray for them because….and we piously suggest what they need prayer for. It is simply another way of sharing negative information and leaving a poor impression.
OK, OK, you say. "I get the picture." Have you ever wondered why we do these things, and every one of us has been guilty? Maybe even in the past day or week. The answer is simple. They are called "acts of the flesh" in the New Testament relating to our natural human nature. It is who we are, having been born into a sinful world with a sinful nature.
Here is how Paul puts it in Galatians 5:19-21. "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."
It's not a list that we are proud of, but every individual since the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden struggles with the flesh or the lower, unredeemed nature. It is why Jesus came to die for us to pay the price of our sinfulness. He came to redeem us from the need to live by the flesh and give us the freedom to live by the Spirit of God.
Again, Paul in Galatians 5: "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other."
Did you catch how God wants us to treat one another? He wants us to serve one another in love. As people who God has redeemed, we can resist our lower nature, which is at war with our new spiritual nature. "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
So what does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself or to serve one another in love? Do you remember the description of our lower nature? There is also a description of our spiritual nature which is the result of God's Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts. He takes up residence in us when we give our lives to Jesus. These are called the Fruit of the Holy Spirit because they reflect the character of God. And since we have God resident in our lives, we have access to God's character.
Here is what God's character looks like, according to Galatians 5:22-26. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other."
Wow: Think of what relationships would look like if, instead of the way of our flesh, we specialized in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is the way of the Spirit. Paul says that the other way, the fleshly way, the lower nature way, was crucified or put to death with its passions and desires when we came to Jesus. He nailed that junk to the cross when He died for us. All so we could live by the Spirit and treat others how God treats us.
This is the way of love and the way of God. This is the life we have been called to. As Paul says, "since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Or, to put it another way, let's live and act and speak like the Spirit who lives in our hearts.
Think of the people in your life who are the most difficult to love and be kind to. And then ask the question: What would my attitudes, words, and behaviors look like toward them if I lived out the Fruit of the Holy Spirit? If I specialized in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? And then Paul says, "Just do it." You have the ability through the Holy Spirit to live that way. Just do it.
The Christian life is about less of our old sinful nature and more of the Fruit of the Spirit who lives in us. It is less of me and more of Christ. So today, ask God to help you live with less of you and more of Him.
Father, would you help me to be conscious at all times of how I can live with less of my old unredeemed self and far more of you. Please help me reflect your Spirit in my words, attitudes, and how I treat others. Especially those who are hard for me to love. Amen.
The question for today: In what relationships do I need to have less of me and more of the Holy Spirit?
Day 5: Lessening our Pride and Choosing to Forgive
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Few things are more like Jesus than a willingness to forgive those who have wronged us. We don’t forgive because we don’t believe they deserve it and often that is right. We don’t forgive because we are bitter at some offense and don’t want to give up our right to that bitterness. We don’t forgive because it is, frankly, unnatural to us to do so. Why would I forgive someone who has hurt and harmed me? Or someone close to me?
And so we often allow offenses to fester for years, sometimes decades. In some cases the one who hurt us has gone to the grave and we still carry that offense and still deal with anger and bitterness. The dilemma we have with the act of forgiveness is that we often don’t want to do it but we know God commands us to do it. It can be one of the hardest acts of obedience that we ever have to take depending on the offense.
There are some myths that surround the issue of forgiveness which also get in our way. The first myth is that someone must ask for forgiveness before we grant it. If only life was that simple. One of the most difficult things about forgiveness is that those who have hurt us rarely apologize to us, ask forgiveness or acknowledge the depth of their hurt to our hearts, souls or bodies. In fact, we don’t forgive primarily for the individual who wronged us but for our own sake. When we refuse to forgive, we allow ourselves to be incarcerated in a cell of bitterness even while we have the key to unlock the cell door - forgiveness - but we choose our dingy cell to the joy of sunlight, freedom, and peace. The one who wounded you may well not deserve your forgiveness, but you deserve to forgive them so that you don’t live life in the prison of bitterness.
Myth two: Forgiving means forgetting. Our memories don’t work that way. We don’t forget moments or periods of intense pain. They are indelibly locked in our brain. The pain we feel when we remember those events may start to fade with time, and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. but we will not forget. The goal of forgiveness is not to forget. Rather, it is to be free of the bitterness and hate that we feel for those who wronged us. The more freedom we experience, the more healing we can experience. As we heal the memories don’t go away but the pain associated with them starts to recede.
Myth three: Forgiveness relieves us of the pain of the wounds inflicted on us. Not so. The pain only recedes with the passage of time and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we heal, the pain may become less painful and there may come a day when there is no pain left. But that only happens when we choose to forgive and give up our bitterness.
Myth four: It is easy for a Christian to forgive. Not so. Forgiving others is one of the most difficult things we will ever do, and the greater the wound the harder it is to forgive. This was the topic of one of Jesus’s parables: The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. As Jesus was dialoguing about this parable, He had this conversation with Peter: “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” - Matthew 18:21-23
Why would Jesus say this? He said it because of how hard it is to forgive. In many instances, forgiveness is a process of forgiving, and forgiving, and forgiving until finally we don’t need to forgive any longer. It is a hard discipline that must be exercised time and again until the pain has receded and the bitterness is gone. It may be the hardest thing you will ever do. The command to forgive is one of the hard sayings of Jesus because it goes against everything inside us.
Is this not why holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom forgave those who committed the most heinous crimes against her? Her father and her sister Betsie died at the hands of the Nazi's and she endured the infamous Ravensbruck prison camp. Years later she recounts the day she forgave her SS guard.
“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former SS man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pained, blanched face.
He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message Fräulein”, he said “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your Forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.
And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
Ultimately we forgive because He commands it and Paul reminds us to forgive as God in Christ forgave us. And it is in that hard act of obedience and a lessening of our pride and will that we start to find obedience, healing, and in many cases, relational healing as well. Is there someone that you need to forgive today and will you do that in this lenten journey?
Father, help me though your Spirit take the step of forgiveness that I need to take and in so doing lesson my bitterness and allow me to start healing. This is a hard step but one that you command me to take. So I will do it. Amen.
The question for today: Is there someone that I need to forgive?
Day 4: More Peace, Less Conflict
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
We live in an increasingly fractured world: Divided by politics, race, international conflicts, and personal slights and offenses that become the grounds for division. The sad thing is not that such fracturing is commonplace but that it has become commonplace among God’s people and in our families and congregations. We divide over theological and personal differences; over politics; over offenses that we experience and won’t give up. We are a divided people and relational conflict is commonplace.
And we have our principles, convictions and beliefs and these often cause us to double down, refuse to forgive or to look for ways of relational peace rather than division. Our world has always been divided. But: into that divided world came a Savior whose purpose was to bridge the gap between God and ourselves and between us and those around us.
To be like Jesus is to be a peacemaker. Jesus Himself said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” To follow God is to join Him in bringing peace to our fractured world.
The world of Jesus’ day was a world of conflict and division as well. Jews and Gentiles didn’t get along. Slaves and free did not relate. Men and women were divided by how one treated the other. The differing ethnic groups that made up those ancient cities gave all kinds of reasons to live with division. And finally, the socio economic differences between rich and poor, entitled and those without power all contributed to a world of division and conflict. And into that brew comes Jesus, the One who consistently subverts the status quo and says to them all “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
I am sure that many who heard that statement were shocked because they had their convictions and their principles and they were sure they were right and therefore had no obligation to work toward relational peace. Yet, Jesus said, to be like God you must be a peacemaker. That is who He is.
Jesus was called the Prince of peace. Paul writes this about His death on the cross. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one spirit.” Ephesians 2:14-18
The common word in these verses is “peace.” Peace with God and peace with one another based on Christ’s work on the cross. At the cross, says Paul, Jesus destroyed the hostility between us and God and the hostility between us and our neighbor. Jesus came to bring peace and calls us to join Him in seeking peace wherever possible.
How do we do that in a world that is so divided? Here are some of the principles Paul gives us.
- Be devoted to one another in love.
- Honor one another above yourselves.
- Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.
- Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
- Live in harmony with one another.
- Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position.
- Do not be conceited.
- Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
- Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
- Do not take revenge.
- Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
All of these instructions are found in Romans 12 and Paul sums it all up when he says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Jesus is calling us to a life of less conflict and more peace. To avoid division wherever possible and to contribute to peaceful relationships, especially among members of God’s family but also beyond.
As we let go of our egos and as we elevate Christ rather than ourselves, we are called here to do all we can to live in harmony, peace, and love with one another. So our question today is twofold: First, who am I divided from or have conflict with? Second, what can I do to seek to bridge that gap, just as Jesus gave His life to bridge the gap between God and us and between us together?
Peacemaking is not an easy task. It may mean that I have to forgive. It may mean that I have to humble myself to have a conversation I don’t really want to have. It may mean that I need to lay aside my pride and find ways to bless others who irritate us or who have offended us. It may mean that I need to be more tolerant of others' political choices and bless them in spite of those differences. It might mean that God is calling me to bury the hatchet of conflict and division and embrace others as Christ went to the cross to embrace me.
As we follow in the footsteps of Jesus on His way to the cross, let's also follow in His footsteps in making peace where we currently experience conflict. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
Father, help me to become a person who loves peace and who is committed to making peace where there is division. In the words of the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.
The question to consider today: Is there a relationship or situation where I can contribute to peace?
Day 3: Less Ego and More Humility
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10
Ego is truly an enemy in our lives. Ego seeks to elevate us above others. Ego convinces us that we need to be right and get our way. Ego keeps us from asking for forgiveness when we have wronged others. Ego keeps us from forgiving those who have hurt us. Ego causes us to compete with those we ought to be cooperating with. Ego drives our need to put others down so that we can be elevated. Ego causes us to project an image to the public that is not the real us. We want to look better than we are so we hide our weaknesses and fears, pretend we are better than we are and present a false self rather than our real self.
We are learning in this series that less can be more. This is very true when it comes to our egos. In fact, a life anchored in Jesus has nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide. If I have something to prove I am playing to my ego. If I have something to lose, it is my pride. If I have something to hide it is my desire to look better than I am. In Jesus we don’t have to hide or pretend or compete. We can just be ourselves and live in humility knowing that we are complete and accepted by Him.
Humility is understanding who we are, our strengths and our weaknesses and not needing to make ourselves look better or hide the real us. In Romans 12:3, Paul writes this: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
Here is why humility ought to be central in our lives. Our strengths and gifts were given to us by God. We are simply stewards of what He has given. Remember, life is not about us but about Him and the strengths He has given to each of us are designed to be used for His purposes, not to make us look good. Here is the irony of ego in God’s kingdom. Humility is a sign of strength while ego is actually a sign of weakness.
But there is more. Ego is all about drawing attention to ourselves while humility is about caring about others and their needs. The more pride I live with, the more I will neglect both God and others. After all, ego is all about me. Not Jesus, not others, but me. Humility allows us to place our dependence on Him and serve others because we see them as women and men and children made in God’s image. Seen in this light, ego is the enemy of a life anchored in Jesus which is about Him and others rather than a life that revolves around me.
Solomon spoke to the issue of pride and humility in Proverbs 3:5-8. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”
Can you remember a time when you were wise in your own eyes and rather than trusting God, you did your own thing and ended up in the ditch? It can happen in our finances, our marriages, our relationships and in any arena of life. We often spend a great deal of our lives trying to fix what we got wrong because we trusted in our wisdom rather than in God’s. Less ego and more humility, faith, and dependence is a sign of a disciple of Jesus.
Think about the benefits of humility:
- With humility I can forgive others because I don’t need to hold an offense
- With humility I can reconcile broken relationships rather than live in conflict
- In humility I can choose to follow God’s way rather than my way
- In humility I can live with nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide
- With humility I don’t need to get my way
- With humility I don’t need to have all the answers
- With humility I can be far more attentive to the needs of others
- With humility I don’t need to lift myself up by putting others down
You can see how ego and pride are intertwined with our lives, words, motives and decisions. Jesus asks us to lay it all down and to choose a life of humility. As James says, as we humble ourselves before the Lord, He lifts us up. Subversively, the way up is actually the way down.
Humility is one of the beautiful descriptors of Jesus. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says this: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Did you catch what He said? “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Jesus was a subversive force and calls us to the same. One would think that pride, ego and power are the way to significance but Jesus, turning conventional wisdom on its head says no: humility is. Less of us and more of Him leads to less ego and more humility. Again, less is more. A life anchored in Jesus has nothing to prove, nothing to lose and nothing to hide. It is a life of humble dependence on the father with a concern for those around us. That is the way to significance in the Kingdom. That is freedom.
Father, I invite your Holy Spirit to convict me where my ego gets in the way of my followership. Remind me when I choose my way over your way or live with something to prove, something to lose and something to hide. Amen.
The question to consider today: Are there areas where I need to lay down my ego and choose humility and dependence?
Day 2: The Intentional Act of Lessening
He must become greater; I must become less. John 3:30
Who does your world revolve around? For most, the world revolves around me. Life is about us. We count the responses we get on Facebook, love to be recognized and want to be somebody. Often we are unconsciously in competition for position, maybe power, affirmation from others, and often recognition. When we don’t get our way we can feel robbed and diminished.
This is not a new issue. In fact, there was a brief overlap in the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. Both were calling people to repentance and baptizing those who answered the call. After Jesus was baptized, many people gravitated away from John and toward Jesus and this became a source of consternation for John’s disciples who thought that John was not getting the recognition he deserved. They brought their concerns to John but his answer surprised them.
John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”
John perfectly captures the relationship between us and God when He said “He must become greater; I must become less.” Not only that, but John says this brings him joy. In that one sentence, John captures the essence of the Christian life. Life is not about us but about Him. That is a radical statement in a world that seeks to focus all of life around us as the center of the universe. In a world where nearly everyone believes that life revolves around them, John says, Jesus must become greater and I must become less.
John is saying that his job is not to lift himself up but to lift up the name and reputation of Jesus. Life is not about me but about Him. He is God. He is my creator. He is the one who redeemed me. He died to bring me into His eternal family. He holds my life in His hand.
Here is one of the ironies of life. When we try to make life about us we diminish God and our lives become poorer and less fulfilling. But when we choose to make God the center of our lives, we experience life as we have never known it. Life centered on us is a diminished life but life centered on God is fullness of life.
There is a reason for this. When God created mankind he made him for fellowship with Him. But when Adam and Eve sinned, there was something great that was lost. This is why their sin is called “the fall.” We all suffer from that fall. Mankind fell out of relationship with God and lost the most meaningful part of life.
Solomon spoke of this in Ecclesiastes 3:9-11. “What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Here is our dilemma. There is a hole in our hearts because we were made for God. He planted the seed of eternity in our heart and until we fill that place with Him, we live a diminished life. The more of Him we put into our lives and hearts, the more contentment and happiness we experience. Because life is really about Him and not us. In lessening our need to be at the center and placing Him at the center of our lives we experience true life.
Here is how the Apostle Paul talks about the blessings we have in Christ. As you listen to this, think of the amazing gifts we have in Christ. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3-10).
These are just a few of the amazing gifts we have as children of God. As we make life about Him we experience a whole new life and find the satisfaction and meaning we desire in the deepest places of our heart.
How do we become less so that He can become greater in our lives? It is a matter of focus and intention. Do we give Him time in our day so that we find ways to connect with Him? Do we conform our lives to His teachings so that we are following Him rather than ourselves? For many of us, the problem is that we are too busy to connect with Him. Personal busyness is a symptom that life revolves around us. Carving out quality time with Him is a sign that we want our lives to revolve around Him.
As you walk through the 40 days of Lent, consider finding some extra time each day to spend with God. Maybe reading a few verses each day and then applying them to your life. Extra time to spend in prayer with Him. The more we focus on Him rather than on ourselves, the more we experience true life.
Father, I pray with John today that my life would become less so that you become greater. And in that counterintuitive equation I thank you that you will bring me the most satisfying life I could ever have. Amen.
The question to consider today: How can I make more room for Jesus in my day?
The Lent Series
Day 1: Less can equal more
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5
Lent is a powerful time in the church calendar that can deeply impact our walk with God. For many years of church history, believers have used the forty days of Lent from Ash Wednesday to the Death and Resurrection of Christ to go deeper with God and contemplate what it meant for Jesus to redeem His people.
It is normal for individuals to choose to give something up in their lives during Lent. This is not to earn favor from God but to focus our minds on what is most important. It follows in the footsteps of Jesus who gave up His very life on a Roman cross. The creator became one of the created in the incarnation in order to reconcile the created with the creator at the cross.
Think of what Jesus gave up in order to give us life. He emptied Himself so that we could be filled. He died so that we could live. He left heaven for squalid Bethlehem so that we could be redeemed from our sinful and broken places and experience healing, wholeness, and life. He was crucified so that we could be justified. He gave His life at Golgotha so we could receive life for eternity.
Paul describes this act of Christ as a great lessening. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!”
In a radical act of lessening, Jesus subverted the status quo in our world, just as He does in our lives if we know Him personally. In emptying Himself he made it possible for us to be filled.
As we walk through the forty days of Lent we want to explore the possibility that less can be more. We believe that there is a principle of lessening in how we live that can revolutionize our lives and the lives of those around us. In a world that is always about more there is something deeply subversive about less.
Can we live a life of subtraction in order to live a life of abundance? Can we empty our lives of our busyness and activity and find ourselves more fulfilled and satisfied? Can we do less and accomplish more for God’s Kingdom? Can we let go of those things that we medicate with and find ourselves more alive than before?
Our world thinks in terms of addition. The more we add to our lives, to our possessions, to our calendar and to our sense of self-importance, the happier we will be. Is it possible that the world's definition of satisfaction by addition is upside down and that real satisfaction comes from subtraction rather than addition? It is in including the right things in our lives rather than the multiplicity of things that makes life meaningful. Central to this is making Jesus and His values the core of our lives at all times. Life is not about us. It is about Him and us living in Him.
This is a subversive idea. Wikipedia says that “Subversion refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms.”
Isn't that exactly what Jesus did in the incarnation? The author of creation and the king of the universe came to earth as one of the created. A baby instead of a king. Into poverty instead of grandeur. A carpenter instead of a VIP. An itinerant rather than a settler. And then, a crucifixion rather than a coronation. He became disgraced so we could experience amazing grace. At every turn: how He lived; what He taught; His dependence on the Father, the death He died, He was subverting the status quo and the religious practices of the day.
Think of His upside down teaching
- To live you have to die
- To be first you must be last
- To become rich you must give it away
- To be joyful you need to mourn
- To be strong you must be humble
- To be a leader you must be a servant
And the largest subversive act in history was a dead Christ raised to life after three days, defeating the power of death and sin. Jesus was the most subversive force the world has ever encountered and the most subversive relationship we will ever encounter. He changed and changes everything. But, just as He chose to give up His prerogatives for us, there are things we are called to give up to join Him in His subversive work in this world. He is turning the world on its head and He invites us to join Him in that work.
Over the next forty days we will consider how we can experience the less is more life. It is often in the subtraction that we experience more.
Our choosing to give up something for Lent can lay the foundation for us to better experience the spiritual realities we will be studying. Less can be more in almost all of life. In fact, our journey will be about less of us and more of Christ. And that is the most important equation. The more of Jesus in our lives, and the less of us, the more subversive we become.
Would you join us on this journey? We invite you to start by considering what it is that you are going to give up for Lent. That small decision can be a reminder throughout the next 40 days that less can be more. What we give up in our physical world can remind us of what God desires to do in our spiritual lives.
Father. I want to join you in your subversive work in this world. Give me some ideas of those things I can give up in the next forty days of Lent. Help this be a reminder that less can be more and that subversive subtraction can empower me as I join you in your work.
The question to consider today: Should I give something up for Lent to remind me that He is the center of my life and my greatest focus?
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” - Hebrews 4:14-16 (NIV)
Have you ever been in a time of distress and a well-meaning individual gives you a throw away comment that is totally inappropriate and reveals that they have no idea what you are going through? I was once in an ICU on a ventilator in great pain and a colleague came to see me. After seeing my situation he said, “If I were you I would just want to die.” How is that for bedside manner? Fortunately, I could not speak back because it might not have been nice!
We long for people who can understand us, especially in times of trouble, fear, anxiety or uncertainty. We don’t want cheap words like, “There is a reason for everything.” We want compassion and understanding.
The writer of the book of Hebrews says this, compassion and understanding, is what we have in Jesus. In the incarnation, He lived among us and experienced the full range of emotions, trouble, and situations that all of us experience. The prophet Isaiah calls Him a “man of suffering, and familiar with pain.” (Isaiah 53:3). When the creator became a man so that we could know the creator, He walked the same walk as we do - only without sin. His very willingness to become like us indicates His deep love for us - His creation.
Because of this, we are told, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Why can we come to him in confidence? Because He understands us. He can empathize with our situation. He is not some distant God but One who walked the same earth as we do. So we are invited to come to Him in confidence knowing that He gets it and gets us.
What do we find when we come to Him? We “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Mercy is undeserved favor while grace is the ability to deal with the situation we face. These are no cheap platitudes. Rather it is exactly what we need in a time of need. God does not promise that He will remove our difficulty but, more profound, He promises to walk through that difficulty with us.
Wherever you need mercy and grace today to deal with your needs, accept God’s invitation to kneel at His throne in prayer. Do so with bold confidence that Jesus understands you and your situation. He is the best place to go in our time of need.
Father, thank You that You chose to live among us and experience what we experience. Thank You for sacrificing Your one and only Son to boldly and confidently come before You to find help in my time of need. And thank You for walking through my need with me. Amen.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. - Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)
There are times in our lives when we just don’t know how to pray. Our emotions are raw, we are overwhelmed by issues we face, and our situation may seem to be impossible. If you have ever suffered from depression, you know what I mean. In times of grief or uncertainty, sometimes we just cannot form the words or the thoughts. All we feel is pain or fear. In our weakness we feel powerless, even to talk to God. All of us have times like that, when hope is scarce and we are tired.
This passage is truly amazing. We are taught that we need to pray on a regular basis, but what do we do when we don’t have the strength to pray? What is amazing, is that our God actually prays for us all the time. You see, the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity along with the Father and Jesus. These three are actually one, which boggles the mind. But it is the Holy Spirit that is sent to reside within us when we come to Christ, so we have a member of the Godhead who lives within our hearts.
And the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with the Father. And the Father is one with the Holy Spirit, so He understands the intercession of the Holy Spirit, who understands us completely. Even when we don’t understand ourselves. Not only that, but in His intercessions, he prays for us “in accordance with the will of God.” When we don’t know the will of God, He does, and that is how He prays for us.
Almost all religions teach that one should pray to their God. But only one has a God who prays for us. That is how much God loves us, cares about us and sympathizes with our situation. He knows us because He lives in us. The Father knows the Holy Spirit, because He is also God. So in all situations, whether we can verbalize it or not, the Holy Spirit is lifting us up in prayer to the Father.
The next time you are feeling overwhelmed, hopeless or at a loss, thank the Father that the Holy Spirit is praying for you. He is praying with knowledge of God’s will that you may not know. And be sure that the Father hears the Holy Spirit, who is also God (three in one: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit). Be confident that the Holy Spirit is praying for you. You are not alone.
Father, there are times that I don’t know how to pray. There are times when I am overwhelmed by life. Thank you, that in every situation, I can be sure that the Holy Spirit is interceding for me with the Father. And thank you that I can trust His prayers, because He prays for “God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Amen.
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” - John 20:19-22
It is the Sunday of the resurrection, and we find the disciples together behind locked doors out of fear of the Jewish leaders. After all, if they had crucified their leader, what might they do to His key followers? The truth is that they could not escape the Roman Legions if they came looking for them, but the door was locked nonetheless. They had been told by Mary Magdalene that Jesus had risen from the grave, but they had not yet seen Him. Their world had been turned upside down, and they were unsure of what to do, except to be together. One wonders what their conversation was.
At that moment, Jesus appeared in person among them and His first words were “Peace be with you!” before showing them His hands and side to prove it was He. Needless to say, the disciples were overjoyed on realizing that this was Jesus.
