For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
It seems there’s a lot of talk these days about “end times.” Since the world received the words of Christ about eternal salvation and His return, people of all centuries have determined “this is it.” And although I do agree with Christian teacher Joyce Meyer that “we are closer to the return than we were yesterday,” we can never know when that day will actually arrive. We can only prepare.
During the last year I’ve enjoyed digging deeper into what the gift of salvation really means for us and what it doesn’t. It isn’t something we can earn but it is something we must take action on to receive. It isn’t something we can lose but it is something we are expected to behave like we have received. It was given in blood by Jesus yet He gives us forgiveness and grace for having to shed it.
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2
When we recount the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion, we can easily imagine the dirt and grime and blood. The sweat and the tears. The pain and sadness. A perfect man, our God clothed in flesh without blemish torn apart by the sins of those past, present and future. And as God always likes to do, He suddenly flips the script. At Jesus’ last breath the veil between earth and heaven is torn wide open. We who actively seek out the Lord and place Him as king of our lives now have an intercessor to present our dirty souls cleansed. Not just our hands but our hearts will be spit shined for when we meet the King. Sparkling creations meeting the glorious Creator. Thank you, Jesus.
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.Genesis 2:9
Some time ago I set about trying to change myself completely. I told my friends I wanted to be more “sparkly.” What that meant to me was someone who, when they enter a room, people instantly want to be around. Someone who’s laughter draws others in to their sphere. Someone who seems so light of heart and lacking in any strife. Someone who, I said once, practically poops out glitter. Well shock of shocks, I realized that I’m just not ever going to be that person. So, I decided if I’m not “sparkly” then maybe I should try to be “elegant.”
I absolutely love Pinterest. You can ask it how to do anything and up pops a bazillion articles on how to do it. So, as I was scrolling through one day, I kept getting all these “Traits of an Elegant Woman” posts. However, after a recent theology night at my church I decided “elegant” wasn’t my ballywig either. After making some goofy jokes and embarrassing myself in front of complete strangers I realized I had failed just about every point on the “elegant woman” list. So maybe God just wants me to be a better version of who He made me to be? Now there’s a thought!
But in my short-lived quest of elegance, I noticed that God, Himself, has created so much elegance in our world. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines elegance this way:
Refined grace
Tasteful richness of design
Restrained beauty
Scientific precision
Today I praise God for His elegant creations and His elegant ways. But what do I mean by that? In looking at that list what comes to mind are the everyday sunrises and sunsets of which He blesses our earth. A glorious butterfly that languishes on a leaf. A smooth and quiet breeze. A gentle pattering of rain.
There’s so much to our world that really isn’t necessary for sustaining life. Yet God not only made things good, He made them very good.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.Genesis 1:31
God is so elegant in the big things like sunsets but also in the behind-the-scenes system of how everything works seamlessly. Think about the entire process of our water cycle: water evaporates from the ocean, creates condensation and is stored in the atmosphere, ice and snow drop, water comes down through rivers and groundwater, and the run-off goes back into the original source. So cool.
This God elegance isn’t always what we might call beautiful. Sometimes it seems terribly violent. A wildfire rips through a forest causing destruction. And yet that fire was also made by God. A necessary step in another elegantly crafted eco-system.
As inhabitants of this world, it’s so easy to not see the minutiae or even the bigger picture. We get trapped in our small, daily lives of running errands, paying bills, raising kids, etc. We should all take time on a regular basis to stop and admire this elegantly crafted world. Lay on your back and contemplate the clouds. Roll over and feel the life giving dirt beneath the grass. Be amazed how the seed from that dandelion blows and lands to bury into the ground to create new life. And marvel about how very, very good it all is.
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17
“We are pretty much the only hope that God has for reaching people who need him.”
Joyce Meyer
On a recent visit with my daughter back in St. Louis, Missouri, she invited me to her friend’s 50th birthday gathering. It was to be just a small group as her larger party had already taken place. My daughter, who is 23, is blessed to have a number of women in her life who are not only mature in their marriages and in life in general, but in their faith. As I sat listening to them, I said a silent prayer of thanks to God. He, once again, put me right where I needed to be.
I listened as these Christian women of varied ages shared memories of shared events and the joy of being disciples to younger women. You see, their church encourages all ages to seek being discipled by more experienced Christians – something I haven’t experienced in the 20 years I’ve been an active Christian.
