Resurrection Living

In Exodus 12 we are introduced to one of the clearest pictures of Christ. The people of Israel have been in bondage to the Egyptians for over 400 years. They can do nothing about it but cry out for the Lord's mercy. This they do, and the Lord hears their cry. He sends them a deliverer who will lead them out of bondage into the Promised Land.
In like manner we all are in bondage, not to Egypt, but to our sin. And like the people of Israel we can do nothing about it but cry out for mercy. Thankfully the Lord has heard our cry and has sent His deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our spotless lamb who was slain and whose blood was applied. Now those who by faith receive that covering of Christ’s blood are no longer subject to the judgment of God. They have passed from death to life. They are made new.
Now how do we know all this is true? How do we know that our sins have been removed and that we are no longer under God’s judgment for sin? Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that the resurrection of Christ is the proof. In fact he says that if Christ is not raised from the dead we are still in our sins.
How does Paul get from the resurrection of Christ to our sins removed? What connection is he making? If you think about it and go back to Genesis 1 (remember way back there) you will remember that the Lord said, “If you eat of the tree (ie: if you sin) you will die.” God connected sin with death. They are forever connected. So, if you want to show that sin has been dealt with you will have to show that death has been dealt a “mortal blow”. That’s exactly what the resurrection shows. By raising Christ from the dead, the Father was declaring that death had lost its sting. And the only way death could lose its sting was if sin has been cancelled – removed as far as the east is from the west. That’s what happened at the cross. Sin was placed on Christ and He took the punishment – He took the hell that that sin deserved, and having done that gained for us a full and complete deliverance. Rejoice and be glad for the Lord’s mercies!
But this is not the end of the story….once we have been delivered from sin we must no longer live in it. We are called to resurrection living. Perhaps that is the symbol of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. During this feast the people of Israel were to remove all leaven from their homes. In 1 Cor 5:7 Paul likens this to our removing the leaven of malice and evil from our lives, and replacing it with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I like the word sincerity for it means “singleness” as if life is no longer devoted to the service of many lords, but instead is devoted solely (singley) to the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps that is what the Lord declares in Luke 14:33 when He concludes: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Having been redeemed by the blood of Christ it is right that He is given our all. We do not receive such a gift as salvation from sin, and then continue to let it be our master. Instead we must give our lives (all of it) to the Lord and live every day for His kingdom.
That’s why Paul’s exhortation which comes after his lengthy treatise on the resurrection is so fitting for our conclusion today. “Therefore, my beloved brothers (sisters, too), be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” May God grant us who have been set free by the blood of Christ the grace to walk in newness of life this day and until He comes.

A False Repentance

It is the 8th plague and Pharoah has seen much and suffered much from the hand of the Lord. So he comes to Moses and declares, "I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me."
Wow! Have we just experienced the repentance of the King of Egypt? Has he really turned from his evil way to seek the Lord? Well, I know you know the rest of the story. In just 3 short verses from his repentance the text (vs. 20) says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not let the people go. Whatever Pharoah did, it was not repentance. In fact, Pharoah did what so many of us do - we feign repentance only to minimize our suffering. We go through the motions hoping our punishment will be reduced, but in reality we have no intentions of changing our way.
It was a genuine repentance that Jesus found lacking in his people, especially the religious rulers. Though they had a veneer of religion their hearts had not really been turned to the Lord. To illustrate this Jesus told the parable of the barren fig tree. Year after year the owner of a fig tree come to his tree seeking fruit, but each year he found none. Finally, after having sought long enough without fruit, he commands that the tree be cut down. Someone intervenes and wins for the tree one more year, but if it again does not produce fruit, it would be cut down.
I think it was John the Baptist who we saw earlier call for the fruit of repentance. If repentance is true, if it is not offered just to minimize one's suffering, but comes from a changed heart, then fruit will accompany it. And what will the nature of that fruit be?
I could offer much on that but I will take cues from today's reading and mention two things that will accompany true repentance. One involves our relationship with God; the other our relationship with man.
1. The first is the fear of the Lord. A big part of Pharaoh's problem was that he refused to humble himself before the Lord (Ex 10:3). He was king of Egypt and he wanted to remain so. He did not acknowledge the Lord for who He was. A true repentance, one that is not just seeking alleviation of suffering, is one that gives God His rightful place. It is one that takes self off the throne and enthrones Jesus as Lord of life - and that is central to the fear of the Lord. This was obviously lacking in the life of Pharoah to the end of his days. It must not be lacking in our life if our repentance will be judged as fruitful.
2. Secondly, a true repentance will result in my pursuing loving ends for others. When I read 1 Corinthians 14 I get the clear sense that Paul is passionate about one thing. He is not pursuing selfish pursuits, but instead is pursuing the building up of the church. He wants to see others grow to know the Lord and His ways. True repentance will always turn a man away from himself and his selfish pursuits, and will fix his desire on seeing others built up, encouraged, and consoled (1 Cor 14:3).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord desires a true repentance - one that results in fruit. As he inspects the fruit on your tree is He finding a growing "fear of the Lord" and "love for others". Renew again your repentance to the Lord this day, and ask Him for His grace to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