A second time, Jesus said, “Peace be with you!” and then said, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” In saying this, Jesus is giving His disciples (and us, as His disciples) the same job that the Father had given Him: To bring hope to people who are without hope, in Jesus name, to meet the physical and spiritual needs of those around us, and in all that we do and say to point them to the Father who saves, redeems, and gives our lives an eternal purpose.
The mission of Jesus now became the mission of the disciples and every disciple who followed. That includes you and me.
The disciples knew what that meant. Like Jesus, they would face hardship, and like Him, even death. In fact, there have been more people who died for their faith in the last hundred years than in all the years since Jesus. Every day, somewhere on our globe, people die for their faith - we call them Martyrs. I suspect that this is why Jesus said “Peace be with you.” And repeated it a second time for emphasis. Even with the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus and His disciples, they could live in peace.
How is that possible? Because God goes with us wherever we go, through the Holy Spirit. We go nowhere without God. We face no situation without God. Regardless of the situation around us, we can have His peace, because the Holy Spirit is with us always! Through the Holy Spirit, we can overcome fear and access the power of God. We are sent by Jesus to influence our world for Him.
Picture all the places that you frequent, and picture Jesus there with you through the Holy Spirit. Think of the anxieties, fears or situations you face today and realize that you don’t face these alone, but with the Holy Spirit. That is why Peace can be with us. God is there... always. You face no challenge alone. The more you remember this, the more peace you will have.
Father. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who is God in us. Thank you that there is no situation we face alone. You are always here, always with us. Help us remember your presence in our days and give us your peace, knowing that you are with us today, tomorrow and always. Help us to represent You well and make Your name great wherever we go. Amen.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
- Lamentations 3:22-26 (NIV)
There have been many days when I was glad for the night to come because I knew there was a new day tomorrow. Today might have been dreadful but there is always tomorrow and as Jeremiah, the prophet said, “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; “great is your faithfulness.”
Probably all of us are familiar with the hymn Great is Your Faithfulness. It is no surprise that we sing this in times of trouble and even tragedy as it lifts our eyes to God when we need a reminder of His faithfulness. But let me give you the backstory of the passage above. God had repeatedly warned the nation of Israel that if they did not change their ways He would destroy the nation and allow them to be taken into captivity. Now it is 586 BC and the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and many taken as captives to Babylon.
God’s prophet Jeremiah is wandering through the devastated city: Buildings destroyed, many fire damaged, looted of any valuables - it was a total ruin not unlike pictures we see today of Syria. The city is quiet but for a few lost souls wandering aimlessly wondering what to do or where to find food and the packs of dogs that are in search of the same. Jeremiah’s heart is broken, his soul is desperately tired. It is in this state that he writes the book of Lamentations which means the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping. Like the situation we face today where encouragement is hard to come by. There is no good news to be had. None!
Except: God has great love for us and His compassions, His care and concern are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness! That is the one thing Jeremiah was sure of and it is the one thing we can be sure of today. As Paul said in Romans 8:35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.”
Because of this, Jeremiah says “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” He understood that God was enough and that “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him” regardless of the circumstances that surround them. In the end - God wins every time. And His mercies are new for us every single morning. Great is His faithfulness to us!
These are times of anxiety for all of us. This week, whenever you have an anxious thought, say to yourself, Great is His faithfulness: His mercies are new every morning and his compassions never fail. That will direct our eyes to the one place we can ground our hope.
Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to me today. Thank you that your compassions are new every single morning. Help me to trust you in these days of fear and anxiety. Remind me that it is a gift to come to the place where I have nothing to trust in but you. And you are enough. Amen.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30
All of us become weary and all of us have burdens. Those burdens can be public or private but they exist and they are real. Weariness comes when the burdens are hard and we have been trying to deal with them on our own and in our own strength. The burdens feel like rocks in our backpack and weariness is the result of carrying them around.
That weariness is real. A Harvard professor wrote a book called “The Body Keeps the Score.” It shows from a physiological point of view how we carry our anxieties, fears and worries in different places in our bodies. For me it is my upper back. When the burdens are heavy my muscles in my back are tense and hard. Some carry it in their chest or stomach. Weariness keeps us up at night when we want to sleep, robs us of our peace, creates tension in our bodies and shortness and irritation with those around us. It is a human condition.
But we don’t have to live with our burdens or weariness. Jesus invites the weary and burdened to come to Him and says “I will give you rest.” Are you in need of rest? Are you tired from the burdens you carry? Jesus makes a simple promise: I will give you rest!
But for this to happen we need to take His yoke on us and learn from Him. A yoke is that wooden piece that fits over oxen when they plough the fields as they did in Jesus day. You might say, why would I put a yoke on? The answer is simple: We all wear yokes. The issue is which one you wear. Many of us wear a yoke we have made as we try to negotiate life on our own.
Some of us wear the yoke of others who have a plan for our lives. Some of us wear a yoke of addiction as we try to medicate for inner pain. All of us wear a yoke.
Here is the thing about the yoke of Jesus. He says, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Why? Because He is “gentle and humble in heart.” Don’t you love people who are gentle and humble? You know those people have your best interests in mind and they will not hurt you. They are kind and loving. That is our God! This is what makes His yoke easy and His burden light. And because God’s ways are pure and right, they keep us from creating burdens of our own making. He is inviting us to exchange our yokes that are burdens and wearisome for his yoke which is easy and the burden light. As we do this we find rest for our souls.
Two things are required. That we come to Him and learn from Him. That is, we make a conscious choice to come to Him, learn from Him and align our lives with His. In doing so He will give us rest for our souls and minds. Our way and our yokes create weariness and burdens. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Which do you choose today?
Focus on learning from Him. Do it actively through a daily Scripture reading, prayer and learning from good teaching. Then apply that learning to your life. Head knowledge will not give you rest. Applying it because we have chosen the yoke of Jesus does. He will be gentle and humble as He guides you to rest in Him.
Father, I want to exchange my yoke for yours. I give my burdens and weariness to you today and I want to learn how to live in your presence and grace - letting you take those things that burden me. Teach me what it means to live like you and help me actively apply your teaching to my life. I thank you that you are gentle and humble of heart. I need that. I need you.
Amen.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. - Numbers 6:24-26
Have you ever wondered what God’s attitude toward you is? I think many of us see God as a harsh figure who cannot ever be pleased. In fact, our view of God is often defined by our relationship with our own father. If he was distant, we see God that way. If a strong disciplinarian, we often see God that way. If abusive, we can have a hard time trusting God. If warm, connected and gracious, we tend to see God that way.
But how does God see us and what is His heart toward us? What does He want for us? Nowhere are the answers to those questions more clear than in the Levitical blessing, that is, the blessing that God commanded the priests in the Old Testament to pray over His people. This blessing was authored by God for us. It unpacks His heart for us. It is my favorite blessing in all of Scripture.
“The Lord bless you and keep you.” Here is God’s heart. He wants to bless you. To know Him is to know the source of all blessings and the One who wants to pour out those blessings on you. God’s heart is a heart of blessing. Deep in our hearts we say to ourselves, “I am not worthy of His blessing” and we often doubt that He would bless us. Here is the deal: We are not worthy, but He died to make us worthy, and whether we believe it or not, if we are Christ followers, He longs to bless us. He is in your corner and my corner. That is His heart.
To reinforce that, the second part of this blessing is “The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.” How often do you think of God as gracious? Graciousness is kindness along with a desire not to cause hurt. It is courteous, kind and pleasant. His graciousness draws us into His presence, drives out fear and we experience His amazing kindness to us.
And then the third portion of the blessing: “The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” That is an extraordinary statement. You would think that the Lord of the universe is way too busy to pay close attention to us. Not so! The blessing asks that the all powerful, all sovereign, all holy, all knowing God literally turn His face toward us, notice us, cheer us on in our faith, pay close attention to our needs and prayers. Read these last sentences again and consider that God is looking your way in order to help you, bless you and meet your needs because of His love for you.
And part of that blessing is peace given us by God. It is His peace in times of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, sorrow, or whatever situation we find ourselves in. His gift to us is His peace. That is something the rest of the world does not have. This is God’s heart for you today!
Memorize this short blessing and meditate on it in those times when uncertainty and anxiety fill your heart. Thank God for every blessing you experience through the day, knowing that His face is turned toward you in love, compassion and care.
Father, thank you for every one of your blessings in my life. Thank you that your face is turned toward me always. Thank you for having a heart of love and graciousness for me and my family. Today, I ask that your peace would flood my heart. Amen.
What are you proud of? All of us have accomplishments and have achieved goals that we can look back on with pride - especially when we had to work for them, exert ourselves and go beyond what we thought we could do. My wife, Cleo, is proud, for instance, that she has a college degree, being the first generation of her family from a rural province in the Philippines to get a degree. The distance from that fishing village to a University education is a long one but she and her siblings all went to the university, the one who went before helping the one behind, financially. It is a big deal and one to be proud of.
Pride is not always a bad thing. But for us who follow Jesus there is a source of pride that ought to go before all others. Listen to what the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24.
This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
When you think of what people are often proud of, they often fall into three areas. We are proud of how wise we are and, therefore, what we have accomplished in business or some other arena. Others are proud of what they can do through their connections, ability to get things done or negotiate. Or, we are proud of our riches, the stuff we own and therefore the stuff we can do based on our money. I know people in all three of these categories who are not only proud of their accomplishments, ability or possessions but who want others to know what they have done and become.
God raises our sights to a much higher level when he says this: “But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me.” Above all other things, the most important is that we know Him. Now let's qualify that because there are many who know a lot about God: they can quote scripture, debate theology, argue doctrine and even tell you what you should do on the basis of their knowledge. But that is not what God says here.
He says to boast that they have the understanding to know him, not simply to know about Him. To know Him is to have a personal relationship with Him, to be personally connected with Him.
And what does He want us to know about Him? “‘That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” He wants us to personally experience his kindness, justice and righteousness and in knowing this about Him, practice them in our own lives. Knowing Him and His character should be the thing of highest value in our lives and as such the thing that we pursue above all other things. And in the end, if we are going to boast, this is what we should boast about: We know God and His character and we have become more like Him in the process.
Father, like many I have things that I am proud of. But teach me that above all these things it is knowing you that matters. It is your character in me that matters. Because only these things cross the line from time to eternity. Amen.
It has been fun to camp out in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah for a time. If you listen to or read these daily devotionals you know that I love the Old Testament, as well as the New. There is so much to learn from both, but most believers don’t spend enough time in either, let alone the Old Testament. Yet the stories of men and women who followed God - or who were enemies of God - are powerful and we can learn so much from them. If it has been a while since you read Nehemiah, I would encourage you to do so. It is only 13 chapters long.
Nehemiah reminds us of the power of anyone who sees life from God’s point of view rather than their own. This is why he was troubled over the condition of God’s people. This is why he was willing to move from the comfort of the palace where he had the best job one could have, to the broken up city of Jerusalem to help the people rebuild the walls. This would not have happened if he was not also a man of faith and prayer. Time and time again through this book, we see Nehemiah shooting quick prayers to God and then asking the impossible because He believed in the God of the impossible.
Nehemiah also had grit, tenacity and resolve. At every turn he was threatened by his critics and enemies. Each of us knows that nothing happens of import in ministry without pushback. It may come from God’s people or not but behind it is the effort of the evil one to shut down the advancement of God’s kingdom. The thing about Nehemiah is that he saw it for what it was, called it for what it was, and both trusted God and took the precautions he needed to take. He was a man of great faith and great practicality. But he was not a man who could be intimidated.
All of this because Nehemiah did not draw a distinction between what we often call the sacred (God’s arena) and the secular (our arena). For Nehemiah, all of life was sacred and our words, actions, and obedience included all of life. This is why Nehemiah became so angry when he heard that many people were mistreating the poor or marrying spouses from pagan neighbors. How we live, how we treat others, and how diligently we follow after God matters. He not only rebuilt the wall but he helped rebuild the spiritual convictions and practices of the people. Both mattered. There was not conflict between the sacred and the secular.
What drove Nehemiah? His love of God, His conviction that everything he did should please God, and his desire to leave a legacy that honored God. in Chapter 13:14 he sends up one of his short famous prayers to His Father. He says to God, “Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.” His life was all about pleasing God.
Father, thank you for the examples of women and men in Scripture who put you first and showed us the way to follow you. Give me the heart, faith, tenacity, and obedience of Nehemiah and help me to never separate life into the sacred and the secular. For you it is all sacred. Amen.
The book of Nehemiah is only 13 chapters, but two of the longest chapters are nine and ten, which follow the reading of the Scriptures by Ezra. And these two chapters are around the confession of sin by the Israelites. If you have the time, it is worth reading these chapters.
One of the things about the discipline of reading the Scriptures is that we are reminded of God’s teachings and our deep sinfulness. Here is the picture in Nehemiah 9:1-3: On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.
Notice the connection between their worship of God and their confession of sin. Worship and confession are intertwined because to worship God is to commit to bringing our lives into alignment with Him. It is not possible to call oneself a follower of Jesus if we are not also committed to following His teaching. Even those parts of it that we find inconvenient.
We worship an awesome and holy and supreme God. Here is the start of the prayer that the Israelites were led in. “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” (Nehemiah 9:5-6).
Yet the Israelites, like you and I, often don’t give ourselves wholly to the great God we worship. What follows is a long description of God’s goodness and the people’s disobedience. And then in Chapter ten, the people make a binding agreement with God which involves naming their sins, abandoning those sins and committing to new practices that align with God.
This is what the Christian life is about. It is dying to our sin and living for Jesus. To die to sin is to recognize where we intentionally or unintentionally have not followed Him and then to bring our lives into alignment with His teaching. The Biblical concept of repentance is not simply to be sorry for our sin but it is to choose to turn from our sin and choose light over darkness, righteousness over unrighteousness. This is very much a part of what it means to worship God. Take some time today to consider those areas where your life is not in alignment with His teaching and commit to a repentance that leads to change.
Father, I confess that there are areas of life where my life is not in alignment with your will. I confess my disobedience and declare to you that I want to live in obedience. Would the Holy Spirit give me the will and power to do what is right and reject what is wrong. Amen.
In the wake of Covid, many people have left the church and decided that they don’t need it anymore. Not because of their fear of Covid but because they figure that it doesn’t matter. They will do their spirituality on their own. In their way. On their terms.
What they don’t know is that they are missing the party. You heard me right. The party. In Nehemiah 7 and 8, after the completion of the wall, we read this: “When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.
They built him a platform and “on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law."
Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground….They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
As the people heard the Word of God they were sad and grieved because they realized they were not following God as they should. But the Levites calmed the people down and said “Be still for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.” Instead they threw a party. We read, “Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.”
I know a group called the Light of Jesus Family that has a weekly meeting called the Feast. They feast on God’s word, on worship, prayer, and food together each week. Feasts are times of joy and fellowship and that is how they see their worship and how we ought to see our worship as well.
We ought to throw more parties around God’s word, good food, laughter, and joy. They all go together and they feed the mind, body, and soul. Worship should be seen not as an obligation but as a feast, each time you meet and open the Word.
Father, thank you for the fellowship of God’s people and your Word. Help me and us to celebrate together more often and enjoy the feast that you lay out for us. Amen.
God often calls us to do something that is beyond our abilities, with less resources than we think we need, and we wonder, “How will we accomplish this?” I am sure Moses felt that way when God tapped him on the shoulder to lead the Exodus, which is why he argued with God. Here was Nehemiah trying to rebuild a city wall with a bunch of refugees, with opposition from the Sanballats and Tobiahs publicly spreading slander and gossip. Everything was stacked against him. Except…We serve a God who is greater and larger and more powerful, and who loves to ask us to do something that He knows we cannot do without His help. And He does.
In the same chapter as the latest intimidation, Nehemiah 6, we read this. “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of God.” (Nehemiah 6:15-16).
Now bear in mind that there were no cranes, trucks, or moving equipment, to help out here. It was simply hard, hard work, in the face of opposition and potential attacks with all kinds of slander. Yet it was finished in fifty-two days. Wow. And the result was that, when their enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
If God calls you to do something and it looks like it cannot be done, or people let you know it cannot be done, it may be that God wants to show off His power and ability to do the impossible. In fact, He loves to do that. The stories of many ministries, locally and globally, were initiated and sustained against crazy odds because it was God’s idea. And some crazy woman or man believed that God could do it and gave leadership. And then He did it. Often, without the people, money, and resources thought necessary to get it done.
God is not limited by our limitations. Hear that again. God is not limited by our limitations. He is God. He is the one who can move kings like Artaxerxes to bring resources to the table. He is the one who can keep the enemies at bay when they want to get in the way of God’s work. He is the one who can take an unlikely leader like Nehemiah and give him the wisdom and tenacity to do the work. He is the God of the impossible because He is not limited by our limitations. Remember that when God asks you to do something that looks impossible.
Father, I thank you that you are greater than all and above all and that you are not limited by my limitations. Give me faith to believe that you will help me complete what you have called me to do. Amen.
We have seen in Nehemiah that opposition is usually the cost of any worthwhile endeavor in God’s kingdom. It comes sometimes from outside of God’s people and sometimes from inside. It is painful.
Sanballat the critic and Tobia his sidekick didn’t go quietly. In fact, in Chapter six of Nehemiah we find them at work - again. They asked for meetings with Nehemiah which he declined. Four times! Then came the classic ploy. They sent Nehemiah an unsealed letter which is like a tweet or an email today, that got passed around on purpose, slandering Nehemiah, seeking to raise issues of his motives, and credibility. We find the account in Nehemiah 6:5-9.
Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
This is classic intimidation. Public statements of untrue facts, without proof, that go to the heart of Nehemiah’s motives. I love their statement, “it is reported among the nations (anonymous sources here - someone has said but of course we don’t know who). And that is backed up by Geshem who says it is true (Of course Geshem is not a credible source) and the nature of the message is one designed to intimidate, silence, and cause Nehemiah to stop what He is doing for God.
Stuff like this happens in spades when God is up to something. Often it happens from people, who call themselves believers, taking shots at other believers. It is meant to hurt, harm, and intimidate. But Nehemiah would have none of it, and we shouldn’t either. His response? It isn’t true. You are making it up. He knew they were trying to frighten and intimidate and he refused to be blackmailed by fear and lies. Instead, he kept building the wall and simply prayed.
Gossip and slander hurt. And it is often public. But it should never keep us from what God has called us to do. Ever.
Father, thank you that you are greater than our critics or those who oppose us. Keep me from being discouraged when it comes and to strengthen me when I am discouraged. Amen.
Nothing of significance happens in our world without opposition. I am sure you have experienced that reality. There are people who don’t want us to succeed in some effort, others who are irritated by success, those who are cynics that something can be done, and those who, for their own reasons, don’t want something to happen. Unfortunately it can also be those who are in the body of Christ who take the shots, but not always.
From the start of his rebuilding efforts, Nehemiah faced such opposition. The ringleader was a fellow named Sanballat and his sidekick was a guy named Tobiah. Here is an account from Nehemiah 4:1-9.
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”
Then Nehemiah prayed: Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
Notice that Nehemiah was not threatened by this opposition which was potentially exceedingly dangerous. What did Nehemiah do? He turned to prayer knowing that you meet spiritual opposition with spiritual means. In addition, Nehemiah and the people posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. Nehemiah was both prayerful and prudent. He did what he needed to do to protect their work with ultimate trust in his God.
Remember that nothing of significance will come without opposition because the evil one does not want God’s kingdom to expand on this earth. As Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms.”
When God calls you to do something, don’t be surprised by opposition. Behind the scenes, Satan will try to thwart you. But God is always stronger than the evil one.
Father, help me to not be intimidated when opposition comes. You are the victor and I will trust you with the outcome. Help me to be a man of faith and one who is wise. Amen.
If you have been following these devos, you know that Nehemiah secures permission from king Artaxerxes in Babylon to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the city, which was in a shambles. A city in those days without a wall and gates was open season for anyone who wanted to attack, and because of that there was no security and the people lived in fear.
After surveying the mess, Nehemiah said to the people, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. (Nehemiah 2:17-18).
Chapter three of Nehemiah is the account of that rebuilding with the leaders who oversaw the rebuilding of each section. If you read Nehemiah 3 you see one refrain that is repeated over and over. That refrain is “Next to him.” For every section that was being repaired there was another leader “next to him” repairing his section. In fact, if I were to name this chapter I would name it “Next to him.”
Scripture repeats things that are important and the important factor in this chapter is the fact that the people stood shoulder to shoulder to get this job done. There was always someone next to you contributing to the effort. No one was alone. Next to him and next to him and next to him and next to him and the list goes on.
What would happen in our congregation if we stood next to each other to accomplish what God is calling us to accomplish? If anything the trend today is away from involvement and participation. If that had happened in Nehemiah’s day, the wall would not have been rebuilt. I think of all that could be accomplished for God’s kingdom in our own worlds if we were to stand shoulder to shoulder with others to do the important things He calls us to do.
Who are you standing next to in ministry and who is standing next to you? Nothing of significance happens without others standing next to us to see something accomplished for God. Whether it is serving in the church, serving in the community, mentoring kids at risk, feeding the hungry or serving the shut-ins, there is power when we have people next to us and when we stand next to others. When we do it alone or not at all, we weaken the impact of what God wants to do through us. When we do it together it is a beautiful picture of God’s people being God’s people.
Father, in our selfish world where our own desires take precedence over the plans you have for your people, would you give me ways to stand next to others and would you give me people who will stand next to me? Thank you. Amen.
Nehemiah, a devout Jew, was the cupbearer to king Artaxerxes in Babylon. Artaxerxes was the most powerful ruler in the world at that time. As the cupbearer, Nehemiah was in a powerful position but also a dangerous one. Being that close to the flame had its advantages and its dangers. Nehemiah had recently heard of the plight of his people back in Jerusalem and he was deeply depressed and sad.
We pick up the story in Nehemiah 2:1-6.
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
Notice that Nehemiah was very much afraid when Artaxerxes asked him why he was sad. You didn’t do that around the king. But I love this line when the king asks Nehemiah what he wants. “Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king.” Not only did he ask for a leave of absence, but he asked for letters of safe conduct and, on top of that, all the timber he needed from the king’s forest to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. A cup bearer just didn’t make these kinds of asks, or any asks for that matter.
I love Nehemiah’s audacious prayer and audacious ask. He was willing to trust God and take a risk and, amazingly, the king gave him everything he asked for. The chances of that are one in a million, but for God.
Nehemiah reminds us that when our hearts are in tune with God’s heart we can ask Him whatever we need and God is able to give us favor. When was the last time you prayed an audacious prayer?
Father, would you help me like Nehemiah to pray audacious prayers, knowing that you are able to grant me favor to accomplish your purposes? Amen.
One of the marks of those who love God is that they are sad when what they see around them is not as it should be. It could be in our families, our country, our local church or the world. Nehemiah, a hero in the Old Testament, was one of those people.
Here is how the book of Nehemiah starts: Chapter 1:1-7.
The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah: “In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.”
Here is Nehemiah, a man of God weeping and mourning over the situation of his people and confessing the sins of his people. He saw what God saw and his heart was broken over what breaks God’s heart.
Think for a moment about the state of American Christianity. Do we see what God sees and are we sad about the things God is sad about? I think of all the things that divide us, most of which have nothing to do with the Gospel but our own politics, preferences and desires. We are not unified as God said the church should be. We don’t love one another but criticize, critique and attack one another when our views don’t align with theirs. American evangelicalism is a mess. We are divided by politics, race and class. The attacks on each other on social media are extensive and growing. And it should hurt our hearts as it hurts the heart of God. And ironically, we all have the same Holy Spirit resident in our hearts. Yet we allow secondary issues to cloud our discipleship to the One God that we serve.
I would challenge each of us to take a moment today and confess the sins of God’s people just as Nehemiah did so many years ago. If our hearts are to be like His heart we need to see and acknowledge the corporate sin of His people.
Father, I am so thankful for your mercy because we need it. Forgive your people and your church for our divisive attitudes and actions and for allowing secondary issues to get in the way of our unity and fellowship. Amen.
Have you ever wished that God would talk to you? That you could hear His voice? Elijah, the Old Testament prophet did. He had incurred the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel and they were out to kill him. He ran for his life and found himself in a lonely cave in the wilderness.
