The Perfect Picture of Grace

 His Word Reminds Us --

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on them who fear Him, for He knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust."

   -- Psalm 103:8-14

   Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sin!

Somebody is Listening!

This morning I am reading Acts 16 - an amazing record of the strength and courage of the early Christians. 

Paul and Silas are in Philippi, have made contact with Timothy, and soon Luke will be joining them.

Paul and Silas preach the gospel and meet great hostility from the citizens, who drag them to the magistrates. They are beaten severally, imprisoned, and placed in the painful stocks.

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them" (Acts 16:25).

Lots happening in this chapter. This morning I am intrigued with the phrase, "and the other prisoners were listening."

Paul and Silas, bloody and in great pain, were singing and praising God!

The other prisoners noticed! Probably shocked! Reminds me that people notice how we deal with hardship. Does God shine through us in our difficult times? That's when others see He is truly Lord of our life, not just in the good times -- but all the time!

These prisoners also witnessed the salvation of the jailor who asked, "What must I do to be saved?" Maybe some of them, then, or later, also responded...some of them probably joined that growing group of believers in Philippi and eagerly read Paul's letter to the Philippians later when he wrote to them, encouraging them to always express joy in all circumstances!

They had seen Paul himself, weak from loss of blood, and in great pain, keep praising God, and they could relate everything that happened that night. They were witnesses to what it means to always be joyful -- no matter what!

Let's remember today that, no matter what we are going through, others are watching and listening!

Down The Rabbit Hole!

 

Remember the mysterious rabbit hole in Alice's Wonderland? If you went down that rabbit hole you landed in a strange, puzzling chaotic world where nothing made sense. I feel like that is the world we are living in today! So how are we to live in this "not-so-brave' new world?

Paul tells us how to cope in his letter to Titus --

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'no' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope -- the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good." 

PS Jesus, the gift of God's grace, has already appeared -- and the blessed hope of His glory is His next coming! Praise the Lord forever!

 [I love the idea that we need to be 'eager to do good'! Refraining from evil is not enough -- we please God when we search out, with eager anticipation, ways we can do good!]

(BTW - it does seem to me that Paul mentions 'self-controlled' a lot of times in his letters - sometimes that makes me uncomfortable!!! What about you?)

Old Hymn - Older Poem!

 

I love this old hymn. Written about 400 years ago. It is based on an even older poem written about 1000 years ago by someone unknown to us today.....

 This is a good time to stop and gaze at Jesus on that cross...see what Mary saw...,and see what that poet saw...and let the tears flow....

    "O sacred head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down.

Now scornfully surrounded by thorns, Thine only crown.

How pale Thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!

How does that visage languish which once was bright as morn!

     What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners' gain.

Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.

Lo, here I fall, my Savior! Tis I deserve Thy place.

Look on me with Thy favor. Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

     What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest Friend,

For this, Thy dying sorrow,  Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be

Lord, let me never, never, outlive my love for Thee."

,

The Best Thing I've Re-read Lately......C S Lewis

Of course we never wanted, and never asked, to be made into the sort of creatures He is going to make us into.

But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us.

He is the inventor, we are only the machine. He is the painter, we are only the picture. How should we know what He means us to be like?...We may be content to remain what we call "ordinary people," but He is determined to carry out a quite different plan.

To shrink back from that plan is not humility -  it is laziness and cowardice. To submit to it is not conceit or megalomania - it is obedience.

Here is another way of putting the two sides of the truth. On the one hand we must never imagine that our own unaided efforts can be relied on to carry us even through the next twenty-four hours as "decent" people. If He does not support us, not one of us is safe from some gross sin.

On the other hand, no possible degree of holiness or heroism which has ever been recorded of the greatest saints is beyond what He is determined to produce in every one of us in the end. The job will not be completed in this life; but He means to get us as far as possible before death.

That is why we must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected), he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along--illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation--he is disappointed...

God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level - putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary; but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us...

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.

But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.