What the World needs Now...

I love the way the 26th chapter of Job ends. Job declares, "Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"What I love about this statement is its humility. It declares that we know so little about the Lord. What we know is wonderful, but there is so much more that we can and need to know about our Lord.
That's why I'd finish the sentence (What the world needs now....) with the words "to know more of God - to know more of Christ". For when we understand better who God is, we begin to understand better who we are, and it helps us take our place under His reign.
That seems to be what's going on in Exodus 8. God could have chosen to very quickly deliver His people. He could have sent a plague to wipe out all the Egyptians, but He had another agenda. He wanted to make Himself known. In verse 10 we find the words "so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God." Later in verse 22 we see "that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth." All the drama of the ten plagues - a rather drawn out process - was all designed so that God might be known for who He is. That really is what the world needs.
In the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples we see a similar thought. The prayer begins with "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In offering this as a model prayer Jesus was proclaiming that God's name being hallowed, that His name being set apart as unlike any other name, is a petition of first importance. If more and more people would come to see God for who He is, if the multituldes would come to see Him being like no other, this world would be such a different - yes, better place.
It is interesting as well in 1 Corinthians 11:7 that Paul calls the gifts of the Spirit "manifestations". With this Paul is saying that when we use our gift, or when we give it away in service to others, what we are doing at those times is manifesting or putting on display the character of our God. So even the giving of gifts and their eventual use is a design of God to make Himself known. That really should convince us that what the world needs now is to know the Lord more fully.
If we will accept this as true, then it has ramifications on our lives. Our life should center around making the Lord known. When trials come our way, our first question should not be "why me", but rather, how can I put God on display in the midst of this trial. When we pray we should not just pray "Lord, deliver me from ...." but must add at the end "only if this results in your name being better known throughout the earth". That prayer will always be answered. When it comes to our involvement in church, our first thought will be "how can I display God to those around me? How can I use my gift to put God on display?" Everything changes when we make the glory of God our goal!
May the Lord help us consider this purpose for our lives, and may more of Him be known to more and more people today and into eternity. That's what the world needs now!