We read the account in I Kings 19:9-13. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah was tired, depressed, feeling sorry for himself and scared of Ahab and Jezebel. He needed a word of encouragement…desperately. And when the Lord told him to go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord I am sure that he thought that God was in the great and powerful wind, but He wasn’t. Or in the earthquake, but He wasn’t. Or in the fire but he wasn’t. Instead after these three impressive events, he heard a gentle whisper. A quiet, gentle whisper. Something Elijah was not likely expecting to hear.
Why would God leave us this account in 1 Kings 19? Certainly He wants us to know that He is there for us in times of discouragement and trouble. Certainly He wants us to know that He wins in the end, not the Ahabs and Jezebels we encounter in life. But perhaps He also wants to encourage us to be still more often. Quiet in His presence so that we can hear His gentle whisper in our life.
The noise and busyness of life conspire against us and often keep us from experiencing the presence and voice of God. We are too busy, we are too engrossed in media and all the loud voices, noises and distractions that drown Him out. But if He comes in a gentle whisper we need to be in a place where we can hear Him.
I am convinced that the question is not whether God speaks to us today. The question is “can we hear him?” And make no mistake, He wants us to hear Him and to be encouraged by His voice as Elijah was.
Father, help me to sit quietly more often in your presence where I can best hear your gentle whisper of encouragement and direction. Help me to turn off the noise more often so that I can hear you more clearly. Amen.
In second Samuel 7, the Lord God makes a series of promises to King David about his kingdom and eventually a coming messiah, since David’s throne will endure forever. We know that this would be through Jesus and His coming kingdom. It was an amazing series of promises.
But David is a guy who always amazes and we read his response to God’s promises in 2 Samuel 7:18-19. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!”
I love David’s question to God. “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” Remember that David was the sheepherder that God had taken from the sheep pens to lead his nation. From the manure pile to the palace. God had given him victory after victory until he had subdued the nations around them and was now secure.
David had no sense of entitlement. Rather, he had a spirit of humility. Who am I that the sovereign God of the universe would pay attention to me! That is the question each one of us ought to ask. Think of what God has done for you. The prayers he has answered. The sin he has forgiven. The gifts He has given. The grace in which you live. How can we not ask the same question: Who am I, Sovereign Lord, that you have brought me thus far?
None of us deserve the attention of the God of the universe. With eight plus billion people on this planet he knows our name, our situation, our dreams and our failures. He knows it all and yet he loves us and cares for us and calls us His friend. And family. Sons and daughters.
Who are we? We are the recipients of God’s grace just as David was. Unfortunately it is easy to take Him for granted. To miss the magic and grandeur and the totally undeserved nature of His goodness to us. God found David in the sheep pen. Where did he find you? Think today about his goodness in your life and ask with wonder, “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
And then take a moment to thank him. Maybe make a list in a quiet moment of all He has done for you and, again, thank Him.
Father, you are an amazing God. You have brought me this far and I know you will bring me to my destination. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.
Prior to David becoming King in Israel, the Ark of the Covenant, that sacred symbol of God’s presence with Israel, was captured by the Philistines. The problem for the Philistines was that wherever they parked the Ark of the Covenant, terrible things happened. Finally they put it on an oxcart to see where the oxen would take it, hoping that it would go back to Israel and relieve them of the trouble it was causing them.
David heard where it had arrived and that the house of Obed Edom was blessed because of the presence of the Ark and he went down to bring it back to Jerusalem. We read in 2 Samuel 6, “When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fatted calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart."
When He returned home, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would. David said to her. I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.”
Here is what I love about David. He was so in love with God that he held nothing back. He was not in any way afraid to declare that love. He was in no way embarrassed by his faith. Think about a time when you were afraid to say something about your faith in the workplace or elsewhere. We didn’t want to be embarrassed or look silly. We wanted to be a part of the crowd. We didn’t want to stand out.
And then we read the words of David. I will become even more undignified. He didn’t care what people thought. He only cared that God knew of his love and devotion. I love that word “undignified.” I want to be undignified for God. I want to live a life of devotion without embarrassment and without reserve. I want to be so upfront with my faith and God that I never hold back but speak boldly.
Think about that word undignified today. Are you ready to be undignified for God?
Father. Remove my fear of being embarrassed on your behalf. Give me boldness and give me the freedom of caring only about what you think. Never what others think. Amen.
Most all of us know the story of David and Goliath. At nine feet plus and a coat of armor that weighed in at 125 pounds, with a javelin that weighed 15 pounds, this was a ferocious dude who held the whole army of Israel in fear. David is just a young teenager who delivers food to his brothers in the army and he is amazed that no one has the courage to go and take care of this guy.
But David had a rare combination of courage and faith. Here is what the conversation looked like. David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.” When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
“Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
Here is what I love about David’s decision to go up against Goliath with nothing but a sling and five stones. Before he used that sling to kill him, David said this, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down…All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
David’s ability to handle this threat came from a powerful combination of courage and faith. The courage to confront evil and the faith to believe that God would deliver him and the people. Think about that today in your life. Where do you need the courage to confront a situation and can you do so with faith knowing that the battle is the Lord’s.
Father, I pray for courage, which I often have too little of. And give me faith to understand that the battle is yours and you can use me to defeat the Goliaths I face in life. Amen.
Saul was the first king of Israel. He looked the part. Tall, handsome, impressive, and charismatic. The problem was that it was all on the outside. He lacked one essential quality from God’s point of view. His heart was not one of obedience. Like many successful people, he could play the part but his actions did not come from a heart that was sold out to God.
In 1 Samuel 15, we find that Saul chose to do his own thing rather than obey the commands of God. God was not pleased and He had had enough of Saul’s lack of followership so He sends the prophet Samuel for a confrontation with the king. Saul did what we often do when we are in the wrong and tried to explain why his disobedience was actually a virtue. It didn’t work.
In reply, Samuel says something very significant that I need to hear often and I suspect that you do as well.
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”
Saul did what we often are tempted to do. He kept the sacrifice and burnt offerings but he didn’t have a heart that wanted to truly obey God. To put it another way, Saul was great at the appearances and practices of looking religious but he didn’t truly love God, nor desire to please Him from His heart. He had what I call a negotiated relationship with God. He looked the part but he chose when and how he would respond to God by choosing what was convenient to him.
Religion is a trap. It causes you to believe that a relationship with God is about the external practices: going to church, tithing, being in a small group, saying the right things, and not saying the wrong things. Keeping certain rules about what we do and don’t do in life. But we need to hear God’s word through the prophet Samuel. Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices - the religious practices of the day, as much as in obeying the Lord?
What God wants from us is wholehearted obedience from our hearts. That is the sign that we truly want to please Him. Anything else is not true discipleship or followership.
Father, help me to worship you by my obedience rather than by religious practices and a negotiated followership. Help me to be sold out to love you by obeying you. Amen.
The social media celebrates people who are somebody’s: whether rich, famous, good looking, successful or, for some reason, stand out from the crowd. It is easy to think that to really be somebody you have to be somebody. Ordinary doesn’t count in our world. That is largely true. But it is far from true in the Kingdom of God.
There came a time when the first king of Israel had so disappointed God with his lack of obedience that God sent His prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his son’s king. We read the account in 1 Samuel 16:4-13.
“When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.
Isn’t it interesting who God chooses to use for His purposes? Samuel never would have thought the next king would be someone from a sheep pen. He didn’t look the part and, for that matter, his training didn’t lend itself to being a king - at least in Samuel’s mind. He was looking for someone who looked the part. But God said something very significant to Samuel: “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
How often we chase after the things that will make us look good in the eyes of others. And we miss the very thing that God wants for us - hearts that love and follow Him. The first doesn’t matter much. The latter matters a lot. David didn’t look the part but that’s not what God cared about. He cared about His heart, that was one that loved and followed God. Want to be used? Focus on the right thing and God will use you.
Father, I am often seduced by the values of the world. Help me to become enraptured by the values that you care about. May my heart be in alignment with yours and let all the rest of the social nonsense drop away. Amen.
OK, you say..”my what?” That is a good question. Ebenezer is a Hebrew word that means “stone of help.” Here is the story from 1 Samuel 7.
When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.
While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Why would Samuel set up this stone on the site where God had defeated the Philistines? It was to remember, in the years to come, the blessing of God on that day. It was literally a stone of remembrance so that they didn’t forget the Lord’s goodness to them.
How easily we forget what God has done in our lives. I have in my home office several pictures of me in an ICU bed that I occupied for thirty days years ago hovering between life and death. I was surrounded by 15 machines that were connected to my body including the machine that breathed for me. But God intervened even after the doctors had told the family on several occasions I would soon die. Those pictures are a reminder of God’s goodness to me. They are my stone of remembrance. It is also why I journal. I want to be reminded in the years to come of God’s work in my life.
Always remember to remember the Goodness of God in your life. That past goodness is the encouragement we need in today's challenges. They remind us of the power and blessings of God. Find ways in your life to remember. Find your own way to find the Ebenezer’s that will remind you of God’s grace and intervention in your life.
Father, I thank you for your faithfulness to me and the many times you have intervened in my life. Help me to remember to remember your goodness and let those remembrances fuel my faith today. Amen.
Many of us remember the account of Gideon in the book of Judges, chapters 6 and 7. This was a time when Israel was in a vulnerable position relative to the people who lived around them. This time it was the nation of the Midianites who were so oppressive and dangerous that the Israelites literally prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.
We read that “Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys.They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.”
That help arrived in the form of Gideon, who was told by an angel of God that he would lead the force to destroy the Midianites. Like you and I when we are tapped by God for an assignment, he was reluctant. But God made it clear that He was with him. So Gideon summoned the Israelites and 10,000 men showed up ready to fight. But then an interesting event occurred. God told Gideon that he had too many men and that Israel might be tempted to think that it was their strength rather than God’s that they defeated the Midianites. Twice, the Lord told Gideon to send men home and he was left with 300 men. This was an impossibly small group to go to battle. But what seems impossible to us is never impossible to God.
In the middle of the night, at Gideon’s instructions, the 300 men surrounded the camp of the Midianites. They had torches hidden inside jars and at Gideon’s signal they smashed their jars revealing the torches, blew their trumpets and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon.” Overwhelmed by fear and thinking that they were surrounded by huge numbers of men, the Midianites actually ran for their lives, breaking their military positions, and fought one another in their confusion. The end result was a total rout of the Midianites and victory for Israel.
The next time you think something is impossible, think of Gideon. God is not intimidated by our lack of resources. He is able to do the impossible and actually loves to do so to remind us that it is His power that matters in our lives and ministries. God can take the few, or the little, and do the impossible. In times of discouragement this is a lesson to remember.
Father, thank you that you are not limited by our meager resources. Encourage me, when life looks impossible, that you are the God of the possible. Amen.
We make far too much of the men in the Bible and far too little of the Godly women who God used to lead people and serve God. One of these is Deborah who was a prophetess and led Israel during the time of the Judges. She was a wise, godly woman and we read that the “Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.”
She was responsible for defeating Jabin, the Canaanite King who harassed the Israelites until she defeated them with God’s help. You can read about it in Judges 4 and 5.
Then there is Ruth, who has a book named after her, who chose to stick with her mother in law Naomi after Naomi’s husband died and Ruth’s own husband had died. She was a Moabite woman and the words she spoke to her mother in law when Naomi tried to convince her to go home are famous. Here was her reply to Naomi.
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die and there I will be buried.” So they went together back to Bethlehem where Ruth was married to a man by the name of Boaz. And so this Moabite woman who chose to follow the God of Israel gave birth to a man named Obed who was the father of Jesse who was the father of David. Thus she is in the lineage of Jesus who came from David’s line.
Or I think of Hannah, who was married to a man named Elkanah, who was barren and could not conceive. Each year they would go to Shiloh to worship God and we read about it in 1 Samuel 1:9-11. “Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life.”
God heard the prayer of this Godly and-faith filled woman, gave her a son named Samuel who became one of the great prophets in the Old Testament.
Scriptures are full of Godly men and women who answered the call of God and served Him well. Don’t overlook all the woman heroes of the Scriptures. They are many, if we will pay attention.
Father, thank you that you used whoever is willing to be used by you. Thank you for the many women heroes in the Scriptures. May each of them challenge my faith and obedience. Amen.
Final words are important words. At the end of his life, Joshua shared his final words to the people of Israel. It is found in Joshua 24:14-15. “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
He starts by calling the people to fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. He pleads with them to put God first in their lives and to make Him their highest priority. All of us prioritize what is important in our lives. How we spend our time and what our highest concerns are, is indicative of those priorities. Our priorities are what drive our lives, for better or worse.
This is why Joshua turns to a second issue that is connected with the first. He says “throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”
All of us serve something. In Joshua’s day, the temptation was to serve the idols and gods of the nations around them. These were practices associated with the worship of idols. They were pagan pursuits. How lucky we are, we think, that we don’t live in a pagan society like that. But wait! We also have our gods. In fact, anything that is more important to us than Jesus Christ is a rival God.
Rival gods can be as simple as a drive for success that clouds out time for God, a focus on wealth without generosity to Him, an all consuming relationship, again, that turns our focus from God. I suspect that for many, busyness becomes a God as it keeps us from Him. Rival gods are anything that takes a higher priority than our relationship with Jesus and seen that way, we all struggle to keep Jesus central in our lives.
All of this is a matter of choices that we make. Joshua says, “choose yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living” - or, in the Addington translation, the gods and goals of our current society. But, says Joshua, “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Others may do as they like. But I am going to serve the Lord, says Joshua. Remember, who we serve and what we serve is always a choice.
Father, thank you for this important reminder. Help me to keep rival gods away from my commitment to you first and foremost. Help me to say daily, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Amen.
Courage has been defined as “the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous.” While we may not be faced with dangerous situations often we are daily faced with the difficult. For instance, it is difficult to be generous in a world that is selfish. It is difficult to swim against the tide of our culture in order to follow the paths of God. It is difficult to forgive others when they have hurt us, yet God requires it. It is difficult to be satisfied with what God gives when those around us seem to have more. It is difficult to trust God in those areas where we have no control such as illness or personal situations.
Life takes courage, and the Christian life takes even more courage because God calls us to a very different life than those around us. A life of obedience, followership, putting Him first, choosing righteousness over sin, and allowing Him to renovate our hearts and lives. In fact, Jesus says that to truly live, we need to die to self. That is a courageous choice.
Choosing courage is a prerequisite to following God. As Moses was transferring the leadership mantel to Joshua at the time when the Israelites were going to enter the promised land, this is the instruction he gave Joshua.
Joshua 1:6-9. “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Three times Moses says “Be strong and courageous.” And he connects that courage with following the Law of God, following Him closely. Moses knew that Joshua and the people would be faced with all kinds of temptations as they entered the promised land. Temptations to forget God, to assimilate into the lifestyles of those around them, to follow other Gods, to live in fear of the threats around them.
We face the same kinds of pressures to conform to the patterns of our world, to do our own thing and to downplay the life that God has called us to. It takes courage to align our lives with the teachings of God. It takes courage to be willing to look different when that is necessary. It takes courage to trust God with our circumstances rather than trying to force something ourselves.
Meditate today on the word courage as it relates to your followership of Jesus. Where are you showing courage and where do you need more of it? Thank God for the courage he has given to you in areas where you are doing well and ask Him for the courage to do better in areas where you are not. The life of discipleship is a life of courage. We are called to courage.
Father, I pray that you would give me the courage today to make the right choices in my life so that I follow you more closely. I know that dying to self so that I can find true life take courage. Through your Holy Spirit, give me that courageous spirit today. Amen.
Here is an interesting question. What is the central core of our lives? Think of the many details that make up your life and there are many. We have work, concerns, hobbies, families, relationships that sustain us, things we can celebrate and things that we know need God’s intervention. Areas of anxiety that dog us and numerous blessings that we can look back on, or are experiencing today.
With all the complexities of life, what is the central core? What is it that makes life…life? That makes life meaningful and integrates all of life into a story that makes sense? Moses had something to say about that in his final instructions to the Israelites just prior to his death.
In those instructions he pleads with the people to choose to serve God rather than themselves or rival gods. After all, we all have a choice as to whether we will make God central to our lives or leave him on the periphery of our lives. The choice we always have is to choose our way or His way.
Here is how Moses put it in Deuteronomy 30:19-20. “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Blessing comes, Moses says, as we choose life which is, in fact, choosing God and loving him, listening to his voice, and holding fast to Him. That is where God’s blessing comes and then Moses drops one phrase that it is easy to miss but is at the core of this discussion. That phrase and truth is this: “For the Lord is your life.”
Think about that for a moment. The Lord is your life. He is what makes life whole and meaningful and blessed. Life without Him at the center, says Moses, is not real life. Real life is having Him at the center of who we are and how we live. He is our life.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon made this profound statement. It is found in Ecclesiastes 3:11 and is the central truth of the book: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” This is why we are restless until we find God. He has implanted in us a sense of eternity. A sense that there is more to life than the treadmill that makes life life. And that eternity He has planted in us is this: the Lord is your life. With Him at the center life makes sense and is blessed by the creator. Without him at the center we miss out on the life that God created us for. Remember today this truth. The Lord is your life.
Father, help me remember in the busyness of life that You are the very definition of life. You came to give us life and life abundant. Help me to keep you at the center and, in the process, to experience the life that is real life. Amen.
Many of us have been or are in a small group of other believers. In my experience I have always looked forward to that weekly meeting because it is a source of great encouragement. The encouragement comes from doing life with fellow pilgrims who are seeking to follow Jesus in the craziness of life with its many challenges. And at the center of relationships with fellow believers are discussions about what God is doing in our lives, and how we walk with Him even when life is hard and hope is scarce. When life is hard we need the encouragement of others. Sometimes we need encouragement and sometimes we give it.
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds us of the importance of keeping God at the center of our lives and conversations. This is what he said in chapter 6:4-9. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Conversations about God are to be central in our lives because those conversations fuel our faith and hope and our love for Him. Moses is pretty practical here. Talk about God’s counsel at home, on the road, when you wake and when you go to bed. Carry His word with you and put reminders in places where you will see them. In other words, do anything that will keep Him central in our thinking and our lives.
Think of the fellow believers who encourage you the most. My guess is that they remind you often of God’s faithfulness and goodness. They pray for you when you need it and provide counsel when you are down. I hope that each of us does the same with those around us.
God conversations should be at the center of our lives. Reminding ourselves and others of the hope and faith we have in Jesus. We need that each day, just as we need His counsel through His word each day. Ironically, as a child, I had to memorize a verse of Scripture each week in order to get my allowance. I didn’t exactly like the practice but those verses have stuck with me all of my life and I remember them today. This week, keep Him central in your thinking and talk with fellow believers about what God is doing in your life. This practice will help us to love Him with all our heart, soul and strength.
Father, remind me often of your goodness, blessings, and counsel from your word. Help me to make conversations about you central in my life in order to be reminded often of who you are. And to remind others of the same. Amen.
One of the consistent themes of Scripture, and of Jesus in the Gospels, is that of generosity. Not only to Him but also to those among us who have needs. The book of Deuteronomy has often been called the Gospel of the Old Testament. It echoes many of the themes we find in the four gospels in the New Testament and one of those themes is that of generosity. Here are two passages that speak to this issue.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11. “If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. Rather, be open handed and freely lend them whatever they need….Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.”
And then Deuteronomy 24:19-22. “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.”
These are strong words. Don’t be hardhearted or tightfisted but be openhanded and freely lend. Give generously without a grudging heart. Care for the foreigner among you along with the widow and the orphan.
I think that this is a challenge for us in the West where we believe in rugged individualism. What I have is mine and what you have is yours and if you don’t have enough that is your issue. We have much to learn from God about what a generous life is all about. In fact, He, the Creator, became like us, a creature, in order that we could know the Creator. And then He gave his life so we could be redeemed. That is off the charts, crazy, generosity.
We also have much to learn from other cultures where generosity is practiced daily with those in need. I am married to a Philippina and am always amazed at how generous fellow Philippinos are when there is a need. To help financially is second nature to them. The same is true in many countries in the world.
But ultimately it is a matter of our heart in following God. The God of generosity calls us to a life of generosity and reminds us to be aware of those who have needs around us. And then to be openhanded rather than Scrooges (ok, that is the TJ version of the text, but to the point).
Father, I am going to pray a bold prayer today. A scary prayer. Give me the opportunity to help someone in need even in the coming days. And when I see that opportunity help me to remember your command to be generous and give me a willing and happy heart as I practice your command. Amen.
Theological discussions are enjoyable for me. Not the kind where we draw hard and fast lines that divide and create conflict. But discussions that seek to understand the heart of God and the word of God. But there are many times when I will say, “I don’t know the answer to that dilemma. It is above my pay grade.”
For instance, how do you explain a God who has no beginning and no end. OK, I get the no end piece but what do you do to explain that God has always existed and never had a beginning? Or how do you adequately explain how God is one, and yet exists in three co-equal persons. Three in One. I have heard many explanations, some of which are helpful to a point but the mystery of the Trinity remains. I cannot explain it. That, too, is above my pay grade.
Then there are things we read in Scripture which can baffle us. Take Pharaoh, for example, who refused to let the people go until the final of the ten plagues. The Scriptures say that God hardened his heart so that God’s power would become known through the plagues. But the text also says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. So which is it? Actually both, but try to explain that.
As Moses was reminding the people of God’s covenant with them as they prepared to enter the promised land in Deuteronomy 29:29, he slips in an intriguing truth. Here it is: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.”
There are many things that God has revealed to us through Scripture. Everything we need for faith and godly living is found in the Bible which is a good reason to read it regularly. The more we study His Word to us, the better we can follow and the wiser we can live.
But always remember. God is God and we are not. There are things we will never be able to understand or explain. They are simply too infinite for finite people like us to understand. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. We don’t need to understand those things. But, “the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of his law.” The revealed things we do need to know so that we can follow them and therefore follow God. Our challenge is not to figure out the secret things. It is to know well those things that God has revealed to us. How well are you doing the latter? That is our daily challenge.
Father, I thank you that there are things we don’t understand because that reveals how great you are and some things so far above our comprehension. I leave those things to you. But help me to pay daily attention to what you have revealed to us through your Word so that I can follow all the words of your revelation to us. Amen.
I am in the process of digitizing and organizing decades of photos going back some 62 years to my childhood in Hong Kong, and then the years of travel to many places in the world. There are black and whites with their negatives, color slides, color prints and of course, more recently, the digital photos. Every one of the thousands of pictures I am looking at bring back a memory. Of the thousands of pictures I have taken in over 60 countries, I can remember the exact place and circumstances of the photo. That is the power of memory.
The thing about memories is that they can fade or become forgotten if we don’t work on keeping them alive. This is especially true in our spiritual lives. As the Children of Israel were about to enter the promised land, Moses takes the people on a mini retreat to remind them of all of God’s goodness as well as the lessons they had learned in the forty years of wilderness wandering the hard way.
And then he gives them this warning. Deuteronomy 4:9: “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”
Moses is so right that spiritual lessons, the good things God has done, the blessings He has given, and the prayers that He has answered can easily slip from our hearts. We forget and our forgetting lessons our faith and gratitude to Him. That is why I journal nearly every day. It gives me a chance to record God’s goodness, my prayers, and the longings of my heart. When I go back and look at what I journaled, even years later, it is like looking at one of my photos. I say “I remember that.” It brings me back to a day and time when I had a need and when God showed up. That reminder of His faithfulness in the past becomes the faith that I need in the present.
All of us have different ways of remembering the past. The point Moses wants us to remember is that we need to remember. And we need to pass those lessons on to our children whose faith can be strengthened by our stories of His faithfulness. “Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” God’s work through generations of family is powerful and faith building.
Today, take some time to simply remember what God has done in your life in the past. Maybe jot some thoughts down and thank Him for His faithfulness. And always remember to remember. Don’t let His past work in your life slip from your heart as long as you live.
Father, thank you for your faithfulness in my life. Thank you. Help me to remember to remember so that I never let your goodness slip from my heart. Amen.
