October 31
The Apostle Paul was quite focused on the great disparity between the so-called ‘goodness’ of man and the holiness of God. Quite probably, he made a clear distinction between the total worthlessness of the former and the complete perfection of the latter because he had himself been preoccupied with his own righteousness, with impressing God by his dedication to His work as he understood it.
Before His encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus (see Acts 9:4-18) Paul had persecuted believers. He assented to the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (see Acts 7:55-8:1) and he was on his way to round up and arrest people of faith in Jesus when he was himself ‘arrested’ by the Lord along the way to do so (Acts 9:4).
Paul, a fanatic for God as he believed Him to be, thought he did the Almighty a favor when he assented to the arrest and slaying of believers in Christ. He believed his doing so, his ‘credentials,’ gave him right standing with the Holy One. Yet when He met the Living Savior, when he had the scales removed from his eyes, he came to an entirely new understanding of the God of Heaven! Instead of arresting believers and assenting to their deaths, Paul became one of them!
His fervor for the Christ he had persecuted became such that he willingly laid down his life to witness the Lord’s saving grace to others (see his view of his up-coming execution in II Timothy 4:6-8). His only joy was in sharing II Corinthians 5:21, life’s only significant truth, with as many as he could reach: “Christ who has no sin became sin for us so we, through Him could become right with God.” Paul no longer cherished his life or esteemed his credentials; his whole joy was in Christ alone.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
What the Storm Can't Do
October 30
When I awoke this morning, I expected to be stumbling through the dark, to be feeling quite a chill, and to be drinking bottled water with my morning medicine. Instead, I am illumined by my little night lights, enjoying the designated temperature set on our thermostat, and sipping my warm cup of tea. The 'perfect storm' that is still hovering in our area, still howling outside the window, still pouring buckets-full of rain upon us has not curtailed our electric service! Far lesser storms have done that, but this one has been stayed by a mighty hand that has ordained we shall not be without necessary power through this onslaught.
That same hand touches our lives through other types of storms in life as well. In fact, the one thing this horrible storm has done is to awaken my awareness of the truth of His promise to be with His people through their storms. It is evident that Jesus Christ makes all the difference in the midst of the storm--and not only when He speaks, "Peace, be still." Sometimes, He doesn't stop the storm when we cry out, "Lord, don't You care that we perish!" as His disciples did when their little boat was threatened by the towering waves of the tumultuous sea. Sometimes He allows the storm to run its course and He calms His people.
He calms His people by giving them that inner "peace that passes understanding to keep their hearts and their minds in Him" when the storm around them continues to rage. When He gives inner peace in the midst of the storm, we gain an advantage that sunny skies cannot afford to us. When He gives inner peace in the midst of the storm, we begin to recognize the infinite power that is ours when we walk hand-in-hand with Him through our trials. We begin to recognize that there is a level of living and moving and having our being that transcends the calm moments of joy that we so covet and encompasses even the moments of helplessness in the face of a torrential onslaught that is beyond our ability to overcome on our own.
So we hold more tightly to the Lord in our trials and we seek His direction a little more fervently, for we know He is the key to riding out the storm, but we do not fear, for we begin to grasp the truth that was made manifestly clear to Job in his ordeal, "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." We realize as that good man did that the trial is not for our destruction but to prove our faith, to strengthen our confidence in the One who sometimes allows us to reach the point of saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." He wants us to reach that decision--to trust in spite of the storm--for that decision, of all the decisions we will ever make, brings us to the real point of power over the storms of life.
It is that decision, of all the decisions we will ever make, that brings us to the point of understanding what a storm--even a 'perfect monster storm of the millennium'--cannot do! It cannot rob us of His light in which He enables us to walk without fear of the darkness. It cannot rob us of the warmth of His love which is always with us. It cannot rob us of the refreshing of the living water that Jesus is to us.
It cannot rob YOU of these things because Jesus is with you through the storm. Because He is by your side, the storm--no matter its nature or its intensity--has no power over you.
When I awoke this morning, I expected to be stumbling through the dark, to be feeling quite a chill, and to be drinking bottled water with my morning medicine. Instead, I am illumined by my little night lights, enjoying the designated temperature set on our thermostat, and sipping my warm cup of tea. The 'perfect storm' that is still hovering in our area, still howling outside the window, still pouring buckets-full of rain upon us has not curtailed our electric service! Far lesser storms have done that, but this one has been stayed by a mighty hand that has ordained we shall not be without necessary power through this onslaught.
That same hand touches our lives through other types of storms in life as well. In fact, the one thing this horrible storm has done is to awaken my awareness of the truth of His promise to be with His people through their storms. It is evident that Jesus Christ makes all the difference in the midst of the storm--and not only when He speaks, "Peace, be still." Sometimes, He doesn't stop the storm when we cry out, "Lord, don't You care that we perish!" as His disciples did when their little boat was threatened by the towering waves of the tumultuous sea. Sometimes He allows the storm to run its course and He calms His people.
He calms His people by giving them that inner "peace that passes understanding to keep their hearts and their minds in Him" when the storm around them continues to rage. When He gives inner peace in the midst of the storm, we gain an advantage that sunny skies cannot afford to us. When He gives inner peace in the midst of the storm, we begin to recognize the infinite power that is ours when we walk hand-in-hand with Him through our trials. We begin to recognize that there is a level of living and moving and having our being that transcends the calm moments of joy that we so covet and encompasses even the moments of helplessness in the face of a torrential onslaught that is beyond our ability to overcome on our own.
So we hold more tightly to the Lord in our trials and we seek His direction a little more fervently, for we know He is the key to riding out the storm, but we do not fear, for we begin to grasp the truth that was made manifestly clear to Job in his ordeal, "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." We realize as that good man did that the trial is not for our destruction but to prove our faith, to strengthen our confidence in the One who sometimes allows us to reach the point of saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." He wants us to reach that decision--to trust in spite of the storm--for that decision, of all the decisions we will ever make, brings us to the real point of power over the storms of life.
It is that decision, of all the decisions we will ever make, that brings us to the point of understanding what a storm--even a 'perfect monster storm of the millennium'--cannot do! It cannot rob us of His light in which He enables us to walk without fear of the darkness. It cannot rob us of the warmth of His love which is always with us. It cannot rob us of the refreshing of the living water that Jesus is to us.
It cannot rob YOU of these things because Jesus is with you through the storm. Because He is by your side, the storm--no matter its nature or its intensity--has no power over you.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Addendum: Monster Storm
It is October 29, 2012. The eastern portion of the United States is sitting in the path of an enormous ‘monster storm.’
The weather prognosticators are working overtime to analyze this massive weather system and predict its course and anticipate the damage it will do. Ordinary people are within their homes or places of work—listening to the increasing velocity of the wind and watching the pounding of the rain as it intensifies.
Some people are shaken to their core with fear, for they are fully aware of the devastation that has been wrought in the past by lesser storms. They know that this one is a rare phenomenon because when the parts of it converge, it will become one massive force of nature that has combined from three major storm systems. The winds are to attain a force of 75 mph.
Trees will be downed, houses and businesses will be damaged, lives will be lost. When it’s over, the sun will emerge again from the clouds that currently blanket the sky and no one will think of the ‘perfect storm’ that struck today—except those whose property is damaged, whose work is interrupted, whose electrical power remains out –and whose loved ones will not survive the onslaught.
But those of us who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will remind ourselves that He causes “the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust,” (Matthew 5:45) and we will say as did Job when he faced the loss of all he valued, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him,” (Job 13:15). May YOU trust Him through every storm of your life. Jesus is faithful. He will get you through the torrent and into the sun again.
The weather prognosticators are working overtime to analyze this massive weather system and predict its course and anticipate the damage it will do. Ordinary people are within their homes or places of work—listening to the increasing velocity of the wind and watching the pounding of the rain as it intensifies.
Some people are shaken to their core with fear, for they are fully aware of the devastation that has been wrought in the past by lesser storms. They know that this one is a rare phenomenon because when the parts of it converge, it will become one massive force of nature that has combined from three major storm systems. The winds are to attain a force of 75 mph.
Trees will be downed, houses and businesses will be damaged, lives will be lost. When it’s over, the sun will emerge again from the clouds that currently blanket the sky and no one will think of the ‘perfect storm’ that struck today—except those whose property is damaged, whose work is interrupted, whose electrical power remains out –and whose loved ones will not survive the onslaught.
But those of us who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ will remind ourselves that He causes “the rain to fall on the just and on the unjust,” (Matthew 5:45) and we will say as did Job when he faced the loss of all he valued, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him,” (Job 13:15). May YOU trust Him through every storm of your life. Jesus is faithful. He will get you through the torrent and into the sun again.
Forgive and Wait and...
October 29
Have you ever loved someone in spite of himself? You know the type—the inconsiderate lover who takes all you have to give of kindness and acceptance but extends nothing to you in exchange. Or the rebellious child whose actions belie the fact that he has been reared in a loving, accepting home; the child who prefers his questionable friends to his kind and gracious parents?
We all have. We have borne unrequited love in the hope that one day things would change, that love would become a ‘two-way-street’ upon which respect and honor flow freely between us and the object of our delight. God knows that feeling even better than we do.
While we may have been patient and persistent in extending love to the unlovely people in our lives, the Lord of Heaven and Earth has given Jesus Christ, the sinless God-Man to bear our sins as the world’s ultimate act of loving sacrifice, as the benchmark of patient anticipation of a mutually loving relationship with those who rebuff and scorn His love.
In Jeremiah 33:8 He states His intent, “They sinned against Me but I will wash away their sin. They did evil and turned away from Me, but I will forgive them.” He, like the patient lover or parent, knows His love has been rebuffed, but He will not hold sin against His people. He will forgive, and wait--and continue to love.
