Short Thought from 2 Peter

Peter was always "bigger than life" and that's how most of us remember him. He was the one to jump into the water to reach Jesus first.  He was the first disciple to ask, "Lord, save me!"
He was the first to understand Who Jesus was.

In John 13 when Jesus was washing His disciples' feet, we read:

     He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, "Lord are You going to wash my feet?"

     Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I doing, but later you will understand."

     "No," said Peter, "You shall never wash my feet."

Jesus' answer?

     "Unless I wash you, you have no part of Me."

Peter's reply?

     "Then Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

Peter always wanted more.....

And we all remember how Peter exclaimed, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will..." No one else made that bold claim.

But we know it came from a heart of courage and love.


These stories about Peter recorded in the gospels tell us a lot about Peter, and so tells us a lot about ourselves.

Peter's personality changed after the resurrection. He became a great preacher and his overwhelming character became more godly -- but when I look at 2 Peter, I can see some of the old Peter, especially in the opening verses:

     Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

     Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God of Jesus Christ...


Paul also begins his letters with "Grace and Peace" -- (grace always precedes peace) -- but Peter writes that they "be multiplied."  He is the only way to word it that way. And he did it that way in both of his letters.

And in 2 Peter 1:8, when referring to the desired traits of a Christian -- virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love -- he says that they should be in "increasing measure," or "abundance" -- just having these traits is not enough, he says --  they should be gaining power in our lives.

     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 if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. (2 Peter 1:8-9)

Good verses to memorize. If I am developing the traits of a godly life, in increasing measure, my life and ministry will be more effective. And it is linked to my knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Him.

If I am not growing in these qualities, that means I have forgotten where I came from! (How could any of us ever forget? But I do!)

Every morning when we awake, every evening when we lie down, and throughout the day -- we need to remember where we came from and what He did about it!

If we get one lesson from Peter, I supposed it would be that we should always ask for more. As Paul said in Ephesians 3:20:  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think.....that's our God!

Tradition tells us that Peter died an agonizing death, crucified upside down, in front of jeering crowds. He did not fall away.

Today martyrs around the world are suffering. This would be a good time to stop and pray, fast and pray, for the struggling (no, not struggling, the strong) Christians in Syria, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, Korea -- Christians being tortured and killed right now for their faith. It's too much to comprehend. But Peter knew about it first-hand, as did most of our early Church leaders.

Pray for the persecuted church around the world --

Challenging Words from a Long Time Ago!

                                     

                                             Challenging Words from a Long Time Ago!

John Chrysostom, one of the early church fathers -- 1600 years ago -- observed:

"Do you see how everywhere Paul puts the health of the community into the hands of each individual?"

Yes! We are called to "serve one another in love," "be at peace with one another," "submit to one another," "live in harmony with one another, "forgive one another," "teach and admonish one another," "be patient, bearing with one another in love," "confess your sins to one another," and so many other admonitions.

We all have a part in  the nurturing and growing of those who are following Christ alongside of us!

And as we nurture each other the whole body of Christ becomes stronger.

So it is just as that early church leader  said, 'the health of the entire Christian community is in the hands of each individual.'

Who Is A God Like Our God?

C                                

                                     Who is a God Like Our God?

"Who is a God like You, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy.

You will again have compassion on us; You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be faithful to Jacob and show love to Abraham, as You pledged to our ancestors in days long ago. (Micah 7:18-20).

HoMicah spoke these encouraging words to remind his people that God would redeem and restore them after their time of captivity.

Notice that his audience is God Himself. The Hebrews would be listening in on his  conversation with God and marveling at his ability to enter into God's Presence and speak openly with the Sovereign Creator of everything!

Micah's name actually means "Who is like our God?" So this understanding about Jehovah had been part of Micah's world-view for many years!

I especially love the reminder that our God "delights to show mercy.:

And I love the picture of Him 'hurling' our sins away into the depths of the sea. 'Hurling,' not dropping or letting fall, but powerfully casting them as a discus thrower proplels his burden as far away as possible, eager to win the gold medal!

As far as we know, the deepest place on earth is the Marianas Trench in the south Pacific. It is about 6 miles deep, except for a section called the "Challenger Deep", that is over 7 miles deep. We base that on specially designed deep-sea diving units we send down -- no human can survive those depths.

Try to imagine 7 miles deep! That's how far God hurls away our sins. Another place tells us He removes from us  our sins  'as far as the east is from the west' - so far a distance it can't be measured!