Have you ever wondered in hard times, where is God as we walk through the days of our lives? That is why I am intrigued by a situation in Jacob’s life in the Old Testament. Here is the story:
Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
What an experience. Jacob got to see what we wish we could see. He got a glimpse of the unseen realities of God’s presence in our lives. What he saw was a stairway reaching from earth to heaven with the Lord standing at the top and His angels moving up and down. I love his conclusion when he awoke that “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” And then he says, How awesome is this place! This is not other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Here is what he realized. Wherever we are is the gate of heaven because wherever we are, God’s angels are and the Lord is. There is a dynamic interaction between heaven and earth wherever we are even though we are not aware of it. Like Jacob said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”
Today, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you are at the gate of heaven. Think about that. You are not alone. Everywhere we are we ought to say with Jacob, “How awesome is this place.” Because wherever we are, He is there. His angels are there. Wherever we are we are at the gate of heaven. We cannot see it but it is there. How can we live in discouragement when we exist at the gate of heaven?
This is where you live…At the gate of heaven.
Father, thank you for this amazing and awesome glimpse of spiritual realities. We are not alone. You are always here. In lonely times, don’t let us forget that. In times of discouragement or even the average times, don’t let us forget that. Amen
We all know the story of Cain and Abel because it is the story of mankind’s first homicide. But before that event occured, we read this about the two men in Genesis 4:2-7. “Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
The issue between the two men seems to have been that Abel brought the very best of his flock as an offering to God while Cain brought second best. Cain was angry that God looked with greater favor on the gifts of Abel and he breathed murder in his heart. He was very angry and depressed.
God confronts Cain and says “If you do what is right will you not be accepted?” And then He says something we all need to hear. “But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Sin is like a lion that crouches at our door and desires to devour us. That is not surprising as Satan’s strategy is always to derail our relationship with God through convincing us that sin is better than obedience. It is what he did with Eve in the Garden and it is what he does with us on a regular basis. Remember that Satan cannot destroy God but He can seek to derail God’s children. Sin and Satan desire to have us and hurt us but God said to Cain, “You must master it.” Advice that Cain unfortunately did not take. He allowed sin to master him instead and it resulted in Abel’s death.
We need to recognize that we have an enemy of our souls in Satan and he will do all that he can to see us end up in the ditch of life. As Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief, that is Satan, comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” He is a malevolent and evil creature that wants to destroy us in every way. By contrast, Jesus says in that same verse, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
How do we master this thing called sin that couches at our door and desires to have us? We do so by cultivating obedience to Jesus, knowing that He came that we would have life rather than destruction. Loving Him, living in His power, and being aware of Satan’s schemes help us to say no to sin and yes to the Good Shepherd.
Father, the pull toward sin is strong. Would you help me master that pull though my love for you and the power that you offer through your Holy Spirit who actually lives within me? Make me aware of your power and of my tendency to be pulled toward sin. Amen.
Every time I re-read Scripture new insights come to me. I am currently reading through the Bible in 90 days. If you have never read the whole Bible I would encourage you to do so. Many people use a reading plan that takes them through in a year. I have decided to read it four times this year in 90 day increments. There is so much to understand and learn.
I love the opening chapters of the Bible with the account of creation. Genesis 1:1-2 describes the scene: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
And then over the next six days we read this refrain. God said and it came to be. God said let there be light and there was light, Let the water teem with living creatures and it was so. He literally created by His word. He spoke and as He spoke it came to be and then in each case we read that “God saw that it was good.” He spoke, He made, and it was good.
This got me thinking about all the counsel of God we have in the Scriptures. Not only has he spoken in creation but He speaks to us on a daily basis when we read His words to us. Much of what He says goes against the grain of our culture and its practices. But He always says, “it is good.”
As David says in Psalm 119:89-96, “Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures. Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life. Save me, for I am yours; I have sought out your precepts…To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.”
When God speaks he speaks truth and it is always good. We need that reminder each day because His counsel and commands are so different than those of our society. Every time we do what is right in the eyes of God rather than what is right in our own lives we find life. When we don’t, we pay the price. As David says, “To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.”
God speaks, God creates and it is always good. In the beginning and in our own daily lives.
Father, thank you that there is no limit to your perfection, goodness and wisdom. Help me to live each day by your precepts for they give me life and save me from myself. Amen.
Have you ever wondered during times of pain, sorrow or hardship if God sees your situation or cares? I think most of us would say that we have had times like that.
You may remember the account in the Old Testament where God promised to Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son. God had promised but nothing had happened so Sarai decided to help God out and gave her maidservant Hagar to Abraham hoping that she would conceive and give them a child. But when she became pregnant by Abraham she despised her mistress and Sarah badly mistreated her. Eventually she could not take it any longer and fled into the desert.
Think of the hopelessness of Hagar’s heart. She had nowhere to go. She had been forced into a pregnancy by a man not her husband. Sarah had mistreated her. She was without help, without friends and without hope.
Except….we read in Genesis 16 that the “angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert” and he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarah, where have you come from and where are you going? I’m running away from my mistress Sarah, she answered. Then the angel of the Lord told her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’ The angel added, ‘I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count.”
The angel of the Lord also said to her: ‘You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your misery.’”
What a word of blessing that the God of the universe has heard her misery…and cared about her predicament and would bless her. In fact, Hagar “gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’”
Here is what I want you to know today. No matter your sorrow, pain, situation or struggle: God sees you. He sees you! If you know God, you know that One who sees you. No one else may see your pain but He does. No one else may be able to help but He can. The Lord hears our pain, sees our predicaments and sees what no one else may see. He sees us!
As you walk through your day today remember that the sovereign God of the universe sees you. He hears the pain of your heart and knows the desires of your heart. No one sees you better than He does. No one understands you better than He does. That is a great comfort in times of difficulty.
Father, I thank you today that you see me and know me fully. Thank you that you desire to bless me and enter into my situation. I pray today that you would bless me as you did Hagar for I know the One who sees me. Amen.
Some years ago my son and I were attending a conference in Thailand where I was speaking. On January 3, 2009 as we were taxiing to the end of the runway for takeoff, I fell sick and lost consciousness. I awoke to the pilots words that we were returning to the gate for a medical emergency. I asked my son, Chip, if that was me and he said “Yes dad.” We were offloaded into an ambulance and sent to a hospital where I would spend 14 days, 11 of them in the ICU, and hovering between life and death on a ventilator. It was an awful time.
I have my then young son’s diary from those days. One night when things looked particularly bad he wrote this prayer to God.
Lord oh God bring a dog to the fight
Lord oh God bring light to this night
Lord oh God bring your life to this fight
Lord oh God make right this plight
These were the raw words of my son who, when the chips were down and the outlook was bleak, was choosing trust over despair and putting that trust in the only one who had the power to bring me back from the brink of death. At the time I was suffering from massive pneumonia, system failure, septic shock, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Congestive Heart Failure to name a few of my problems. Still he chose faith!
Faith and trust in God when life is hard and hope is scarce is a choice that we make. Some make that choice when life is hard. Others choose despair over hope. David always chose hope and trust when he faced insurmountable odds. In Psalm 23:4 he writes, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Choosing trust and hope is often the hardest thing we can do. When my son speaks of those days he talks about living on “borrowed hope.” He literally had to borrow hope from friends back in the US who were holding him up in prayer and encouraging him. Sometimes that is what it takes to choose trust and hope over total despair.
In times of distress and trouble, when events are out of our hands and we no longer have any control, when our resources have been exhausted and all we have left is God we remember the words of David. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Think about this. It is a great gift to come to the place where all you have left is God, because He is ultimately all that we need.
Where do you need to choose hope and trust today? Remember, trust and faith are a choice we make based on the amazing God we know. If you have to borrow hope from another Christ follower, do so. But always choose hope and trust over despair and loss because God is with us in the valley of the shadow of death.
Father, I give to you today those issues that wake me up at night in anxiety. Remind me that trust and hope are a choice. I choose these today. Thank you that you walk with me no matter what my circumstance. And remind me that in the end you are all that I need. Amen.
We don’t talk very much about personal holiness today. The word sounds like it comes from some old tradition. We are beyond that today, we think. God is our friend and we are His sons and daughters. Besides, in an age where truth is considered relative, it is easy to write off some of God’s instructions as bygones of another age.
Actually there is a great deal said in the Old Testament about holiness. The entire book of Leviticus has one theme that runs through it: “You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.” To be holy is to live in ways that please God and to abandon those things that don’t please God. Now that is a lifelong pursuit but a pursuit God calls us to.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6. All of us have experienced hunger in one form or another, and thirst. When those physiologic desires come, all we can do is to focus on that hunger and that thirst. We literally crave for food and drink. It is pretty much all that we can think about. Nothing can distract us until we get that food and find that drink.
Now think about having that kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness in your life. Righteousness is one of the chief attributes of God in Scripture and its meaning is holiness and right ethical conduct. God is described as being perfect in righteousness. So to hunger and thirst after righteousness is to have this deep abiding and insatiable thirst to be like God in our conduct, heart, and actions.
To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to get up every morning with a desire to follow Jesus in whatever situations one faces that day. It is to be deeply conscious of areas of our lives that need renovation. It is the discipline, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to throw off the stuff in our life that holds us back from God and to nurture those things that bring us closer to Him. And at the center of that is a devotional practice where we spend time with Him.
But those who hunger and thirst after righteousness also have the same thirst for God’s will to be done in government, in places of work, in issues such as racism, and injustice in society. These are people who cannot just yawn at the events of our world and let them be, but who will act and pray in the situations where they can make a difference so that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. These are people who can see the world as God sees it and stand up for what is just, ethical, right, merciful, and righteous.
To these people, Jesus says, “You will be filled.” ‘With what?,” we ask. With the very presence of God whom we hunger and thirst after. We will be filled with God because we hunger after Him and His righteousness. Are you hungry for His righteousness in your life and in the world around you? This is what we are called to: An insatiable appetite for Him and His will.
Father, give me that kind of hunger and thirst for righteousness in my life and in the world. Help me to long for your will, your perfect and holy will in my life and in my community. Fill me with your presence today and tomorrow and the next day. Amen.
Joy can be an elusive quality in our lives but it is something that we search after and deeply desire. We want it but we often don’t find it. In fact, rather than joy, many of us are living with an underlying depression, irritation and even anger due to the Covid epidemic, political and relational divisions, and current economic realities. There is not much joy to be found in our current circumstances.
We often think that joy comes when we have adequate financial resources, have the perfect marriage, that extra large flat screen television, or better health. In the ultimate irony, the banks sell credit cards as sources of joy - notice all the smiling faces in their ads as people are able to finance their new toy or grand vacation, notwithstanding the fact that, for many, that very credit card brings financial bondage and debt.
Here is the problem with joy. It cannot be found in our external circumstances or world. We actually know that if we think about our lives. When joy is dependent on life going our way and pleasant circumstances it is a fleeting joy because that is not how life happens. It becomes an elusive prize because life circumstances change and often don’t go our preferred way.
Here is what we learn from Scripture. Joy comes from the inside not the outside, and that inside reservoir is the Holy Spirit in our lives. Only God can give us true joy and if our joy comes from Him, it is not dependent on our outward circumstances. Rather, we can live with joy regardless of our life circumstances.
Consider what Jesus said about joy and where it comes from.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11
“Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” John 16:22
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” John 17:13
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
The common denominator in all these verses is this: Joy comes from God, so if you desire joy, the place to find it is in developing your relationship with Him. Because joy comes from God, it is not dependent on our outward circumstances. We can walk with joy every day and in every circumstance if we are walking with Him and allowing the Holy Spirit to flood our life.
You can walk with joy today. Ask God for it. Focus on Him. Talk to Him. Spend time with Him. Be mindful of all that He has done for you. Remind yourself that you are His son or daughter and that there is nothing that can separate you from His love. He is the source of your joy and nothing can rob you of that joy.
Father, help me to look for joy in the right place. In You and You alone. May your Holy Spirit fill me with the joy of your love and presence today. Help me to walk in joy regardless of my circumstances. You are my source of joy. Amen.
What do you think of when you hear the word contamination? Maybe food with e-coli, dirty water that much of the world lives with, or efforts to keep our rivers clean and our air clear. When it comes to our environment and our food, the word pure and clean describe our desires. What we know is that nothing good comes from contamination in our food, our air or the world around us.
What is maybe not as obvious is the threat of contamination to our body and spirit. On a daily basis we encounter contaminants that can pollute our lives. It may be bitterness and unforgiveness that we harbor, impure thoughts that we allow to linger or even feed, areas of dishonesty or disobedience to what we know to be true and right. All of these bring pollution into our lives that may not be as obvious as pollution in our natural environment, but is no less dangerous to our life and spirit.
In his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul writes this short but powerful sentence. “Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”2 Corinthians 7:1.
The thing about pollution in the world around us is that it happens gradually. It starts with small amounts that don’t seem to matter but it can build to a place where we need to read the pollution index in large cities because those little bits of pollution have escalated into a major health threat.
This is no less true in our spiritual lives. We can overlook practices, actions and attitudes that seem trivial in the moment, but they too can build into something that corrodes our souls and erodes our spirit. So Paul tells us to purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit and to perfect holiness out of reverence for God. A spiritual pollution abatement plan where we intentionally choose to leave behind anything that pollutes our spirits.
The goal is to perfect holiness in our lives out of reverence for God. To choose purity over pollution so that we see clearly, breath freely and live with clarity in our personal lives. In order to do that we must eliminate the impurities that we have allowed to creep into our lives.
Take some moments to think about your own life today. Can you identify areas of impurity that are polluting your spirit or have the potential to do so? In light of your relationship with God and His work in your life, what is your plan to purify yourself and choose to live in holiness? That is the challenge for us on a daily basis but it can start today. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any contaminants in your life so that purity replaces that pollution.
Father. Thank you for this reminder that you have called us to holiness and purity. Would you reveal to my heart those areas that I need to purify in my inner life? And then, Father, give me the discipline to choose purity over sin so that I live in the freedom you created me for. Amen.
I remember the words of Rodney King years ago when he said in the aftermath of the LA riots, “Why can’t we just get along?” That is an even more important question in the church where we are working toward the same goals with the same Lord and the same Holy Spirit. In Philippians 4:2-3, Paul pleads with two important people in his life and ministry to settle their differences and get along with one another.
“I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
Both of these women were considered by Paul to be his “true companions” as they were supporters of himself and his ministry. In a bit of irony, the name Euodia means “fragrant” and the name Syntyche means “affable.” The problem was that fragrant and affable didn’t get along and it was a strong enough issue that Paul directly addresses them and pleads with them to agree with one another and settle their differences. Even in the church, as we all know, good people, Godly people, well-intentioned people, can find themselves at odds with each other, which is ironic because they serve the same God and the same purpose. So Paul pleads with them to settle their differences.
Sometimes two individuals are unable to get on the same page so Paul asks the congregation whom he calls “loyal Yokefellows,” to help these women who he says have “contended at my side in the cause of the gospel” to reconcile. It was not OK with Paul that fragrant was smelling of something other than fragrance or that affable had become prickly. Evidently the disagreement was strong enough that it was going to take others to help them reconcile.
Paul gently reminds them that each of them have their names in the book of life. So, if our names are in God’s book of life as redeemed and transformed people, why do we allow ourselves to be in ongoing conflict with one another. We are siblings in God’s family and Paul is pleading with the siblings to cut it out and act like the family they were.
When God’s people cannot get along with one another it is not pleasing to God. In those situations, our fragrance becomes odorous and our affability becomes prickliness. In other words, instead of smelling and acting like Jesus we stink of our lower nature and act out of that lower nature. Yet, we are members of God’s family.
Are there individuals that you need to be reconciled to? That does not mean you must agree with one another on all things. It does mean that we put aside our bad attitudes, and are willing to bless one another and act like the family we are. In fact, in the very next verse, Paul says, “let your gentleness be evident to all.” Gentleness is a fragrance like God’s and it is kind and generous toward others. Don’t settle for odorous and prickly when we are called to fragrance and kindness.
Father, where I have attitudes and actions toward other members of your family, my family, that are not pleasing to you, would you give me the humility to reconcile and “contend for the gospel” alongside them as loving siblings. Forgive me where I have failed in this. Help me to make it right. Amen.
We spend way too much time looking back on our lives and far too little time looking forward in anticipation of what God is up to today! In doing so, we rob ourselves of seeing what God is doing in a new day for a new time in a new way. This is what we forget: God is always at work and always doing something new in our lives, in our churches, and in our families if we will pay attention to what He is up to today, rather than focusing on what was.
This was the message that God gave the Israelites in Isaiah 43:18-19. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it.”
Think for a moment about your church. Too often we look backwards wishing that we could just be what we once were. But that is to forget that the old day has passed and God is up to something brand new. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past,” says God. I am doing a new thing for a new time in a new way. Focus rather on what God is doing today and look forward in anticipation for what He is up to. It is new and fresh and exciting because that is who God is.
Some of us struggle with issues in our own lives where we made poor choices and we keep resawing the sawdust of those decisions and the consequences. The words, “If only” keep coming to our minds. No, says God, that is the wrong perspective. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing in your life today. Focus on that - not the past.
Paul knew this truth and applied it in his own life. He was a man of many accomplishments as well as regrets. Yet at the end of his life he said, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14. At a time in life when he could have been satisfied with what he had done, he practiced the discipline of forgetting the past so that he could focus on the new thing God was doing.
Where are you stuck in the past? What are you holding on to from the past that is keeping you from seeing what God is doing today? The way forward is not in the rear view mirror but in front of you. Allow God to show you what He is up to today for a new time and in a new way. It will change your perspective on life, on God and on your circumstances. The way forward is in front of you, not behind you. This is true for individuals and congregations. Let that truth allow you to thank God for what He is doing in your life today. It is a new thing that is springing up. That is God!
Father, help me to let go of the past. Wishing things were like they were and comparing today with yesterday. Help me to practice the discipline of forgetfulness so that I can focus on what you are doing today, in a new way, for a new day in my life and in my church. Amen.
This is a turbulent time in our country and in our personal lives. It is a time to remind ourselves of who our God is because He is the answer to our anxieties, worries and fears. There is no passage that says it better than Isaiah 40. Let these words bring peace to your heart today.
He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in a balance?
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord,
or instruct the Lord as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?
With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
As for an idol, a metalworker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
A person too poor to present such an offering
selects wood that will not rot;
they look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
He brings princes to naught
and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.
No sooner are they planted,
no sooner are they sown,
no sooner do they take root in the ground,
than he blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.
“To whom will you compare me?
Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Father, I worship you today as the sovereign God who carries me in your arms. Who gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Renew my strength, and my hope. Let me run and not grow weary, and walk and not be faint. Amen.
There is a fair amount of speculation regarding whether or not we are currently in the end times, the times that will immediately precede the return of Christ. While I don’t know, of course, there is ample indication that many of the prophecies that must be fulfilled before the return of Christ have, in fact, been fulfilled. While study of the last things is fascinating, there is a more important issue related to the end times. In the Gospels Jesus said to his disciples that what counted most is that when He returns we are ready and fully engaged in following Him.
Here is what Jesus says regarding His return in Matthew 24:36-42. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
The common theme here is that when Jesus returns society will be living as the world was living when Noah built the ark and the floods came. As the ark was being built, something that had to be the talk of the day, given that it was a huge boat with no water to float in, people carried on as usual with their daily lives focused on themselves. Even with that warning sign going on for all to see, what was happening? People were ignoring the divine and simply carrying on as if the world would last forever: eating, drinking, marrying and living an oblivious life until the day Noah entered the ark and the floods came to claim them. Can you see them pounding on the doors of the ark as the waters rose desperate for rescue but too late to receive it?
Life can dull the reality of the eternal, and like those in Noah’s time, it is easy to become complacent about God. It is easy to let our active engagement with him go, living life as if it will always remain the same, in our own world. Jesus warns His disciples not to let that happen. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Be ready and keep watch so that life does not dull us to the reality of God's plan in our world.
A few verses later in Matthew 24:46, Jesus says, “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him engaged when he returns.” The one who has remained faithful and lived their life with His return in mind. Who doesn’t allow the sameness of life to dull their spiritual edge.
Here is reality. Jesus could return at any time and He has promised that He is coming back. Every day we wake, we should live with the reality that it could be today. Our prayer should be that we are fully engaged with Him and for Him on that day that He returns. If it were today, would you feel comfortable that you are ready to meet Him?
Father, thank you for the promise of your return, when you will usher us into eternity. And thank you for the reminder today that we want to be ready, engaged, and faithfully living for you when you return. Find me faithful to the end. Amen.
The longer we live the greater the possibility that we accumulate one of the most dangerous enemies of our souls. That disease robs us of joy, strangles our souls, grows anger in our hearts and destroys our peace. It literally drains the life from our lives. That disease is anger and resentment. It is the silent killer of our souls.
Every one of us has reason to harbor bitterness in our hearts toward those who have hurt us, treated us badly, failed our expectations or caused us pain. I do and you do. The problem is that this bitterness or resentment that we believe we have a right to and which is targeted at others destroys us far more than it impacts them. It strangles our souls, consumes our emotional energy and creates dissonance in our hearts. The only way to deal with it is to kill it.
It is human nature to hang on because we don’t want to let someone off the hook. We don’t want to give up our right to be angry and resentful. What we actually want is revenge in some form or fashion, and our hearts silently curse those who hurt us. But in the ultimate irony it ends up destroying us rather than them.
In Ephesians 4:31 Paul says “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” The bitterness brings with it rage, the slandering of those we are angry with and malice, the desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another. Paul says of bitterness and resentment: The only way to deal with it is to kill it.
CS Lewis says it this way. “Something inside us, the feeling of resentment, the feeling that wants to get one's own back, must be simply killed. I do not mean that anyone can decide this moment that he will never feel it anymore. That is not how things happen. I mean that every time it bobs its head up, day after day, year after year, all our lives long, we must hit it on the head. It is hard work, but the attempt is not impossible.”
Here is the reality. Bitterness and resentment create a prison for us while killing that bitterness opens the door to that prison and creates freedom for us. It is that simple. The choice to hold on to it is a choice to live in bondage. It is sin and it is corrosive to our souls. Letting go gives us freedom and a greater sense of joy.
Why choose to let it go? Why choose to forgive? In the very next verse in Ephesians Paul says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” You see if anyone had the right to hold on to bitterness, resentment, and anger it was God toward us. Yet he forgave through Christ. And so should we.
Where are your resentments today? Against whom do you harbor bitterness, resentment, and malice? Free your soul by letting it go: Today, tomorrow, the next day and the next.This is obedience and this brings freedom.
Father, this is a tough one for me. It feels unfair and I prefer to hold on rather than to let go. Help me to let go out of obedience to you and to free my own soul. For this I will need your help. Amen.
Recently I watched an episode of American Pickers. The show that has been on television for many seasons follows antique and collectible pickers Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, who travel around the United States to buy or "pick" various items for resale, for clients, or for their personal collections. What they find can be crazy.
On a recent episode, Mike and Frank were visiting a castle, of sorts, that a couple had spent a lifetime building, filled to overflowing with stuff they had purchased from the area. I mean it was crammed with stuff, much of which I sat and scratched my head at why they had ever bought the stuff or kept it. There was not an empty square foot of space in this labyrinth of rooms. And the funny part is that the widow was reluctant to part with almost everything. A lot of the stuff was hideous and even ugly.
We accumulate stuff as well. I am not talking about physical stuff, although that accumulation shows up when we try to move. I am talking about stuff in our lives: sinful practices, neglect of our fellowship with God, lack of prayer, a focus on ourselves, and in many cases just plain laziness in our spiritual life. I notice that this last one is prevalent in the time of Covid as many are suffering from a spiritual malaise. A spiritual weariness. All of these are pieces of our lives that accumulate and hinder our walk with God. You know what they are in your life as I do in mine.
What do we do with this stuff that holds us back? The book of Hebrews says, divest yourself of it, Get rid of it. Clean it out of your life. Here is how the author puts it. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3.
About the accumulated stuff in our lives... “Throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Divest, let it go for the sake of the best investment we could make in running, with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith. Why? So that we don’t grow weary and lose heart. In reality divestments can be the best investment we ever make in the race we are running for Jesus.