Have you ever loved someone in spite of himself? You know the type—the inconsiderate lover who takes all you have to give of kindness and acceptance but extends nothing to you in exchange. Or the rebellious child whose actions belie the fact that he has been reared in a loving, accepting home; the child who prefers his questionable friends to his kind and gracious parents?
We all have. We have borne unrequited love in the hope that one day things would change, that love would become a ‘two-way-street’ upon which respect and honor flow freely between us and the object of our delight. God knows that feeling even better than we do.
While we may have been patient and persistent in extending love to the unlovely people in our lives, the Lord of Heaven and Earth has given Jesus Christ, the sinless God-Man to bear our sins as the world’s ultimate act of loving sacrifice, as the benchmark of patient anticipation of a mutually loving relationship with those who rebuff and scorn His love.
In Jeremiah 33:8 He states His intent, “They sinned against Me but I will wash away their sin. They did evil and turned away from Me, but I will forgive them.” He, like the patient lover or parent, knows His love has been rebuffed, but He will not hold sin against His people. He will forgive, and wait--and continue to love.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Forgiven And Able To Forgive
October 28
Do dead people pray? While we remain in the land of the living, we cannot know with certainty the answer to that question. We are told that there is a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) in the heavenlies, saints who have gone on, who encompass us. We may presume that they pray for us, but we aren’t told for sure.
We do know that sometimes the prayers that are offered up emanate from the lips of the spiritually dead. Who are they? They are, according to the words of the Lord in Mark 11:25, people who pray while harboring anger or unforgiveness against another. It is imperative, from God’s vantage point, that we forgive in order to be forgiven—and in order for our prayers to have power.
Although we cannot forgive and love our enemies in our own strength, we can through the enabling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whose example ("Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," Luke 23:34) teaches us that we must forgive those who hurt us, even though they may not seek forgiveness from us. Until we do, we are spiritually dead, and our prayers are ineffectual.
In Colossians 2:13, Paul says, “When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and you were bound by the power of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ and He forgave all your sins.” When one who is spiritually dead receives the Author of life into his soul, he, too, becomes alive! He is forgiven of sin—and able to forgive!
Do dead people pray? While we remain in the land of the living, we cannot know with certainty the answer to that question. We are told that there is a “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) in the heavenlies, saints who have gone on, who encompass us. We may presume that they pray for us, but we aren’t told for sure.
We do know that sometimes the prayers that are offered up emanate from the lips of the spiritually dead. Who are they? They are, according to the words of the Lord in Mark 11:25, people who pray while harboring anger or unforgiveness against another. It is imperative, from God’s vantage point, that we forgive in order to be forgiven—and in order for our prayers to have power.
Although we cannot forgive and love our enemies in our own strength, we can through the enabling of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ whose example ("Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," Luke 23:34) teaches us that we must forgive those who hurt us, even though they may not seek forgiveness from us. Until we do, we are spiritually dead, and our prayers are ineffectual.
In Colossians 2:13, Paul says, “When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and you were bound by the power of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ and He forgave all your sins.” When one who is spiritually dead receives the Author of life into his soul, he, too, becomes alive! He is forgiven of sin—and able to forgive!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Can't Buy Me Love
October 27
We in the U.S. have watched incredulously as hatred is spewed against us in the Middle East. Although we have supported these nations in overthrowing dictators; sent billions of dollars in order that they may build their countries and empower their people, though our leaders have apologized for the slanderous comments of a few that don’t represent the feelings of the many, yet, they hate us.
Perhaps the bottom line is that which the Beetles made famous in one of their hit songs of the 1960s—‘…can’t buy me love.’ Perhaps we in the United States (and in the West in general) must accept the reality that there is a great gulf between our way of thinking and the mid-eastern mindset that cannot be bridged by dollars or presidential apologies.
We know the irreverent rhetoric of a brief, sophomoric video was merely an excuse for the murderous behavior of hundreds of people. While we believe the words of Isaiah 55:7 which say, “The wicked should stop doing wrong and stop thinking evil thoughts; they should turn to the Lord who will have mercy on them and forgive them,” and we recognize that the perpetrators of evil should repent, it seems the mid-eastern approach is totally different. In their minds, it doesn’t matter who is held accountable, as long as someone dies. Vengeance rules their heart.
If we think we worship the same god, we are mistaken, for one is a god of vengeance while the other is the God of forgiveness and love. Recognizing that enormous distinction should make us reluctant to support ideologies that believe the solution to the differences between us is their effecting our demise. The one thing we have to benefit them is our prayers that they discover Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They need the cleansing only He can give and they need the mind of Christ’s love to replace the mind of vengeance they currently unleash when offended.
We in the U.S. have watched incredulously as hatred is spewed against us in the Middle East. Although we have supported these nations in overthrowing dictators; sent billions of dollars in order that they may build their countries and empower their people, though our leaders have apologized for the slanderous comments of a few that don’t represent the feelings of the many, yet, they hate us.
Perhaps the bottom line is that which the Beetles made famous in one of their hit songs of the 1960s—‘…can’t buy me love.’ Perhaps we in the United States (and in the West in general) must accept the reality that there is a great gulf between our way of thinking and the mid-eastern mindset that cannot be bridged by dollars or presidential apologies.
We know the irreverent rhetoric of a brief, sophomoric video was merely an excuse for the murderous behavior of hundreds of people. While we believe the words of Isaiah 55:7 which say, “The wicked should stop doing wrong and stop thinking evil thoughts; they should turn to the Lord who will have mercy on them and forgive them,” and we recognize that the perpetrators of evil should repent, it seems the mid-eastern approach is totally different. In their minds, it doesn’t matter who is held accountable, as long as someone dies. Vengeance rules their heart.
If we think we worship the same god, we are mistaken, for one is a god of vengeance while the other is the God of forgiveness and love. Recognizing that enormous distinction should make us reluctant to support ideologies that believe the solution to the differences between us is their effecting our demise. The one thing we have to benefit them is our prayers that they discover Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They need the cleansing only He can give and they need the mind of Christ’s love to replace the mind of vengeance they currently unleash when offended.
Friday, October 26, 2012
You are in a battle! Do you know your enemy?
The threat of radical islam is real; the threat of radical islam is universal.
The Bible tells of a horrific time, the "Last Days" when a monster will rule the earth and impose a ruthless religion upon those who have not known Christ as their Savior and Lord. That monster is the Biblical antichrist, the islamic 12th madhi; that ruthless religion fits the description of islam precisely.
Stand for the TRUTH of JESUS or fall under the sword of islam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxklsBVub-s&feature=related
The Bible tells of a horrific time, the "Last Days" when a monster will rule the earth and impose a ruthless religion upon those who have not known Christ as their Savior and Lord. That monster is the Biblical antichrist, the islamic 12th madhi; that ruthless religion fits the description of islam precisely.
Stand for the TRUTH of JESUS or fall under the sword of islam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxklsBVub-s&feature=related
Claim the Grace
October 26
Maybe you’ve heard someone state emphatically when he believed himself to have been wronged by another individual, ‘I don’t get mad, I get even.’ Nobody likes to be denigrated in any way. It’s normal for feelings of retribution to flare within us when slurs or hurts of any kind become arrows hurled at us by our enemies.
We value our good name and when we perceive that it has been sullied by the missiles of lies and slander that cruel people use as weapons to destroy us, it is virtually impossible to simply allow it. Yet, in Luke 6:27-35, Jesus presents an entirely different position in the matter.
Here He says, “…Love your enemies; do good to them which hate you; bless them that curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you. If one strikes your right cheek, turn to him your left that he may smite it also. If someone takes your cloak, offer him your coat, too…treat all others as you would like to be treated…for if you love only those who love you, how do you differ from sinners?...Love your enemies, that you may be true children of God…”
In Colossians 3:13, Paul states the concept thusly, “Get along with each other and forgive each other. If someone wrongs you, forgive him because the Lord has forgiven you of all your sins.” Jesus is not asking us to do anything He has not done Himself. He isn’t vindictive against those who crucified Him. He forgives them and receives them as blood-bought children if they will but claim the grace He’s extending to them.
Maybe you’ve heard someone state emphatically when he believed himself to have been wronged by another individual, ‘I don’t get mad, I get even.’ Nobody likes to be denigrated in any way. It’s normal for feelings of retribution to flare within us when slurs or hurts of any kind become arrows hurled at us by our enemies.
We value our good name and when we perceive that it has been sullied by the missiles of lies and slander that cruel people use as weapons to destroy us, it is virtually impossible to simply allow it. Yet, in Luke 6:27-35, Jesus presents an entirely different position in the matter.
Here He says, “…Love your enemies; do good to them which hate you; bless them that curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you. If one strikes your right cheek, turn to him your left that he may smite it also. If someone takes your cloak, offer him your coat, too…treat all others as you would like to be treated…for if you love only those who love you, how do you differ from sinners?...Love your enemies, that you may be true children of God…”
In Colossians 3:13, Paul states the concept thusly, “Get along with each other and forgive each other. If someone wrongs you, forgive him because the Lord has forgiven you of all your sins.” Jesus is not asking us to do anything He has not done Himself. He isn’t vindictive against those who crucified Him. He forgives them and receives them as blood-bought children if they will but claim the grace He’s extending to them.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Because of Who He Is
October 25
In Isaiah 43:25, the Lord God of all that exists (the extent of which our finite minds cannot begin to imagine) declares, “I, even I, am the One who forgives all your sins. For My own sake, I will not remember your sins.” He forgives us because of Who He is, not because of who we are.