What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building a quite different house than the one you were thinking of--throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.

You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

From Mere Christianity, Book 4, Chapter 9, Counting the Cost, by C. S. Lewis

Old Songs and New Songs

                                    

                                     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?

We Can Start Forever Today!

                                                

                                                       We Can Start Forever Today!

A sincere prayer from Psalm 30:

      To You, O LORD, I called; to the LORD I cried for mercy.

      Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me and be my help.

This is how David cried out to God for mercy. Be my help, he begged.

God hears our prayers for His help.

And here is David's response to God:

      You turned my wailing into dancing; 

      You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

      that my heart may sing and not be silent.

      O LORD, my God, I will give You thanks forever.

God will listen to our humble and desperate prayers and will reward us with joy forever.

David says, I will give You thanks forever.

Let's start on "forever" today!

Protoevangelium - Prototype of the Gospel

 Protoevangelium - Prototype of the Gospel

The first glimpse of God's plan to finally destroy Satan's hold on mankind occurs right there in the Garden of Eden, where Satan began his campaign to destroy God's perfect world. It is recorded in Genesis 3:15: "So the LORD God said to the serpent, '...I will put enmity between you and the and woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.'"

That set the stage for the ancient struggle between good and evil -- between God and Satan. That was Act 1.

John explains Act 2 in 1 John 3:8 -- "The reason the Son of God came was to destroy the devil's work." That was done at the cross. The power of Satan over us was abolished.

And then in Revelation 20 we see the final destruction of Satan - the ancient serpent who deceived man from the very beginning. "The old serpent, who is the devil, is thrown in the lake of burning sulphur to spend eternity, without God and without hope forever." That is the final Act - Act 3.

We were saved from the guilt and punishment for our sin at the cross. We are being saved every day from Satan's power over us through the Holy Spirit -- "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" we are promised in 1 John 4:4.  And in the future we will be saved from Satan's very presence when we are in heaven with our Savior and Satan is in the lake of punishment.

That's the gospel -- good news of God's grace -- for all times --  past, present, and future!

Genesis 3:15 is known as the "Protoevangelium"- the first glimpse of the gospel message. The "prototype" of what God has done for us. The promise that God's great enemy will be utterly destroyed. And we will join God's family and live with Him forever!

Yes, Satan can still right now disturb us and distract us, but he cannot defeat us and his time is short!

Jesus has already saved us from Satan's power over us, and someday He will save us from Satan 's very presence!

And so, come quickly, Lord Jesus! Maranatha!

Cut Flowers - Eric Metaxas

Q. But right-thinking people want to do good...right?

A. Of course. But it is as if we're cut flowers. We might look great, but we are dying. We've been cut off from our Source. And He wants to reattach us so that His life can flow through us again.

But many people say, "Hey, I'm looking great! Check out the color of my petals! The bees are all over me!"

But because we're cut flowers, it's only a matter of time until we wither and die. It's inevitable. Without God we have no life, no goodness that lasts. We were meant to live forever, but until God reattaches us to Him--until we choose to allow Him to do that--we have no eternal life.

--From Everything You Always Wanted to Know about God...by Eric Metaxas...

       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.

John 15:5

Lord's Supper - John Stott

Thoughts from John Stott:

During the meal in the upper room Jesus took bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

These are immensely significant words and actions, for they tell us Jesus's own view of his death.

Three truths stand out:

1. The first is the centrality of his death. Jesus was giving his own instructions for his memorial service. They were to eat bread and drink wine in memory of him. Moreover, the bread would stand not for his living body but for his body given for them and the wine for his blood shed for them. In other words, death would speak from both the elements.
 So it was by his death that he wished to be remembered.

2. The second truth we learn from the Lord's supper concerns the purpose of Jesus's death. According to Matthew, the cup stood for "my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt 26:28).

This is the truly fantastic claim that through the shedding of his blood in death God would establish the new covenant promised through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31), one of whose greatest promises was the forgiveness of sins.