No one would run a race with a backpack on, full of stuff. We cannot run our spiritual race that way either. Like Jesus, who kept the prize in front of Him even as He endured great hardship, we need to fix our eyes on the prize and divest ourselves of anything that gets in the way. Today, consider your own life and what might be holding you back or getting in your way of running the race God has set out for you. It is the best investment you will ever make.
Father, help me see today what is getting in the way of the race I am running. Keep me from growing weary and losing heart. Help me fix my eyes on Jesus every day and run with freedom. Amen.
Last words are important words. After all, as life draws to a close people think about what was, what could have been, what was important and what was actually very unimportant. Those words are often a reflection of what they want the next generation to understand about life and their own conclusions that came from both regrets and getting it right.
Near the end of Joshua’s life in the Old Testament, he made a profound statement to those he had led for many years. Like today, it was a time when there were many competing ideas of spirituality, and the currents of society were often counter to the teaching of God.
What others around us believe and do plays a far more important role in our lives than we often understand. And they are often, like in Joshua’s day, counter to the life that God designed us for. Believing life is about us, that we can make lifestyle choices to fit our convenience, that my personal priorities are mine to make, that we can be careless in our relationship with our creator and allow Him to be an afterthought in our lives. All of these are the currents of our day and it is easy to fall into those currents as we allow our lives to be molded by the prevailing culture around us. It is easy to do.
Joshua knew the temptations of conforming to those around us. Here are his words to his fellow countrymen as he knew his time was short.“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15.
We all make choices about life. Those are the Gods we serve. And there are many to choose from. Joshua was very clear that the goal of our lives is to “fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.” This literally means that we throw away the competing gods in our lives, gods that the rest of society run after like money, possessions, power, status, our addictions, and the selfish living that permeates society and instead follow closely after God.
But Joshua makes clear that we all have a choice. If following our creator is undesirable to you, go ahead and do your thing. But, he says, as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua knew that this was one choice he would never regret and in this one sentence he declared his commitment to swim against the tides of society that were prevalent in his time and choose the Lord God. It was a bold, courageous and God-honoring decision. But one that he would never regret. This is the choice we make in our lives and even on a daily basis.
Each of us will make choices today, this week and this year. The easy choice is to swim with the current. The right choice is to swim against the current and chase after God with all the energy we have. The first will bring many regrets, the second brings joy and the blessing of God. Let’s say with Joshua, but as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.
Father, Thank you for the life of Joshua and his example of what it means to choose well. Would you help me today and this week and this year choose to swim against the tide and follow you rather than the things people around me chase. Amen.
Think of the Christmas story for a moment. The mother, an insignificant teenager from a backwater town. The birth in the squalid setting of a dirty stable. The announcement, to some shepherds in the fields. And this for the God of the universe coming to reclaim and redeem a lost people who had chosen to reject the creator. This was the most humble of births.
In fact, one of the key things we learn from the incarnation, the coming of Christ in human form, is that the Spirit of Christ is the spirit of humility. Everything about the birth, life and death of Jesus is a lesson in humility. We are proud by nature, wanting our rights, critical of others, and selfish in our hearts. All this a result of the fall. And then God, the only one who has the right to be proud, humbles Himself to save the proud from themselves and show them the way back to God. Humility is the spirit of God and the advent is our example of what it means to live a humble life.
This is how Paul links the Advent with humility in Philippians 2:1-8. “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
To live the incarnational life, to follow Christ, is to live a life of humility where our lives are characterized by tenderness and compassion, loving one another, being one in spirit and like minded, while putting to death selfish ambition and vain conceit. In fact, it is a life where we value others above ourselves and, rather than looking primarily at our own interests, we look first after the interest of others. That, says Paul, is the spirit of Christ and the spirit of Advent. Christmas is the ultimate story and example of humility.
As you enjoy the wonder of Christmas this year, don’t miss the spirit of Christ and His humility to become like us so that we could become like Him. That is the same humility we are called to emulate toward those around us. Humble people are like Jesus. Humble people have the spirit of Christ.
Father, thank You for the humility You exhibited when You entered this world in the womb of an insignificant teenager, from an insignificant place in a messy stable. Your entrance marked the spirit of Your life. Help me to have your spirit, living humbly and lovingly with those around me. Amen.
Silence
The heavens held their collective breath for the Son was gone. The unimaginable was unfolding. The One who had superintended creation was now ready to be born a creature. What could this mean? Majesty of heaven rejected for the poverty of a squalid earth and a people who had rejected truth too many times to count. They had traded the garden for a lie and now the creator traded majesty for obscurity. It was a silence of unbelief, awe, apprehension and wonder!
Chaos
Nativity scenes are peaceful and neat, but this night in Bethlehem was anything but. The tiny town was full of travelers, the inns and taverns were full and noisy and crowded and smelly. Desperately, a man tried to find a place for his wife, swollen with a child, water about to break, a place where a child could be born in dignity. But it was not to be. Instead, it was to be with the animals, hay and manure, the sounds and smells of the adjacent Inn intruding on this holy moment.
Rejoicing
The silence of heaven gave way to song and praise and rejoicing, penetrating the chasm between heaven and earth so that even poor shepherds heard the choir and angelic announcement. This first musical Christmas card came not to the mighty and powerful, but to the poor and powerless: A symbol of the Kingdom that was coming - good news for those who needed the same. Good news of a great joy which shall be for all people. Even us, even today! A Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Now there was silence on earth as the shepherds tried to understand the import of the news.
Holy Awe
There was one who knew that the universe had changed, and that what was, was not what would be: Mary. Too young to be jaded, faith filled and in awe of the child that lay at her breast. For she knew that He was not of this earth, though she did not know the price He would pay. She remembered the angel who had visited her upon her pregnancy. Now she heard the report of the shepherds who came to visit. All the people wondered at their report, but Mary, treasured up these things, pondering them in her heart. She knew, not fully, but she knew!
Our Story
We know fully, for we know the rest of the story. Does it move us as it moved the heavens, the angels, the shepherds, the people of Bethlehem, and Mary? This is a day to consider, to rejoice and to be awed at the love that drove a rejected Savior to save the broken, the needy, each of us who have received Him in faith. Through the incarnation, Jesus has touched us as he touched everyone who received Him in faith through the centuries, and just as He will touch those who follow us until He returns. Just as Adam’s story became our story through the fall, so Christ’s story became our story through His birth. That God would become a part of our story is the most amazing and unlikely story.
Father, I am in awe today as I consider this amazing story and your amazing love. Thank you for your presence among us and your amazing love that has touched my life and changed it forever. I stand in awe. Amen
If one could characterize the spirit of our world today I would suggest that it is one of division and interpersonal conflict. This is evident on almost every news broadcast and in conversations we have with others as well as attitudes that we often harbor ourselves. And it is very true among Christians whose social media posts are often without grace. It is, as I said, the spirit of our times. But the spirit of Advent is not division but reconciliation.
Division and conflict have been the norm since our forefathers left the garden. And into this world of conflict the Savior came to be our peace (Ephesians 2:14) and reconcile us to God. And, to reconcile us to one another (Galatians 3:26-29). The words and message of reconciliation and peace blanket the New Testament. It is the Spirit of Advent.
Think about this. Jesus became man and died so that we could be reconciled to God. And then He called us to be reconciled to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and to live at peace, to the greatest extent of our ability, with all people.
If Jesus cared so deeply about reconciliation, we should as well - starting with our families where estrangement is so common, our churches where unity is often compromised, among fellow believers where we are too quick to live with critical spirits, and in a society that loves to divide rather than unite. And we should care about the racial divisions that keep people apart and divided. It was not by accident that Jesus entered into a conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well even though Jews didn’t do that. He is a God of reconciliation not division.
And God did not wait until we asked for reconciliation. He took the first step. He came to us when we were not looking for Him. He humbled himself (Philippians 2:1-11) rather than waiting for us to humble ourselves. Christmas and Advent are about a divine mission to reconcile and make peace between sinners and God and then between fellow human beings.
It raises some questions worth considering:
Is there someone I am estranged from that I can attempt to be reconciled to?
If there is, am I, like Jesus, willing to humble myself and take the first step even if I am the aggrieved?
Are there ways that I can help bring reconciliation between others who are estranged?
How can I help bring reconciliation between races and people groups who live with estrangement?
Reconciliation is a Christian value rooted deeply in the incarnation where the God of Scripture did what no other God of any religion had ever done: Became one of the created so that his created could be reconciled to the eternal. Every time I pray for reconciliation, attempt reconciliation, humble myself to bring reconciliation, I mirror the character of Jesus. The mark of a believer is that we have been reconciled to God in Jesus and, in turn, bring reconciliation between peoples who are in conflict.
Father, thank you for your heart of reconciliation and your desire to see people reconciled to you and to one another. In a divided world, I pray that you would give me the same desire and do what I can to bring peace to those who are in conflict. Amen.
I have a dear friend Richard who loves old cars. He and his buddies will tinker with their cars in garages that are the envy of anyone who has a car hobby. They can rebuild engines, fabricate new parts, restore rusted metal or find just the right screw to reattach some piece. Their garages are their special haven where they congregate, talk, and work together.
In recent years, one of Richard’s car buddies went through a long two years as his wife struggled with cancer and eventually died. During those years, Richard would show up at his friend’s garage almost daily. Sometimes they would sit in silence, sometimes they would talk, and sometimes they would work on a project together. But mostly, Richard would just be there. Present, with a man who was watching his wife fade, someone he loved very dearly. It was a ministry of simply being present even when there were no words to share that could comfort. He was there with his friend. He was present.
This is what Jesus did when he entered this world in a squalid manger. The unapproachable God became approachable. The one who could not be seen became seen. The One who formed the universe, entered the universe. The creator became like the created.
In his Gospel, John makes this very point. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:1-5. And then he says in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
A literal reading of that verse says that The creator, the Word, became flesh and pitched his tent among us. He camped among us. He came to be present with us in our humanity, in our joys, and in our sorrows. Like Richard with his friend, God came to be with us in our situation! This is why the name Emmanuel is so powerful. Emmanuel means “God with us.” In the incarnation, God came to be with us and through His Holy Spirit, God is with us daily, fully present. And having experienced the joys, sorrows, challenges, and the stuff of life, He fully knows our situations. After all, He became flesh and lived among us. We can have the confidence that He understands.
We live the Advent life when we enter into the life and pain of another by choosing to be present with them as God is present with us. It is a choice to enter into the messy situations of others, as Jesus did in a messy stable, but more importantly into our messy lives. He was and is present with us and he invites us to be present in the lives of others. That is what it means to live the Advent life. Just as Richard did. Just as Jesus did.
Father, thank you for entering our world, and my life, as God with us. Emmanuel. Just as you did this for me, would you help me to enter into the lives of others who need your touch and be present with them. Amen.
The Gospel of John describes the Advent with these words: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
No story is better known. No story better captures the heart of a child - small or grown - than the one we celebrate at Christmas. No matter how many times we hear the story it never grows old, it never disappoints, never ceases to evoke deep emotions of wonder, awe, and comfort. An angel’s proclamation to illiterate shepherds, a teenage unwed mother, a loyal carpenter fiancee, the evil king Herod, a cold, clear, Bethlehem night without a place to stay. A messy birth in an animal’s stall, alongside a dirty alley in the dark of night. Confused cows watching unknowing as the Son of the universe stares back unknowing at the very animals He had created eons before. A mother, a child, a carpenter, a few agitated animals and the pungent smell of manure.
This is a story so absurd that it could only have been written by a Divine hand. No other writer would have attempted such a script. If they had they would not have claimed it to be true: fiction maybe, but not reality. This is not how the One whose voice had echoed off of a billion galaxies would make His entrance. Without CNN and Fox News, into a hovel known affectionately today as Bethlehem but then nothing more than a tiny village on the path to Jerusalem.
His entrance was marked not by a proclamation to kings but to astonished herdsmen sleeping with sheep. The heavens opened with ten thousand voices – not over Jerusalem, the ancient capital – but over a tiny grazing field for a handful of insignificant shepherds. They would be the only witnesses of the grand entrance of a King. No other writer would have written such a script.
No other author would have taken such a chance. For behind this story there are echoes of another story - equally incredulous. Centuries before in the vastness of eternity past, when infinity kissed infinity, The Master of Infinity spoke into being the universe in which we live - 3,000 of whose stars are visible to the careful eye, 30 billion visible from a large telescope, the other 90% of the universe still hidden from our eyes. Its splendor, an eternal testimony to the Author of the story.
The Author’s heart had love that could not be contained. A heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longed to give away infinite love. Again the Author spoke: A planet was expertly crafted. One among billions. A people wonderfully created – in the image of the Author. Free to love, free to experience the infinite goodness of the Author. Free to revel in His infinite Love. But above all free. Love cannot be forced and remain love.
We are not the sole owners of broken hearts. No heart suffered such sorrow as Infinite Love rejected. Image bearers rejected the Image Maker. The story’s characters fired the Author to write their own script. Unmatched, searing pain pierced the Author’s heart as the loved jilted the Lover.
Chaos infiltrated beauty. A planet was hijacked and spun out of control. Poverty of spirit supplanted endless joy. Unfulfilled hearts realized the pain of lost love. Without the Author, individual story lines faltered – and failed. Sadness reigned. Darkness descended in seeming endless gloom.
Truth can be stranger than fiction. For in the pained heavens the grieving Author plotted love’s revenge. An awesome revenge that only Divinity could contrive – that only Divinity would contrive. Having lost His loved, the Lover would send His most loved to reclaim His heart’s desire. The rejected Creator would kiss the unfaithful created. Tender mercy in place of deserved destruction. An astonished heaven broke into unbelieving applause. Image bearers would be reclaimed by the Image Maker. Light would once again prevail over darkness. Brokenness would be made whole. Peace would triumph over chaos.
All was silent in the heavens on the chosen night. Angels held their corporate breath. For nine months the Son had been absent, resident in a young girl's womb, coming to us not as a king but incognito, just one of thousands of children that would be born on a lonely planet that night – into the darkness that our world had become. Placenta covered the Son of the universe arriving to claim back His beloved: this time, one by one, heart by heart. Tender mercy arriving in disguise: one of us, one like us. On that night, the Author personally entered our story.
Such humility our world has never known. A stunning reversal for a world gone astray. A Heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longing to give away infinite love, arriving under cover of night in order to “shine on those living in darkness…to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:27).
When an author writes, each character is unique; each has his or her own story-line. We, each have a story – unique, unrepeated, singular. Each story has its own joy, its own pain, its own pathos and unmatched quality. But each shares one singular, astonishing feature. We are made in the Author’s image, and He will not rest until we have invited Him to join in our story.
More astonishing than the script He has authored, the story we celebrate at Christmas is that He also wants to enter into your story. This is the most ancient of stories but it is also the most contemporary of stories. The Christmas story is but one chapter in the Author’s divine script. The Author is still writing. And every person who invites Him into their story becomes a separate and unique chapter in His unfinished book. And into each story He brings His light and peace.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17.)
Have you invited Him into your story?
Father, Thank You for your divine invasion of this troubled planet. And your invasion of my life. I give you praise and thank you that the Author is still writing His script in my own life. Amen.
As I think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, I often think of the heavy emotional toll that her assignment from God took on her. The announcement of Gabriel, the unknowns of carrying in her womb the God of the universe, truths that she sometimes got a glimpse of. The stigma of being pregnant out of wedlock, being pregnant and dealing with the emotions and unknowns of what all this meant. If anyone understood stress, Mary did. While our nativity scenes are sweet and cute, the reality was far from that.
Reading Mary’s story, there are several times that Luke says this about her. “But Mary treasured up all of these things and pondered them in her heart.” In another instance it says that Jesus’ mother “treasured all these things in her heart.”
I believe that this was a spiritual secret that Mary had. A treasure is something that we keep in a safe and secret place. In this case, it was kept in Mary’s heart. Quietly and safely, out of the public eye. This is where our deepest longings lie, and those things that are most precious to us. In many cases they are spiritual things that are ours alone as God reveals himself to us. But Mary did not only keep these treasures in her heart, but she pondered them in her heart. She thought about them and tried to make sense of them.
In order to do this, we need times of quietness and peace where our mind is free to wander where it will, mull on what God has been doing in our lives, and talk to him about those deep places of our lives. Perhaps that was easier in that day when there was no social media, I phones, television, and life was slower. But the deepest things we ponder cannot be considered well when our lives are too busy to slow down, and find rest, and peace and quietness. One cannot ponder on the run or be aware of those things we treasure when we are in a hurry.
As we approach the wonder of Christmas day, what are the things that you treasure in your heart? Where has God been good to you? What are the things that you need to take the time to ponder in quietness? How can you find time to stop and think deeply, without hurry, without needing to find answers but allowing God to reveal His insights to your heart? This is what it means to be still and know that He is God, but more than that, to be still and ponder His treasures to you and allow Him to speak to you.
Frenetic lives yield unquiet souls. Don’t allow that to be the norm in your life. Take a habit from the life of Mary: treasure those things God is doing in your life and ponder them in your heart. Clarity comes in the pondering because we are quiet enough to hear the faint voice of the Father.
Father, I thank you for the example of Mary in her obedience and her ability to treasure those things you were doing in her life. Help me to slow down long enough and often enough to do the same. Help me to recognize the treasures you have given me and to ponder them. Amen.
When God invades our lives everything changes. This was certainly true for Mary, a teenager from Nazareth, a poor backwater town in Israel. Mary was a descendant of David from whose family the Messiah would come according to Old Testament promises. Let’s read the story as Luke records it in Luke 1:26-38.
“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.”
This had to be such overwhelming news to a young teenager that comprehending it would be nearly impossible. How does Mary comprehend that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit? How does she understand that the one she is carrying will be the savior of mankind? How does she explain to Joseph what the angel told her? How does she take in the fact that the one she is carrying will one day lead her nation of Israel? There was no answer for Mary’s questions in the moment. Given that, what she said to the Angel Gabriel is astonishing: “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”
What an amazing reply. God has totally disrupted her life, her questions don’t have answers that make sense to her in that moment, but she replies, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.” Total submission to God. OK, God I am your servant.
Mary did not understand many things but I am sure that she was chosen for this amazing assignment because she had a heart that loved God and a commitment to serve Him. It raises the question as to how God could use you and I if we had the same heart and commitment? God is always looking for people with the heart of Mary because those are the ones who He can use.
Father I thank you for this young woman of such faith. Through her, you entered into our world and into my story. Teach me to have a heart like hers and to say to you “I am your servant.” Use me in ways that I cannot fathom because my heart and disposition was toward you. Amen.
Of all the passages in the Old Testament on the Advent, none stand out more than that of Isaiah 53. Coming eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, this chapter chronicles his birth, life, death and resurrection in one magnificent prophetic message. Read or listen to this carefully because it is about what He would come and do for our world - and for you.
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Father, what can I say? We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. My sin included. Thank you from a heart that cannot fathom such love. Amen.
One of my favorite books of the Old Testament is that of Isaiah. No other book has as many prophecies of the coming messiah whose birth we celebrate at Christmas than this book. Isaiah lived about 800 years before Christ but the promises of the one who would come and defeat Satan pile up in Isaiah’s prophecies.
Like our own day, Isaiah lived in a time when truth had become relative, the domestic and international scene was complicated and the forces of evil seemed to outweigh the forces of righteousness. In addition, for many, faith in God had simply become a ritual without substance. People’s actions did not match their professed beliefs. There was tremendous discouragement, a great deal of injustice and plain old evil going on. It was a time where good news was hard to find. It was a dark, dark time.
And then...we find this ray of hope in Isaiah 9. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned...For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
A child would be born and the darkness of our world would be pierced by the light of this son who would be given to us. That is what happened at the coming of Christ. A great light appeared for those living in the land of a shadow of death, bringing hope, truth, love, compassion, and redemption for those who believed that this child had been sent by God. Today, with all the bad news we hear and experience as a world struggles with Covid 19, remember that there is a light in the darkness and it is Jesus. In fact, He is the only light in the darkness of a sinful and broken world and sinful and broken lives.
And who is this Jesus? Isaiah gives Him four names. As the Wonderful Counselor, He is the one who guides our steps, decisions, and who helps us negotiate the complexities and difficulties of our daily lives. As the Almighty God, He is not only able to give us counsel but He has the power to intervene in our lives. He is all powerful. As the Everlasting Father, He is the one Father who will never let us down or disappoint us. He is a father who can be trusted and who loves us as no other father can - forever. As the Prince of Peace, He is the one who can bring peace between us and God and who will ultimately bring peace to our chaotic and un-peaceful world.
This is the One who came at Advent and this is the One who walks with you today. He is our light in a dark world. He is our counselor, the one who can intervene on our behalf, our faithful father and the one who will ultimately bring peace to our world. That should change the way we view life today. And tomorrow. He is our light shining in a world of darkness.
Father, thank you for giving your Son to us. Thank you for the light you provide for me in a dark world. Thank you that you are my Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Amen.
My guess is that when you read the genealogies in the Bible, you say to yourself, ‘what is all this here for?’ That is actually a great question. One of the reasons they are there is to root the Bible in time and history. These were real people who lived real lives. But genealogies also reveal other nuggets of truth. Take the genealogy of Jesus, for instance. You will notice that Rahab is listed. She was the mother of Boaz who was the father of Obed who was the Father of Jesse who was the father of King David. (See Matthew 1)
Does the name Rahab ring a bell? You will find her story back in Joshua chapter two. After wandering in the desert for 40 years due to the stubbornness of the Israelites toward God, the nation had finally reached the promised land. Joshua, who was now the leader, sent spies into the land to find out what they were facing, especially Jericho which was a fortified city. So the spies went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab because her house was part of the city wall. If you remember the story, she hid the spies from the king of Jericho and when Jericho was conquered, her life was spared.
It’s a great story but what does this have to do with advent? And why is Rahab’s name found in the genealogy of Jesus? After all, they could have left her name out of the list. Is it not an embarrassment for Jesus to have a prostitute in his lineage? Actually no. God’s heart has always been to redeem, forgive, and reclaim us from our brokenness and Rahab’s name is intentionally found in the list of Christ’s ancestors. He is not the least bit embarrassed by her.
I want you to think about your life for a moment. Each of us has things in our past that we are not proud of. Regrets that we regret, if you will, and there are no do overs. We cannot erase our past but here is the truth of Advent. Jesus came to redeem our past. He came to redeem our hearts and to take all of our biography, good, bad, and ugly and use it for His purposes. That is what He did with Rahab and that is what He wants to do with us.
There are many Christ followers who hang back in the shadows, believing that God cannot use them because of sin and failure in their past. Living with shame is not how Jesus wants us to live. He came to redeem us of our sin and shame and use us in His divine story as He did Rahab. He wants to use you regardless of your past. We are all broken and in need of His healing touch.
There is no sin He will not forgive, no person He cannot use and no past He cannot redeem. That is why He came: To re-image us after His image. When Jesus was accused of hanging around sinners, scoundrels and the riff raff of society, He said “Of Course. I came to heal the sick, not the healthy.” He came for the Rahab’s of the world which includes you and I. The next time you feel inadequate or believe that God cannot use you, think of His lineage and why He showed up for us on that Christmas night so many years ago.
Father, thank you for including Rahab’s name in your list of ancestors to encourage me that there is no sin you will not forgive, no person you cannot use and no past you cannot redeem. Thank you for doing that for me. Help me to live in the grace you have extended to me because of your Advent. Amen.
One of the greatest pictures of the coming Advent when Christ would show up in person in our world, is found in the well-known story of the Exodus. Fast forward 400 years from the time of Joseph and we discover that God’s chosen people, the people of Abraham, are in bondage in Egypt. Moses, one of those chosen people who was unwittingly adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, raised in the palace, but now a felon running from the law after killing an Egyptian who was abusing a Jew, encounters God at a burning bush that burns but does not burn up. The Lord called Moses from the burning bush and Moses said “Here I am.” The story is found in Exodus 3.