 Christ did all that for us! Yes, who is  a God like our God? And we could add from those last lines - who is a God like our God who always keeps His promises? How blessed we are to have a God like this!

Be Hatched or Go Bad - C S Lewis

We must be always changing, growing into what Christ intends us to be...

Christ never talked in vague terms. When He said, "Be perfect," He meant it. 

It is hard. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird; it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. 

We are like eggs at the present. And you cannot go on indefinitely just being an ordinary, decent egg. 

We must be hatched or go bad.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Old Songs and New Songs

 o                                    

                                     Old Songs and New Songs 

        Thinking  about a song that was popular some years ago -- the first lines were "I'd rather be blue, thinking of You, I'd rather be blue over you, than be happy with somebody new."

I think it was originally sung by Fanny Brice and then later by Barbra Streisand when she played Fanny in a couple of movies.

Anyway, look at those words -  Aren't they foolish? Who would rather be sad than be happy?

We would say to that person, one who had been abandoned by the one they loved (not through death, but just by being left for somebody else)..."Hey, I'm sorry you lost him...but it's time to move on...go back to living - get over it...it's time for a new relationship...." Things like that......

Here's an even better idea: move on to something better, or Someone better. Someone you can always count on. Someone who will never leave you. 

Make your most serious relationship Jesus - the only One we can count on forever.

He is and always will be there for us.

Here's a different and new song we can sing:

"Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You. You're my all, You're the best, You're my joy, my righteousness, and I love You, Lord.

Now my heart's desire to to know You more. To be found in You and known as Yours...You're my all, You're the best, You're my joy, my righteousness..and I love you, Lord...so I'll live with you and ever die. And I love You, Lord."

I sure like this song better than Fanny Brice's, don't you?

From An Old Monk

                                             From An Old Monk

I'm reading a great book: "On Loving God" by Bernard of Clairvaux, who lived about 900 years ago.

We often think of those ancient saints as being rigid and austere. And we are often wrong. He is loving and joyous in his faith and  displays that in his writing.

He also wrote one of my favorite hymns: "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee."

Here are some of the lines:

   Jesus, the very thought of Thee, with sweetness fills my breast.
   But sweeter  still Thy face to see, and in Thy presence rest.

   O hope of every contrite heart, O joy of all the meek
   To those who fall how kind Thou art, how good to all who seek!

   But what of those who find? Ah, this no pen or tongue can show
   The love of Jesus,  what it is, none but His loved ones know!

Sort of reminds me of a more modern hymn, "And He walks
with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own...
And the joy we share  as we tarry there, none other has ever known."

How God Wants Us To Dress

                                

                                

                                How God Wants Us To Dress!

How God wants us to live -- From Colossians 3 --

"Now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language...do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator....

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Bear with one another and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.

"Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

So it's about, first, what we need to take off, and then what we need to put on. (We can't wear two outfits at once!)  So let's change wardrobes today - take off our old clothes and put on the new wardrobe God has given us!

Chesterton, Orthodoxy - - Memory

From Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton, Chapter 4 ~~~~


     We have all read in scientific books, and indeed in romances, the story of the man who has forgotten his name.

     This man walks about the streets and can see and appreciate everything, only he cannot remember who he is.

     Well, every man is that man in the story. Every man has forgotten who he is.

      Man can understand the cosmos, but never the ego; the self is more distant than any star. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, but thou shalt not know thyself.

     We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten who we really are.

     All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life, we forget that we have forgotten.

     All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful moment we remember that we forgot.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I get re-reading those last two paragraphs....is there a more perfect description of our life in the 21st century?

C. S. Lewis wrote a lot about this same topic (It was Chesterton's writing that was so instrumental in bringing him to Christ -- actually sometimes it seems to me that they traveled on very similar roads in their spiritual journey -- ). Lewis often referred to that "yearning" and "longing" we all feel that something is missing -- that we are not really at home in the world, because, Lewis, recalls, we were not created or intended for this world! Blaise Pascal calls that emptiness inside a "God-shaped vacuum" that only He can fill. St. Augustine talked about our emptiness and restlessness that only ceases when we find our rest in Him.

At another time Chesterton wrote: We are homesick, even when we are at home.

It happens to us spontaneously...the cry of a bird, egrets circling in the sunlight, a great poem, a fine piece of porcelain, Bach's music, a rainbow, kittens tumbling in the garden, Puccini arias, sunset in the Texas sky  -- all kinds of experiences that awaken within our hearts that intense desire for more (we know deep down that this is not all there is!) -- for an encore -- and even then knowing it is just a glimpse of what we are missing...and what is yet to come!  An intense yearning to have everything put back to its proper place...