His mercy and compassion cause Him to declare He will not remember our transgressions. He repeats this glorious assurance in Hebrews 8:12 where He says, I will forgive them for the wicked things they have done; I will not remember their sins anymore.”
Though we have this unimaginable blessing of our God being absent minded where our sins are concerned, we are not given His leave to sin with impunity. In Isaiah 55:7, He says, “The wicked should stop their evil thoughts; they should turn to the Lord so He may have mercy on them and freely forgive them.”
In I John 1:9, the beloved Apostle reframes this concept slightly by saying, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When Jesus has washed us clean in His own shed blood, we are free from past sins and equipped to live our lives without indulging transgression.
In Isaiah 43:25, the Lord God of all that exists (the extent of which our finite minds cannot begin to imagine) declares, “I, even I, am the One who forgives all your sins. For My own sake, I will not remember your sins.” He forgives us because of Who He is, not because of who we are.
His mercy and compassion cause Him to declare He will not remember our transgressions. He repeats this glorious assurance in Hebrews 8:12 where He says, I will forgive them for the wicked things they have done; I will not remember their sins anymore.”
Though we have this unimaginable blessing of our God being absent minded where our sins are concerned, we are not given His leave to sin with impunity. In Isaiah 55:7, He says, “The wicked should stop their evil thoughts; they should turn to the Lord so He may have mercy on them and freely forgive them.”
In I John 1:9, the beloved Apostle reframes this concept slightly by saying, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When Jesus has washed us clean in His own shed blood, we are free from past sins and equipped to live our lives without indulging transgression.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
No One But Me
October 24
Who but the disciples of Jesus could feel the intense sense of failure that weighed them down because at the crucial moment of His time on earth among men, they betrayed the God whose hand had fashioned them and whose vision of their future commitment had called them to be among the Twelve?
Who but one of those twelve privileged men who had walked with Jesus, who had partaken of sustenance with Him (sustenance of the body and of the soul), who had witnessed His miracles—from healing blind eyes to strengthening useless limbs to forgiving sins—could feel the sting of regret of faithlessness as much as they could?
No one but me (us)—we who deny Him today feel the sting of our failure in the depth of our being. We may sit in our church pews every week, we may recite our Sunday school lessons with great accuracy, we may share our faith with the lost, but when our moment of trial comes, do we stand in faith declaring that we trust Him though we die as Job did (Job 13:15), or do we rail that He has failed us in our hour of need?
Though we disappoint Him through our earth-bound vision rather than extol Him with our heaven-focused faith, yet He will fulfill His promise. We are told, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” I John 1:9. John knew the sting of letting Jesus down and he also knew the reality of forgiveness when he failed Him. The Lord wants us to know that forgiveness, too.
Who but the disciples of Jesus could feel the intense sense of failure that weighed them down because at the crucial moment of His time on earth among men, they betrayed the God whose hand had fashioned them and whose vision of their future commitment had called them to be among the Twelve?
Who but one of those twelve privileged men who had walked with Jesus, who had partaken of sustenance with Him (sustenance of the body and of the soul), who had witnessed His miracles—from healing blind eyes to strengthening useless limbs to forgiving sins—could feel the sting of regret of faithlessness as much as they could?
No one but me (us)—we who deny Him today feel the sting of our failure in the depth of our being. We may sit in our church pews every week, we may recite our Sunday school lessons with great accuracy, we may share our faith with the lost, but when our moment of trial comes, do we stand in faith declaring that we trust Him though we die as Job did (Job 13:15), or do we rail that He has failed us in our hour of need?
Though we disappoint Him through our earth-bound vision rather than extol Him with our heaven-focused faith, yet He will fulfill His promise. We are told, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” I John 1:9. John knew the sting of letting Jesus down and he also knew the reality of forgiveness when he failed Him. The Lord wants us to know that forgiveness, too.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Declared Righteous
October 23
Our Heavenly Father does not want His people to be encumbered by the burden of sin. He knows that is the one weight we cannot bear. We wrestle with the struggles of life—and we often handle them sufficiently on our own—but the burden of our iniquity cannot be endured—it can only be covered over by us or borne away by Jesus.
From the earliest pages of His wondrous love letter to man, God has been revealing to His errant but beloved creation the provision He has in His heart for our deliverance from transgression. He tells man in Genesis 3:15 that there will be enmity between evil and humanity, and the perfect seed of man (Jesus) will be bruised by evil for mankind’s sake, but HE (Jesus) will crush the power of evil over fallen man!
Throughout the Old Testament, which lays the groundwork for the plan of salvation that Jesus will fulfill in the New Testament, there are nuggets of this glorious truth. Words such as those written by David in Psalm 103:12 assure us, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sin from us.” Our sin is not ‘our’ sin because it is washed away! We are made new as Isaiah 1:18 tells us, “…though your sins be scarlet, they shall be white as snow…”
And into the closing books of the New Testament the promise of deliverance from sin is yet being proclaimed! In I John 2:1 the beloved Apostle tells believers in Christ, “My dear children, I write this letter to you so you will not sin. But if any of you does sin, you have an advocate (attorney) with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous. Jesus is your attorney before God, the One who declares you righteous because you are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Our Heavenly Father does not want His people to be encumbered by the burden of sin. He knows that is the one weight we cannot bear. We wrestle with the struggles of life—and we often handle them sufficiently on our own—but the burden of our iniquity cannot be endured—it can only be covered over by us or borne away by Jesus.
From the earliest pages of His wondrous love letter to man, God has been revealing to His errant but beloved creation the provision He has in His heart for our deliverance from transgression. He tells man in Genesis 3:15 that there will be enmity between evil and humanity, and the perfect seed of man (Jesus) will be bruised by evil for mankind’s sake, but HE (Jesus) will crush the power of evil over fallen man!
Throughout the Old Testament, which lays the groundwork for the plan of salvation that Jesus will fulfill in the New Testament, there are nuggets of this glorious truth. Words such as those written by David in Psalm 103:12 assure us, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sin from us.” Our sin is not ‘our’ sin because it is washed away! We are made new as Isaiah 1:18 tells us, “…though your sins be scarlet, they shall be white as snow…”
And into the closing books of the New Testament the promise of deliverance from sin is yet being proclaimed! In I John 2:1 the beloved Apostle tells believers in Christ, “My dear children, I write this letter to you so you will not sin. But if any of you does sin, you have an advocate (attorney) with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous. Jesus is your attorney before God, the One who declares you righteous because you are washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Forgiven, Covered, New
October 22
It’s wonderful to know we have a God who loves us. Love is sometimes difficult to identify in our fallen world where fathers, who are supposed to be prophet and priest over their families sometimes abuse their wives and children. Love is difficult to identify when lies are spewn by leaders for whom we are admonished to pray (I Timothy 2:1, 2).
As Waylon Jennings in his country song observes, love is hard to find because we’re, “…looking for love in all the wrong places.” We won’t, as he noted, find it in the faces of strangers, nor will we always find it in those people who should have loved us but didn’t because they had an agenda of self-realization that they were pursuing instead.
Where we will find love is in God who is love. His Word that cannot fail and cannot lie tells us that He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). No matter how sinful we are, no matter whether we seek Him or pursue false gods, HE will remain ever faithful to us. Even if He is required to send us to hell for our un-repentance, He will yet love us. If we are eternally in the pit, we will know that even there His heart is with us. But that awful eventuality need not be!
The one great confirmation of that truth is the assertion in II Corinthians 5:7 where Paul says, “If anyone belongs to Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things become new.” As God declared through the great songsmith David, “He forgave the guilt of the people and covered all their sins,” Psalm 85:2. Whatever our sin or shortcoming, Jesus’ wondrous love does just that—forgives our guilt, covers our sins, and makes us new.
It’s wonderful to know we have a God who loves us. Love is sometimes difficult to identify in our fallen world where fathers, who are supposed to be prophet and priest over their families sometimes abuse their wives and children. Love is difficult to identify when lies are spewn by leaders for whom we are admonished to pray (I Timothy 2:1, 2).
As Waylon Jennings in his country song observes, love is hard to find because we’re, “…looking for love in all the wrong places.” We won’t, as he noted, find it in the faces of strangers, nor will we always find it in those people who should have loved us but didn’t because they had an agenda of self-realization that they were pursuing instead.
Where we will find love is in God who is love. His Word that cannot fail and cannot lie tells us that He loves us with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3). No matter how sinful we are, no matter whether we seek Him or pursue false gods, HE will remain ever faithful to us. Even if He is required to send us to hell for our un-repentance, He will yet love us. If we are eternally in the pit, we will know that even there His heart is with us. But that awful eventuality need not be!
The one great confirmation of that truth is the assertion in II Corinthians 5:7 where Paul says, “If anyone belongs to Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things become new.” As God declared through the great songsmith David, “He forgave the guilt of the people and covered all their sins,” Psalm 85:2. Whatever our sin or shortcoming, Jesus’ wondrous love does just that—forgives our guilt, covers our sins, and makes us new.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Blessings to You
Two songs that will bless you:
"In Christ Alone"
"My Deliverer Is Coming"
You can find them on most search engines.
"In Christ Alone"
"My Deliverer Is Coming"
You can find them on most search engines.
Unsearchable Riches Forever
October 21
The unsearchable richness of God’s love for us is indeed beyond our comprehension because of the paltry void of our own love. We who are surrounded by people just like ourselves who are pawns in the hand of the enemy of God cannot fathom the treasure that the Lord holds out to us because we are so enmeshed in endeavoring to attain the world’s treasure, the world’s way.