3. The third truth taught by the Lord's Supper concerns the need for us to appropriate personally the benefits of Jesus's death.

For in the drama of the upper room the disciples were not spectators only but participants. Jesus not only broke the bread but gave it to them to eat. Similarly, he not only poured the wine, but gave it to them to drink.

Just so, it was not enough for Christ to die; we have to make the blessings of his death our own. The eating and the drinking were, and still are, a vividly acted parable of receiving Christ as our crucified Savior and of feeding on him in our hearts by faith.

The Lord's Supper, as instituted by Jesus, was evidently not meant to be a slightly sentimental "forget me not" service; it was rather a drama rich in spiritual significance.

What Does Prayer Really Do? C S Lewis

 

                          

                    What Does Prayer Really Do? C S Lewis

"Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly complete Person.

Prayer, in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and the enjoyment of God its bread and wine.

In it God shows Himself to us."

So in prayer God shows Himself to us....don't we usually get it backwards?

Important People We Never Heard Of -- #1

 

There was a farmer in North Carolina, in the 1930's, who greatly influenced history.

He was a Christian and excited about a revival going on near him. The preacher, Mordecai Ham, was well-known and great crowds were attending and many were receiving Christ as their Savior.

The farmer decided to invite his neighbors to attend the meetings with him and he loaded them into his pickup!

A sixteen-year old boy joined the group. Every night he went to the revival and the farmer kept praying for his salvation.

Finally, the last night, the lad went forward and received Christ as his Savior.

That young man was Billy Graham!

Just think how the world has changed, for millions of people, by that farmer's obedience to proclaim God's message. 

Today's challenge: we might not have a pickup, but we have a multitude of other ways to get out the joyous message of freedom in Christ. God loves us and invites us to co-partner with him to change people and so change the world. We don't have  to be famous, or rich, or powerful. God can use us just as we are! With or without a pickup! 

How can He use you today?

My Worst Day - Jerry Bridges

Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:10).


Does He care?

The good news of the gospel is that God's grace is available on our worst days.

That's true because Christ fully satisfied the claims of God's justice and fully paid the penalty of the broken law when He died on the cross in our place. Because of that, Paul could write, "He forgave us all our sins" (Colossians 2:13).

Does this mean God no longer cares whether we obey or disobey? Not at all. The Scripture speaks of our grieving the Holy Spirit through our sins (Ephesians 4:30).  And Paul prayed that we "may please God in every way" (Colossians 1:10).

Clearly, He cares about conduct and will discipline us when we refuse to repent of conscious sin. But God is no longer our Judge. Through Christ He is now our heavenly Father who disciplines us only out of love and only for our good.

If God's blessings were dependent on our performance, they would be meager indeed. Even our best works are shot through with sin--with varying degrees of impure motives and lots of imperfect performance.

We're always, to some degree, looking out for ourselves, guarding our flanks, protecting our egos. It's because we don't realize the utter depravity of the principle of sin remaining in us and staining everything we do that we entertain any notion of earning God's blessings through our obedience.

And because we don't fully grasp that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins, we despair of God's blessing when we've failed to live up to even our own desires to please God.

Your worst days are never so bad that you're beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you're beyond the need of God's grace.

Reshaping the Pot

                                           

                                                      Reshaping the Pot

Jeremiah 18:1-6  "...The pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hand; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him."

God sent Jeremiah to visit a potter's house and he sees the potter shaping the "marred" clay with his hand, carefully handling the material and forming it into another pot.

The prophet reminds us that God is the skillful Potter and we are the clay.

He is sovereign and can use what He creates to both destroy evil and create beauty in us. God can shape us even when we are  broken. He, the master Potter, can and is willing to create  new and precious pottery from our shattered pieces. He doesn't look at our broken lives and mistakes them as waste to be thrown away.

Instead, He picks up our pieces and reshapes them as He sees fit.

Even in our brokenness we have immense value to our Master Potter.

In His hands, the broken pieces of our lives can be reshaped into beautiful vessels to be used by Him.