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!

 

Restore My Joy....

I'm reading Psalm 51 this morning. David wrote it after Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah.

It's, I think,  the clearest expression of confession and repentance and total forgiveness in Scripture.

It's  so universal, and yet so personal that this psalm has touched the hearts of God's people for centuries.  I have read that in the early church it was recited, as a group, at every Lord's Day service.

Look at verse 12. After his sincere confession, David is confident of God's faithful forgiveness, and now prays: "Restore to me the joy of  Your salvation."

When I first read this verse some years ago, I was startled by David's nerve! He is saying that even after the horrible sins he committed, 'Please, God, bring me back to that joyous relationship with You again!' 

How could he have the nerve to ask that? After all he'd done! And notice the expression, "Your salvation."....not "my salvation."

This wording appears throughout Scripture. Why? Because everything about salvation is from God. We don't initiate anything.

Beginning with our search for God, our seeing ourselves as the sinners we are, even our very repentance  is a gift of God. 

We do nothing, absolutely nothing, to achieve His salvation, except accept the gift. It's all about God.

"Amazing grace...grace that taught our hearts to fear and grace our fears relieved."

So why do we love this psalm so much? Because it is our experience, too. We are just as hardened and sinful as David. And we also stand in desperate of God's mercy and grace.

And we have it: Remember Hebrews 4:16? "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may find mercy and receive grace to help us in our hour of need."

Overwhelmed and Forgiven

 

                                    Overwhelmed and Forgiven

"When we were overwhelmed by sin, You forgave our transgressions"

                                    (Psalm 65:3).

It's all due to His grace. So how should we live?

How can we display His grace each day?

"Lord, because Your grace is underserved I should be humble; because it is costly I should be holy and loving; because it is unconditional I should be at peace...and through it all I should  be supremely grateful every moment. Amen."

"Lord, help me be to others as You have been to me. Amen."

He Longs to be Gracious

                              

                              Our Father God Longs to be Gracious to Us!

From Isaiah:  "This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says, 

'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it....yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of Justice, blessed are all who wait for Him.'" Isaiah 30:15-18.

What an amazing God we have! He 'longs to be gracious to us!' He even rises up to greet us and show us mercy when we approach His throne.

The prophet Micah says this: "You delight to show mercy!" (Micah 7:9).

Who would ever even imagine a God like this?

P.S. And notice where our strength lies? "In quietness and trust..."

"Be still and know that I am God" He tell us.

I Gotta Be Me - Why? (C S Lewis)

                                   "I Gotta Be Me" - Why?

Remember that song, "I Gotta Be Me"?

Here's what C S Lewis says about that idea: "The more we get what we call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.

There is so much of Him that millions and millions of "little Christs", all different, will still be too few to express Him fully.

He made them all. He invented -- as an author invents characters in a novel -- all the different men we were intended to be.

In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him.

It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him...It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His personality that I first begin to have a real personality of my own."

Someone else observed that we are all like beautiful stained glass windows hidden in a dark basement. Without Christ there is no light to glow on us and shine our beauty. When the light of Jesus come upon us, we all become masterpieces of glorious beauty. Before that we are just ordinary gloomy glass basement windows!

What is God Longing For?

From Isaiah:

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

     'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,  but you would have none of it....

     'Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion. 

For the LORD is a God of justice, Blessed are all who wait for Him.'"

                                                                      --Isaiah 30:15-18

What an amazing God we have! He 'longs to be gracious to us'! He even rises up to greet us when we approach His throne to show us His mercy.

The prophet Micah says this: 'You delight to show mercy'!

(Micah 7:9)

Who could ever imagine a God like that?

Why is it Important to be Heart-Broken? Oswald Chambers

                   Why is it Important to be Heartbroken?

Thoughts from Oswald Chambers:

"The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth.

He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought

into submission to His way for the  purpose of His redemption.

Why shouldn't we experience heartbreak?

Through those doors God is opening up ways of  fellowship with His Son.

Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God's purpose

and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy 

of others helps us to our death bed.

But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, 

as if to say, "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine."

If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart,

then why not thank Him for breaking yours?"

                    [Yes, why not thank Him for breaking mine?]

(US/TX) My Father is Here

Background: The Battle of Galveston Bay, January, 1863

In January, 1863, the island of Galveston was re-captured from Union control by the Confederate forces. It was an important win.