We value highly preeminence and esteem. We desire lordship over our fellow men. If we could, we would have them bow before us in deference to our superior strength and our superior achievement. Unregenerate man is all about control; he is all about wielding power and authority over others. Whether the controlling spouse or the aggressive nation, the intent is the same—to reign over our sphere of endeavor.
But God has another plan. In Ephesians 1:5-7 Paul says, “Because of His love, God decided to make us His own children through Jesus Christ. That was what He wanted and that pleased Him—and it brings praise to God because of His wonderful grace! He gave us that grace freely in Christ, the One He loves. In Christ we are free by the blood of His death and the forgiveness of our sins. How rich is God’s grace!"
What we would take by superior power and the assertion of our will, the Lord would bestow by His love. What we would obtain by conquest, He would lavish upon us in Calvary’s cleansing flow. Man gains his temporal power by conquest and control, while Jesus reigns forever because of His sacrifice of love. How blessed we are that men’s power is fleeting but Jesus’ power continues forever.
The unsearchable richness of God’s love for us is indeed beyond our comprehension because of the paltry void of our own love. We who are surrounded by people just like ourselves who are pawns in the hand of the enemy of God cannot fathom the treasure that the Lord holds out to us because we are so enmeshed in endeavoring to attain the world’s treasure, the world’s way.
We value highly preeminence and esteem. We desire lordship over our fellow men. If we could, we would have them bow before us in deference to our superior strength and our superior achievement. Unregenerate man is all about control; he is all about wielding power and authority over others. Whether the controlling spouse or the aggressive nation, the intent is the same—to reign over our sphere of endeavor.
But God has another plan. In Ephesians 1:5-7 Paul says, “Because of His love, God decided to make us His own children through Jesus Christ. That was what He wanted and that pleased Him—and it brings praise to God because of His wonderful grace! He gave us that grace freely in Christ, the One He loves. In Christ we are free by the blood of His death and the forgiveness of our sins. How rich is God’s grace!"
What we would take by superior power and the assertion of our will, the Lord would bestow by His love. What we would obtain by conquest, He would lavish upon us in Calvary’s cleansing flow. Man gains his temporal power by conquest and control, while Jesus reigns forever because of His sacrifice of love. How blessed we are that men’s power is fleeting but Jesus’ power continues forever.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
He Who Has Conquered Gives Us...
October 20
Depending upon the point we’ve reached in the journey of life, we have various things about which to concern ourselves, or, if we use the more direct word, about which to worry. The young student is concerned with maintaining a grade point average. The married couple is worried about sustaining the ability to keep up the mortgage payments in a depressed economy.
The elderly are concerned about being able to live on a fixed income and they are worried about being able to stay healthy in a society that seems to have legislated away the right of the older individual to beneficial medical services. Whatever our station in life, there is some matter, beyond our control, about which we may anguish, if we so choose.
Yet Paul speaks the word of God in the matter to us clearly in Philippians 4:6, 7. Here the great apostle says, “Do not worry about anything but by prayer and supplication come before God with all your needs. As you do, give Him thanks and ask for His peace which is so great we cannot understand it, for it will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Having our hearts and our minds focused on the world and its upheaval, on life and its trials, will bring us to a point of consternation and to a realization of our own helplessness.
Keeping our hearts and minds focused on Jesus will elevate our perception because we will be focused on the recognition of the fact that the One we follow is the Conqueror of death, hell and the grave and He is our Soon-coming King! Life’s challenges—all of them—grades, the economy, our health—pale in comparison to the glories that await us as believers in the King of kings and Lord of lords. He who is all wisdom makes us wise. He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills is our provision. He who has conquered death gives us life!
Depending upon the point we’ve reached in the journey of life, we have various things about which to concern ourselves, or, if we use the more direct word, about which to worry. The young student is concerned with maintaining a grade point average. The married couple is worried about sustaining the ability to keep up the mortgage payments in a depressed economy.
The elderly are concerned about being able to live on a fixed income and they are worried about being able to stay healthy in a society that seems to have legislated away the right of the older individual to beneficial medical services. Whatever our station in life, there is some matter, beyond our control, about which we may anguish, if we so choose.
Yet Paul speaks the word of God in the matter to us clearly in Philippians 4:6, 7. Here the great apostle says, “Do not worry about anything but by prayer and supplication come before God with all your needs. As you do, give Him thanks and ask for His peace which is so great we cannot understand it, for it will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Having our hearts and our minds focused on the world and its upheaval, on life and its trials, will bring us to a point of consternation and to a realization of our own helplessness.
Keeping our hearts and minds focused on Jesus will elevate our perception because we will be focused on the recognition of the fact that the One we follow is the Conqueror of death, hell and the grave and He is our Soon-coming King! Life’s challenges—all of them—grades, the economy, our health—pale in comparison to the glories that await us as believers in the King of kings and Lord of lords. He who is all wisdom makes us wise. He who owns the cattle on a thousand hills is our provision. He who has conquered death gives us life!
Friday, October 19, 2012
Fleeting vs. Eternal
October 19
The Word of God is replete with admonitions to attain His peace in the inner man and to trust outer circumstances to Him. Gently turn the pages of the Old and New Testaments to find Him consistently stirring within the hearts of believers, endeavoring to turn their hearts to that “peace of God that passes understanding…” Philippians 4:7.
David, in Psalm 4:8 says, “I go to bed and sleep in peace, because Thou Lord, cause me to dwell in safety.” David was aware that he was not only surrounded by wilderness and subject to the predators found there but that he was being relentlessly pursued by King Saul who believed he was a threat to his kingdom.
In spite of this, David says again in Psalm 29:11, “The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.” The anointed future King of Israel did not depend upon his own resources to keep him from his mortal foes. His total confidence was in the God at whose feet he had placed his life.
Jesus Himself said to His disciples and to all believers who would follow them, “My peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives peace, so do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid.” Jesus knew the world’s peace would always be fleeting—but His peace is eternal.
The Word of God is replete with admonitions to attain His peace in the inner man and to trust outer circumstances to Him. Gently turn the pages of the Old and New Testaments to find Him consistently stirring within the hearts of believers, endeavoring to turn their hearts to that “peace of God that passes understanding…” Philippians 4:7.
David, in Psalm 4:8 says, “I go to bed and sleep in peace, because Thou Lord, cause me to dwell in safety.” David was aware that he was not only surrounded by wilderness and subject to the predators found there but that he was being relentlessly pursued by King Saul who believed he was a threat to his kingdom.
In spite of this, David says again in Psalm 29:11, “The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.” The anointed future King of Israel did not depend upon his own resources to keep him from his mortal foes. His total confidence was in the God at whose feet he had placed his life.
Jesus Himself said to His disciples and to all believers who would follow them, “My peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives peace, so do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid.” Jesus knew the world’s peace would always be fleeting—but His peace is eternal.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Peace
October 18
Peace is an elusive commodity. Whether we’re talking about inner peace or peace between family members or neighborhood or business factions or peace among nations, the outlook is often unpromising. People wrestle within themselves over sins of omission and sins of commission. People dispute everything from property boundaries to world dominance. People are not given to peace.
But peace can be given to them. The only One who can give peace is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). To the degree that a man surrenders his life to the Lord, to that degree he will have “the peace of God that passes all understanding that keeps his heart and his mind in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:7.
In Romans 5:1, Paul explains this wonderful phenomenon by saying, “Since we have been made right with God by our faith in Jesus, we have peace with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul presupposes here that there is only one way to be made right with God and that is through our acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus of Himself to pay the penalty for our sins.
When men receive this wonderful inner peace, their outer relationships can be aligned with peaceful existence between brothers and neighbors and nations. Apart from His peace, there can be no abiding rest from disagreements of every sort. Apart from His peace, each man, each nation, demands his own will. When Jesus reigns in peace within, each man desires only the peaceful will of the Holy One.
Peace is an elusive commodity. Whether we’re talking about inner peace or peace between family members or neighborhood or business factions or peace among nations, the outlook is often unpromising. People wrestle within themselves over sins of omission and sins of commission. People dispute everything from property boundaries to world dominance. People are not given to peace.
But peace can be given to them. The only One who can give peace is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). To the degree that a man surrenders his life to the Lord, to that degree he will have “the peace of God that passes all understanding that keeps his heart and his mind in Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:7.
In Romans 5:1, Paul explains this wonderful phenomenon by saying, “Since we have been made right with God by our faith in Jesus, we have peace with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul presupposes here that there is only one way to be made right with God and that is through our acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus of Himself to pay the penalty for our sins.
When men receive this wonderful inner peace, their outer relationships can be aligned with peaceful existence between brothers and neighbors and nations. Apart from His peace, there can be no abiding rest from disagreements of every sort. Apart from His peace, each man, each nation, demands his own will. When Jesus reigns in peace within, each man desires only the peaceful will of the Holy One.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Do What You Learned from Me
October 17
The Apostle Paul laid his life on the altar for the Christ he discovered on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-20). Fervent zeal for his beliefs did not originate in Paul after his conversion to Christ. He had been resolute in his persecution of the fledgling Church prior to his eyes being open to behold the glory of the Lord (Acts 7:55-Acts 8:3).
Paul understood what it meant to be misguided. He knew what it meant to desire to serve God above all else only to discover that his good intentions were totally counter to the will and the purposes of the Holy One! There are many among us who evidence the same misguided fervor as did the apostle.
Like him, they, too, can be visited by the Savior in the midst of their evil pursuit; they, too can be turned from wickedness to righteousness as the figurative scales are removed from their eyes even as literal scales were removed from the eyes of Paul (Acts 9:18). They will then be able to affirm with Paul his message to believers in Philippi.