Something beautiful, something good

All my confusion He understood

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife

But He made something beautiful of my life!

Clarify Thy Son

A clarifying truth...

Look at Wycliffe's English translation of the Bible (directly from the Latin Vulgate and finished in 1382) and see how he expressed the word we use today -- glorify -- as clarify in his version of John 17.


I love reading it this way:


These things Jesus spake, and when he had cast up his eyes into heaven, he said, 'Father, the hour cometh, clarify thy Son, that thy Son clarify thee....


I have clarified thee on earth, I have ended the work that thou hast given to me to do...


and now, Father, clarify thou me...with the clearness that I had at thee, before the world was made...


Father, they which thou hast given to me, I will that where I am, that they be with thee, that they see my clearness..


And I have given to them the clearness, that thou hast given to me....


What a remarkable way to look at it -- when we truly glorify God we make Him clearly visible to those around us -- we should be making Him clear -- clearly seen and free of impurities -- I remember my mother teaching me how to clarify butter --

Prayer for today - that I will clarify the Person of Jesus Christ and the presence of our Father and the Holy Spirit in my walk and in my talk...
everywhere I go - that He will be clearly seen in me!

May the mind of Christ my Savior

Live in me from day to day

By His love and power controlling

All I do and say.

May the peace of God my Father

Rule my life in every thing

That I may be calm to comfort

Sick and sorrowing....

Or, another song we love..."Let Others See Jesus in You"!



I looked up "clarify" in the dictionary -- from Middle English and Latin -- to make illustrious, clear, bright, famous...1.  make or become clear and free from impurities  2. to make or become easier to understand....



Clarify is a great, spiritually functional word!

A Chosen People (Con't)

(con't. from yesterday, April 9)

Part 3

Read Zechariah, chapter 3 

  Satan is always standing by us, accusing us. His words are relentless. "You keep messing up. You won't be faithful! You won't obey Him! Remember yesterday? You are not worthy to be His child! You are a hypocrite  and everybody knows it. Just give it up!"

  The way we can silence and rebuke Satan is to face him and proclaim the gospel truth: "Yes, I sometimes fail, but He has forgiven me and will always forgive me and will always love me!" And immediately thank God for His grace and forgiveness! Even as Satan is speaking to you, begin to thank and praise God for His eternal faithfulness! Turn every accusation of Satan into a praise for our Savior!

  Yes! That's how we rebuke Satan -- we turn his curses of us into praises for our Savior Jesus! Yes, look  at Satan, but gaze at Jesus!

   Yes, glance at Satan, but gaze at Jesus!

   Look at verses 3 and 4.  The guilt of the high priest is demonstrated by the filthy clothes he wears. God, in His grace, has them removed and re-clothes him in righteous garments. Just like Jesus did at the cross. We gave Him all our filthy garbage and clothing and He exchanges it for His garments of righteousness: a vivid picture of forgiveness.

                                       ************************************

"I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels" (Isaiah 61:10).

  Jesus wore our sins when He was on the cross so that we could wear His righteousness forever!

  What's more, He restores Joshua to his role as high priest, even placing the priestly turban with the words "Holy to the Lord", described in Exodus 28.

  What has Joshua done to deserve this or make it happen?

  Absolutely nothing!

  It is all an act of God's grace.

  Because of Jesus we didn't get what we deserved -- punishment for our sins. But also because of Jesus we got what we didn't deserve -- His mercy and forgiveness!

  Review chapter 3 and see what Joshua received. He was...

     Chosen!

     Rescued!

     Secured!

     Forgiven!

     Declared righteous and holy!

   All from God's amazing grace...

    And all a preview of what Jesus would do when He came! Zechariah's vision was truly a prototype, a preview of coming attractions -- of glorious times to come!

   And God allowed Zechariah to have a review of it!

   He was so blessed.  And we are even more blessed -- Because WE have been

     CHOSEN!

     RESCUED!

     SECURED!