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Here we see the heart of God. First, He is a God that cares about His people. From heaven He had heard the cries of the people at the hands of their slave drivers and was going to do something about it. Second, He is a God who rescues those in bondage and brings healing. Third, He is a God who sends an individual to make that rescue possible. In these words to Moses and the subsequent exodus from bondage in Egypt to the land of Canaan, God gave us one of the most powerful pictures of the Advent, where God would send His Son to rescue us from our bondage to sin and give us eternal life.
Moses was not impressed with his assignment and offers to God all the reasons that he is the wrong guy to lead this rescue mission. In their conversation, Moses says to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”
Who is this God who rescues us? He is Yahweh, “I am.” The all powerful, all present, all loving, all Holy, all caring God of the universe who would rescue the Israelites from bondage, and you and I from our bondage of sin. This is the God of the Advent. The one who would personally come to be the “I am” in our own lives. He is our “I am” who hears from heaven, intervenes in our lives, forgives our sin, and has made us family.
Father, thank you for being my ‘I am.” My all powerful, all present, all loving, all Holy, and all caring God who has rescued me from my sin and made me family. Thank you for being my bondage breaker. Help me to better understand your heart for me and your purpose for my redeemed life. Amen.
All of us have times in life when the circumstances of life are so complicated and twisted that we doubt it is possible to sort them out. These are the times when we start to doubt even God’s ability to right a wrong, show us a way through, or unravel things that seem to have gone very wrong. There is no shortage of life situations that leave us frustrated, wondering, and even sometimes doubting God’s ability to intervene.
The story of Joseph is one of those times. Joseph was one of the sons of Isaac, who was the grandson of Abraham to whom God had promised that the world would be blessed through Him. Abraham’s son was Isaac and Isaac’s son was Jacob who had 12 sons, each of whom would become the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel - but that is a story for another day. Joseph was his father’s favorite so the other eleven sons conspired to get rid of him.
The story reads like a Steven King novel. Joseph comes to deliver supplies to his brothers who are out watching the flocks. When he appears, his jealous siblings throw him in a pit and then sell him to a passing caravan who takes him to Egypt to be sold as a slave. In Egypt, he ends up working for a fellow named Potiphar who was a high official in the Egyptian government. Joseph was so honest and dependable that Potiphar puts him in charge of all household affairs. All was well until Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph and, when he refused, accused him of rape which ended with him being thrown into jail.
While in jail, Joseph again distinguishes himself and the jailer puts him in charge of the other prisoners. Two of those prisoners were the cupbearer and baker for the King of Egypt. When they had a dream, Joseph interpreted the dream: The cupbearer would be pardoned and the baker would be executed. And so it was, but the cupbearer promptly forgot about Joseph until the King himself had a dream and needed someone to interpret it for him. Now after years, the cupbearer remembers Joseph and tells the king there is a fellow who can interpret the dream for him. The king summons Joseph who interprets the dream about seven years of plenty in the land to be followed by seven years of famine. He advises the king to store up food during the years of plenty to be ready for the years of famine. The king subsequently makes Joseph one of his top officials to oversee the storage and distribution of food.
You can’t make this stuff up. But here is the kicker. During the famine, Joseph’s family came to Egypt to purchase food and who do they meet: the brother they had sold into slavery. When he revealed to them who he was he said this. “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Genesis 45:5-7).
Think about those words. As twisted as their actions and as unfair as Joseph’s journey, God was going ahead of the family to save it from famine and death. God had it all along, even though they and Joseph did not realize it. It is the same in our lives. What looks impossible and twisted to us is still in God’s control if we will simply trust Him and allow Him to do what only He can do. And advent? Through Joseph, God kept Abraham’s descendants alive so that the promised messiah would still come. Advent is all about a God who brings order out of chaos and fulfills His purposes in our lives.
Father, only you could take what was meant for evil and turn it into good. That is what you do. Would you take my circumstances today and do the same. Amen.
All of us have experienced times when life doesn't make sense. This was certainly true for Abraham. God had promised in Genesis 12 to make his name great and to bless the world through him. Then when Abraham arrived in the land that God had promised to give his descendants God expanded on his promise to Abraham. He said, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17)
None of this made sense because Abraham had no children and he was up in age. But then God again came to Abraham in a dream and told him that he would have a son and “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). But time went on and there was still no heir. So Sarah said to Abraham, look I have a maidservant named Hagar. Take her and have a son by her because I am old and the Lord has chosen not to give me offspring. So Abraham did so and she bore him a son named Ishmael, who became the father of the Arab world.
But Hagar’s pregnancy caused Sarah to despise and to mistreat her, and thus started the centuries old conflict between the Arabs and the Jews. Both of which have the same father, Abraham.
Have you ever tried to fix something that in your view God had not done to your satisfaction? You stepped in with your own answers and strategy? It’s like saying, “Hey God, let me help you out. I’ve been waiting for you to solve this issue for a long time and maybe you need my help.” And we take matters into our own hands rather than waiting for Him to act.
You see, God did have a plan. In Genesis 17, God again comes to Abraham and tells him that Sarah would conceive a son and Abraham laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?” Sarah was about the same age so the probability of this happening was about zero. But God is God and we are not and God’s promise came true with the birth of Isaac.
Genesis 21:1-5, ”Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.” All Abraham needed to do was to wait because God is not constrained by our timelines, our age, or our circumstances.
When we are concerned that God has not solved a dilemma we have, when life seems not to make sense, the answer is not to take matters into our own hands but to wait, continue to pray, and keep our faith in Him who is able to do what we cannot do. Without Isaac there would have been no advent. I think God waited as long as He did to give Sarah a son because He wanted to show Abraham and her that He was fully capable of carrying out His promise, no matter how improbable it seemed. Just as He is capable of dealing with those impossible looking situations we face today. The God who brought about Advent is a powerful and faithful God.
Lord, when life doesn't make sense, help me to simply trust you and be patient, knowing that you are the God of the impossible. Teach me that I can trust you even in the hard things. What constrains me does not constrain you. Amen.
Abraham looms large in the story of the Advent. We may not think of him in that light but he is crucial to God’s story of a redeemer who would come and rescue people from sin and the Devil’s schemes. You remember that In Genesis 3:15 God told Satan that a man would come who would eventually crush his head. This was the first indication of God’s plan to redeem mankind after the terrible fall caused by Adam and Eve’s cosmic rebellion against God. Now, in Genesis 12:1-5 God reveals that this promised savior would come through a specific family - the family of Abraham.
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
God makes some significant statements about Abraham and his descendants here. He would bless Abraham and make him into a great nation. He would also make his name great. More than that, Abraham would become a blessing, and all peoples on earth would be blessed through him. You and I are recipients of that blessing through the gift of His son who would come, live among us, and die for us so that our sin could be paid for. We have been blessed through Abraham!
What set Abraham apart was his willingness to simply trust God. When God told him to go to a land that He would show him, he had no idea where it was. There was no google map to plot the way, no GPS. Hebrews 11:8-10 says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Why could God use Abraham? Because he followed God, not knowing where he was going. He simply chose to live by faith. That is exactly what God wants for us. We don’t know the turns our lives will take. What we do know is that we can trust God, and He will guide our steps. Notice that Abraham didn’t settle down permanently but lived in tents like a stranger in a foreign country because he was looking toward something far more permanent - a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. He kept his sights on the ultimate destination, obeyed and went, trusting God to lead.
Father, I thank you that you blessed us through the messiah who came through the family of Abraham. Teach me to live with the same faith, and to trust you with the details of my life. Remind me often that there is a greater destination in my future. A city with foundations, whose architect and builder is my Lord. Amen.
In the aftermath of their cosmic rebellion against God, Adam and Eve lost their home in the garden and life on our planet was forever changed. But amazingly, this was not the end of the story. God did not abandon our planet. He did not abandon Adam and Eve or you and I. In fact, in this very time of rebellion, God gave the first promise of a savior and the Advent. That promise is found in Genesis 3:15.
“So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”
It seems that serpents were forever destined to crawl on the ground as they became a symbol of Satan who had appeared to Eve in the form of a snake. But more important is what God says about the relationship between Satan and the woman and her offspring. First he says that there will be enmity between Satan and Eve, which is understandable given his part in this terrible event. Eve would never forget the awful event that Satan had enticed her to participate in.
But then God says something more interesting. He will put enmity between Satan’s offspring and hers. The offspring of Eve would, of course, be those who would come after her. As to Satan’s offspring, it could either be the demons who follow Him or the people who follow Him.
But the apex of this verse is the last phrase, “he will crush your head and you will strike his heal.” Stay with me here. First there would be enmity between Satan and Eve, then between their respective offspring. But then God introduces a single male offspring, who will eventually come, who will crush the head of Satan once and for all, even as Satan strikes his heel. This is the first reference in Scripture to the One who would one day come and defeat Satan. Even on this terrible day that changed all of history, there would be another day that would also change history, the day that a Savior would come and defeat the evil one.
Think about this. From that day forward, Satan has known that he would be defeated by an unknown male offspring of Eve. He lived in eternal fear of who that would be, and when that day would come. It is clear that Satan recognized Jesus for who He was when He appeared in the incarnation. This is why Satan tried to entice Him in the desert temptations immediately after Jesus’ baptism by John. And, on Good Friday, he was ecstatic that God’s Son was crucified! He had won. He had defeated the one who came to defeat him. Little did he count on Resurrection Sunday and on that day he knew he had met his waterloo. He had lost. God had won and all he could do from that day forward was to fight a losing rearguard battle.
All of history from the awful day of the fall has been a story of redemption as God, out of amazing love for rebellious people, put in place His divine rescue operation that would climax with the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus, and culminate in a New Heavens and New Earth where God and His redeemed will live for all time.
God is a God of amazing grace. He does not abandon us. He wants to redeem us. There is nothing you can do to cause Him to love you more or to love you less. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Father, I thank you that you did not abandon Adam and Eve and that you did not abandon me. Thank you for your amazing heart of grace and redemption. Help me to live in thanksgiving for all you have done. Amen.
There is a direct connection between the sin of Adam and Eve and the incarnation of Christ. Adam and Eve were created in God’s own image and placed into a garden that none of us can even imagine. In the evenings, God himself would appear in the garden and commune with them. Think of that! For us it is a challenge to relate to an unseen God but for them, there was no separation.
We know the story of the serpent and conversation he had with Eve and her subsequent conversation with Adam and the sin they committed. What is remarkable is that you and I are born with a propensity to sin. We are born with a sin nature, but Adam and Eve did not need to sin. They were not created with a sin nature but were given moral freedom to choose obedience or not.
Satan, the enemy that he is, twisted the words of God. He told Eve that “God knows that when you eat of (the tree) your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Up to this time Adam and Eve had known only good but not evil. So Satan essentially says to Eve, ‘God is not telling you the truth. By keeping the fruit of this one tree from you, He is holding something back from you, for when you eat it you will become like him. God has tricked you. If you eat it you will not only be like Him but you will Know both good and evil.’
It was a grand lie, for not only would Adam and Eve not be like God but the consequence of eating from the tree would be separation from God. Every human being, each of us, has been directly or indirectly impacted by the lies that Satan perpetuates. His greatest lie is that God and His commands are not good. The same lie he told Eve.
Their sin was cosmic rebellion against the one who had made them in His image. It was a choice to rebel and go their own way. Do their own thing. To raise their finger to the God of the universe in defiance. And it had cataclysmic implications for them and for us.
Consider this. Every heartache we have suffered, every fear, every setback, every funeral we have attended, every sadness we feel, depression we suffer from, sin we struggle with, physical ailment we deal with, emotions we struggle with - it all goes back to the image being broken in the fall. It was in every way a very far fall, a fall so far that it is impossible to describe its impact. It was an eternal fall as people destined for life became absolutely separated from God. It was a massive fall as hearts that once embraced God now rejected Him. It was a fearful fall as people who once treated one another with love now used people for their own purposes. A perfect image became a ruined facsimile of its original form.
Satan took life and Jesus, in the incarnation, came to restore life and the effects of the fall. In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” God made us mankind in His image. Satan was instrumental in stealing that image and he continues to try to hurt us. But God, in Jesus, desires to restore His image in us, to reimage us to what He made us to be. It comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and it extends to every aspect of our lives and overflows into all our relationships, influence and actions.
Father, How do I comprehend that in the face of this cosmic rebellion in the garden and in my own heart, you still came to invade our world and my heart with your love. That is irrational and amazing love. I thank you that you are even today reimaging me into your likeness. Amen.
For all of history men and women have yearned to get back to the garden. Back to innocence from pain, sorrow, sin, disease, hunger, conflict, racism, disappointment, and death. As Crosby, Stills and Nash sang at Woodstock, “we are stardust, we are golden, and we have to get back to the garden.” We know we have lost something precious and that we live with the consequences on a daily basis. How do we get back to the garden?
The creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 describe that garden. After each of the creation days, we read this statement: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Now if God thinks something is very good it has to be very, very good.
The most stunning part of the creation account is this. Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” - Genesis 1:26-28.
Here is the stunning thing: God not only chose to create us knowing that we would turn our backs on Him, but, he chose to create us in His image. He chose to plant in our souls something of Him. The creator created mankind with something of Him implanted within them. In some amazing ways he created Adam and Eve in His image and, although flawed by the fall, each of us are also made in His image.
As image bearers we have the ability to have a relationship with our creator, He gave us moral freedom to choose to follow or not to follow Him, He shared with us His creative spirit, and gave us the ability to love both Him and one another, along with an eternal soul. Because we are made in His image human life is special and sacred. In fact, both your best friend and worst enemy have something of God within them for both are made in His image. Even knowing that the fall would take place and that man would sin and, in doing so reject Him, He chose to create us in His image.
When we long to be back in the garden where the effects of sin no longer chase us, here is the amazing thing. God wants to bring us back to the garden as well. That is why the incarnation of Christ, the Advent, was planned from long before the world came to be. The creator wanted His created to be reconciled to Him, so the creator became like the created in the incarnation to die and rise and pay our penalty and make peace with Him. That is Advent.
The story of Advent is a story of love in the face of rebellion, a divine rescue mission to make a way for us to go back home to Him. This is why Jesus said to His disciples on the eve of His death, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” And then He says, I call you friends. You are His friend if you know Him. If you don’t, He invites you to meet Him. This is why He came.
Father, I thank you that there is a way back to the garden through your divine rescue mission to forgive our sin and make us again part of your family. Give me deeper appreciation this Advent season for the price you paid to right the wrong of sin. In the garden, and in me. Amen.
This has been a difficult year for all of us. It is in dark times that the message of the Advent of Christ takes on new meaning. It was and is a promise of hope, redemption, restoration, and God’s presence in the midst of hard seasons.
I love the description of the prophet Isaiah when he speaks of the coming of Christ in these terms. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). This is the message we need to hear again in our day. Into the darkness of this year comes light. It is the light of Jesus in a hard season.
God created a beautiful creation and placed the first man and woman in the middle of that creation. In that place there was no darkness and no sorrow. But we know how it turned out as Adam and Eve, and every person born since, turned their hearts from God and encountered the darkness of a fallen world. You and I included.
But we find here a story of God’s irrational love for us. For Scripture says that God knew a divine rescue mission was going to be needed before He even created the world. Think about this: God chose to create our world knowing that men and women would turn from Him and that He would need to send His son to die on our behalf - so that we could be restored to Him. Advent was planned before there was time, or people, or a world to enter.
Revelation 13:8 says that the Lamb was slain from the creation of the world. That is, God had already committed to sending His son to die for us before the world had come into being. Why? Because you and I, and all those who know Christ, were chosen even before the world was created. Paul says, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” But for that to happen He would have to send His son to die. And still, He chose to create our world and us. That is irrational love. It is Amazing Grace. It is scandalous grace and incomprehensible love. But that is the God who chose to walk into darkness and bring great light.
As we walk this month toward Christmas and the celebration of Christ’s birth we will trace the promise of Christ from before our world was created to the birth of Jesus and the implications of His appearance. But today, remember this: His coming was not an afterthought because the world He created went bad. Rather it was His irrational love, knowing that the world would go bad before He even created it. You are not an afterthought, as a random individual who came to Christ. Rather, He chose you before the world even was on the basis of His Son who would die for your sin and mine.
That is the irrational love God has for us. No matter how challenging our situation, or how dark our world, we can rest in the fact that His love is irrational and that we are the object of that irrational love. If He would pay that price for us, what would He not be willing to do for us today?
Father, I thank you for your irrational and incomprehensible love, amazing and scandalous grace, that caused you to create and love me at the cost of your Son. Thank you for your Advent that brought great light to a dark world. Would you bring that same light to my world in this heavy season. Amen.
Have you ever wondered why the ten commandments are stated in the negative? Some think it is because we have a negative God who simply wants to restrict us because that is His nature. The joy killer and rule maker.
First, recognize that these commands are not given as a means to get to heaven, since none of us can keep them anywhere perfectly. They are given in an environment of grace because a relationship between the people and God already exists. God is their Lord, their redeemer who brought them out of Egypt and the one who exhibits that great Hebrew word Hesed, Loving Kindness to the people. His goodness to the Israelites had nothing to do with their goodness but with God’s goodness. He rescued them and He chose them.
But why are most of the commands stated in the negative rather than the positive? A bible scholar, Walter Kaiser puts it this way. “It is far easier to express in a few words the limitations that have been placed upon us, than to open up all the vistas that are available to us in the freedom which is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. Imagine trying to write all the “do’s” that the Christian can enter into. The world could not contain the books.”
Take, for instance the command “thou shalt not murder.” Again, Walt Kaiser: “it does not just mean that we should abstain from injuring or desiring to injure our brother or our neighbor. Also, it means that we are obligated...to do all that is within our power to protect our neighbor’s life. Contrary to the contemporary concept, we must get involved.”
“All avenues of love, therefore, which contribute to the life of our neighbor are to be used. I do not fulfill this law merely by inactivity. That would be equal to not keeping the commandment. It would be equal to death. To do nothing is to die. The Law desires of me something more, some sort of commitment. And it says I should actively seek out and help and aid all those who are in need and those who are close to me.”
Seen in that light, we start to realize that we are being called to a way of life that cares, loves, and protects those around us. Each of the commands should be seen in this light.
The most important command is the first because everything else hangs on that command: “You shall have no other god’s before me.” Put another way, there should be nothing in your life and priorities that takes a higher position than our allegiance to and worship of the true God. A rival God is anything that is a higher priority to me than my love for the true God and my service to Him. If that is our goal, living out the other commands is a matter of how we love Him. When we allow rival Gods to invade our lives, we will inevitably compromise the other commands in all kinds of ways.
Prefacing the commands is this statement by God to remind the people of who He is. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Today, God would say to us. I am the God who loved you first, even when you didn’t love me. I am the one who died for you and redeemed you and chases you with my loving kindness all the days of your life. It is in that context that we put Him first and honor His commands.
Father, thank you for your amazing love to me. Teach me to take your commands seriously and to live out the implications of each of them. And most of all, teach me to love you and put you first as you have loved me and rescued me. Amen
If you are reading through Exodus, as we do this series, ready chapters 33 and 34 for tomorrow.
Now that is a sentence we would not say out loud, but let's be honest. There are times when we just don’t believe that God could intervene in our lives, or in the life of another and, while we want to believe, our belief is meager.
Before you feel bad about that, we all struggle with this because in our humanity we cannot fully understand His divinity. We live in time, God lives in eternity having always been and always will be. There are many things we cannot do but there is nothing He cannot do. In fact, as a creature of the creator, we cannot fully comprehend the ability of the creator to create something new out of something old, or from nothing at all, but that is what a creator does. As Scripture says, He is the potter, and we are the clay. So do we fully believe that God can intervene in our lives? We want to but it's not always easy.
There is an account in the Gospel of Mark where we see this played out.
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. Mark 9:17-27.
I love the honesty of this father who brings his son to Jesus for healing. He says to Jesus, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus responds “If you can? Everything is possible for one who believes.” Then he says to Jesus this honest statement. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.”
Don’t be ashamed to pray that prayer when you need to: Jesus help me overcome my unbelief. Like this man, we often believe to a point. But we can always ask Him to help us in our unbelief. That is a prayer we ought to pray more often.
Father. I believe but help me with my unbelief. Amen
We all have strategies for dealing with issues in our lives. One of the things we learn over time is that some of them work and some of them don’t. Common strategies include anger over things we wish were different, medicating ourselves when things get stressful with our favorite stress reliever, depression, or often, trying to peddle faster to see our problems resolved. For some of us it is living with a great deal of stress, anxiety, and even fear.
There comes a time when we realize that our strategies don’t produce what we desire. Actually that is a great realization because there is a better way, an easier way. It does not revolve around us but around the Spirit of God. The hard part is this: We need to let go and let God.
Sometimes, trusting God is the hardest thing we could do because we are used to trying to figure out our problems without God. To solve our own problems is in our DNA and, of course, there are things we need to do when we have problems. But, the truth is that God has a better way that yields better results. Our strategy determines our outcome.
In the Old Testament (Zechariah 4:6) we read this: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” This is the same message that is expressed in Psalm 20:7. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
It is a wonderful gift to come to the place where all we have is God. Because He is all that we need. But it means that we give our situations to God and let go. That we pray with faith, knowing and believing that His power is able to solve problems we cannot solve and He has the wisdom we don’t have. Furthermore, God honors our trust in Him. When we trust Him, He is faithful because He wants us to trust Him. He wants us to let go and trust Him.
What is your strategy today for dealing with the issues you have in your life? Are you trusting in your wisdom or asking for God’s wisdom? Are you ready to let God intervene and follow Him even if it makes you nervous? Can you put your issues in His hand and listen to what He says? Where He leads? Can you give Him your anxiety and worry? Can you trust His leading when He leads you in directions that you never envisioned?
Father, help me trust you rather than my horses and chariots. I want to trust your Spirit and go where you lead. I trust you today with those things that cause me worry. Amen.
I am sure that every one of us has asked the question as to why God has not answered some of our prayers in the way we wanted. He encourages us to pray about all of our needs and then some of them are not met. How can we understand why that occurs? Paul gives us some clues as to the answer to that question. He had been granted amazing revelations of heaven and he saw inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell as he says in 2 Corinthians 12. Then he shares this very personal issue in his own life.
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We don’t know what Paul’s thorn was but it had to be important because he pleaded with God three times to take it away. Many believe that the thorn was a physical issue such as poor eyesight. But God didn’t answer his prayer the way he wanted. This ought to make us feel better because it also happens to us. Sometimes people say to us, “you don’t have enough faith.” But no one can accuse Paul of not being a man of faith, so that is not the right answer.
You see, God had a greater plan for Paul. He could have removed Paul’s thorn with a snap of his fingers. He didn’t. Instead, God desired that Paul learn the lesson that His grace was sufficient for Paul because His power is made perfect in weakness. Paul learned that the weaker he was the more he had to rely on God rather than on himself, and in those times the power of God rested in a big way on him.
In fact, the lesson was so significant that Paul says, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong.” Paul would not have learned this lesson without the thorn that he suffered.
Remember two things when God does not answer your specific prayers. First, God has something better for you that you would not experience or learn if he simply answered your prayer. Second, given that, ask Him what it is that He wants you to learn or experience by not answering. I don’t know how Paul understood what God wanted to teach him but God is great at giving us clues as to what He wants to do in and through us if we will ask and then pay attention. His ways are above our ways and His plans for our lives greater than our plans for our lives.
As you think about those prayers that God has not answered in your life, start to ask another question: What do you want me to learn through this? It changes our attitude from one of disappointment that our requests have not been answered to one of adventure as to what God wants to do in our life because God’s purposes are always the best for us.
Father, I am encouraged to know that when you don’t answer one of my prayers that you actually have higher purposes in mind and lessons that we would not learn in any other way. Help me to see where you want to work in my life and thank you for doing so even if my specific request is not answered. Amen.
Greed and generosity are funny things. Here is why. When we are convinced that we need more, there is never any end to the more, so experiencing satisfaction with what we have never comes. On the flip side, when we practice a life of generosity and give freely to God and others, we never miss what we give. That is a very strange paradox.