The Union general, two years later, said that Galveston, as a military position was second in importance only to New Orleans and Mobile. General Banks wrote to the Secretary of War in April, 1865, that the loss of Galveston was "the most unfortunate affair that occurred in [the Department of the Gulf] during my command."

Soon after the Battle, Confederate General Magruder told his soldiers:

Soldiers of the Army of Galveston:

The New Year dawned upon an achievement whose glory is unsurpassed. That glory is yours. You have recaptured an island 2 miles from the mainland. You have repossessed yourselves of your beautiful "Island City," and made its hostile garrison, entrenched behind inaccessible barricades, surrender to you at discretion....Your general is proud to command you; your State and country will honor you as long as patriotism and heroism are cherished among men.

General John Bankhead Magruder, Address to the Army of Galveston, January 14, 1863.

An Inside Story:

The Union troops entered Galveston Bay on the Harriet Lane. One of its young officers was Edward Lea, a valiant Tennessean.

His father, Colonel Albert Miller Lea, a classmate of Magruder at West Point, joined the Confederate Army, and was assigned to General Magruder's staff at Galveston.

In Colonel Lea's last letter to his son he had prophetically warned him,"if you decide to fight for the Old Flag [the Union army], it is not likely we will meet again except face to face on the battlefield."

And so it happened. Like other families, they were divided in their loyalties, and met their last time on the battlefield of opposing armies.

After the fighting had stopped at the Battle of Galveston, Albert Lea revealed to General Magruder for the first time that his son had been serving on one of the enemy's Union vessels involved in the battle.

Magruder immediately gave his friend permission to go look for his son.

As he had predicted before the war, Albert Lea arrived on the deck of the captured Harriet Lane to discover his son lying on the deck dying of multiple wounds.

The boy recognized his father and said, "Father, I wish I could have given the order to move the ship sooner."

Some soldiers nearby, who realized the boy was dying, asked, "Is there anything you need?"

And the boy, in love and trust, said, "No, my father is here."

Two days later, Albert Lea read the funeral service over his son's quickly dug grave in a burial plot in the Episcopal Cemetery on Galveston Island.

Today, if you visit the old cemetery in Galveston, walk among the grave markers and recall that valiant souls on both sides 'gave their last measure of devotion.'

And, if you look carefully, chances are you will come across one particular marker that is inscribed with an anchor and a spyglass, and the words:

Edward Lea
1840-1863
My Father is Here

My earthly father died in 1999. But through the work of Jesus Christ at the cross, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, I can confidently say every morning when I rise and every evening when I lie down to rest, "My Father is here."

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of god. I John 3:1

What manner of love....what a vast supply has been poured out on us...so that we can be called
God's children!

My Father is here. With me. All the time.

DOXOLOGY!

How God Helps Us! -- C S Lewis

                                         How God Helps Us!

                                                       --  C S Lewis

How God Helps Us -- Thoughts from C S Lewis:

"What do we mean when we talk of God helping us? We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak. He lends us a bit of His reasoning powers and that is how we think. He puts into us a little of His love and that is how we love one another.

When you teach a child writing, you hold his hand while he forms the letters: that is, he forms the letters because you are forming them.

We love and reason because Gods loves and reasons and He hold our hand while we do it."

Flying Horses and Other New Creatures - C S Lewis

 

                                Flying Horses and Other New Creatures

                                                                                         --  C S Lewis

"God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.

It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better, but like turning a horse into a winged creature.

Of course, once it gets its wings, it will soar over fences which could have never been jumped before and thus beat the natural horse at its own game.

But there may be a period, while the wings are just beginning to grow, when it cannot do so, and at that stage the bumps on the shoulders -- no one could tell by looking at them that they were going to be wings -- may even give it an awkward appearance."

This how C S Lewis describes that God is making us into special creatures.

We used to say, "Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet!"

It's true! We must be patient with each other...we are still a work in progress...and we are destined for much greater things! 

All of us!

What do I Need to Get Through This Day?

For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, 

 abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Psalm 86:4-5

Father,  what more do I need to get through this day! NOTHING!

Just knowing You are good, forgiving and merciful gives me the power to move forward with confidence and joy.

Nothing can separate me from Your love. 

I am one of those who call upon You.

I have so many regrets for my sins, but You constantly remind me of Your forgiveness.

Fill me with Your mercy now so that it will overflow from me into the lives of the other people I encounter today.