The birthday girl’s good friend suddenly announced we were to all take turns expressing what we loved about the newly christened 50 year old. She turned to me and said, “You don’t know Renee well so you don’t need to say anything.” I disagreed. I definitely had much to love about this woman that I had just met.
As each woman spoke, I felt the love flow throughout the group. It was sweet and brave and authentic. And at my turn I’m sure they all wondered what I would have to say.
“As a mother I miss my daughter terribly. She’s so far away. She has no family for hundreds of miles. And now with a baby on the way it grieves me that she is alone out here. But I realize she isn’t. I am so thankful she has Renee as her friend and godly counsel. A mother couldn’t ask for anything better besides being here herself,” I said.
You see my daughter’s friend, Renee, has taken her under her beautiful wings. She provides wise counsel about marriage, faith, motherhood and more. I could be jealous when I hear my daughter talk about her relationship with Renee. But my faith progression has brought me instead to a place of thankfulness. My daughter is incredibly blessed to be surrounded by Christian women who are prepared and ready to offer Biblical counsel.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free" Luke 4:18
That’s Jesus in the above verse. Jesus our wise counselor setting us free from our prisons. And He trained up His disciples to spread His message of salvation and freedom. Like the old shampoo commercial goes, “and they told two friends and so on and so on.” Which brings us thousands of years later to this little group at a café in Missouri.
Here’s what I noticed about those six women I sat with that night. 1) They didn’t gossip 2) They lifted each other up with genuine compliments 3) They showed love and concern for each other 4) They were confident in expressing their faith and 5) They were eager and willing to take up being disciples.
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
These women are living the Great Commission. Teaching and guiding and loving Jesus’ flock. I sat there like a fan-girl marveling at being in the midst of ordinary women who were so extraordinary. Yes, ordinary women. They aren’t pastors or scholars although one is in fact a trained Christian counselor. They are students of Jesus. It gave me hope of what I could achieve with faith and the blessings of God.
I took the opportunity to ask a few of them a Christian counseling question.
“If I find myself in a situation with a fellow Christian who is struggling with an issue, what’s your best advice?” I inquired.
Without hesitation three of the women, including my daughter who herself disciples young women, said: “You need to really get to know the person. There needs to be a sense of trust that you come from a place of love.” And the birthday girl? She emphasized my old favorite, truth plus love. Not being afraid to speak God’s truth into someone from a loving perspective. Remember that Jesus trait of having a warrior spirit? Renee takes it to heart. She knows the end game – saving a soul.
“As you being the process of bringing correction into someone’s life, put yourself in his shoes. If you were the one sitting there, would it be easy or difficult for you to hear what is about to be said? If the person you are correcting acts closed at first it may be that he’s just embarrassed or reacting out of insecurity. Therefore don’t stop the conversation unless you can see that he’s just being combative. You need to be patient and slow in judging their reaction to your correction.”
Rick Renner, Sparkling Gems from the Greek
Isn’t this the reaction we worry about the most when we need to speak truth to our Christian friends or family members? A fear of making someone angry or embarrassed? But here lies the reason why “Wise Counselor” sits at the end of our faith progression. Without love, without a sense of serving God, without courage, without knowledge of the Lord’s will, we will probably fail at being what our friend, child, sibling, co-worker, or sister in Christ truly needs.
So, when Jesus asks us to “follow” He isn’t just offering Himself up to save us from eternal damnation which by itself is a pretty amazing gift. He’s saying “join me in a journey.” He’s saying, “we’ve got work to do together.” And if we stop partway on the journey and decide we are “fine” where we are at, we miss the opportunities He wants to put in front of us to free more captives.
I don’t know about you but I need wise Christian counselors in my life. And if I could be like Renee and be a blessing in other’s lives, I know it’d make Jesus smile. My imperfect progress, as my friend Betsy likes to say, is still progress. I want to know and live out having the mind of Christ. I’m not where I was when I started and I still have a ways to go. Thankfully, I can trust that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are my guides and cheerleaders.
When we started this journey, I invited you to say a prayer of confession I found in Sparkling Gems from the Greek. And true to God’s ways He put another in front of me to close out this series. Please join me in this prayer and confession. I pray that you seek love, humbleness, courage, and wisdom on your journey.
“Lord, I ask you to help be kind and patient when it is essential for me to bring correction. Help me to not be offended if the person I’m trying to help doesn’t respond at first the way I wished he would have. Help me put myself in that person’s shoes and to sympathize with how he might feel. I ask You to give me wisdom to know what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. I also ask that You give the other person the grace to hear what I am telling him so he might see that I have his best interest at heart and that I am only trying to help him. I pray this in Jesus’ name!”