     FORGIVEN!

     DECLARED RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY!

   And so the greatest evil in all of world history became the greatest gift in all of world history!!

                              "When He shall come with trumpet sound, 

                    O may I then in Him be found. 

                    Dressed in His righteousness alone, 

                    Faultless to stand before the throne."

                                --- From "The Solid Rock"

 

A Chosen People

 Part 1

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9).

I love finding glimpses of Jesus in the Old Testament. And there are so many! As Sally Lloyd-Jones says, "Every story whispers His name."

A really special example is the prophet Zechariah, who has the task of encouraging his people to finish the rebuilding of the temple when they return from exile. God sends him visions of future things that will come, because they are His chosen people! Forever!

Years ago -- many years ago -- when we went to the local movie theater, in addition to the main movie, they presented a feature called "Previews of Coming Attractions." They were enticing us to watch for the great things coming soon! In a way, the Old Testament is like that: presenting previews, prototypes, of what is coming next! And Zechariah is like that -- a hint, a preview, of something even more wonderful coming! And it's all about Jesus -- the best is yet to come!

Read chapter 3 in the Zechariah record. Verses 1-3 set the stage for us. We have a powerful picture of that unseen battle happening in the spiritual realm. There  is Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, while Satan stands beside him to accuse him. That's what Satan does! He accuses, he shames, he recounts past sins. Here he is ready at accuse Joshua -- probably pointing out everything he has ever done wrong, his failures, his unworthiness.

And he is doing this right now -- to us!

He is the prosecuting attorney! But what does God say? And what happens next?

Part 2

Read again Zechariah, chapter 3.

Verse 2. It appears that Satan, the prosecutor of Joshua, has not started his tirade. But God silences him even before he begins. And how does God describe Joshua? "A burning stick snatched from the fire."

You  probably have sat near a bonfire. And you have seen a charred log, burned down, blackened and smoldering. It's been through the flames. It still has its shape, but is not what it once was. It looks ruined, maybe useless. This is the picture Zechariah gives us: a person pulled out of destruction, rescued from what could have utterly consumed him entirely, and says to Satan, "This one? I have pulled this one out of the fire and will use him in my work!"

 We call this "grace".
 And we call it "redemption"! 

Because this is what God has done for us!

Another preview of what Jesus did when He came - 500 years years later. That vision God gave Zechariah was another "Preview of Coming Attractions"! Jesus Himself came to earth, our greater High Priest, to that temple, and to the cross,   and saved us from eternal destruction.

(Con't in Part 3 - tomorrow)

The Miracle We are Really After

 
                                                  

                                                  The Miracle We Are Really After

 I love these words from Frederick Buechner:

"For what we need to know, of course, is not just that God exists, not just that beyond the steely brightness of the stars, there is a cosmic intelligence of some kind that keeps the whole show going, but that there is a God right here in the thick of our day-to-day lives who in one way or another is trying to get messages through our blindness as we move around knee deep in the fragrant muck and misery and marvel of the world.

It is not objective proof of God's existence that we want, but the experience of God's Presence.

That is the miracle we are really after and that is also, I think, the miracle we really get."

That's true for me. I don't need a brilliant scientist to try to prove to me that there is or is not a God.

The question is, if there is  God, does He want anything from me? Anything to do with me?

I remember C S Lewis' words when he abandoned atheism and embraced Christ. His atheist colleagues were horrified at his decision to become a Christian and ridiculed him relentlessly that he decided to believe in God.

He said, "It's not that I believe in God, but that I believe in THIS God," he said, and he held out his Bible to them.

The miracle he was really after was the miracle he really received.

And so have I.

Four quartets - T. S. Eliot - When He Became a Christian

 

                                When T. S. Eliot Became a Christian

From Four Quartets

The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all...
...These are only hints and guesses,
Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.
The hint half guessed, the gift half understood, is
   Incarnation.

Here the impossible union
Of spheres of existence is actual
Here the past and future
Are conquered and reconciled....