Help me to be to them as You have been to me.

In Christ's name I pray.

Amen.

An Extraordinary Attitude

Today I am thinking about a well-known passage: 

Philippians 4:11-13

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...."

Such familiar words  ... we memorized them as children in Sunday School and VBS and cheered when the characters of the Midford Series proclaimed them all over town!

Maybe these words are so familiar we have become immune to their meaning. 

What we see here is that Paul is talking about not just extraordinary times, but an extraordinary attitude. Being content in every circumstance, and that is extraordinary!

We also learn:  (1) that is is not common or easy to feel this way. He had  to learn it - it is not one of the gifts bestowed so generously by the Holy Spirit and (2) it is a secret. It is not obvious. It has to be searched out. That's where the Holy Spirit comes in - He teaches us that precious secret. 

As I look around at people these days I am aware more than ever how blessed we are!  We can face everything that comes before us - we find contentment in Jesus, because He is with us! We know He is leading us on this journey, and it is for our good and for His glory. Those two ideas that are attached like Siamese twins to our hearts: His glory and our good!

That Moment!

I am thinking of another hymn we used to sing. The title is: To God Be the Glory.

The first line begins, "To God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son..."

It's a truly great hymn of praise.

But right now I am pondering this line from the second verse:
"The vilest offender who truly believes - that moment from Jesus a pardon receives!"

"That moment" - that moment -.....no probation time, no internship, no "let's try it for 30 days and see if you can handle it"....no trial period, no further education or training needed....no application to fill out and be reviewed!

"That moment"!

Remember the jailer in Acts 16:31?  His urgent question to Paul
and Silas was just "What must I do to be saved?"

The answer? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!"

"That moment from Jesus a pardon received"....

Still the greatest mystery of all -- why does He care that much about us?All our lives - now and forever - are about "that moment!"

Bara - Psalm 51

Reflections on Psalm 51:10 ~~ 

Create in me a clean heart, O God

Asking for forgiveness wasn't enough for David. He wanted more.

This verse inspires me because it shows that David was aware of his true problem: his sinful acts came from his sinful heart. And he knew that he would sin again. For out of the heart comes evil...Jesus said (Matthew 15:19).

For David to ask God to create a new heart in him is a provocative request.

The Hebrew word for "create" is bara.

It is rarely used in Scripture. It describes what only God can do: to create from out of nothing (ex nihilo). Only God can do this.

In Genesis 1 the word bara is used three times: (1) the creation of matter, the heavens, and the earth - verse 1; (2) the creation of self-conscious life, the animals - verse 21; and (3) the creation of God-conscious life, human beings - verse 27. At all other times a less powerful verb is used.

So when David asked God to Create in me a clean heart, he was asking for a miracle! He was asking for something only God could provide.
And David knew that his new, clean heart, provided only by God, was really "out of nothing." I know that nothing good lives in me, wrote Paul (Romans 7:18).
David knew that God could not just patch up his heart, maybe apply some cleanser or new paint, or mend some broken spots.


It had to be re-made - created - out of nothing David had.

Ezekiel talked about a new heart also:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

A prayer we can voice every day: Create in me a clean heart, O G

I know not how the Spirit moves

Convincing me of sin

Revealing Jesus through the Word

Creating faith in Him.

--Daniel Webster Whittle

Giving us....from out of nothing...everything we need to bring us into God's family and everything we need to pursue holiness.

Looking for the Right Job? C S Lewis

 

                                               Looking for the Right Job?

Thoughts from C S Lewis:

"We have in our day started by getting the whole picture upside down.

Starting with the doctrine that every individual is of 'infinite value,' we then picture God as a kind of employment agency whose business it is to find suitable careers for souls, square holes for square pegs.

In fact, however, the value of the individual does note lie in him. He is capable of receiving value.

He receives it by union with Christ.

There is no question of finding for him a place in the living temple which will do justice to his inherent value.

The place was there first.

The man was created for it.

He will not be truly himself until he is there."

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).

Modern Weapons

                                 

                                            Modern Weapons

"Let your conversation always be full of grace" (Colossians 4:6).

Always...full of grace...

I find this admonition hard (and it is a commandment to us, not a suggestion for people who just want to win friends and be popular).

Words have become weapons these days; they wound and scar, permanently disabling people.

We who love Jesus should stand apart from the world, with its mean-spirited comments on social media. (Most times I think it should be called 'hurtful media', not 'social media'. 'Social' sounds too friendly!)