That paradox plays out in our relationship with God as well. The more we give to God, the more He gives to us and one cannot out-give God. The more we keep to ourselves, the less He gives so we end up worse off for hoarding our stuff in our attempt to get ahead. Let's look at what Paul says about this in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11. Watch for the paradoxes here.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Our fear around giving is that we will not have enough. Yet the first thing that Paul tells us is that whoever sows generously will also reap generously. In fact, don’t forget who God is, says Paul because “God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” Now this is an amazing statement because he blesses us abundantly at all times. He is talking about more than money. We want and need His blessings in all kinds of ways. That is what He promises to those who are generous with Him.
This is why Paul says the very one who can supply our physical needs can also enlarge the harvest of our righteousness, the results of our ministry for Him. We will be enriched in every way so that we can be generous on every occasion! Now that is a life result I want and I am sure you do as well.
Here is the paradox. Our financial generosity not only does not leave us poorer but it makes us richer in all kinds of ways. That, in turn, multiplies the effect of our ministry for Him. What we are afraid to lose ends up in gaining what we could not gain except by generosity to Him. It is an example of the amazing grace and generosity of God to us.
Some of us purchase lottery tickets hoping to win the big prize. We can have the big prize every day in greater ways than any lottery check as we live with generosity to our Savior.
Father, I am amazed at your generosity to me. Help me to be more generous with you and in the process experience even more of your generosity that can result in greater kingdom impact. Amen.
You remember that Moses has just come down the mountain with the Ten Commandments that God had given the people, only to find the people worshipping a golden calf, that they had created in his absence, to worship.
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it. He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?” “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” Exodus 32:19-24.
When confronted by Moses, Aaron, who was largely responsible for this whole fiasco, gave Moses a classic line. The people were complaining, he said, so he told them to take off their gold jewelry and Aaron collected it and threw it in the fire and by some strange miracle, out came this calf. All by itself was the implication.
Now as they say in the south, “That dog don’t hunt.” This was not some spontaneous act of miracle. Aaron had fashioned a calf and formed it in the fire. This was a deliberate act of disobedience against God. But we have an endless capacity to justify our actions when they are not right, so Aaron says, “Hey, don’t blame me, I just tossed the gold into the fire and out came this calf.” As my wife, who is from the Philippines, would say, “That is boola boola”. I think you get the drift.
We have an endless capacity to justify our actions when we know them to be wrong. We make excuses, talk about extenuating circumstances, and find reasons for our actions. I can laugh at Aaron’s excuses here but I know I have done the same thing myself.
In 1 John 1:8-9 we read this, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Like Aaron and the Israelites, we are sinners and do wrong things. Instead of denying our reality, John says, confess your sins and he will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness.
There is no need to hide from God, and we cannot, but there is no reason to. He stands ready to purify us, forgive us and make our hearts clean. All we need to do is to confess our sins.
Father, I have an endless capacity to justify my sinful actions. I ask today that you would help me simply confess my sins, take responsibility, and allow you to purify me from all unrighteousness. Amen.
If you are reading through Exodus, as we do this series, ready chapters 24 and 25 for tomorrow.
Moses went up the mountain to meet with God to receive from God the Ten Commandments, along with other instructions for how the Israelites, as God’s people, should live. Bear in mind that this was just three months from the time they had left slavery in Egypt. They had seen God convince Pharaoh to let them go, the parting of the Red Sea, water and manna, the defeat of the Amalekites and now, at Mount Sinai, the amazing spectacle of smoke, fire, and earthquakes as God had descended on the mountain. The account of God’s instructions can be found in Exodus 19-32.
But while Moses communed with God, not all was well at the foot of the mountain where the Israelites were camped. Exodus 32:1-6. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
This is an amazing turn of events, especially as Moses is with God at the top of the mountain where the first commandment He gave was, “You shall have no other gods before me,” as the Israelites were doing that very thing.
Why is it that we have a need to create other gods and place them before the true God? Yes, we do this too. We chase after money, jobs, success, our toys, our addictions, and all sorts of things that supplant our primary relationship with the true God. In our country, materialism has become the predominant God. As if meaning can be found in stuff. It would be laughable if it were not so common and if we didn’t also get caught up in it. Whatever we place ultimate importance in becomes a God. It can be a relationship, a bank account, a job, a hobby, or any other person or thing that we elevate in our lives above the true God.
If you want to know what your gods are, pay attention to what you pay attention to. To what you count as most important in your life. Those are your gods. The insanity of all this is that the gods we create cannot give life or meaning or significance. Only the true God can do that.
If you read Exodus 32 you will see that the day did not end well for the people of Israel. Many died in God’s judgment on them for their disobedience. Our lives are diminished by our false gods and enhanced by the one true God.
Father, help me not to have any other gods before you. It is so easy to do and it diminishes my life. Give me discernment to know when I am elevating something above you. You are my one true God. Amen.
If you are reading through the book of Exodus during this Exodus series, read chapters 22 and 23 for tomorrow.
Do you have a vision for what you want God to do through your church? I believe for most who call themselves Christ followers the answer is no. You see, Jesus gives us a very simple test to indicate where our priorities are and what our vision is. That is the test of our individual generosity. It may surprise us that there is a connection between spiritual vision, our priorities, and generosity but Jesus says that very thing in Matthew 6:19-24.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
There are two important truths here. First, there are two banks that we can store our wealth in. One is a heavenly bank which we use when we give to God’s work. The second is an earthly bank where we can accumulate funds.
The second truth is this: Where our treasures are is where our hearts will be. Or to switch it up, where our hearts are, that is where our treasures will be. Our hearts follow our treasure and our treasure follows our hearts. A heart for God means that we generously invest our treasures with Him. A heart for ourselves means that we invest our treasures in ourselves. Jesus has a way of putting things in perspective quickly.
Having said that, let's look at how American Christians invest their funds. Studies consistently show this: “Only 5% of Americans are tithers. Most (80%) give about 2% of their income to tithing donations. About 3-5% of those who attend and donate to churches do so through tithing. Tithe statistics reveal that most tithers (77%) donate 11-20% of their income. This tithing percentage is much higher than the baseline of 10%. About 70% of tithers base donations on gross income rather than on net income.”
These statistics show that for the majority, their treasures are going into their bank, not God’s bank. Remember, our treasures follow our hearts. For those who are generous with God, many are extraordinarily generous, giving far beyond the 10% of a tithe. Again, this reveals their hearts toward God and the vision they have for His Kingdom.
Where do you fit on this scale and where is your heart? If we say our hearts are deeply committed to God and His work, our financial generosity will be there. If our financial generosity is not there, Jesus says our hearts are not there either. Both of these work together. Jesus invites us here to do an honest evaluation of where our hearts truly are in relation to Him and then to do a course correction if that is needed.
Father, I am sometimes uncomfortable with how direct you are because it makes me face the true reality of my followership. Forgive me when I have not been generous with you. Give me the courage to be financially rich toward you and your work. Bring my heart and my giving into alignment. Amen.
How can we, as Christ followers, grow deeper in our prayer lives? We value prayer, we know we should pray, we struggle with it, and probably none of us are satisfied with where we are. Prayer is hard work and just finding the time to make it a priority can be a challenge in our fast paced, noise-filled world. And then there is this question. We are pretty good at praying about our own needs - that comes naturally. But how do we go deeper and ask God to build into our lives, faith, and character? If we want to go deep with God, live in his joy, see our lives count, and please Him, what do we pray for?
The Apostle Paul gives us some examples of how we can go deeper in our prayer lives by focusing on spiritual issues, not simply our felt needs. These are the things that God wants to build into our lives in order to deepen our understanding of Him and transform our thinking, character, and practices so that we are more like Him. This is how Paul prayed for the Colossian church in Colossians 1:9-14.
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
When my boys were young and we would be talking at the dinner table, they would frequently say to me, regarding some word I had used, “Dad, that is a BIG word!” In the same way this is a BIG prayer! It is a profound prayer! It is a life-changing prayer in its implications for our lives.
Think of what Paul prays for the Colossians. That they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will. That their lives would please God and be fruitful. That they would be strengthened by God’s power, and that they would realize that they have been rescued from darkness so they can live in the light. If we started every day with that realization, that prayer, and that desire our days would be far different than they often are. It is a big prayer to a big God who has big plans for His work in our lives.
One of the key ways to grow our prayer lives is to pray through the prayers we find in Scripture and apply them to our lives and the lives of our fellow believers. Have you ever prayed this way for yourself? Or others? And notice here that the focus is not so much on physical needs we have and that we are to pray for - but they go deeper to the spiritual needs we have and the life change God wants to bring. Both physical and spiritual needs are important to pray for.
Consider praying this prayer of Paul’s each morning for your life and the lives of those around you for the next week. It will grow your concept of prayer. It will change your day!
Father, I need these things in my own life today. Help me to learn to pray not only for my physical needs but for the deeper spiritual issues of my life. Deepen my desire to become more like you and to experience the reality of what Paul prayed for in this prayer. Amen.
The Israelites are now at Mount Sinai in the Egyptian wilderness. And God has told Moses to prepare the people because Moses is to meet with God at the top of the mountain. Listen to the description of what happened and put yourself in the shoes of the Israelites on that day.
Exodus 19:9 and 19:16-20. The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up.
We simply cannot comprehend the distance between a holy God and our sinful selves. There is a massive distance between us which was reflected in the drama of God coming down to the top of the mountain to meet Moses. I am sure that if I were there I would think that the world was coming to an end and that I would meet my end with it. It would have been a frightening, sobering moment. It is a momentous thing to meet the God of the universe. Truthfully, I am so glad that I live on the other side of the incarnation when God became flesh in the person of Jesus, who God sent on our behalf so that the distance between a holy God and unholy people could be bridged, and we could become daughters and sons of the living God. So that we could go from fear of God to relationship with God.
It is not that God was unapproachable in the Old Testament. We know that He was and here Moses meets personally with God. But how do you relate to a Spirit that is infinitely powerful, holy, righteous and so High and Lifted up?
That is why I love what it says in Hebrews about Jesus and our ability to relate to Him. “Therefore since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16.
Wow. What a contrast between the two scenes. The nature of God has not changed but our ability to relate to Him has because Jesus visited us in person and is our advocate who actually calls us friends and family. God is still God and we are still broken and redeemed people but we can now relate to the God of the universe through the person of Christ. Thank you Jesus.
Father, help us to both catch a vision of your greatness and otherness and your desire for a personal relationship with you through Jesus. It was you who sent your son so that we could know the unapproachable God. Thank you. May I live with eternal gratitude for your love for me. Amen.
It has been three months since the Israelites left Egypt and the people find themselves camped in front of Mount Sinai.
Exodus 19:3-6. Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
If you have been reading through the book of Exodus with us you know that although it has been only three months from the time of the exit from Egypt that the Israelites had found plenty to complain about. It reminds me of a lot of us. No matter what God has done for us we feel the need and right to complain. Complaints against God are ubiquitous among God’s people.
Yet look at what God had done. He had saved the people from the pursuing Egyptians, had parted the Red Sea, had given them manna to eat and water to drink, had destroyed the Amalekites when they came against them. At no point along the way had God abandoned the people. In fact, God says to Moses. “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”
I want you to think about your own life for a moment. You too have been brought on eagles’ wings to where you are. But here is the interesting thing. He has brought them on eagles’ wings not to safety, not to a better place although both are true, but He has brought them on eagles’ wings to Himself. That is what God says. God’s gracious provision for us is meant to bring us closer to Him. To literally bring us to Him. To teach us that we were meant for Him and we were created for Him.
Who are we to God? He calls the Israelites His treasured possession. Treasured possession is the Hebrew word, “Segula.” The word means “my treasured possession. My treasure.” That is what God calls us who follow Him. His treasured possession. His treasure. Think about that for a moment. You are His treasure. You also belong to Him if you have made Him your savior. That is why he carries us on eagles’ wings. We are precious to Him and He loves us with an infinite love. We are not a distraction or people that he puts up with. We are His treasured possession. Those that He loves and protects. We are His Segula.
But we are a treasured possession, His Segula with a purpose. God says to Moses, “Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” You are special to me. You are my people even though the whole earth is mind. But you will also be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. You will be my representatives to the world around you, to those who don’t know God. You are my ambassadors and representatives.” You are a Segula, a treasure with a purpose.
Never underestimate God’s love for you as He carries you today on eagles wings, or His call on your life to be His representative to others around you. You are a loved, holy individual with a holy calling.
Father, thank you that you carry me on eagles’ wings all the days of my life. And thank you that I am your treasure but your treasure with a purpose. Help me fulfill your purpose. Amen.
Jethro, the father in law of Moses came to the desert to visit Moses some time after the Israelites had left Egypt. He got a first hand glimpse of the work load that Moses had taken on. In fact, it was an unsustainable pace and out of Moses’s lane of giftedness. I understand that feeling because I have been there and my guess is that you have been there as well.
Exodus 18:13-23. The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”
Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”
Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
Have you ever found yourself stretched to the limit and out of your lane of giftedness? It is a hard place to be. Especially for those who have a high sense of responsibility like Moses had, we just try to grind it out, get it done but often at the expense of our health, family and time.
Jethro gave Moses some of the best advice he would ever get. Spread the work out, find capable men, train them well and release them to do what you are not capable of doing. In fact, this is how God designed the church. We all have a few gifts but that is all. We need the help of those around us who are gifted differently than we are to carry the load. Don’t go it alone. Bring others with you in your ministry endeavors who can share the load.
Father, thank you for how you have gifted your people. Help me find others who can join me in the ministry you have called me to and spread out the load. Amen.
After our brief hiatus, we continue our series in Lessons from the Exodus.
In Exodus 17, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites. Moses told Joshua to fight boldly and He would stand at the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hands, along with Aaron and Hur. The text says, “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up - one on one side, one on the other - so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”
This is a powerful picture. Aaron and Hur holding the arms and hands of Moses up so that the battle would be won. None of us were meant to do life by ourselves. We were meant to be there for one another as we do the journey of life together. There are times when we need others to hold up our hands and there are times when we have the privilege of holding up the hands of others.
In the New Testament there are dozens and dozens of “one another” statements: Love one another, care for one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, help one another, and the list goes on. The common denominator is “one another” because we need one another.
We talk often about the goodness of God to us. And He is! But think about how He delivers his goodness. It is through other people who come alongside us, bear our burdens with us, enter into our suffering as one of us. In other words, We are the Aaron and Hur to others and they are those who support us. We are often the instruments to deliver the goodness and faithfulness of God to others. It is God who is good. It is we who deliver His goodness to others on a daily basis. And them to us.
As you walk through your week, think about whose arms God wants you to be lifting up. Ask Him to show you where you can be His hands and feet. If you ask, He will show you. Then step in and support those who need your support in the name of Jesus. Allow God to give you the opportunity to be his hands and feet and encouragement to those around you. We need one another.
Father, thank you for your amazing goodness. Help me to be the conduit of your goodness to others. Help them to see you through me. Amen.
If you are reading through the book of Exodus during this Exodus series. Read chapters 20 and 21 for tomorrow.
Have you ever met someone who always sees the problems in life? Someone who can find a problem with every solution and complain about everything in life. CS Lewis said this about the curse of complaining:
“Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others... but you are still distinct from it. You may even criticize it in yourself and wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine. It is not a question of God "sending us" to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE hell unless it is nipped in the bud. ”
The Israelites were exhibit A in this regard. There was always something to complain about and we find them doing that again in today's passage.
Exodus 17:1-7. The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
It is easy to grumble and complain but the truth is that God knows our needs and fully intends to meet them. All we need to do is ask. The people simply murmured and complained but Moses asked God what to do and He supplied what the people needed. And that raises today’s question. Are we complainers to one another and to God or are we living in faith that the Lord of the universe is in our corner and waiting to help us if we will simply ask.
Father, forgive me for all the times when I have doubted you and complained to others or to you. Help me to remember your faithfulness in the past and trust you for your help today. Amen.
If you are reading through Exodus with us in these devotionals, read chapters 20 and 21 for tomorrow.
What God do you pray to? Now that may sound like a strange and silly question. After all, we think we know the God we pray to. But do we really? You see, the better we understand the power, majesty, love, grace, and forgiveness of God, the more robust our prayer life becomes. So let's look at one of the most amazing descriptions of Christ that can be found in Scripture. It is from the prophet Isaiah who lived about 750 years before Christ. The prophecy in this verse was referring to Christ and we often hear it read at Christmas season.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. — Isaiah 9:6
The four descriptors of Jesus in this verse are some of the most beautiful and meaningful names He could be given. Each of the four should inform our prayer lives, as we will see.
We pray to a Wonderful Counselor in Jesus. Think of how many times we are at the end of our ability to figure something out and just need someone to give us counsel and perspective or answers. That is Jesus. He knows what we don’t know. He also knows us in ways we do not. He is the ultimate counselor to turn to in times of need when we need someone to talk to, listen to our heart cry, and give us wise and healing counsel. That is who He is. It is also why we ought to pay attention when we ask for help from the Wonderful Counselor because God will likely nudge our spirits with His answer.
A Wonderful Counselor, however, cannot change our situation unless He is all powerful, and this is the second name given Jesus: Mighty God. He has the power to enter into our situations, intervene in the impossible, change the inevitable, and step into the events of our lives like no one else can. He has unlimited power which should give us boldness in our prayers. He is not limited in any way. He is the Mighty God.
But unlimited power can be scary. It is why many of us grew up with a fear of God. And, of course, we ought to fear Him in that we take him seriously. But He is also our Everlasting Father, the best, most loving, faithful, Daddy that we could ever have. One that will never fail us or let us down and, as an Everlasting Father, will never leave us or forsake us. He is always there, always ready to forgive us, direct us, protect us and give us what we need for each day. All we need to do is ask.
Finally, we pray to the Prince of Peace. The One who will one day rule this world in peace but who, through His death and resurrection, gives us peace with Him today. This is why we can approach Him with confidence and have nothing to fear from Him. He has made our relationship good. Just as importantly He is the one who makes it possible for us to live at peace with others in the body of Christ who are different from us. He brings peace to relationships that have seen conflict and animosity if we will allow Him to.
The next time you pray, remember whom you are praying to. The Wonderful Counselor, the Almighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. That will change your prayer life.
Father, remind me often of the character and attributes of yourself in relation to me. Help me to pray with boldness knowing that you have the answers I need, the power to intervene in situations I cannot fix, that you love me to the core of my being and that I am at peace with you. Thank you Jesus. Amen.
There are all kinds of questions we could ask God, but there is one that we don’t ask often enough. It is not some esoteric or theological question. No, it is a deeply personal question and it is one that David asked of God in 2 Samuel 7:18. God had just told David how He was going to bless Him and His family, and that the savior would come through His lineage. In response, David asked a question that all of us should ask of God.
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
As I read David’s question I thought of all the things that God had done for me in my 64 years. Children who love Jesus, the opportunities He has given me, the grace I have experienced, the hope I have in the future, the friends He has given and the opportunities to serve Him that I have had. I could go on but here is the point. Like David, we ought to be in absolute awe that God has showered us with His grace, love, and gifts.
More than that, the fact is that we don’t deserve any of it. David knew that, which is why he said, “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have bought me this far?” Maybe our problem is that we think we deserve His grace rather than being amazed that He gave us undeserved grace. We don’t deserve anything.
In Romans 5:5-7, Paul puts our lives in perspective. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
We don’t deserve spiritual life but He gave it. We don’t deserve forgiveness of our sins but He gives it. We don’t deserve the blessings of being His family but he adopted us. We don’t deserve the gifts He has given but He gives them. So we ought to ask God in absolute gratitude, “Why have you done this for me and brought me this far?” Thank you Jesus. Thank you. Gratitude and thanksgiving ought to be the attitude of our hearts every day toward a God who has loved us as He has. There is nothing we can do to repay God. But we can live in gratitude.
I encourage you to take a few minutes this week to make a list of all the blessings you have experienced from God and then thank Him for those gifts that come out of His love. No matter how broken our lives, think of what we would be if He had not loved us. Then thank Him.
Father, I echo David’s prayer and His question. I humbly thank you today for all that you have done in my life. I cannot imagine life without you. Thank you. Amen.
Many of us overestimate our own power to control circumstances and underestimate God’s power to change circumstances. God can and does change the situations of our lives through prayer.
James gives this counsel in James 5:13-18: Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
James tells us to pray in trouble, joy, sickness, when we sin...in all of life because the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. I learned this when I was mortally ill and the doctors repeatedly told my extended family to prepare for my imminent death. The only thing they said that could save me was a miracle. The doctors had done all that they could. And to their total astonishment, God did the impossible, even healing my mitral valve that was leaking torrentially - when they could not do surgery because of my tenuous hold on life.
Many of us overestimate our own power to control circumstances and underestimate God’s power to change circumstances. God can and does change the situations of our lives through prayer. And there are times when we come to the complete end of our resources and discover that all we have left is God. And then we find out that He is all we need. That is a gift.
As God’s sons and daughters he waits for us to come and ask for His help. In James, 4:2, he writes, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” Wow! That makes me wonder what God might have done in my life in places where I didn’t ask! We cannot change that but we can ask about those situations we face today. Here is the principle: When we invite God into our situations He joins us but when we choose not to He allows us to do our own thing. Obviously the former is the way to go.
I love the fact that little kids think their parents can fix anything. The truth is that we need to be like those little kids because our Dad can, in fact, fix everything He chooses to fix. As parents we don’t have that power. Jesus does. But it takes the same humble faith on our part that we need Him and that He will show up. Sometimes we try to control what we cannot control rather than ask Him to change what he only can change. If you need something changed today, try talking to the Father!
Father, forgive me for overestimating my own power to control circumstances and underestimating your ability to change circumstances. I lift those things before you today where I need help and invite you to intervene. Amen.
The year was 444 BC in Susa where Nehemiah served as the cupbearer to king Artaxerxes. While that sounds like a small thing, it was actually a senior position of the King’s court with considerable influence. Around this time, Nehemiah had met some of the folks who lived in Jerusalem and heard that the city was still in ruins, and the wall broken down, which left the city at the hands of bandits and enemies. Now remember, this was Jerusalem, the city where the temple was, and the capital of Israel.
On hearing this news Nehemiah sat down and wept and fasted and prayed. Alone. And then he prayed this audacious prayer. “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” - Nehemiah 1:10-11.
This man was king Artaxerxes and you didn’t mess with the Persian King. One day, Nehemiah was in the presence of Artaxerxes and the king asked him why he was sad. Nehemiah explained the situation of his people back home. Then the king asked, “What do you want?'' This is when Nehemiah quickly prays to God and then asks if he can go and rebuild the city wall. Not only that, he asks for a letter of safe keeping, timber from the King's forest, and the King gave him everything he asked for.
I love this account because it illustrates that when God lays some burden on our hearts, all we need to do is to start praying. Sometimes even asking big requests of God or others. It is worth noting that the same God who laid this issue on Nehemiah’s heart to pray for, answered his prayers for a sabbatical, letters of safety, and materials needed for the project. In fact, God already had a plan for rebuilding the city. He just needed a man who was willing to start praying and then, as he was prompted, to act. Nehemiah was the man and God used him to rebuild the wall.
If God puts it on your heart to pray about something, He may also have a part for you to play in the plan. And all big things for God start not with a vision but with prayer and a vision. A plan without prayer is just a plan. A plan that starts with prayer becomes God’s plan, and if it is his plan he will ensure that it gets done. When God gets involved cool stuff happens every time.
What has God asked you to pray for? Be bold! Allow yourself to be part of the solution if He asks you to. If you need help, pray, and then ask - boldly. God is not constrained by anybody or anything. If He asked you to pray, it is already His project. And it often starts with just one individual who started to pray because God laid it on their heart.
Father, thank you for Nehemiah who can teach us so much about faith and prayer and courage. Give me faith like His that came out of his prayer life. And give me courage to step out like Nehemiah and act because this is your work, not mine. And give me the ability to trust you in the process. Amen.
Have you ever been surprised when you prayed for something and God gave you what you prayed for? Prayer is funny that way. We ask God for something that we really need but many times we don’t actually believe that He will answer in the way we desire. We don’t actually believe!
In the days after the resurrection of Jesus, Herod was persecuting the early church and seeing that the people were pleased he proceeded to seize the Apostle Peter, intending to put him on trial. As Peter was sitting in prison, being guarded by four squads of four soldiers each - to ensure that he didn’t get away, the church in Jerusalem was earnestly praying for him.