“I confess that I have the mind of Jesus Christ! When it is needful to me to speak correction to someone else I do it with love, kindness and patience. I refrain from allowing anger to rise up inside me. I am careful about the words that come out of my mouth, and I refuse to participate in vain arguing. I remain in control of myself as the Holy Spirit works mightily inside me. My words bring life to all who hear and receive them! I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once, the man was cured. John 5:8
“Lord Jesus, I offer myself for Your people. In any way. Any place. Any time.”
Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place
I was reading recently about what it meant that Jesus called Himself a humble servant of God. To some that seems contrary – for someone to call themselves “humble.” And at the time of Jesus the word “humble” was a vile and contemptible thing. According to Christian author Charles Jefferson, there was no virtue in the all the pagan world known as “humility.” It was a defect.
As Christianity spread across the world so did its values. One of its unique additions to the world was the concept of Christ-like humility and servitude. It is possibly one of the most misunderstood of Christian values. To some, it means having a low estimate of ourselves. To others it means we deny ourselves and make ourselves inferior. But if we accept all of Christ’s words as true we then must also accept these:
“I am meek and lowly in heart.” Matthew 11:29
And yet we have never met a person who held their head higher, with more confidence, with such loftiness, as Jesus. So often it seems we create a vision of the various character traits of Jesus and each believer then feels they must change their personalities to fit that ideal. When we picture a meek and humble person (not Jesus) do we imagine a rich person? Do we picture a courageous and bold person? Or do we picture a small, weak person who lets people walk all over her?
As I’ve progressed in my faith this concept of being a humble servant is something I’ve really mulled over. I’ve tried “playing” various roles that seem to fit the ideal. And it’s funny. When I try to be so quiet and meek-like it usually backfires. The recipient can tell I’m being a phony.
About a year ago I heard about the book, “The Hiding Place.” I know many Christians have read this at some point in their lives. As a refresher, the story is a Christian family from Holland living at the start of World War II. As Hitler’s army advances, the local Jewish community starts to disappear. Two of the main characters, sisters Betsie and Corrie Ten Boom, find themselves answering God’s call to not just hide Jews but also play integral roles in the underground system of protecting Jews from all over. What struck me about this book were the opposite personalities of the sisters. Both answering God’s call to be humble servants in their own ways.
Corrie was the bold one. She found herself tasked with much of the dangerous work outside their home. While in prison it was Corrie who dealt with the officials. Lest we think this was easy for her because of a strong faith, Corrie frequently questioned God about what He wanted her to do. And each time she prayed. And each time either a word from God or someone close to her encouraged her to move on His command. Near the beginning of their story, Corrie is tasked with obtaining extra food rations cards. She was led to speak with a local man who recently took a job in the Food Office. But she wasn’t sure it would be safe.
“Lord,” I prayed silently, “if it is not safe to confide in Fred, stop this conversation now before it is too late.”
Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place
She found herself asking not for five cards but suddenly 100. And within a week they were in her hands. The danger she faced – being turned into the authorities– was replaced with her trust in God’s urging for her to be a “doing Christian.”
Throughout her ordeal, while at home and eventually in prison, she wanted to be so angry with the Germans and those who supported them. She balked at loving her enemies and showing them mercy. Really, who could blame her? And yet over and over she submitted her heart and hands to God.
“My job was simply to follow His leading one step at a time, holding every decision up to Him in prayer,” she wrote. “I knew I was not clever or subtle or sophisticated; if my home was becoming a meeting place for need and supply, it was through some strategy far higher than mine.”
Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place
You can contrast her submission to God with a local pastor she encounters. He, on the other hand, when asked to take in a Jewish mother and child into his home was clearly frightened. He admonished her for the “illegal” activity and warned her that what she was doing wasn’t safe.
The concept of being a humble servant doesn’t require of us to be a person of a certain personality or style of living. A longtime pastor can fail while a wealthy man can succeed at this effort. Throughout “The Hiding Place” one such wealthy man aids the underground effort with both his money and his own hands.