In order to arrive at what you do not know
   You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.
In order to possess what you do not possess
   You must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
   You must go through the way in which you are not.
And what you do not know is the only thing you know
And what you own is what you do not own
And where you are is where you are not....

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning...

And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well..

--From Four Quartets






Important dates for T. S. Eliot
     1888 - his birth
     1922 - Wasteland published
     1927 - his conversion from agnosticism/atheism to Christianity
     1930 - Ash Wednesday published -- what he called
                his "Conversion Poem."
     1943 - Four Quartets published -- for which he was
                awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature           
        1965 - his pre-resurrection death

When T. S. Eliot became a Christian - From article by John Piippo

"On June 29, 1927, the brilliant T. S. Eliot converted from Unitarianism to Anglicanism. Some of his former fellow atheists were scandalized. Virginia Woolf was one of them.

Her reaction, writes Peter Hitchens (Christopher's brother) was one of fury and almost physical disgust which was, he says, typical of the educated British middle class.

Woolf wrote, 'I have had a most shameful and distressing interview with poor dear Tom Eliot, who may be called dead to us all from this day forward. He has become an Anglo-Catholic, believes in God and immortality, and goes to church. I was really shocked. A corpse would seem to me more credible that he is. I mean, there's something obscene in a living person sitting by the fire and believing in God.'"

(Hitchens, Peter, The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith, p. 24).

Woolf's response is similar to that of Richard Dawkins who shrinks back in horror every time some brilliant scientist (Like Francis Collins) speaks of his conversion to Christ.

Hitchens comments on Woolf's Eliot-reponse: "Look at these bilious, ill-tempered words: 'Shameful, obscene, dead to us all.' There has always seemed to me to be something frantic and enraged about this passage, concealing its real emotion -- which I suspect is fear that Eliot, as well as being a greater talent than her, may also be right."

               

Does God really confide in us?

The LORD confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them.          Psalm 25:14

See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declared; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Isaiah 42:9

For the LORD detests a perverse man, but takes the upright man into His confidence. Proverbs 3:32

How does He speak to us this way?

Through His Word - not only has He confided His plan for the ages, He also opens our eyes to see what He is doing right now around us - in our lives and in the lives of those we love.


Through prayer - His Spirit opens our ears to hear His voice and opens our hearts to receive the message. Sometimes it is just a whisper, and sometimes it is a loud a-ha moment of joy!

Through His community - the people He has brought into ourlives - sometimes we can glean great truths and guidance from them - no one comes into our lives by accidence.

Through circumstances - sometimes it is just so obvious!

What we know:

• God tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. Not before.

• God always takes the initiative in revealing His heart to us.

     Whether I can hear His voice depends on my closeness to Him, my living in His Presence, and my love for Him.

As we become aware of His Presence it will become easier for us the see the way we should go.

Instead of wondering about the road ahead we will focus on staying in communication with Him.

We shouldn't go through life like a sleep-walker, just following our own regular routines and personal agendas.

We should look beyond those rutted paths and let Him lead us onto new trails of adventure and freedom.

He will reveal to us new glorious truths all along the way.

Just stay with Him. Don't let go of His hand!

Anticipating Easter - Max Lucado

A party was the last thing Mary Magdalene expected as she approached the tomb on that Sunday morning.

The last few days had brought nothing to celebrate. 

The Jews could celebrate -- Jesus was out of the way.

The soldiers could celebrate -- their work was done.

But Mary couldn't celebrate. To her the last few days had brought nothing but tragedy.

Mary had been there. She had heard the leaders clamor for Jesus' blood. She had witnessed the Roman whip rip the skin off his back. She had winced as the thorns sliced his brow and wept at the weight of the cross.

In the early morning mist she arises from her mat, takes her spices and aloes and leaves her house, past the Gate of Gennath and up to the hillside.

She anticipates a somber task. By now the body will be swollen. His face will be white. Death's odor will be pungent.