According to Matthew 12, every word -- even offhanded careless ones -- are indicators of what is really in our hearts.

I need to deal with that!

"Lord, save me from the sins of my tongue and the serious flaws of character that produce them. Make my words honest (by taking away my fear), few (by taking away my self-importance), wise (by taking away my thoughtlessness), and kind (by taking away my indifference and selfish irritability and motives).

Help me speak words full of your grace...always... Words that edify, not tear down. Amen."

Enemy-occupied Territory C S Lewis

 

                                                    Enemy-occupied Territory

                                                           --  C S Lewis 

"One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe -- a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease and sin.

The difference [between Dualism and Christianity] is that Christianity thinks the Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and then he went wrong.

Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think it is a war between independent powers.

It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel.

Enemy-occupied territory -- that is what this world is.

Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say, landed in  disguise, and is calling us to  take part in a great campaign of sabotage.

When you go to church, you are really listening-in on the secret wireless communications from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going."

So our job is to thwart and sabotage all the devil's (the one who is rebelling against God)  plans and activities. When we go to church we are "plotting"  to overthrow him. We  are dangerous to him! Yay rebels! But we are on the winning side!

Daniel - How did God Show His love for Him?

What God said to Daniel --

    I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, 'My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be?'

    He replied, 'Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand....

    As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest and then at the end of the days you will rise up to receive your allotted inheritance.' 

Daniel 12:9-13

How many times have I read this passage? Dozens?  - maybe a hundred times in my life. But this week I keep re-reading these gracious words. 

How God must have loved Daniel! And how confident Daniel was of His love for him! After revealing so much of the future of mankind and God's Kingdom to Daniel - Daniel knew more than anyone else about what was going to transpire - 'Daniel, go on with your life...you will rest and at the end of your days you will receive your reward.....well done!'

 

Now look at this!

It is really fascinating to compare these words to Daniel at the end of his revelation of things to come with those words spoken by the angel to John the author of the Book of Revelation at the end of the visions given to him. Look at  the Book of Revelation written by John hundreds of years later.Turn to the last chapter (22) and see verses 8-11 -- see how the angel repeated similar words to him at the end of his revelation to John? 

  "I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things....Then he [the angel] told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong, let him who is vile continue to be vile, let him who does right continue to do right, and let him who is holy continue to be holy."

To Daniel: These words are rolled up and sealed until the end of time

To John hundreds of years later: Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book because the time is near....

Yes, I am coming soon!

Amen, come Lord Jesus!

 

Goodness and Mercy

Re-reading Psalm 23 again today.

As always, finding something new to bring  me joy and inspiration..... and of course, gratitude.

 I wonder, what would David think if he could see how many people today ponder his words, relishing every phrase. Finding comfort and encouragement.

I wonder how many people have quoted these words at funerals. 
How many caskets have been placed in the ground as a minister
and loved ones prayed, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For Thou art with me..."  Has to be millions - after all, it's been three thousand years!

I think about Mary and Martha when they placed the body of their
brother, Lazarus, in the tomb - were they mouthing these words?
Did Jesus' mother, Mary, recite them, too, as she saw the life ebb out of her Son's body on the cross?

And I so love these words: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."  "Surely" and "shall", not "maybe," or "I hope",  and "all", not "sometimes."

What a Good Shepherd we have! And David seemed to know Him very well.

"Goodness" and "mercy" - daily gifts to us from Our Father. He's leading us and they are following, like other sheep following their Shepherd.

What a parade, what a convoy, we make!

We don't have to worry about them keeping up with us - they never let  us out of their sight!

A friend once had two golden labs - she named them, yes, "Goodness" and "Mercy" - what a joy to see her walking them in our neighborhood!

Reminds me of an old gospel song:

He leadeth me, He leadeth me,
By His own hand He leadeth me!
His faithful follower I will be, 
For by His hand He leadeth me!

By His own hand - not an angel or someone to substitute - His own hand!

The words of this song were written by Joseph Gilmore about
150 years ago....here are some more of his thoughts...

He leadeth me, O blessed thought,
O words with heavenly comfort fraught.
Whate'er I do, where'er I go
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me!

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom,
By waters still, over troubled sea,
Still 'tis His hand that leadeth me!

Lord, I would clasp Thine hand in mine
Nor never murmur nor repine
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since 'tis Thy hand that leadeth me!

And when my task on earth is done
When by Thy grace the victory's won,
Even death's cold wave I will not fear
Since God through Jordan leadeth me!