In all of Jesus’ teachings we see Him asking us to do two things: love one another and take action. Like the man at the pool who had been waiting for healing for almost 40 years he asks us to first believe Him then get up and start moving. Along the way he wants us to be teachable and willing to learn. He asks us to put aside our vanity and social aspirations. He tasks us to serve and feed His sheep. He doesn’t ask us to underestimate ourselves, make ourselves small, or feel unworthy. In fact, He wants us to stand firm in the knowledge we are doing His work.
Corrie Ten Boom was bold and faithful and humble at the same time. She was always looking to serve the less fortunate and those in need. And when she forgot about serving her enemies, her sister stepped forward to remind her.
I once took a leadership personality test at a conference. The results weren’t that surprising. I have a bold personality and I’m good at organizing. But what makes any leadership situation successful for me is to be paired with a softer, gentler leader. That person remembers those who aren’t as obvious and reminds me to slow down to see the whole picture.
Betsie Ten Boom was that kind of leader. The book in which they are written of highlights her bold sister, Corrie. But it’s this quieter, gentler servant of God that I saw as a thread throughout. It was Betsie who would send up prayers for the Germans soldiers who were torturing them. It was Betsy who thanked God for fleas in their new barracks. While Corrie was dealing with the big problems, it was her quiet sister drawing people out of the shadows for prayer meetings in the middle of the night.
During one difficult transfer to yet another barracks, the women were made to stand for hours and hours. The two sister’s personalities and approach to being God’s servants was evident in this exchange:
“Betsie!” I wailed, “how long will this take!”
“Perhaps a long, long time. Perhaps many years. But what better way could there be to spend our lives?” Betsie replied.
I turned to stare at her. “Whatever are you talking about?”
“These young women. That young girl back at the bunkers, Corrie, if people can be taught to hate, they can be taught to love! We must find a way, you and I, no matter how long it takes…” Betsie said with excitement.
Are we that excited to serve God humbly? To be teachable, free from ambition, and vanity? Have we looked Jesus in the eye and said, “I trust you.” And when He has told you to get up and pick up your mat have you obeyed Him? Or have you decided that you aren’t “good enough,” “strong enough,” or “smart enough?”
Are you laying around by the pool, waiting for someone else to do the work for you? If you keep saying to God, “show me what you want me to do” and have yet to walk out your front door and serve your neighbors you’ve missed the point. He takes all types in His Great Army. Get your mat and get moving.
“All of us are different, but all of us can serve the Lord for His glory.”
Since the resurrection of Jesus, Christians seem to have been in an interesting battle. The concept of how we are saved has led to many sermons, books, and even paper nailed to church doors. The prevailing answer in the modern church age is, of course, that we are saved by grace. The grace of Jesus Christ dying for our sins.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
That passage from Romans couldn’t be clearer and yet the concept of being saved by works and/or financial contributions to the church ran throughout Christendom for a long time. Unfortunately, much of our Christian thinking seems to have swung so far in the opposite direction that we have forgotten the other lessons in the Bible.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? James 2:14
As my BSGs work our way through a study of Revelation I keep hearing a few of the same messages. 1) We must repent of our sins and accept Christ today and 2) Our deeds will be counted in eternity. That balance of accepting God’s grace and also working to please Him echoes so many other Christian balancing acts.
Expressing God’s Truth while showing God’s Love
His Word is both bitter and sweet
To live in this world but not of it
Accepting chastisement as a method of God’s love for us
I wonder how many of us each Sunday (or whatever day you attend church) receive constant training on how to walk those balance beams?
This week’s Jesus Mindset focuses on being a humble servant. The character trait requires of us to first be somewhat practiced at being a loving friend. For when we take action in the name of God without a loving spirit it becomes almost impossible to be humble. I’m sure each of us can think of a person in our lives who took on responsibilities simply to gain some sort of recognition. A church body that forgets Jesus’ primary character trait – loving friend – becomes like the church of Ephesus. They were “doing” a lot and building larger, more grand buildings but doing it without love.
“The church used to be known for its good deeds,” said one wit, “but today it’s better known for its bad mortgages.”
The evolution from love of neighbor to deeds without love creates a hulking body that God eventually is clearly unhappy with. And so, we find ourselves searching for the balance. This week I will highlight three people. Two sisters and a quiet, humble man. Each has their own way of “feeding” God’s lambs. Each have different personalities. They each find a way to reach that balance of knowing they are saved by grace and yet God asks more of us.
I love this quote from the book, “The Hiding Place,” which tells the story of love and servanthood in the face of extreme adversity. This moment takes place as a member of the family is about to die. They remind her of all the amazing things she did in life because “accomplishment” meant so much to her. But in her final moments Jesus spoke to her heart and reminded her of God’s truths.