The night before his trail, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, secured by two chains with sentries guarding the entrance. “Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,’ the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.’” (Acts 12:6-11).
That was a spectacular, miraculous and amazing answer to the prayer of the church that Peter would be released. But when it dawned on Peter that he was free, “he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. (Acts 12:12-17)
Here is the irony. The very people who were praying for Peter didn’t believe that he could be at the door! How often we pray and pray but don’t believe in the back of our minds that God would actually answer. And if He does we have a hard time believing it.
God does not always answer our prayers in the way we want Him to. But we need to live with the faith that He has the power to do what we ask if it is in line with His will. Praying with faith is the only way to pray. He is capable of doing anything. And when we don’t have the faith we simply say, “Lord, increase my faith where it is weak.” He can do that as well.
Father, would you increase my faith? Would you be as bold in answering my prayers as I am in praying them? Show your power to those who don’t believe. Help me believe! Amen
Our prayer lives can be rich or very shallow. When our prayers strictly revolve around ourselves and our needs it tends to be on the shallow side as it is far more about us than it is about God. About our desires rather than His desires. In fact, there is a practice that separates shallow prayer from rich, God centered prayer, and that is the subject of Psalm 1.
“Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”
The Psalmist starts by talking about what the Christ follower does not do: walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of mockers. All of these simply reference men and women who choose not to model their lives after the values of God. When we ignore Him we reject His ways and these three descriptions fit us.
In contrast, the man who is Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates on that law day and night. Here is the one thing that differentiates shallow prayer from deep prayer. It is the practice of meditating on the law or thinking deeply about Scripture on a daily basis. Here is why it makes a difference. Meditation is like time exposure to God and it is as we meditate on His word that our minds are brought into alignment with His. In the process we start to think more like Him and to pray for things that God deeply cares about.
In Hebrews 4:12-13 we read this about God’s word. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Scripture is powerful. Scripture and meditation is even more powerful as it penetrates deeply in our soul. Then you add prayer as we literally pray that what God’s word says would become a part of our own lives, and you have a life changing combination that changes everything in our lives. That is the secret of a deep prayer life.
God desires that we bring all our requests to Him. He invites us to do so in many places. He also desires that our hearts begin to align with His heart and that we start to understand what is important to Him and make those things important to us. As we do so through Scripture, meditation, and prayer we become deeper people and we start to care about those things He cares about.
Father, would you reveal more of your heart to me as I intentionally meditate on your word? Remind me to pray through the Scriptures I meditate on asking you to make my heart like yours. Amen.
Well, you say, I would never want to scare off unbelievers but we do it all the time and we use an age-old technique that has been honed to perfection by some. In fact, there is a great example of this from Jesus’s day in Matthew 9:9-13.
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Tax collectors were members of the ancient mafia. They had the power to steal, bankrupt those who didn’t comply and collect all the tax they could. They had a quota they had to send to the Emperor or local ruler and they could pocket the rest. Thus they had a built in incentive to raise all that they could to the detriment of the population.
So here came Jesus and He tells Matthew, who then became a disciple, to follow him. Matthew threw a dinner party at his house for a bunch of other tax collectors and “sinners” (the terms could be used synonymously). The Pharisees, who were the religious of the day, asked the disciples why Jesus would spend time with the riff raff. That is what many do today when we stay clear of people whose lives are messed up. They are not the nice people, the safe people, or the religious. They are messy and have a lot of issues, maybe addictions, are sometimes crude in their language, maybe even a criminal record. Whatever it is, many believers stay clear as did the Pharisees. And that is a proven strategy to scare off unbelievers. After all, they can read our judgment and disapproval. So they too stay clear.
Not so Jesus. Rather than judging, staying clear or huddling with the righteous, Jesus is right there in the middle of the party. He came, after all for the sick, not the healthy. Not only that but He quotes an Old Testament passage that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. He desires that our hearts are broken for the broken more than that we keep our religious traditions. We belong among the broken so that we can love them like Jesus, rather than keeping our hands clean with our prayer meetings where we can pray that the lost will somehow find Him.
He would ask, if not you - Who? If not now - when? If not compassion for brokenness, what? The broken know they are broken and they are some of the most open to the love and good news of Jesus. When was the last time you were found among the broken, on purpose? And “on mission” for Jesus?
Father, forgive me for judging the broken more than I love the broken. Forgive me for staying safe with my Christian friends rather than engaging my unbelieving friends. Develop in me your mercy for the lost and my willingness to engage them in your name. Amen.
We have an uncanny ability to be highly critical of others and under critical of ourselves. In fact, if you listen to the normal chatter in the workplace, church, or neighborhood, you will normally hear a fair amount of analysis of other people and their lifestyle, decisions or personality. Of course, only those not there will be analyzed. This plays out in marriage as well where one spouse or both are critical of the other spouse. And the closer one knows another, the more areas they can be critical of.
This is a trap. It is a trap of pride because we feel the right to judge others. It is a trap of focus because rather than focusing on our own issues we focus on the issue of others, which of course is more comfortable than dealing with our own stuff. It is a spiritual trap because the focus on others robs us of the appropriate focus on ourselves and bringing our lives into alignment with Christ’s. It is a trap because we have little ability to change what others do but full ability to change what we do.
Jesus spoke to this trap in the Sermon on the Mount.“You look at the bit of sawdust in your friend’s eye. But you pay no attention to the piece of wood in your own eye. How can you say to your friend, ‘Let me take the bit of sawdust out of your eye’? How can you say this while there is a piece of wood in your own eye? You pretender! First take the piece of wood out of your own eye. Then you will be able to see clearly to take the bit of sawdust out of your friend’s eye. - Luke 6:37-42, NIRV
When it comes to judging and evaluating people, our first and most important focus should be on ourselves rather than others. Anything else is prideful hypocrisy, yet we do it all too often. David got it right in the Psalms when he would pray that God would evaluate and test his heart to see if there was any wicked way in him. His focus was first on his own heart and soul and a deep desire to see His life reflect that of God’s.
Here is something to consider. What would happen if every time we thought or said something critical of others, we reminded ourselves that the focus should not be on them but on us first. Ironically, we are often critical of others for what we ourselves are guilty of. We project on them our own issues. Self evaluation is far more important than other evaluation. It is also more humble and real. It is easy to be critical of others. It is far harder to face our own truth.
Don’t get caught in this trap. Instead, be gracious toward others and more reflective of our own lives. We will be better for it, and please Jesus in the process.
Father, please forgive me for the many, many times I have been critical and judgemental of others while ignoring my own stuff. Give me a gracious spirit toward others and a reflective spirit toward myself. Help me become more like you. Amen.
We often don’t realize how much of our personal worldview is dictated by the tapes we play in our head. Those tapes often come from our childhoods or our assumptions about ourselves. Often these tapes are fake news that has a toxic hold on our thinking. Here are some examples.
“God cannot use me because of the things I have done in my life. I will never get victory over my habitual sin. If people knew the real me they would not love me. I need to live up to other people’s expectations in order to be loved. If only I worked harder at my spiritual life, God would love me more. I am unworthy of God’s love - or anyone else’s. I will never conquer my constant anxiety about what people think of me.”
Every one of these thoughts is false. They are toxic thoughts that rob us of self worth, of peace, and they diminish the joy Jesus made us for. In John 10:10 Jesus says that the Evil One comes to steal, kill and destroy. How better to do that in your life than to make you believe lies like the ones above that keep you from experiencing what Jesus wants to give us: life and life to the fullest.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.” You see, that is our battleground. What we believe either keeps us from experiencing true joy and blessing, or contributes to it. But how do we transform our minds?
In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul gives us a key answer. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Strongholds are those things that hold us back and keep us from being all that God wants us to be. Often those are strongholds of the mind. Things we believe that are not accurate, tapes we play that are strongholds of the one who wants to rob us of joy. How do we demolish those strongholds? Paul says, “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Literally, Paul says, arrest those thoughts that are not true and replace them with God’s truth.
When our thought is “I am unworthy,” we replace that lie with this truth. “God has made me worthy.” When our thought is “God can’t use me because of my sin,” we replace that lie with the truth that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. When we think, “I cannot overcome that habitual sin,” replace that lie with the truth that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Taking our thoughts captive is one of the most powerful things we can do because falsehoods repeated in our thinking diminish our lives while thinking truthfully contributes to wholeness and spiritual well being.
Be conscious today of what you think and ask yourself, “Is that thought true or false?” If it is false, replace it with God’s truth about yourself. Take your thoughts captive and experience life like God designed it to be.
Father. Would you help me to see the truth about myself from your perspective as the one who has redeemed, forgiven and called me to join you in your work? By your Spirit, help me to be aware of the untruths I tell myself and replace them with your truth. Amen.
Our world has a pecking order that is based on money, power, race, beauty, popularity, education, occupation and where one fits in the socio-economic strata. It has always been that way in a fallen world. But there is another world - the Kingdom of God - where those rules don’t apply. Jesus has a way of turning conventional wisdom and practice on its head and this area is no exception.
Writing to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Paul writes this. “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’”
God doesn’t play by man's rules. Or Hollywood’s. Take Mother Teresa, that tiny woman who worked exclusively among the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. She was from a place almost no one knows - in what was, at the time Yugoslavia, who became one of the most famous Roman Catholic nuns and a missionary to India. Yet, this poor, tiny woman, with no money and no power and no social standing ended up telling the wealthy and powerful truth about God, His values and His love and compassion. As Paul said, “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.”
God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. That was true of David, a shepherd, Paul, a zealot, Timothy, a shy kid, Mother Teresa, and you, and I. He shows His power through people who have no power. He shows His wisdom through people who the world thinks are unsophisticated. Why? Because He is the giver of true life, true wisdom and true power. It is Him working in us that makes the difference. You see it has never been about us but always about Him.
God wants to use you, an ordinary person - today - in ways that please Him. You say, “I am not important.” God says, “That’s the point. It is not about your importance or wisdom or wealth or power. It is about Me who accomplishes my work through you.” All we can say is WOW! He wants to use me!
There is nothing more satisfying than to be used by God in small or big ways to bring bits of heaven to earth. To show love when others don’t, to help when others cannot be bothered, to speak truth when others are silent and to be the hands and feet of Jesus when others need Him. You may be considered ordinary people but you are God’s people carrying out His work.
Father, I want to thank you for saving me and using me. I am amazed that the God of the universe would not only care about me and adopt and redeem me but then use me to do His work in a world that focuses on wealth, power, and status. Thank you. I am available to be used by you today. Amen.
My twitter feed opened this morning with this tweet. “On the rare occasion that I am interviewed, I typically try to be academic in my discourse about abuse. Yesterday, I was interviewed and I sobbed. ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’”
There are wounds that we carry that are not easily healed. Those around us may not know, but we do. More than that, we feel it and given the right trigger, the emotions can overwhelm us once again. Some of those wounds were inflicted on us by others. Some, like illness or the death of a loved one, by life. And still others by our own decisions or sin. The source of the wound does not affect the pain of that wound.
On those days when our wounds open up again it is worth catching a vision of a day to come when no wound from any source will touch us again. It is the vision of John in Revelation 21 and 22 of a life to come where the old has passed away and the new has come. Here are parts of our future life:
“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘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.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they and they will be my children.” Revelation 21:1-7.
Think of a day when there is no death, no disease, no wounds that remain unhealed, no conflict, no anxiety, injustice, racism or relational divides. A new day when there is only newness, peace, and the presence of the Lord God Almighty. This is our future if we know Jesus.
On those days when life is overwhelming or sad or when life just hurts, remember that we are not yet in our final home. In that place, there will be everlasting joy, happiness, and healing. No tears, no sorrow, no pain. It is why the Apostle John ends the book of Revelation with these words, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
Father, the longer I live the more I look forward to the day when I am finally home and I live in the New Heavens and New Earth. A place where hurt cannot touch me anymore. Where you dry the tears of my eyes and fulfill the longing of my heart. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Personal peace is all too rare in today’s world. The news cycles seem to contain only bad news, a pandemic keeps us from our treasured relationships, and there is plenty to cause us anxiety and concern. It seems that the world is more divided than ever. There are racial divides, political divides, family divides, relational divides and even church divides. All of these can be thieves of our personal peace which we long to have in our souls. No amount of money or success can purchase peace. Think for a moment on what is robbing you of peace today.
The prophet Isaiah recognized the lack of peace in his own day where the social issues were about as complicated as in our day. But he also recognized that our source of peace - our Lord - is the only one who can grant us the peace of heart and soul that we yearn for. Here is what he says: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.” Isaiah 26:3-4.
There is a source of peace. But it is not us. It is not our monetary security. It is not that we are somehow immune from the issues we deal with. It is a gift from God that is given to us under certain conditions.
That peace is ours when our mind is steadfast because we trust in Him. A steadfast mind is one that is absolutely committed to following Him in our lives. A steadfast mind is one that is single minded, unflinching, faithful, and resolute toward God. There is no wavering or compromise. A steadfast mind is one that trusts in God completely, which not only leads to peace but to “perfect peace.”
To emphasize the point of trust, Isaiah says, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.” The key to life is trust in God. He is secure, immovable, and unchanging which is why He is called the Rock eternal. He is the Rock that we can count on always, today, tomorrow and forever.
We often lack peace because our mind is on the wrong things. We are trying to fix things that we cannot fix and deal with situations that we cannot resolve. Perfect peace comes from fixing our eyes and minds on God, not on ourselves or others. That peace does not mean the situation has been fixed. It means that we have reminded ourselves that if we walk in His ways and trust the Eternal Rock, we can trust him to resolve what He wants to resolve in His way and His time. I can give the issues to Him and leave it with Him. Once I give my anxiety to Him, I am left with His perfect peace.
Father, I want perfect peace in the midst of a messed up world and all the things that I am prone to worry about and fix. Help me to be steadfast in my obedience to you and trust you as the Rock eternal of my life. Today, I give you those things that rob me of peace and ask that as I transfer those things to you that you will replace them with perfect peace. Amen.
Nothing worthwhile happens without opposition. Someone will tell you 're crazy, the idea won’t work, you should not put energy into that, or there are those who just want to shut you down. They may not understand what God has put in your heart and called you to, may simply be jealous or it could be the evil one who doesn’t like that you are pushing into darkness with God’s light. Most of us have experienced that.
This happened to Nehemiah when he was doing an impossible task from most people’s perspective, rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem after a remnant of the Jews came back from captivity. There were enemies of the Jews and especially Nehemiah - Sanballat, Tobia and Geshem - who conspired against him and tried to shut down the rebuilding process.
Four times they had sent Nehemiah a message to come and meet with them. The meeting was a diversion where they could do Nehemiah harm or convince his leaders to shut down the building of the wall which would protect the city. Four times they invited Nehemiah to their consultation and four times he said no. The fifth time, they did what so many do today, sent an open letter to Nehemiah which of course was public and spread gossip and untruths. We do it by copying people on emails or using social media in our day.
I love how they started their letter. “It is reported among the nations - and Geshem says it is true - that the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall” so come let us confer before the king hears about it.
In other words he is spreading rumors and disinformation, fake news as it were, to stir up dust, intimidate and threaten Nehemiah with the King hearing their rumors. This was serious stuff but Nehemiah had faith and grit and was not deterred.
First, he simply sent a short reply “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” No explaining, no defensiveness, no fear. He just called a spade a spade. Second he prayed to God saying, “Now strengthen my hands.” They then sent a gentleman to prophecy against him - what I call “God talk” to force his hand. He saw through it and ignored it.
When God calls us to do something, opposition will often come. Don’t cave. If God asks us to do something He will provide a way through the difficulties. Don’t let anything deter you. Be unapologetic, ignore the criticism and move forward with faith and prayer and grit.
Father, give me the courage to hear your voice and the courage to keep going when things get tough. Help me trust you, rely on you and keep going, knowing that you are more powerful than any who would detract from your call. Thank you for using me. Amen.
You have been uniquely gifted by God to make a contribution to the common good of your church. Think about that. God has gifted you in a specific way and that gifting should contribute to the common good and to the unity of those with whom you find a church home.
This is what the Apostle of Paul says. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Unity in the church is not as frequent as we would desire. Many of us have left churches that were in conflict and where there seemed to be more ill will than good will. Where this is the case, it is often because we are not operating out of our God-given giftedness but in the flesh.
Seven times in these verses, Paul emphasizes the fact that these gifts are given to us by the same Lord, the same God and the same Spirit. God, in his infinite wisdom, distributes His gifts to His people by His Spirit for His work in the church. As Paul says, each of our gifts contribute to the common good of the congregation.
Now it is interesting that Paul was writing to the church in Corinth here which was a very divided church. Church divisions are not a new thing. They exist because we often live out of our lower nature rather than God’s nature. So Paul is making the point to the Corinthians that if each of them were living out God’s call on their life with His gifting, that the church would be unified rather than divided. After all, each of our spiritual gifts are given by the same Lord. A divided church is a sign that its people are not contrib uting to the common good through the use of their gifts. In fact, many churches have more spectators than they do participants and spectators find it easy to express their opinions without getting involved.
So here are the questions today. What gift has God given to you? Are you actively using it for the common good in your church? And do you have a commitment to the unity of the church, knowing that the same Lord gives each of us different gifts for the common good? Are you a spectator or participant?
Father. I thank you today that you have gifted me uniquely to contribute to your work in the local church and in your kingdom. Forgive me when I have been a spectator rather than a participant. I pray that through the use of my gifts that I would contribute to the common good of my church. May we be unified in you as you are the Lord of each one of us. Amen.
What are you proud of? All of us have accomplishments and have achieved goals that we can look back on with pride - especially when we had to work for them, exert ourselves and go beyond what we thought we could do. My wife, Cleo, is proud, for instance, that she has a college degree, being the first generation of her family from a rural province in the Philippines to get a degree. The distance from that fishing village to a University education is a long one but she and her siblings all went to the university, the one who went before helping the one behind, financially. It is a big deal and one to be proud of.
Pride is not always a bad thing. But for us who follow Jesus there is a source of pride that ought to go before all others. Listen to what the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:23-24.
This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.
When you think of what people are often proud of, they often fall into three areas. We are proud of how wise we are and, therefore, what we have accomplished in business or some other arena. Others are proud of what they can do through their connections, ability to get things done or negotiate. Or, we are proud of our riches, the stuff we own and therefore the stuff we can do based on our money. I know people in all three of these categories who are not only proud of their accomplishments, ability or possessions but who want others to know what they have done and become.
God raises our sights to a much higher level when he says this: “But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me.” Above all other things, the most important is that we know Him. Now let's qualify that because there are many who know a lot about God: they can quote scripture, debate theology, argue doctrine and even tell you what you should do on the basis of their knowledge. But that is not what God says here.
He says to boast that they have the understanding to know him, not simply to know about Him. To know Him is to have a personal relationship with Him, to be personally connected with Him.
And what does He want us to know about Him? “‘That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” He wants us to personally experience his kindness, justice and righteousness and in knowing this about Him, practice them in our own lives. Knowing Him and His character should be the thing of highest value in our lives and as such the thing that we pursue above all other things. And in the end, if we are going to boast, this is what we should boast about: We know God and His character and we have become more like Him in the process.
Father, like many I have things that I am proud of. But teach me that above all these things it is knowing you that matters. It is your character in me that matters. Because only these things cross the line from time to eternity. Amen.
The churches that I grew up in had a lot of rules about what choices one should make in life in regards to lifestyle. As did my parents which, I guess, was their prerogative. In the current day, many of those rules seem quaint and out of date. Being a Christian can bring with it a great deal of baggage as to what it means to follow Jesus. In fact, it could be argued that many churches do a better job of training new believers to follow their rules and they do to follow Jesus Himself. There are many Christians and churches who love to legislate how you deal with many issues of life, as if the only way to follow Jesus is to be in agreement with those rules.
This is an old problem. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees had turned a relationship with God into a bunch of rules, most of which you could not find in Scripture. Practices would become rules and rules would become like theology. And soon, to follow God meant that you were following man-made rules. This was the problem in the church of Galatia to whom Paul wrote the letter of Galatians. They were teaching that one had to keep the law to follow Jesus, when in fact, Jesus had abolished the law through His death and resurrection. The problem is that laws and rules and man-made requirements do not help us know Jesus and follow Him more closely.
Jesus came to set us free, not to enslave us. He came to set us free from the law and from our own sin. In John 8:31, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” God’s truth and his commands are the only way to true freedom. Man made rules cannot do that. He continued, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36.
It is against this backdrop that Paul chastises the Galatians for going from the freedom Jesus brought back to rules and regulations. He says in Galatians 5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
At the same time He further says, we should not allow our newfound freedom be an excuse to sin. We are free to love God and serve one another: “You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Galatians 5:13-14.
We live free from man-made rules and regulations. In fact, never allow anyone to tell you how you should live your life if it is not explicitly found in Scripture. The Christ life is not rule driven but relationship driven. If God gives us convictions on certain matters, great, but don’t insist that others treat those convictions as God ordained for them. We are free in Christ. But remember that our freedom should not be misused to indulge our sinful nature. Rather our freedom should unleash us to serve one another in love as we love our neighbor as ourselves.
Father, forgive me for those times when I have substituted man- made rules and regulations for a personal relationship with you. Remind me often that I am free. You have set me free. Don’t let me go back to the rulebook but release me to serve others in love. Amen.
It is amazing how quickly we can move from thanking God for his provision to complaining about his lack of it. Let’s admit it. We can be fickle and ungrateful at times. In the aftermath of their dramatic rescue we find the Israelites in the desert and what were the people doing? Grumbling and murmuring!
Exodus 16. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”
And so, God provided a bread called Manna. Which was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made of honey. Every morning it was found around them. We read that the Israelites ate manna for forty years till they came to the land of Canaan.It is ironic that even though God has adopted us, forgiven us, given his numerous blessings, that we find ourselves feeling sorry for ourselves, and even murmuring in our hearts that God is not doing more in our lives. It is the daily struggle to live in faith rather than fear.
What is even more amazing is that even though we grumble to God about our situation, He does not abandon us. In fact, He does what He always does and provides for our needs. He is faithful to us even when, in our humanity, we are not faithful in our appreciation to Him.
We have a choice whenever we face difficult circumstances. We can blame God and become cynical of His goodness to us. Or, we can thank Him, trust Him, and allow Him to provide the Manna, the help that we need, because He does. And He delights in doing so. In fact, I suspect that God smiles as He provides what we need because that is who He is. He loves us with an undying love and watches over our lives always.
Father, I thank you that even when my humanity and frailty get the best of me that you still hear and you still provide. You are good even when I am ungrateful. Great is your faithfulness. Amen.
If you are reading through Exodus with me, read chapters 18 and 19.
At the parting of the Red Sea, God showed His amazing power to the Israelites who moments before had been complaining about leaving slavery when they saw the armies of Pharaoh pursuing them. But God gave them a way to safety.
Exodus 14:29-31. “The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”
There is only one way to respond to God’s grace and faithfulness in our lives and that is thanksgiving and praise. In the aftermath of this incredible event, Moses and Miriam craft a song of praise that is majestic. Chapter 15 of Exodus.
I will sing to the Lord, for he is exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea, The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble. By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea… and the song ends after more praise with these words: The Lord will reign for ever and ever.
Think about how often we ask God for his help. Daily for most of us. But how often do we stop and thank him...praise him for what He has done in our lives? The Scriptures tell us over and over to live in thanksgiving to God. In fact, the discipline of thanksgiving is a key to living in faith because it is when we remember what God has done in the past that we can trust him for the future.
Faith is built as we remember God’s faithfulness and as we live in an attitude of Thanksgiving. It is why I journal because it gives me an opportunity to record God’s faithfulness to me on a daily basis. Take time today to think about God’s great faithfulness to you. Take time to thank Him for that faithfulness and remind yourself to live with an attitude of “Thank you Jesus” as you walk through your day. In fact, say it quietly to yourself through your day as I do. It will remind you of who He is.
Father, thank you for your faithfulness in my life. Help me to live in constant thanksgiving and faith. You will reign for ever and ever. Amen.
If you are reading with me through the book of Exodus, Read chapters 16 and 17.