US: National Days of Prayer

During the colonial days, preparing for the Revolutionary War, and during the progress of the War, the colonial leaders called often for days of fasting and prayer, for days of appealing for God's help in their endeavors.

In June of 1778, Congress, who had fled Philadelphia because of the British control of that city and were meeting secretly in York, heard that the British troops had evacuated Philadelphia in order to send troops to fight the French in the West Indies.

So Congress returned to Philadelphia and they were able to celebrate the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, just where they had celebrated it in 1777 and 1776.

It caused great celebration to be able to return to the birthplace of the Revolution.

There were several days of fasting and prayer designated in September and October. By November it seemed that the French would likely come into the War as our ally. More encouraging news.

A thanksgiving resolution drafted by Samuel Adams was adopted by Congress on November 3, 1778, recommending Wednesday, December 30, as a day of public thanksgiving and praise, "it having pleased Almighty God through the course of the present year, to bestow great and manifold mercies on the people of these United States."

Samuel Adams and others in New England conceived of a God above us who was willing to intervene for the American cause, but only if the Americans themselves did their share by acting with virtue. He wrote from Philadelphia on December 21, 1778, "Our independence, I think, is secured. Whether America shall long preserve her freedom or not, will depend on her virtue."

To many colonial leaders happiness, liberty and virtue are always connected concepts.

I can't find a single reference to liberty in the writings of Samuel Adams that did not link it with virtue. The "pursuit of happiness" phrase of Jefferson meant, "pursuit of a life of virtue."

We define "happiness" nowadays mostly as possession of things, material objects we can touch and secure for ourselves. Jefferson first wrote in the Declaration the original phrase, popularized by philosophers of his day, "life, liberty and the pursuit of property." He didn't want to make our aims quite that materialistic, and so he changed property to happiness, meaning to pursue a virtuous life.

Now we have come full circle and interpret happiness as material goods! I wonder if he would shake his head now and wonder if we knew what we were saying? or thinking?

It all seems to be related to the Old Testament, so often quoted by our early leaders. Israel was saved (brought out of Egypt) before the law was given. So that is grace, right? But God also warned them repeatedly that they would not be able to keep their national liberty unless the nation honored God through obedience to His laws. Their political freedom was related directly to their obedience to His commands. (This is concerning their national freedom, not the godly individuals who daily walked with Jehovah in their often ungodly culture.)

"I am afraid the cry of too many," Samuel Adams said, "is get money, money, and then let virtue follow if she will.

"The inordinate love of gain will make a shameful alteration in the character of those who have heretofore sacrificed every enjoyment to the love of their country. He is the best patriot who stems the torrent of vice, because that is the most destructive enemy of his country."

Adams and his colleagues felt the American colonies were the "new Israel" that God was calling to be a lighthouse for the world. They often compared the ships bringing colonists over to America to Noah and his ark. As God saved a remnant of people from the devastating flood, intending them to start a new civilization in an unspoiled new world, so God brought a remnant of people over from the evil and darkness of Europe to found a new world, one that worshiped and obeyed Him.

Our earliest National Days of Prayer were proclaimed to restore that sense of virtue.

Where is God when it hurts? Where are we? Notes from Philip Yancey

Where is God when it hurts? Where are we when it hurts? 

(40 days after Christ's resurrection, He ascended from earth back to His eternal heavenly glory...)

Dealing with Christ's Ascension back to His Glory....

Jesus knew that the world He left behind would include the poor, the hungry, the prisoners, the sick. The decrepit state of the world did not surprise Him.

He made plans to cope with it: a long-range plan and a short-range plan.

The long-range plan involves His return, in power and great glory, to straighten out planet earth.

The short-range plan means turning it over to the ones [us] who will ultimately usher in the liberation of the cosmos.

He ascended so we could take His place.

"Where is God when it hurts?" I have often asked. The answer is another question, "Where is the church when it hurts?"

That last question, of course, is the problem of history in a nutshell, and also the reason why I say the Ascension represents my greatest struggle of faith.

When Jesus departed, he left the keys of the kingdom in our fumbling hands.

The problem showed itself early on.

Commenting on the church in Corinth, Frederick Buechner writes, "They were in fact Christ's body, as Paul wrote to them here in one of his most enduring metaphors--Christ's eyes, ears, hands--but the way they were carrying on, that could only leave Christ bloodshot, ass-eared, all thumbs, to carry on God's work in a fallen world."