“How can we bring anything to God? What does He care for our little tricks and trinkets?” she asked. And then as we listened in disbelief she lowered her hands and with tears still coursing down her face whispered, “Dear Jesus, I thank You that we must come with empty hands. I thank you that You have done all on the Cross and that all we need in life or death is to be sure of this.”
Tante Jans, The Hiding Place
With empty, well-worn hands. Hands worn with the work for Jesus. For when we die we won’t take the certificates of recognition, the medals, the bonuses with us. But each person we have fed, in His name, will be etched in our hands and hearts.
Then He said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Matthew 9:37
Jesus has plenty of work for us to do. The majority of that work could be called “grunt work.” It requires us to get uncomfortable and place our trust solely in the Lord’s hands. You probably won’t receive any money for it or a headline in the local paper. What we will receive is a smile from Jesus.
My friend Betsy told me the other day how, while out shopping, she saw a homeless man in an adjoining parking lot. He was in a wheelchair. As she got into her car Jesus placed the thought in her head, “Go give him one of your ‘blessings bags.’” Her church provides these bags to hand out to anyone in need. She had never just walked up to someone and given them a bag.
But that day she pulled out of her parking spot and drove over to the man. He was struggling trying to get his wheelchair closed up so he could lie down on the same spot. As she approached the man, she could tell he was drunk. But she kept moving forward. She inquired, “Do you need some help?” And he said he did. She helped him get situated and then offered a blessings bag, which he readily accepted. As she left she acknowledged to herself that she wouldn’t have taken that action previously – some other force pressed her forward.
You see, Betsy has been a loving Christian for 60 some years. She has always served her church and family well. Recently she has been working on the “obeying God” part of her faith progression. Listening for His voice and taking action to be His humble servant. God has told her it’s time to move forward.
“But we have the mind of Christ” 1 Corinthians 2:16
We so often hear the phrase, “To be like Jesus” but what does it really mean in our everyday lives? My BSGs were in a deep conversation on Revelation about whether or not we believe in the rapture. And, more importantly how does either position effect our lives. History and our current world are full of scholars who know a lot more about the details of the Bible than probably you or I will ever grasp. But there’s a difference, which is a deep and wide crevasse, between knowing and living out the qualities of Jesus.
“We, therefore, desire to copy his character and put our feet into his footprints. Be it ours to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. What says our Lord himself? “Follow me,” and again, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls.” Not Christ’s apostle, but Christ himself, is our guide; we may not take a secondary model, but must imitate Jesus himself.”
Charles Spurgeon
Imitation is not knowing of something but molding ourselves into an almost exact copy. I say “almost” because of course, Jesus is God and we are not. We walk the Jesus drawn path toward His perfection but we are always in a human mode my friend Betsy calls, “imperfect progress.”
Our modern view of Jesus seems to be stuck in one quality, however. And truth be told, if we could regularly live out that one quality it’d be a great step forward on our path. That quality? A loving friend.
We hear the word “love” over and over in our churches, in our faith songs, on our Christian social media. But what about Jesus’ other characteristics? How many of us are willing to take on being Jesus the Warrior, Jesus the Servant, or Jesus the Counselor? If we have hesitated is it because we know that once we decide to move along in our sanctification journey, we will encounter more and more resistance from the outside world?
Are we prepared, like the disciple Stephen, to be a martyr for God? Are we prepared to state unequivocally that we must obey God rather than human beings? (Acts 5:29)
And so, we return to the original question, what does believing in the words of the Bible and Jesus mean to our lives? It means we are to be in constant preparation for His coming. It means we love our neighbors, we share the gospel whenever possible, we humble ourselves, we seek reconciliation and not revenge, we encourage and lift up our fellow travelers, we carry the message of Jesus throughout every generation, and we stand up for the truth of His Holy Word. It means we make a perspective shift on every single aspect of our lives because we believe that one day soon our “age of grace” will turn to the “age of judgment.”
Jesus expects us to be working on that preparation. It’s why He came – not to just leave us knowing God loves us – but living like God knows and loves us. He came to be our example for gathering up residents of the future Kingdom come.
Join me in this journey of looking at the different qualities of Jesus as we delve into His mindset so that we can become His imitators. We will be challenged to accept all of His qualities, not just the ones with which we feel most comfortable. Along the way we will meet some people whose lives are examples of those characteristics.