Hardness of Heart

Our passages today were filled with examples of hardness of heart.
1. We saw Pharoah first. As God began the process of redeeming His people, He enabled Moses and Aaron to perform miracles before Pharoah: the staff turning into a snake, the waters of the Nile turning into blood. But none of these softened Pharoah's heart. In fact, they made his heart harder as he dug in refusing to let the people of Israel go. (Of course, there is something going on here below the surface. God said He would harden Pharoah's heart - an odd concept to us except for the fact that we know God is after a maximum display of His glory in Egypt, and somehow Pharaoh's hardness will be used for this important purpose. We will see how this unfolds in the days to come.)
2. Next we see hardness in the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. These villages had been favored with a visit from the Lord and on these visits He displayed His power. He performed signs that showed that the Kingdom of God was near, but the people were unaffected. Jesus declares that the judgment for these people will be more severe than for others who had not been so favored with demonstrations of the coming Kingdom.
3. In the parable of the Good Samaritan we see hardness of heart as well. It is the priest and the Levite who walk past the man in need. Those who were supposed to be most religious, who should know that at the heart of true religion is love for one's neighbor, merely walk on by revealing that their veneer of religion really covers a hard heart.
4. Finally, in 1 Cor 11 Paul speaks about those participating in the Lord's Supper. This rite which was to be a symbol of the unity of those in Christ was turning into an activity that was causing division, even humiliation for those less fortunate. Paul says that this should not be. He tells the people to eat and drink at home and then come and celebrate the Lord's death in a way that displays the unity of brothers. Only hardness of heart would have made the Corinthians blind to this abuse.
As can be seen hardness of heart is a common malady. So how can we avoid it? Can we avoid it? I think Jesus gave us a big hint in Luke 10:22 when he said, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. In the ultimate sense, the only answer to hardness of heart (unbelief) is that God acts on our heart. We saw that even in the face of miracles men still do not believe, but when God acts on us, the veil is removed from our eyes and our hearts begin to melt.
This truth is very humbling to us because we like to think we are masters of our own destiny, but the truth is there will be no boasting in heaven. We will all be there only because of the Lord pouring His mercy and grace upon us. And when this truth hits our hearts, when we realize the abundant mercies of our God, our heart does soften. We begin to realize how great is the love of God and our heart begins to flood with desire to love God and man with our all.
Have you been blown over by the Lord's mercies in your life? If you have, chances are your heart has been softened some. Now keep your eyes on those mercies and continue to taste their sweetness. That is an important means God will use to keep your heart from hardening.

Words to the hurting

Have you ever had something really good to tell someone, but they were unable to take it in? That seems to be the case with Moses in Exodus 6. God has just told Moses some incredible things. He said, "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." Can you imagine how encouraged Moses was when he heard these words from the Lord? Can you imagine the hope they might have engendered in him?
But when he tried to pass them on to the people of Israel, instead of being encouraged, the text says "they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery." Wow! Moses shares such uplifting news of God's plans to deliver the people, make them His own, and to give them a land, and they do not have the wherewithal to take it in. Their life circumstances are such a burden to them that they seemingly cannot benefit from these good words.
Have you ever spoken to someone in that condition? Have you yourself been in that condition? The truth is life can be a burden. The stresses and strains of modern life can get us down. We can battle with depression and disappointment. Struggles with our children, or our marriage, or finances, or job loss, or difficult colleagues or neighbors can bring us to the point where we are numb to all input, even that which is the answer to our struggles.
So what do you do when you are confronted with a friend who is in this state? Do you avoid telling him the truth that can set them free? No, that is never the answer. It is my experience that even when people don't seem to be benefitting from our words, they may indeed be exactly what they need. I have been told by those who were suicidal that my words were what they needed to hear, though they gave no evidence at the time that they were taking them in at all.
But beyond words, we must realize how important it is to seek to enter into the suffering of the other person and try to ease their pain. Simply being present can be an enormous encouragement. Knowing that someone else understands what we are going through can help us cope.
This truly was the heart of Jesus, who entered our world and became acquainted with our grief, sorrow and infirmity. He is now a very present help in our time of need. He is present as high priest ready to dispense His mercy and grace to those who are in need. He is also present in His people who are called to come alongside the hurting, to speak His words of comfort and hope, and to bear their burdens.
Today may the Lord use us to bring comfort and hope in word and presence to those whose lives are pressing in on them. May Job's words be our confidence: "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold."