I could fill several pages with such colorful quotations, all of which underscore the risk involved in entrusting God's own reputation to the likes of us.


Unlike Jesus, we do not perfectly express the Word. We speak in garbled syntax, stuttering, mixing languages together, putting accent marks in wrong places.

When the world looks for Christ, it sees, like the cave-dwellers in Plato's allegory, only shadows created by the light, not the light itself.

Why don't we look more like the church Jesus described? Why does the body of Christ so faintly resemble Him?

If Jesus could foresee such disasters as the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Christian slave trade, apartheid, why did He ascend in the first place?

I cannot provide a confident answer to such questions, for I am part of the problem. Examined closely, my query takes on a distressingly personal cast: Why do I so poorly resemble Him?

How can one sinful man, myself, be accepted as a child of God? One miracle makes possible the other.

I remind myself that the apostle Paul's soaring words about the Bride of Christ and the temple of God were addressed to groups of hideously flawed individuals in places like Corinth.

"We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us," wrote Paul, in one of the most accurate statements ever penned.

-- From The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey.

[Note: You can read Paul's two letters to the flawed church in Corinth in the New Testament of your Bible - the letters are titled, not surprisingly, 1 and 2 Corinthians. For other examples, you can look around you at some of us other flawed sons and daughters of God!] 

Cast Your Cares

                             

                                           Cast Your Cares

Psalm 55:22 -- "Cast your cares on the LORD and He will sustain you."

And the same idea is repeated hundreds of years later by the Apostle Peter when he tells us to 'cast your cares on the Lord for He cares for you.'

Peter would have known Psalm 55 very well -- remember the Old Testament was the BIble he read, as well as Jesus, John and Paul and all the other apostles.

God does not take all our troubles away, but He sustains us and gives us the strength and courage to handle all our challenges. 

If we are in a storm, and we pray to Him, He may quiet the storm as He did in Mark 4 when He and His disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee.  A fierce storm came up and the "waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped."

Jesus was asleep. The disciples were terrified and woke Him up. "Don't You care if we drown?" they asked Him. He rebuked the wind and stilled the waves. It was completely calm."

He may do this right now for you as you go through your storm.

Or He may just allow the storm to challenge you and give you the strength to face it and walk through it as He did in Matthew 14. That time the disciples were on a boat battling the waves and wind, trying to safely land and pick up Jesus.

It was night. Jesus decided to walk out to them, walking on the lake. When they saw Him they were terrified. "It is a ghost" they said and cried out in fear.

Jesus told them to "Take courage. Don't be afraid. It is I."

Peter said, "Lord if it be You, tell me to come to you on the water."

And Jesus said. "Come."

So he did.

He started out bravely, but got afraid and began to sink. Peter then prayed the shortest prayer in the Bible, "Lord, save me!"

Immediately Jesus reached out and caught him.

Peter was present for both of these miracles.

Sometimes Jesus chooses to stop the storm and other times He doesn't -- He chooses to help us get through it. Keeps the storm away from us or walks with us through it. Either way is OK, right?

Not my will, but Your will be done is our prayer.

"Take courage" -- not look for courage...take it...it is here. I am giving it to you!

"Don't be afraid. It is I."

Remember Easter?

                                      REMEMBER EASTER

What did we celebrate?

"The angel said...then go and tell His disciples: He has
risen from the dead and is going ahead of  you into Galilee.  
There you will see Him." Matthew 28:6

YOU WILL SEE HIM!

Yes, He has risen...and yes! you will actually see Him!


What extraordinary news! 

And it was to be announced to the disciples;  not to Pilate, not to Herod, not to the prestigious religious leaders. 

But to the disciples, because it had serious implications for them. They now knew He was who He said He was all along. 

And they remembered His words: "Because I live you shall live also."

What a miracle - IT WAS ALL TRUE!!! 

So this Sunday, and every Sunday (because every Sunday is a celebration of that first resurrection Sunday) we celebrate two resurrections...His and ours!

But also we celebrate every day! Every morning we wake up...

every glorious sunrise, every miracle we experience all day -

it's all a celebration of His resurrection..because it is also a celebration of our redemption and restoration to His special family to live with Him forever!

Let's go celebrate!

What Actually Took Place - From The Message

 

What Actually Took Place

                                               - from The Message

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man.

Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with Him. 

Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am  no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me.

The life you see me living is not "mine" but it is lived by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I am not going back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God?

I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace.

If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

                                             -- Galatians 2:19-21, The Message