Jesus was a great disrupter – possibly the greatest of all time. Let’s let Him disrupt and reshape us.
As we begin this series take a moment to pray this confession found in Rick Renner’s, Sparkling Gems from the Greek:
“I boldly declare that I am a new creature in Christ. Old things have passed away and all things have become new! I am not who I used to be anymore. I don’t think like that old person; I don’t see like that old person; I don’t talk like that old person; and I don’t behave like that old person anymore. Now I am in Jesus Christ, and I think like Him, see like Him, talk like Him, and behave like Him. I have come alive with vibrant life because of His resurrection power that works in me! I declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!”
Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
John 5:25
Today’s Fresh Fire is our last in this series. It’s been a great adventure finding and studying verses that have helped me bolster my faith. I hope these verses have helped your faith journey as well!
The idea of hearing the voice of God makes me think of my dog, Tucker. When he was just a puppy, I made a commitment to train him much differently than our previous dog. When my other dog was a puppy, I also had two small children to train. And the dog was the last to get my attention! So, with Tucker I’ve made it a point to make him into a good walking dog. At this point in his training, he walks with a e-collar rather than a leash.
There were a few training goals which my husband poo-poo’d at the time. One, that Tucker be trained to only chase rabbits when I allowed it. And two, to only cross the street when he received our approval. When my friends walk with me and Tucker they know that at each street corner we must stop, look both ways and proceed. Tucker, even while walking slightly ahead of me, will sit at each corner and wait for me. A training feat accomplished!
But what does this have to do with the voice of God? You see, my real goal with Tucker was to help him not get hit by a car if say, he were to be in the front yard with me while off leash. So, when we approached a corner and a car was passing by, even if it was going parallel to us, I made him wait. I associated not only the changing texture of the surface he was on but also the sound of cars with his need to wait.
And I can almost swear he now looks both ways, looking and listening for cars. He has learned to listen to something outside his little doggie mind before he can proceed safely.
Isn’t that what God wants from us? To be so well trained to listen for Him that we don’t proceed until we hear what He wants of us?
And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
Ezekiel 3:1
Throughout this series through verse after verse we have heard that to stay close to God we must pray, read His Word and listen through silent mediation. And the Bible shows us so many ways which God will speak to us – dreams, visions (like with Ezekiel), burning bushes, through others, signs, and the written word. If we aren’t listening to all His ways then how can we ever expect to cross the street safely? To move forward in our lives along His preferred path?
When Jesus made the statement in our verse today, He is telling us to listen up! To pay close attention! He tells us that a time is coming where when we hear His voice again it’s resurrection time. For those who hear His Word and turn to Him for the first time, that resurrection might mean tomorrow. Their dead souls come to live in new life. For others it will be when the believers are raised from the dead and enter into God’s glorious eternity. While still others will be resurrected and judged harshly.
But if we aren’t listening for Him, what will we miss out on? We miss the opportunity to be made righteous. We miss the opportunities to enjoy peace and grace and forgiveness right now.
This thing I know, that when I have neither heard nor read, I have yet felt the voice of God within me, and the Spirit has, himself, revealed some dark mystery, opened some secret, guided me into some truth, given me some direction, led me in some path, or in some other way has immediately spoken to me himself; and I believe it is so with every man at conversion;
Charles Spurgeon, The Majestic Voice
I was at my first women’s Bible retreat and we were challenged to go find a quiet place to talk with God. I found myself at a rustic, outdoor chapel of sorts. As I sat in prayer, I laid my heavy heart out for God. My constant prayer at the time was to help me find peace and a lightness of spirit. I felt so heavy with burdens. As I finished my prayer a flock of tiny birds flew directly in front of me from one side of the chapel to another. As they raced each other along their path they chirped loudly at each other – a flock of children laughing and squealing in some unseen game. The landed in a tree just above me and kept up their heavenly laughter. And I laughed along with them.
I realized immediately it was God snapping His fingers at me to say, “Wake up! There is joy to be had all around you! You see, even my tiny birds, who have only themselves, this tree and this moment are filled with laughter. You have so much more that I have given you!”
The voice of God is everywhere. It’s in us. He fills our dreams. He thunders with each storm and crashing wave. He gently rocks us to sleep with the croaking frogs. He loves us with the cooing of a baby. He runs laughing with us while getting that kite up in the air. To truly hear Him, to listen to what He has to say today, we just need a bit of practice and some well-planned training. The next time you find yourself needing to cross a proverbial street in your life take a moment to listen. He will guide you safely across.
Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love.
Psalm 44:26
I’ll admit I’ve had a bit of a rough relationship with God the last few weeks. I have an on-going health issue related to my sinuses. For years I’ve suffered through swollen sinuses, infections, allergies, clogged ears, excruciating headaches and more. I’m in my third year of allergy shots and recently had a second sinus surgery. And I feel worse.
A few weekends ago I spent most of the time feeling like my head was either in a tight vise or underwater. Conversations were muffled and my eustachian tubes felt as though a needle was being jammed in them. I got on my knees and started praying desperately for God to heal me. While at church I prayed continuously for healing. And the pain continued.
Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
Psalm 44:23
Have you ever felt the way the psalmist did when he wrote that verse? Like God just isn’t listening? That Sunday evening, I sure did. I was in tears. And so, I cried out to God even louder to please heal me. For a brief moment I even felt myself being pulled back into my old way of thinking that God didn’t care about me or worse, maybe didn’t even exist. But my faith journey has brought me too far to let me slide backwards.
There is no relapse where Christ heals; no fear that His patients should be merely patched up for a season. He makes new men of them; He give them a new heart and He puts within them a right spirit.
Charles Spurgeon
My knowledge of God has led me to a place of greater wisdom. Instead of asking God to “wake up” I started asking Him if this was to be my thorn, my constant affliction to cause me to rely more and more on Him.
It also led me to put my pain and suffering in perspective. While my issues are painful and irritating, I am not debilitated. I can still rise every morning and serve Him and the people around me. And through a pounding headache I can still go out for a walk and experience a beautiful day. I put my troubles up against my mother-in-law’s, who through a year battling cancer and diverticulitis has managed a smile each time I talk to her. Yes, at her lowest she has cried. But I’ve watched her turn back to God in faith, searching for His hand in all things.
I want God to take away my pain. I know He can. He can heal me as I write this. And it is not for me to know why He doesn’t.
I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
I would prefer not to be held to the same spiritual standards set by the Apostle Paul. To seek God’s goodness when I feel my worst. To feel His presence when my head is pounding. To do the work required of me when the pain is almost overwhelming. At times I just can’t. That’s when I beg God to help me, to rescue me.
I’m not going to stop asking for healing. But I’ve decided that I trust God that there is a reason He hasn’t. And I know for certain, that in trusting Him, one day we will all be free from affliction and experience His amazing glory.
…yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.Habakkuk 3:18
According to Psychology Today we make an average of 35,000 decisions each day. That’s about 2,000 decisions per waking hour. I remember when I was working as a public relations and marketing executive at a mid-sized company. At the end of each day I felt exhausted. I couldn’t even think about what to make for dinner. I realized at some point I had decision-making fatigue.
So many of our decisions are ones we don’t really think much about – if we are going to get up and go to work, if we are going to brush our teeth before leaving the house, if we are going to get dressed. We just sort of do them out of habit or necessity.
But what about our faith lives? How many of us have, along our journey, made the decision to fade away from our faith? Not realizing we’ve made a decision to shut out God. For some people, because of issues at their church or maybe a difficult time in their life they actually made a conscious decision to completely turn away.
There are basically three types of people shown in the Bible. First there is the nonspiritual person who has not accepted God at all. Second there is the person who has accepted Jesus as their savior but still lives by the world’s expectations. And third is what is considered a “mature believer.” This person learns to do the will of God no matter how he/she feels or how difficult it is.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.1 Corinthians 13:11
This is where the term “baby Christian” arises. It’s the second type person described. Picture how a baby lives its life. Crying and throwing a tantrum when things get uncomfortable. Babies are very self-focused people. They don’t care if you haven’t slept all night or exhausted from a long day at work. They want, they need, they demand. If they don’t get it, they aren’t happy. They live off feelings and wants and needs. It may sound harsh, but how many of us are living our Christian lives this way?
No matter what level we are on, we should want to grow , but if we find we are still in the baby stage of Christianity, we should certainly make a commitment to God to start working with His Holy Spirit toward maturity.
That’s why I like the verse from Habakkuk today. Prior to verse 18 the prophet lists all the things that are going wrong – the fig tree isn’t budding, there’s no grapes, the olive crop is failing, and there’s no livestock. Yet he will rejoice.