“Do what you learned and received from me, what I told you and what you saw me do; and the God who gives peace will be with you,” Philippians 4:9. Paul knew his misguided zeal drove him to do wickedly before the Lord, but the truth set him free to serve Jesus in righteousness. The apostle who laid down his life for the Savior he loved encourages us to do the same.
The Apostle Paul laid his life on the altar for the Christ he discovered on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-20). Fervent zeal for his beliefs did not originate in Paul after his conversion to Christ. He had been resolute in his persecution of the fledgling Church prior to his eyes being open to behold the glory of the Lord (Acts 7:55-Acts 8:3).
Paul understood what it meant to be misguided. He knew what it meant to desire to serve God above all else only to discover that his good intentions were totally counter to the will and the purposes of the Holy One! There are many among us who evidence the same misguided fervor as did the apostle.
Like him, they, too, can be visited by the Savior in the midst of their evil pursuit; they, too can be turned from wickedness to righteousness as the figurative scales are removed from their eyes even as literal scales were removed from the eyes of Paul (Acts 9:18). They will then be able to affirm with Paul his message to believers in Philippi.
“Do what you learned and received from me, what I told you and what you saw me do; and the God who gives peace will be with you,” Philippians 4:9. Paul knew his misguided zeal drove him to do wickedly before the Lord, but the truth set him free to serve Jesus in righteousness. The apostle who laid down his life for the Savior he loved encourages us to do the same.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Blessed Each Day
October 16
As this is being written in the year of 2012, the current president of the United States has recently made an assertion that has left many voters insulted by his ‘spin’ on how they attained their success. The man in the Oval Office denigrated the achievements of some of our most productive citizens by saying, “…you didn’t build that yourself.”
Many who have reached the pinnacle of the business and professional world would beg to differ with him. They know the tireless effort they have expended to establish themselves. They know the long hours and sleepless nights they have spent to traverse the road to success.
Because so much of the president’s background is shrouded in secrecy, it is speculated that perhaps he attained his lofty position through the efforts of others rather than because of his own effort. Perhaps we shall never see his educational and academic and professional records, so we shall never know. But from another vantage point, he is absolutely on point.
As the prophet tells us in Isaiah 26:12, “Lord, all our success is because of what You have done…” Ultimately, no one achieves the goals he desires for himself apart from the hand of the Lord being upon him to guide and to bless. Thank You, Jesus, for Your mercy that is new each day (Lamentations 3:22, 23) and which empowers your people through their labor and their prayers to be blessed each day.
As this is being written in the year of 2012, the current president of the United States has recently made an assertion that has left many voters insulted by his ‘spin’ on how they attained their success. The man in the Oval Office denigrated the achievements of some of our most productive citizens by saying, “…you didn’t build that yourself.”
Many who have reached the pinnacle of the business and professional world would beg to differ with him. They know the tireless effort they have expended to establish themselves. They know the long hours and sleepless nights they have spent to traverse the road to success.
Because so much of the president’s background is shrouded in secrecy, it is speculated that perhaps he attained his lofty position through the efforts of others rather than because of his own effort. Perhaps we shall never see his educational and academic and professional records, so we shall never know. But from another vantage point, he is absolutely on point.
As the prophet tells us in Isaiah 26:12, “Lord, all our success is because of what You have done…” Ultimately, no one achieves the goals he desires for himself apart from the hand of the Lord being upon him to guide and to bless. Thank You, Jesus, for Your mercy that is new each day (Lamentations 3:22, 23) and which empowers your people through their labor and their prayers to be blessed each day.
Monday, October 15, 2012
The Drudgery of Life
October 15
Life can make us feel like quite the drudge at times. Our daily routine can seem tedious and uninspiring. Our interaction with people can leave us feeling frustrated and disappointed. The process of taking one step forward and sliding two steps back can literally ‘dog our heels.’
It isn’t merely the ordinary tasks and challenges of the days and weeks and months and years as they unfold that weary us in their ordinariness, it’s also the exacerbating conflicts between governments and ideologies that have a sobering impact upon our psyche.
The things we can’t control tend to make us feel like we’re struggling for unattainable goals; that we’re pursuing vapors of air that will fade away even as we grasp for them. We long to believe our efforts will enable us to prepare our children for productive lives and ourselves for a comfortable future, but things loom before us that threaten to undo our efforts toward such goals. Evil seems rampant and our power to constrain it is limited.
But, we have hope that goes beyond ourselves and our own frail efforts. Paul, writing to the Romans said in Chapter 16, verse 20, “The God who brings peace will soon defeat Satan and give you power over him. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” The drudgery of life cannot overwhelm you; evil cannot weigh you down! Jesus has promised victory to His people! He tells us we are more than conquerors over the mundanity of life and over the wiles of the enemy!
Life can make us feel like quite the drudge at times. Our daily routine can seem tedious and uninspiring. Our interaction with people can leave us feeling frustrated and disappointed. The process of taking one step forward and sliding two steps back can literally ‘dog our heels.’
It isn’t merely the ordinary tasks and challenges of the days and weeks and months and years as they unfold that weary us in their ordinariness, it’s also the exacerbating conflicts between governments and ideologies that have a sobering impact upon our psyche.
The things we can’t control tend to make us feel like we’re struggling for unattainable goals; that we’re pursuing vapors of air that will fade away even as we grasp for them. We long to believe our efforts will enable us to prepare our children for productive lives and ourselves for a comfortable future, but things loom before us that threaten to undo our efforts toward such goals. Evil seems rampant and our power to constrain it is limited.
But, we have hope that goes beyond ourselves and our own frail efforts. Paul, writing to the Romans said in Chapter 16, verse 20, “The God who brings peace will soon defeat Satan and give you power over him. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” The drudgery of life cannot overwhelm you; evil cannot weigh you down! Jesus has promised victory to His people! He tells us we are more than conquerors over the mundanity of life and over the wiles of the enemy!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
A Wonderful Passage
October 14
There is a wonderful passage of scripture in Isaiah 9:6, 7. We see portions of it often on Christmas cards so it may seem a bit premature to state it here with that lovely holiday two and a half months away, but in actuality, every day sees the birth of Christ in someone’s heart, so for some precious soul, today is his first Christmas!
“Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.”
God’s government of righteousness is settled upon Jesus. He carries the weight of it upon His shoulder. We get the image in our mind of a bearer, who in ancient times carried the weight of a potentate as he was transported from place to place by slaves. Jesus, the One who is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace; the One who shall reign forever has deigned to carry the burden of our righteousness upon Himself.
He knows we have no righteousness of our own. He knows that of ourselves we cannot be fit citizens of His holy kingdom. But His love for us compels Him to take upon Himself the responsibility for making us to be justified, for making us to be whole, for making us to be clean, for making us to be new! When Jesus, the holy Potentate of the Kingdom of Heaven makes us righteous, no sin we’ve ever done can stand! It is all washed away in the blood of the Child who was born to bear our sin away.
There is a wonderful passage of scripture in Isaiah 9:6, 7. We see portions of it often on Christmas cards so it may seem a bit premature to state it here with that lovely holiday two and a half months away, but in actuality, every day sees the birth of Christ in someone’s heart, so for some precious soul, today is his first Christmas!
“Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.”
God’s government of righteousness is settled upon Jesus. He carries the weight of it upon His shoulder. We get the image in our mind of a bearer, who in ancient times carried the weight of a potentate as he was transported from place to place by slaves. Jesus, the One who is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace; the One who shall reign forever has deigned to carry the burden of our righteousness upon Himself.
He knows we have no righteousness of our own. He knows that of ourselves we cannot be fit citizens of His holy kingdom. But His love for us compels Him to take upon Himself the responsibility for making us to be justified, for making us to be whole, for making us to be clean, for making us to be new! When Jesus, the holy Potentate of the Kingdom of Heaven makes us righteous, no sin we’ve ever done can stand! It is all washed away in the blood of the Child who was born to bear our sin away.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
No Walls
October 13
Ancient cities were fortified by having strong walls built around them. The people within the walls were safe because the walls were usually strong enough to keep out an enemy. The trouble with the wall was sometimes not that it could not keep the enemy out but that it imprisoned those within. When under siege, they could not conduct the usual business of life.
They could not conduct trade so the products they had for sale went unsold. The products they required to sustain themselves could not be brought in. Often fortified cities failed, not because they couldn’t keep an enemy at bay but because they kept themselves too well contained!
Fortified cities can neither protect nor confine us today, but other things can. We allow ourselves to be imprisoned within walls of anger, depression, failure, isolation—all manner of negative things that prevent us from experiencing the good things the Lord desires us to possess. Ephesians 2:13, 14 addresses this situation. It says, “In Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ.
“Jesus Himself is our peace, for He has made both Jew and Gentile one people. There is no longer any separation, for Jesus broke down the wall of separation by giving Himself for all men.” We need no longer be prisoners of negative emotions such as hatred. We can be set free to embrace every good gift the Bible tells us is ours—joy, peace, truth, hope, love (Galatians 5:22, 25) as we walk free in the Spirit.
Ancient cities were fortified by having strong walls built around them. The people within the walls were safe because the walls were usually strong enough to keep out an enemy. The trouble with the wall was sometimes not that it could not keep the enemy out but that it imprisoned those within. When under siege, they could not conduct the usual business of life.
They could not conduct trade so the products they had for sale went unsold. The products they required to sustain themselves could not be brought in. Often fortified cities failed, not because they couldn’t keep an enemy at bay but because they kept themselves too well contained!
Fortified cities can neither protect nor confine us today, but other things can. We allow ourselves to be imprisoned within walls of anger, depression, failure, isolation—all manner of negative things that prevent us from experiencing the good things the Lord desires us to possess. Ephesians 2:13, 14 addresses this situation. It says, “In Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ.