A gray sky gives way to gold as she walks up the narrow trail. As she rounds the final bend, she gasps.

The rock in front of the grave is pushed back.

"Someone took the body." She runs to awaken Peter and John. They rush to see for themselves. She tries to keep up with them but can't.

Peter comes out of the tomb bewildered and John comes out believing, but Mary just sits in front of it weeping. The two men go home and leave her alone with her grief.

But something tells her she is not alone. Maybe she hears a noise. Maybe she hears a whisper. Or maybe she just hears her own heart tell her to take a look for herself.

"Why are you crying?"

"They have taken my Lord away, and I don't know where they have put him."

She still calls him "my Lord." As far as she knows his lips are silent. As far as she knows his body has been carted off by grave robbers. But in spite of it all, he is still her Lord.

Such devotion moves Jesus. It moves him closer to her. She turns and there he stands. She thinks he is the gardener.

Now Jesus could have revealed himself at this point. He could have called for an angel to present him or a band to announce his presence. But he didn't.

He doesn't leave her wondering for long, just long enough to remind us that he loves to surprise us. He waits for us to despair of human strength and then intervenes with heavenly. God waits for us to give up and then -- surprise!

Has it been a while since you let God surprise you?

It's easy to reach the point where we have God figured out.

We know exactly what God does. We break the code. We chart his tendencies. God is a computer. If we push all the right buttons and insert the right data, God is exactly who we thought he was.

Have you got God figured out?

If so, then listen. Listen to God's surprises.

Hear the rocks meant for the adulterous woman drop to the ground.

Listen as Jesus invites a death row convict to ride with him to the kingdom in the front seat of the limo.

Listen as the Messiah whispers to the Samaritan woman, "I who speak to you am he."

Listen to the widow from Nain eating dinner with her son who is supposed to be dead.

And listen to the surprise as Mary's name is spoken by a man she loved -- a man she had buried.

"Miriam."

"Miriam," he said softly. "Surprise!"

When she heard her name she responded correctly. She worshiped him.

The scene has all the elements of a surprise party -- secrecy, wide eyes, amazement, gratitude.

But the celebration is mild in comparison with the one that is being planned for the future.

It will be similar to Mary's, but a lot bigger.

Many more graves will open. Many more names will be called. Many more knees will bow. And many more seekers will celebrate.

It's going to be some party! I want to make sure my name is on the guest list.
 
How about you?

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, 

No mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him

--1 Corinthians 2:9

-- From Six Hours One Friday, by Max Lucado, Chapter 18.

Anticipating Easter - Gethsemane Prayer (2) - Charles Spurgeon

Then Jesus went with  His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled.

Then He said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here an keep watch with Me."

Going a little further, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will."
      -- Matthew 26:36-39


There are several instructive features in our Savior's prayer in His hour of trial, says Charles Spurgeon.

In Morning and Evening, for March 22, he tells us:

It was a filial prayer. You will find it a stronghold in the day of trial to plead your adoption. You have no rights as a subject -- you have forfeited them by your treason, but nothing can forfeit a child's right to a father's protection. Do not be afraid to say, "My Father, hear my cry."

It was a prayer of resignation. "Yet not as I will, but as You will"...

Let it be as God wills, and God will determine for the best.

Be content to leave your prayer in His hands who knows when to give and how to give, and what to give, and what to withhold.

So pleading, earnestly, importunately, yet with humility and resignation,  you will surely prevail.

Anticipating Easter - Gethsemane Prayer - (1) Charles Spurgeon

Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."


He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, "My soul is over whelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep with with Me."


.....Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping...
                       Matthew 26:36-40


Thoughts from Charles Spurgeon:


There are several instructive features in our Savior's prayer in His hour of trial.


It was a lonely prayer.


He withdrew even from His three favored disciples.


Believer, be diligent in solitary prayer, especially in times of trial.


Family prayer, social prayer, prayer in the church will not be sufficient; these are very precious, but the fragrance of heaven will be sweetest in your private devotions, where no ear hears but God's. 