Fatal Questions

Whenever I read the question of Pharoah in Exodus 5:2 I shudder. He asked, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice...?" Now the question in and of itself may not be a bad one. It would be good to genuinely inquire who the Lord is to determine if He ought to be followed and obeyed. But Pharoah's question was not one of an inquirer. It was one from someone with a hard heart. It was the fatal question of one who wanted to retain sovereignty in his own life. Pharoah's question was really a statement of lordship. He would not let another king rule him in any way. In the end his question cost him much including the life of his son.
In Job 22, in Eliphaz's discourse about the wicked, we ran into several other fatal questions . He said the wicked ask, "What does God know? Can He judge through the deep darkness? What can the Almighty do to us?" These are the questions of unbelief. They assume there is no God, but if there is, they assume He is not aware. And even if He is aware, they deceive themselves into thinking He will not act or judge on what He knows. These, too, are fatal questions because they reveal a hard heart. They reveal a heart that is bent on doing its own thing, all the while trying to convince itself that there will be no consequences for such willfulness.
In contrast to these fatal responses to the Lord, we find several in Luke 8 which are exemplary. The man who was healed of the demons is said to be "sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind". Later this man begs Jesus that he might be with him, but when sent away goes out proclaiming what great things the Lord had done for him.
Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, finds Jesus and falls at His feet and implores him to have mercy on his daughter who was dying. This is the same place we find the woman who had an issue of blood. She falls down before the Lord and declares her faith in Jesus and testifies to her subsequent healing.
Each of these responses show a heart that is right. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, throwing ourselves at His feet - these motions show a heart that recognizes Jesus for who He is, and a willingness to place oneself under His lordship and care.
In which of today's characters do you see yourself? Are you asking fatal questions showing your hardness of heart, or are you prostrating yourself before the Lord, acknowledging His right to rule and reign in your life? Are you looking to yourself and your resources to fill up yourself , or are you looking to Jesus as the only source of the fullness of life? These are important questions to consider. They get to the "heart" of the matter. May the Lord use them to produce His heart and life in us!

The Validating Sign

I think the first time God uses signs to validate His messenger and His message is in Exodus 4 with Moses. Moses is commissioned by God to go and speak to His people, but Moses is afraid that the people won't listen; that they will not recognize Him as a "sent one" and thus will reject his message. (Now before we are too hard on Moses for his fear remember how he had tried earlier to get the people to follow him - Exodus 2:15).
As a solution to Moses' objections, God provides Moses with three signs: 1. When he throws his staff down it turns into a snake 2. When he puts his hand into his cloak and brings it out...it comes out leprous 3. When he pours water from the Nile it turns into blood. Three signs, all designated to affirm to the people that God had visited His people, that Moses is indeed God's "sent one" and that his message ought to be heeded.
Fast forward now to the time of Christ. In Luke 7 Jesus comes upon a man who is dead. Having compassion on the widow of this man, Jesus performs a miracle raising this man from the dead. And what is the response of those who see this sign? They declare that "a prophet has risen among us" and "God has visited His people!" The sign validated God's "Sent One" and commends them to give heed to His words.
Later in the same chapter, John the Baptist sends some of his disciples to Jesus with a question. Is He the One who is to come (the Sent One) or should they look for another? And what is Jesus' response to them? It appears He first performs many miracles (signs) and then sends John's disciples away instructing them to tell John what they saw. Again, the signs seem to validate Jesus' person, that He is the "Sent One" of God, that God had indeed visited His people.
What about today? Is God validating His messengers (us) in any way? Is there anything that we might display that will convince our auditors that we have been sent by God and that our message needs to be heeded? I think our reading in 1 Cor 8 gives one very important sign and that is the sign of "love". When others see that we love the "weak" of which Paul speaks in 1 Cor 8; when others see the love of God for the afflicted and needy flowing through us, then they will conclude that God has visited us, that a prophet is among them, that our message is worth listening to.
Jesus Himself said, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." Love really is the validating sign, actually showing that the "Sent One" lives within us, and wants to speaks His life giving message through us. May the Lord help us all this day to validate our God-given message with the uncommon love of Christ!