“Jesus Himself is our peace, for He has made both Jew and Gentile one people. There is no longer any separation, for Jesus broke down the wall of separation by giving Himself for all men.” We need no longer be prisoners of negative emotions such as hatred. We can be set free to embrace every good gift the Bible tells us is ours—joy, peace, truth, hope, love (Galatians 5:22, 25) as we walk free in the Spirit.
Friday, October 12, 2012
One Tried And True Avenue
October 12
From the unwashed minions of Occupy Wall Street to the murderous mobs of muslims in Libya, the understatement of the century is perhaps, ‘We are in a season of discontent.’ Good sense would tell us that if we disdain the powers that control the world’s monies, we should join them to change them, and if a film offends the god we serve, we should produce a more skillful work that tells our version of the story.
But it requires an investment of oneself to do something positive to counter the things we find objectionable whereas it requires nothing but shouting obscenities or lashing out murderously at defenseless victims to further the interests of the Wall Street Bunch or the Islamic cut-throats whose stock in trade is finding offense.
Neither above-mentioned group is rational in its outrage. But rage is never rational. Those who think their causes are advanced by the intensity of their wrathful protest are delusional as well as destructive. Those who think worthwhile ends are attained—when un-embellished disdain for the accomplishments of others or hatred for those who do not bow at the altar of their belief system spur them to anarchy—are abjectly in error.
There is only one tried and true avenue on which an individual may walk to attain satisfaction and fulfillment and it is the path described in Isaiah 26:3 which says, “You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on You because they trust You.” When you trust the Living God, you know He will make all things fair—and you understand that when He is offended, God is perfectly capable of exacting His own vengeance.
From the unwashed minions of Occupy Wall Street to the murderous mobs of muslims in Libya, the understatement of the century is perhaps, ‘We are in a season of discontent.’ Good sense would tell us that if we disdain the powers that control the world’s monies, we should join them to change them, and if a film offends the god we serve, we should produce a more skillful work that tells our version of the story.
But it requires an investment of oneself to do something positive to counter the things we find objectionable whereas it requires nothing but shouting obscenities or lashing out murderously at defenseless victims to further the interests of the Wall Street Bunch or the Islamic cut-throats whose stock in trade is finding offense.
Neither above-mentioned group is rational in its outrage. But rage is never rational. Those who think their causes are advanced by the intensity of their wrathful protest are delusional as well as destructive. Those who think worthwhile ends are attained—when un-embellished disdain for the accomplishments of others or hatred for those who do not bow at the altar of their belief system spur them to anarchy—are abjectly in error.
There is only one tried and true avenue on which an individual may walk to attain satisfaction and fulfillment and it is the path described in Isaiah 26:3 which says, “You, Lord, give true peace to those who depend on You because they trust You.” When you trust the Living God, you know He will make all things fair—and you understand that when He is offended, God is perfectly capable of exacting His own vengeance.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Greatest Transaction In History
October 11
God is no respecter of persons (Colossians 3:25). We are assured that anyone who accepts Christ as his personal Savior by laying his life at Jesus’ feet will have the sins he’s done—in their entirety—put under the blood of the Lamb who was slain for us. There are no individuals excepted. There are no sins that cannot be covered.
Although great minds have studied these points and there are great theological dissertations that have been written regarding them, the bottom line of the matter is that the simple story of the gospel is for every man, and it is written in such a way that the great truths of life cannot be overlooked by the sincere seeker.
Paul, in Romans 8:38, 39, gives us what is perhaps the best and most concise basis for our confidence in the absolute reality of the Lord’s sacrifice of Himself for our sin. Here he says, “I am confident that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come…nothing…can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul, who persecuted the early Church was confident that he was no exception to the plan of salvation! Peter, who denied the Lord three times (Matthew 26:34) realized he did not exempt himself from salvation by his denial.
It was Jesus’ love for mankind that caused Him to bear the cruel Roman lash upon His sinless back; it was His love that took Jesus to Calvary. It was His love for His fallen creatures that nailed Him to the cross. It wasn’t the hand of a Roman soldier that inflicted His wounds or forced His weary trek to Golgotha’s Hill. It was Christ’s love, established before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), that devised the greatest transaction in history—man’s sin for God’s righteousness—and it is His love that nailed sin to His cross and will perfect salvation in anyone who will accept it!
God is no respecter of persons (Colossians 3:25). We are assured that anyone who accepts Christ as his personal Savior by laying his life at Jesus’ feet will have the sins he’s done—in their entirety—put under the blood of the Lamb who was slain for us. There are no individuals excepted. There are no sins that cannot be covered.
Although great minds have studied these points and there are great theological dissertations that have been written regarding them, the bottom line of the matter is that the simple story of the gospel is for every man, and it is written in such a way that the great truths of life cannot be overlooked by the sincere seeker.
Paul, in Romans 8:38, 39, gives us what is perhaps the best and most concise basis for our confidence in the absolute reality of the Lord’s sacrifice of Himself for our sin. Here he says, “I am confident that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come…nothing…can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul, who persecuted the early Church was confident that he was no exception to the plan of salvation! Peter, who denied the Lord three times (Matthew 26:34) realized he did not exempt himself from salvation by his denial.
It was Jesus’ love for mankind that caused Him to bear the cruel Roman lash upon His sinless back; it was His love that took Jesus to Calvary. It was His love for His fallen creatures that nailed Him to the cross. It wasn’t the hand of a Roman soldier that inflicted His wounds or forced His weary trek to Golgotha’s Hill. It was Christ’s love, established before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), that devised the greatest transaction in history—man’s sin for God’s righteousness—and it is His love that nailed sin to His cross and will perfect salvation in anyone who will accept it!
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Abide Forever
October 10
Love is not easily perceived by the person who is immersed in the quagmire of despair or depression. Hopelessness hangs like a fog around the mind and heart and spirit of the one who is overwhelmed with the challenges of life, and that one can neither see the acts of love extended to him nor feel the warmth of the love that is directed his way.
The caring acts of friends who extend the hand of help at the hour of need may be appreciated but the love within them is not perceived. The love of a child, though valued, does not satisfy the deep longing of the heart enveloped with pain. The fact is that when there is one area where love should be—but isn’t—that one area enshrouds the entirety of the life in emptiness.
Even God’s love seems to be a pipe dream—a vapor of hope that circles like smoke around an aching spirit and then vanishes away. It is an unalterable truth that “The Lord shows His true love every day…” but unless we allow ourselves to feel His love we will be unable to say with the psalmist, “…At night I have a song and I pray to my living God” (Psalm 42:8).
When the heartaches of life have seared the heart and it can’t feel the love or God or of man, it is then the depleted one must remind himself that feelings are deceptive but God is forever true. It is then the precious words of scripture must be appropriated—“These three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love,” I Corinthians 13:8.
Love is not easily perceived by the person who is immersed in the quagmire of despair or depression. Hopelessness hangs like a fog around the mind and heart and spirit of the one who is overwhelmed with the challenges of life, and that one can neither see the acts of love extended to him nor feel the warmth of the love that is directed his way.
The caring acts of friends who extend the hand of help at the hour of need may be appreciated but the love within them is not perceived. The love of a child, though valued, does not satisfy the deep longing of the heart enveloped with pain. The fact is that when there is one area where love should be—but isn’t—that one area enshrouds the entirety of the life in emptiness.
Even God’s love seems to be a pipe dream—a vapor of hope that circles like smoke around an aching spirit and then vanishes away. It is an unalterable truth that “The Lord shows His true love every day…” but unless we allow ourselves to feel His love we will be unable to say with the psalmist, “…At night I have a song and I pray to my living God” (Psalm 42:8).
When the heartaches of life have seared the heart and it can’t feel the love or God or of man, it is then the depleted one must remind himself that feelings are deceptive but God is forever true. It is then the precious words of scripture must be appropriated—“These three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love,” I Corinthians 13:8.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The Ones Who Love Me
October 9
God puts a high premium on His Word. Obedience to the scriptures carries the promise of blessing and departure from it leads to destruction. These outcomes are not immediately evident—as can be discerned by the fact that good men sometimes suffer in this life and vile men often appear prosperous and healthy.
Outward appearances are not always accurate indicators of an individual’s inner condition, but there is a measure, there is a ‘plumb line,’ there is a criterion that the Lord uses to weigh out the profession of a man vs. the heart of the man. The word that defines the measure of a believer’s devotion is found in John 14:21.
Here Jesus says, “Those who know My commands and obey them are the ones who love Me, and My Father will love those who love Me. I will love them and will show Myself to them.” How can this be, you ask. For no man born on the planet has ever kept the commandments of God! Read Jesus’ words carefully:
“Those who know My commands and obey them are the ones who LOVE ME…” When we love Jesus, we are accounted righteous! When we love Jesus, we are forgiven of all sin. His robe of righteousness is placed over us! When we love Jesus, His commands are fulfilled for us—He fulfilled them Himself—and imparted His righteousness to us!
God puts a high premium on His Word. Obedience to the scriptures carries the promise of blessing and departure from it leads to destruction. These outcomes are not immediately evident—as can be discerned by the fact that good men sometimes suffer in this life and vile men often appear prosperous and healthy.
Outward appearances are not always accurate indicators of an individual’s inner condition, but there is a measure, there is a ‘plumb line,’ there is a criterion that the Lord uses to weigh out the profession of a man vs. the heart of the man. The word that defines the measure of a believer’s devotion is found in John 14:21.