--From Morning and Evening, March 22,

         Charles Spurgeon

Anticipating Easter - The Final 3 Hours - John MacArthur

The Final Three Hours on the Cross

(MT) Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, (LK) the sun was darkened [and] (MT) there was darkness over all the land. (MT) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" (MK) which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

(MT) Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "Look, (MT) this Man is calling for Elijah!"

(JN) After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there. (MT) Immediately one of then ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed of (JN) hyssop, and put it to His mouth

(MT) and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him and (MK) take Him down." (JN) So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!"

(LK) And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, into your hands I commit My spirit." Having said this, (JN) and bowing His head, (LK) He breathed His last (MT) and yielded up His spirit.

(MT - Matthew) 27:45-50
(MK - Mark) 15:33-37
(LK - Luke) 23:4-45a
(JN - John) 19:28-30


Notes from John MacArthur:

1. From the 6th hour until the 9th hour - From noon until 3 PM. The crucifixion began at 9 AM and so the 6th hour marked the halfway point of Jesus' six hours on the cross.

2. Darkness - A mark of divine judgment (cf. Isaiah 5:30,13:10-11; Joel 2:1-2; Amos 5:20; Zephaniah 1:14-15; Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30).

The geographical extent of the darkness is not known, although the writings of the church fathers hint that is extended beyond Israel.

This could not have been caused by an eclipse because Jews used a lunar calendar. Passover always fell on full moon, making solar eclipse out of the question. This was a supernatural darkness.

3. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani - "Eli" is Hebrew, the rest Aramaic. (Mark 15:34 gives the entire wail in Aramaic.)

This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1, one of the many striking parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion.

Christ at that moment was experiencing the abandonment and despair that resulted from the outpouring of divine wrath on Him as sin-bearer (cf. Matthew 26:39).

[Note: Christ cried out "My God," not "Abba," and not "Father," His usual terms of addressing His Father. This is the only time in the gospels He did not address God as His Father.]

4. Why have You forsaken Me? Jesus felt keenly His abandonment by the Father resulting from God's wrath being poured out on Him as the substitute for sinners (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).

5. Sour wine - The drink here is not the same as the "wine mixed with myrrh" offered to Him as He marched to the cross (Matthew 27:34) which was intended to lessen the pain. The purpose of this cheap, sour wine (cf. Mark 15:36) is to prolong life and increase the torture.

The term harkens back to Psalm 69:21 where the same word is found in the Septuagint. Hyssop is a little plant that is ideal for sprinkling. (see Exodus 12:22).

[See also Psalm 51]

6. Elijah - Further mockery which in effect meant, "Let the forerunner come and save this so-called Messiah" (cf. Luke 1:17).

7."It is finished!" The verb here carries the idea of fulfilling one's mission and religious obligations (see John 17:4). The entire work of redemption has been brought to completion.

The single Greek word here translated it is finished
has been found in the papyri being placed on receipts for taxes meaning "paid in full" (see Colossians 3:13-14).

8. Cried out with a loud voice - Demonstrating amazing strength in light of the intense suffering He had endured. His shout reveals that His life did not slowly ebb away, but that He voluntarily gave it up (John 10:17-18).

9. Into Your hands - This quotes Psalm 31:5, and the manner of His death accords with John 10:18. Normally, victims of crucifixion died much slower death. He, bring in control, simply yielded up His soul(John 10:18; 19:30), committing it to God. Thus He offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9:14).

10. Yielded up His spirit - A voluntary act. The sentence signaled that Jesus "handed over" His spirit as an act of His will. No one took His life from Him for He voluntarily and willingly gave it up (see John 10:17-18).



These notes taken from One Perfect Life, by John MacArthur

Anticipating Easter - Ancient Words

Ancient Words about the Messiah Jesus....


Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

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.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter...

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. 
                                -- Isaiah 53: 4-9, written about 700 BC

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him

By his wounds we are healed


And that's why we call that Black Friday...
Good Friday!