Verbs of Blessing

I love the verbs found in Exodus 3:7 and following:
1. I have surely SEEN the affliction of my people...
2. I have HEARD their cry because of their taksmasters...
3. I KNOW their suffering...
4. I have COME DOWN to DELIVER them out... and to BRING them UP ...to a good land...
How marvelous it is that the God of the universe takes notice of His people, Israel. He sees their affliction and suffering, He hears their cries for mercy, and He acts. Sending a Deliverer He lifts them up from the pit and places them on a high place.
Now we know that God not only did this with His people Israel, but He has done this in His Son. He has seen our affliction. He has seen how sin has ravished our land and broken our relationships. Our cries for deliverance from this bondage have come to His ears. Thankfully, He has not turned away. No, He has known our suffering perhaps in the greatest way... He has sent His one and only Son to enter into our world and its suffering, so that we might be lifted up from this pit, and placed in the heavenlies. What a marvelous God we have!
Now it is interesting to note the response of Moses to the invitation he received to be Israel's deliverer. Feeling his weakness he said, "Who am I?" In answer to this, God does not deny the weakness. He does not say, "Oh no, Moses, you can do it! You are strong and handsome, a natural leader,..." No, He did not say that. He merely said, "I will be with you." At the end of the day that is all that matters - God being present with us.
Aren't you glad the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't reluctant with His "deliverer" assignment? Aren't you glad He didn't try to come up with excuses why not to leave heaven's glory and enter into our suffering? What a marvelous Savior we have!
Do you know that God is still aware of the affliction of His creatures, and though He has sent the ultimate Deliverer in Jesus, He is still sending out "deliverers" who will now go in the name of Jesus? And who are these deliverers you ask? It is you and I - all who claim to follow the Lord Jesus. He calls us to go out into our world and enter into the suffering of others, and point them to newness of life in Christ.
Now our response might be like Moses. We may feel our weakness and wonder, "Who am I?" But God gives us the same answer He gave to Moses. It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is that God is with us - that He is present. Today that presence is in the form of the Spirit of God who lives in us to equip us to fulfill this important calling.
Today as we all go out into our worlds...let us ask the Lord to give us eyes to SEE what He sees, and to HEAR what He hears, and then, by His grace, to be SENT ones into our world. That is our vocation and there is none better.

On Handling Temptation

Life is filled with temptation. The Hebrew midwives were tempted to fear man over God. Jesus was tempted to satisfy His physical desires, to seek glory apart from the cross, to put God to the test. We could even say that the Corinthians were tempted to overlook sin in their midst and to allow this leaven to slowly permeate Christ's church. It is a fact, that temptation is common to man. As long as we live in this world our sinful flesh, the devil and the world system that denies God will lure us away from the path of life in Christ.
What are we to do? I think our reading today gives us several practical strategies against temptation.
1. Live Coram Deo (see RC Sproul's article for a greater development of this idea). Simply put that means to live in the presence of God, or as it was said of the Hebrew midwives, live in the fear of God. Recognize who God is. Give Him His rightful place in your life. Understand that you live under His gaze and let that realization guide your every word and deed. Recognize that there is no audience more important than the "audience of One" - our omnipresent God.
2. Fight temptation with the Word of God. Jesus is the prime example of this deft use of Scripture. With each temptation thrown at Him by the adversary, Jesus drew upon His knowledge of the Scriptures, and fought Satan's deceitful lures with the truth. If I remember correctly He uses three passages from the book of Deuteronomy. That's why it is so important to be in the Word. It is one of our most important defenses against temptation. In fact, Paul says it is our only offensive weapon against the evil, for it is the Sword of the Spirit.
3. Consider the cost of giving in to temptation. As I read Jesus' temptations I was struck by the second one. The devil was offering Him all the kingdoms of the world. That means all authority, all power, all glory would be His. Who isn't lured by that? But look at the cost! The evil one says that Jesus could have all this if He "worships" him. The cost of obtaining all this power and glory was the enslavement of his soul to the devil. That's a cost too high for anyone to pay, but sadly we too often take the bait. I wonder how many men (or women) who are being lured to be unfaithful to their marriage vows would plunge ahead into this abyss if they had taken time to consider the costs. They are never worth the moment of pleasure that might have come.
4. Rely on the resources of the Spirit. After Jesus' temptations the Scripture says that He "returned in the power of the Spirit...". From this I deduce that the Spirit was present during those tests empowering Jesus to overcome. The fact is, God does not leave us on our own to fight temptation. Jesus said that He would not leave us as orphans, but would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who would walk alongside us during our sojourn on earth. So, in the midst of temptation, it is important that we draw upon the strength that resides in us through the person of the Holy Spirit. It will show us the way of escape and give us the grace the live to the glory of God.
As I sign off may we all pray together those words our Lord taught us to pray: "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory, forever Amen."