Here Jesus says, “Those who know My commands and obey them are the ones who love Me, and My Father will love those who love Me. I will love them and will show Myself to them.” How can this be, you ask. For no man born on the planet has ever kept the commandments of God! Read Jesus’ words carefully:
“Those who know My commands and obey them are the ones who LOVE ME…” When we love Jesus, we are accounted righteous! When we love Jesus, we are forgiven of all sin. His robe of righteousness is placed over us! When we love Jesus, His commands are fulfilled for us—He fulfilled them Himself—and imparted His righteousness to us!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Like Hosea
October 8
Hosea, the Old Testament prophet is the author of one of the minor books in the Bible. His writing constitutes a mere six and a half pages of regular-sized print in a standard King James Bible, yet he tells the gospel story--albeit in a nutshell.
In Chapter one, verse two of the book that bears his name, Hosea is told by the Lord to, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.”
For his part, Hosea was faithful to his errant wife. He loved her and he loved their children; however, she seemed to be held captive to her forbidden past lifestyle. Hosea spoke tenderly toward her and endeavored to woo her back to himself, saying, “I will make you my promised bride forever. I will be good and fair and I will always show you my love and mercy,” Hosea 2:19. This is much the picture of the Lord’s relationship to us. Believers are the Bride of Christ, we are to rule and reign with Him eternally.
He has gone against all convention to make us His own in spite of our unworthiness. Does He turn us away when we fail Him? When we disappoint Him and turn our back on His love, does He regret the salvation for which He paid so high a price to buy us back from sin? No. Like Hosea, He takes us back and promises again to be good and fair and merciful and loving toward us—as soon as we ask Him to forgive us, He washes us afresh and reaffirms to us that we are His beloved.
Hosea, the Old Testament prophet is the author of one of the minor books in the Bible. His writing constitutes a mere six and a half pages of regular-sized print in a standard King James Bible, yet he tells the gospel story--albeit in a nutshell.
In Chapter one, verse two of the book that bears his name, Hosea is told by the Lord to, “Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms, for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.”
For his part, Hosea was faithful to his errant wife. He loved her and he loved their children; however, she seemed to be held captive to her forbidden past lifestyle. Hosea spoke tenderly toward her and endeavored to woo her back to himself, saying, “I will make you my promised bride forever. I will be good and fair and I will always show you my love and mercy,” Hosea 2:19. This is much the picture of the Lord’s relationship to us. Believers are the Bride of Christ, we are to rule and reign with Him eternally.
He has gone against all convention to make us His own in spite of our unworthiness. Does He turn us away when we fail Him? When we disappoint Him and turn our back on His love, does He regret the salvation for which He paid so high a price to buy us back from sin? No. Like Hosea, He takes us back and promises again to be good and fair and merciful and loving toward us—as soon as we ask Him to forgive us, He washes us afresh and reaffirms to us that we are His beloved.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
What Real Love Is
October 7
Although there were Jewish and Gentile believers at Ephesus, Paul addresses this letter essentially to the Gentile converts; perhaps because he believes that they, more than Jewish believers who have known of and understood the acts of the Living God far longer, required grounding in the fundamental nature of the new Lord they’ve received.
It is not surprising that a profound focus of Paul’s dissertation on the character of God is His love. In Ephesians 3:17-19 he says, “I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your lives will be strong in love and be built on love. I pray that you and all God’s people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and long and high and deep His love is.
“Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray you will be able to know His love, so you may be filled with the fullness of God.” Paul begins his prayerful discourse by saying it is by faith that Christ will live in the hearts of the Ephesians and it is by building on His love that their faith and their lives will be strong. Paul reveals that it is through the power of understanding His love that believers in Christ can begin to fathom the magnitude of His love.
Paul explains that the Lord’s love is greater than anyone can know, for no one can fathom its length and height and depth on his own but once that insight is attained, the person of faith can begin to grasp the fullness of God. Until the love that brought Jesus to the cross is understood, there is no aspect of the Godhead that a man can grasp. Until a mere mortal grips the truth of Deity dying that man may live, neither Jew nor Gentile can understand what real love is.
Although there were Jewish and Gentile believers at Ephesus, Paul addresses this letter essentially to the Gentile converts; perhaps because he believes that they, more than Jewish believers who have known of and understood the acts of the Living God far longer, required grounding in the fundamental nature of the new Lord they’ve received.
It is not surprising that a profound focus of Paul’s dissertation on the character of God is His love. In Ephesians 3:17-19 he says, “I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your lives will be strong in love and be built on love. I pray that you and all God’s people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and long and high and deep His love is.
“Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray you will be able to know His love, so you may be filled with the fullness of God.” Paul begins his prayerful discourse by saying it is by faith that Christ will live in the hearts of the Ephesians and it is by building on His love that their faith and their lives will be strong. Paul reveals that it is through the power of understanding His love that believers in Christ can begin to fathom the magnitude of His love.
Paul explains that the Lord’s love is greater than anyone can know, for no one can fathom its length and height and depth on his own but once that insight is attained, the person of faith can begin to grasp the fullness of God. Until the love that brought Jesus to the cross is understood, there is no aspect of the Godhead that a man can grasp. Until a mere mortal grips the truth of Deity dying that man may live, neither Jew nor Gentile can understand what real love is.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Kindness and Love That Never Fail
October 6
God loves, for "...God is love..." I John 4:16. Because He cannot deny Himself, His love for errant mankind will never fail (I Corinthians 13:8). Man’s frail imitation of love may be disappointing to those who depend upon it, who trust in it; for apart from God who is the Author of love and the ultimate Giver of love, love is merely, “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals,” I Corinthians 13:1.
Love, separated from the One who gives it sweetness and beauty and purity and hope and joy is merely a disappointment, an utterly clanging annoyance. Protestations of love from insincere lips are distractions at best and intimidations at worst, for the one who hasn’t got Christ as the source of his emotion rests his feelings upon uncertain incentives.
But anyone who has embraced Jesus to his heart; anyone who has allowed the love of the Holy One to pervade his being through the salvation process has awakened in himself the love of the ages, has opened himself to the great mother lode of the most refreshing and glorious emotion that exists! Such a one may then claim as his own the God who says, “I love those who love Me and those who seek Me shall find Me,” Proverbs 8:18.
The man who receives the love of God as expressed through Christ Jesus and His incomparable sacrifice of love can then understand the words of Jeremiah 31:3 which say, “From far away the Lord appeared to His people and said, “I love you with a love that will last forever so I continue to show you kindness.” Trials may come, disappointments may overtake the believer, but through all the challenges of life, he will know the power of God’s kindness and love that cannot fail.
God loves, for "...God is love..." I John 4:16. Because He cannot deny Himself, His love for errant mankind will never fail (I Corinthians 13:8). Man’s frail imitation of love may be disappointing to those who depend upon it, who trust in it; for apart from God who is the Author of love and the ultimate Giver of love, love is merely, “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals,” I Corinthians 13:1.
Love, separated from the One who gives it sweetness and beauty and purity and hope and joy is merely a disappointment, an utterly clanging annoyance. Protestations of love from insincere lips are distractions at best and intimidations at worst, for the one who hasn’t got Christ as the source of his emotion rests his feelings upon uncertain incentives.
But anyone who has embraced Jesus to his heart; anyone who has allowed the love of the Holy One to pervade his being through the salvation process has awakened in himself the love of the ages, has opened himself to the great mother lode of the most refreshing and glorious emotion that exists! Such a one may then claim as his own the God who says, “I love those who love Me and those who seek Me shall find Me,” Proverbs 8:18.
The man who receives the love of God as expressed through Christ Jesus and His incomparable sacrifice of love can then understand the words of Jeremiah 31:3 which say, “From far away the Lord appeared to His people and said, “I love you with a love that will last forever so I continue to show you kindness.” Trials may come, disappointments may overtake the believer, but through all the challenges of life, he will know the power of God’s kindness and love that cannot fail.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Worthy
October 5
Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father. Jesus came not only to save us from our sin but to reveal the Father’s love for us. The God who inhabits eternity knows the frame of His creation. He knows that man, even in his fallen state, yearns for love and acceptance.
When one is in a fractured relationship that should have been rooted in love, one is susceptible to the taunting whisper of the enemy, ‘You are unlovely and unlovable. Neither God nor man can love you.’ To listen to that lie from the pit of hell is to play into the hand of the one who has used lies from the beginning (Genesis 3:1) to accomplish his purpose, “to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).
Rather than accept the lie of the enemy, we who hunger for love and acceptance must turn to the One who counters his evil; to the One who Jesus goes on to say in that same verse, “…but I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” Whose words shall we then believe? Shall we believe the taunts of the enemy that penetrate our spirit as arrows penetrate a body? Shall we listen to his destructive words that tear down our spirits and reduce our hope to despair?
No! We must receive the words of Jesus who said, “I have loved you as the Father loved Me! REMAIN IN MY LOVE…I have told you these things so you will have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be full…Love each other as I have loved you…” When we believe the One who is Truth, when we commit our heart and our path to Him, we shall not be undone by the evil people we encounter or by the devil himself if he visit us in person.
JESUS WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN he WHO IS IN THE WORLD.” I John 4:4. TRUST HIM! HE IS WORTHY OF YOUR COMPLETE LOVE AND FAITH!
Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father. Jesus came not only to save us from our sin but to reveal the Father’s love for us. The God who inhabits eternity knows the frame of His creation. He knows that man, even in his fallen state, yearns for love and acceptance.
When one is in a fractured relationship that should have been rooted in love, one is susceptible to the taunting whisper of the enemy, ‘You are unlovely and unlovable. Neither God nor man can love you.’ To listen to that lie from the pit of hell is to play into the hand of the one who has used lies from the beginning (Genesis 3:1) to accomplish his purpose, “to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).