Great faith is maturing faith. Great faith is growing faith. And great faith is becoming stronger and great faith is standing on the truth of the Word of God. Not feelings, not other people’s opinions, not the past, great faith stands on the truth of the Word of God. Here’s what God is saying. And the focus is on God. Great faith is always focused on God.
Charles Stanley
And growing faith means choosing to be faithful. We humans don’t tend to like to be the cause of our problems. We want our lack of commitment to God to be about something that happened to us, an absence of the right feelings, or because of the world’s demands. But it’s really about where we have placed so many of our 35,000 decisions. In how many of them did we even consider God’s desires for us?
When you feel like quitting or running away, remember that you can’t run away from your troubles and you can’t run away from yourself. The solution is not running away; it’s running to. It’s running to the throne of grace and finding grace to help in time of need.
Take the time today to consider your decision making and how it relates to your commitment to God. Sometimes we are tasked to just decide to run to Him – not waiting for a feeling or some grand emotion to well up inside us. If we can make the decision to get up and go to work today or the decision to do the laundry or get the kids off to school we can make the decision to open our Bible. We can make the decision to have a conversation with Jesus.
Most of the 35,000 decisions we make today will be for the world of the flesh. How many can we carve out to be the ones that matter for all of eternity?
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the
fiery ordeal that has come on you to test
you, as though something strange were
happening to you.1 Peter 4:12
I’d wanted to get my motorcycle license since I was 16 years old. For any of you counting that’s about 37 years ago. Back then, my mind and body were young and better equipped to handle the fast moving issues surrounding the dangers of riding. So, when I finally made a lifelong dream come true, I decided to take a motorcycle safety class. In order to pass the class, we were required to learn and practice a few emergency maneuvers. In one situation we were to swerve, at a fairly fast speed, to the left and to the right in a tight “z.” In another we had to learn how to safely make a quick stop. In both, the decision had to be made in a blink of an eye to stay in the fight to be upright or to take flight from the bike.
The key to both safety maneuvers is where our focus lay – straight ahead. Our tendency, as new riders, is to look down at the front wheel. This is a sure fire way to crash, as I found out during one quick stop practice.
I’ve now been riding for about four years. But it is in the back of my mind at all times that I’m not sure how I will react when faced with a real emergency. I have the knowledge but not the wisdom of experience. Will I stay in the fight or take flight?
Isn’t our faith journey a lot like that?
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,
whenever you face trials of many kinds, because
you know that the testing of your faith produces
perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work
so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything. James 1: 2-4
We, through our faith teachers and reading the Word, gather up our knowledge of God and how His son, Jesus, loves us so much. But until we have faced an emergency, a faith testing, we cannot truly know how we will respond.
I think one of great crossroads in the New Testament is when Peter professes to Jesus that he will always stand by his friend. And when the faith trial came, he fled. Not once, not twice but, three times. And we ask ourselves, what would we have done?
Peter had the knowledge of Jesus but not the wisdom of a faith tested. And even after he realized the truth of the situation and witnessed Christ’s death, he still turned away for a time by going back to his old life of fishing rather than carrying out his friend’s commission.
I’m so grateful that the one player in the story of humanity never takes flight from us – God. He is the “long sufferer” in our thousands-year old journey. At each turn where we have either forgotten or abandoned Him, God has stayed the course and given us grace.
I once was so angry with God that I made the decision to stop believing in Him. I remember yelling up to the heavens, “I don’t trust you and I don’t believe in you anymore!”
I spent the next few weeks in a tug-o-war of sorts. At one moment I would find myself arguing with God and then another reminding myself not to talk to someone I didn’t believe in. And He never left me.
And let us run with perseverance the race
marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2
I’ve had minor emergencies while out on my motorcycle – cars swerving in front of me, lights quickly changing from green to red – where I’ve accessed that knowledge from my safety class. It’s wisdom building. And God has given me minor trials along the way. With each opportunity to decide whether I stay upright, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on Jesus or to take flight, I build up my wisdom and faith muscles.
Peter, who although had the blessed opportunity to stand alongside Jesus for three years, had to face his own trials in order to fully mature from knowledge of God to having the wisdom and faith of His character and ways. When he took his eyes off Jesus, he was given grace. Jesus returned to him over and over.
As Christ followers, we know the entire story from which draw upon. And at every life emergency my hope is that we continue to stay upright with eyes fixed on Him.
emboldened.net 