Rather than accept the lie of the enemy, we who hunger for love and acceptance must turn to the One who counters his evil; to the One who Jesus goes on to say in that same verse, “…but I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” Whose words shall we then believe? Shall we believe the taunts of the enemy that penetrate our spirit as arrows penetrate a body? Shall we listen to his destructive words that tear down our spirits and reduce our hope to despair?
No! We must receive the words of Jesus who said, “I have loved you as the Father loved Me! REMAIN IN MY LOVE…I have told you these things so you will have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be full…Love each other as I have loved you…” When we believe the One who is Truth, when we commit our heart and our path to Him, we shall not be undone by the evil people we encounter or by the devil himself if he visit us in person.
JESUS WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN he WHO IS IN THE WORLD.” I John 4:4. TRUST HIM! HE IS WORTHY OF YOUR COMPLETE LOVE AND FAITH!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Worthy of Their Trust
October 4
Trust is a precious commodity. Without it, treaties between nations mean nothing and apart from it relationships between people disintegrate. Though on a national and on a personal level there may be a sham of reliance upon one who is not trusted, ultimately, the one lacking trust knows that when crunch time comes, he’ll be on his own.
A prime example of this pseudo trust may be that which the nation of Israel extends to its long-time ally, the United States. Although there was a time Israel knew the U.S. had its back, she would be most foolhardy to believe that under the current American administration. Many Christians believe that the blessings enjoyed by our nation have come in part because of our support of Israel. (See Genesis 12:3.)
When we as believers profess to love God, if our claim is true, we will love His people. We will account ourselves as the protectors and defenders of any and all who name His name. We will speak out for the persecuted in countries where freedom of religion is disallowed. We will speak out for the Jew who is the chronicler of God's immutable Word. We will be unswayed by the policies of nations but be steadfast in supporting those who are His own.
If we love the Lord, our love for His people—our brothers in faith and our brothers who have imparted His Word to us—will be exemplified by I John 4:16, 19 which says, “We know the love God has for us; we trust that love. God is love and those who live in love live in God and He in them; we love because He first loved us.” May our love abound for Christ and for His people and may we be worthy of their trust.
Trust is a precious commodity. Without it, treaties between nations mean nothing and apart from it relationships between people disintegrate. Though on a national and on a personal level there may be a sham of reliance upon one who is not trusted, ultimately, the one lacking trust knows that when crunch time comes, he’ll be on his own.
A prime example of this pseudo trust may be that which the nation of Israel extends to its long-time ally, the United States. Although there was a time Israel knew the U.S. had its back, she would be most foolhardy to believe that under the current American administration. Many Christians believe that the blessings enjoyed by our nation have come in part because of our support of Israel. (See Genesis 12:3.)
When we as believers profess to love God, if our claim is true, we will love His people. We will account ourselves as the protectors and defenders of any and all who name His name. We will speak out for the persecuted in countries where freedom of religion is disallowed. We will speak out for the Jew who is the chronicler of God's immutable Word. We will be unswayed by the policies of nations but be steadfast in supporting those who are His own.
If we love the Lord, our love for His people—our brothers in faith and our brothers who have imparted His Word to us—will be exemplified by I John 4:16, 19 which says, “We know the love God has for us; we trust that love. God is love and those who live in love live in God and He in them; we love because He first loved us.” May our love abound for Christ and for His people and may we be worthy of their trust.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
One Defining Word
October 3
There is one defining word about God, and that word is ‘LOVE.’ Yes, He is holy; yes, His holiness requires Him to exercise judgment. Yes, there is a penalty to those who turn away from the grace He extends whereby His righteousness is placed as a covering upon sinful man. But though He may be required by His holiness to address sin and its consequences, His nature is love.
Because He loves, He desires that all men place their sins under the blood of Jesus. For whatever reason within each bosom, some men do, and some men do not exercise the prerogative to receive forgiveness and cleansing from the Lord. Yet, whether they do or whether they don’t, the God of all mankind loves them. Even while they were yet sinners, He loved them and Jesus died for them (Romans 5:8).
Jesus loves everyone, but perhaps John felt His love the most, for he called himself ‘the beloved Apostle.’ Equipped with his profound revelation of Christ’s love, he said in I John 4:7-12, “…we should love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves becomes God’s child and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love…
"…This is real love: not our love for God but God’s love for us in sending His Son to take away our sins…if God loves us that much, we also should love one another…if we love each other, God lives in us and His love is made perfect in us.” Some people find it easy to execute judgment upon those they feel fall short of their concept of God. What they fail to see is that in so doing, they themselves miss Him entirely by missing His love.
There is one defining word about God, and that word is ‘LOVE.’ Yes, He is holy; yes, His holiness requires Him to exercise judgment. Yes, there is a penalty to those who turn away from the grace He extends whereby His righteousness is placed as a covering upon sinful man. But though He may be required by His holiness to address sin and its consequences, His nature is love.
Because He loves, He desires that all men place their sins under the blood of Jesus. For whatever reason within each bosom, some men do, and some men do not exercise the prerogative to receive forgiveness and cleansing from the Lord. Yet, whether they do or whether they don’t, the God of all mankind loves them. Even while they were yet sinners, He loved them and Jesus died for them (Romans 5:8).
Jesus loves everyone, but perhaps John felt His love the most, for he called himself ‘the beloved Apostle.’ Equipped with his profound revelation of Christ’s love, he said in I John 4:7-12, “…we should love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves becomes God’s child and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love…
"…This is real love: not our love for God but God’s love for us in sending His Son to take away our sins…if God loves us that much, we also should love one another…if we love each other, God lives in us and His love is made perfect in us.” Some people find it easy to execute judgment upon those they feel fall short of their concept of God. What they fail to see is that in so doing, they themselves miss Him entirely by missing His love.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Love Compared
October 2
There is a stark contrast between the love of God and the love of man. God’s love gives; man’s love expects. God loved us while we were yet sinners—thieves, murderers, cheats, liars, betrayers, adulterers, idolaters—we didn’t have to clean up our act before He loved us. He loved us at our worst; man loves only our best.
In the gospel that bears his name, the beloved apostle tells us, “God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. Anyone who assents to the propitiatory life, death, and resurrection of Jesus receives God’s incomparable gift of eternal life.
The Holy One makes no demands of us. He doesn’t require us to set our house in order before He will save us. He doesn’t necessitate our self-transformation before He will extend His mighty arm to extract us from the pit of sin into which we’ve fallen. No. He asks only that we believe.
A cursory investigation of the pages of history will affirm to us that Jesus lived, and that He did what the Bible says of Him. From the ancient historian Josephus to modern-day archaeological discoveries, the secrets hidden in the earth attest to the veracity of the life of a Savior who loves man and comes to set him free from bondage to sin and death. His love far excels our own!
There is a stark contrast between the love of God and the love of man. God’s love gives; man’s love expects. God loved us while we were yet sinners—thieves, murderers, cheats, liars, betrayers, adulterers, idolaters—we didn’t have to clean up our act before He loved us. He loved us at our worst; man loves only our best.
In the gospel that bears his name, the beloved apostle tells us, “God so loved the world He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. Anyone who assents to the propitiatory life, death, and resurrection of Jesus receives God’s incomparable gift of eternal life.
The Holy One makes no demands of us. He doesn’t require us to set our house in order before He will save us. He doesn’t necessitate our self-transformation before He will extend His mighty arm to extract us from the pit of sin into which we’ve fallen. No. He asks only that we believe.
A cursory investigation of the pages of history will affirm to us that Jesus lived, and that He did what the Bible says of Him. From the ancient historian Josephus to modern-day archaeological discoveries, the secrets hidden in the earth attest to the veracity of the life of a Savior who loves man and comes to set him free from bondage to sin and death. His love far excels our own!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Profession vs Performance
October 1
Reconciliation does not come easily. Forgiveness and restoration are achieved in areas of human endeavor but not without a high price. Whether in business and industry or in politics or in marriage, when trust has been breached, great effort must be invested in order that it be restored.
And the key word is ‘trust.’ Without the ability to have absolute confidence in those with whom we interact, man is not inclined to allow anyone into the inner sanctum of his life—into that part of himself that requires transparency.
In the up-coming election, the current American president finds himself facing the reality of the gulf between the promised openness of his administration and the secrecy and duplicity that has characterized it. Many voters who find him likable and who respect his office do not to plan to vote for him in November because of his proclivity to govern more by executive order than by the Constitution, more like a dictator than like a president.
Not only politicians but others are undone by the contrast between what they profess and what they live. It is only Jesus who upholds Paul’s words in Romans 5:8, “God shows His great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.” We needn’t prove our trustworthiness to the Lord before He will accept our credibility. We need only place our lives at His feet, and He will reconcile us to Himself.
Reconciliation does not come easily. Forgiveness and restoration are achieved in areas of human endeavor but not without a high price. Whether in business and industry or in politics or in marriage, when trust has been breached, great effort must be invested in order that it be restored.
And the key word is ‘trust.’ Without the ability to have absolute confidence in those with whom we interact, man is not inclined to allow anyone into the inner sanctum of his life—into that part of himself that requires transparency.
In the up-coming election, the current American president finds himself facing the reality of the gulf between the promised openness of his administration and the secrecy and duplicity that has characterized it. Many voters who find him likable and who respect his office do not to plan to vote for him in November because of his proclivity to govern more by executive order than by the Constitution, more like a dictator than like a president.
Not only politicians but others are undone by the contrast between what they profess and what they live. It is only Jesus who upholds Paul’s words in Romans 5:8, “God shows His great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.” We needn’t prove our trustworthiness to the Lord before He will accept our credibility. We need only place our lives at His feet, and He will reconcile us to Himself.
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