Confession, repentance and forgiveness

Genesis 50 offers a great deal of wisdom on the subject of confession, repentance and forgiveness. We do well to ponder its instruction for the good of our soul.
Jacob has just died, been transported to Canaan, and buried. Now Joseph returns with his brothers to Egypt. Foremost on their minds is the question of how Joseph will treat them. Now that their father is gone, will he seek his revenge on them? They couldn't deny what they had done was reprehensible.
So, Joseph's brother make the first move. They use the name of their father, Jacob, in order to secure Joseph's forgiveness. Now the brothers may have only been trying to manipulate their brother. It is hard to judge motives. In fact, in our reading in 1 Cor 4, Paul suggests we don't even know our own motives very well. In the end God will reveal the motives of all men's hearts. Then and then alone will we know the truth. So...it might be best in these situations to take them at "face value" - what they appear to be.
From the surface there is much to commend the brothers' confession and repentance. They call what they did to their brother "evil". It is important to admit our sin, not making excuses, or trying to call it a mistake....a lapse in judgment....or in any way minimizing it. They then ask for forgiveness. How important it is to ask in a straight-forward manner for forgiveness, always remembering that it may take time for the offended party to come to this place. Finally, the brothers fell down before Joseph and said, "We are your servants". Such an act appears to show a humility that will always accompany a true confession and repentance.
And how did Joseph respond to his brothers? Did he respond well? Again from the surface there is much to commend. Joseph weeps with his brothers and tells them not to fear. That is to say, he had removed all possibilities for revenge. Perhaps that is what he meant when he said, "Am I in the place of God?" According to Paul in Romans 12 revenge is not for men, it is only for God. In fact, so is judgment. How often we want to play God and bring judgment, condemnation and punishment on others. But Joseph realized, I am sure by God's grace, that that was God's domain and not his.
Joseph also did well in identifying sin for what it was. He said, "You meant it for evil". In that he, as well, did not minimize the sin. How important it is, even for the offended, to call sin "sin". When we let others off the hook, saying things like "I know you didn't mean it" or "It's OK, it really was nothing", we hamper the depth of repentance possible for the other person. In the end this is not helpful. Offering forgiveness really brings the most healing in the other person's life.
Now how do we know that one's repentance and even one's forgiveness is true? I believe Joseph gives us one important hint. After speaking to his brothers did you notice what he did? He provided for them and for their children, and he continued to comfort them and speak kindly to them. That's the sign that you have truly forgiven someone, when you begin to take your eyes off your hurt and begin to love the other person and seek their good. It's no different for repentance. John the Baptist declared in Luke 3 that there is fruit of genuine repentance. And when you look at the fruit that he names, it all centers around puttting aside our self-seeking ways, and beginning to empty out ourselves for the good of others.
Readers, this is a very important topic which affects the very health of our soul. To neglect a proper repentance and / or the offering of forgiveness to those who have offended us impedes the healing and reconciliation that our Lord wants to work in us....yes, and in our world! We are, after all, His agents of reconciliation. If you have been allowing a relationship to languish because you have neglected these things, may the Lord grace you today to apply these truths.

The Foundation is Christ

We said in an earlier post that Christ is stamped all over our Bible. From cover to cover, sometimes veiled, sometimes very clearly, Christ is portrayed. He is central to what our Bible is all about. He is the thread that holds it all together.
We see that thread very clearly in Jacob's prophecy in Genesis 49. In verses 8-12, Jacob speaks regarding his son, Judah, and in that prophecy we see many allusions to Christ: all Israel would bow down to Judah, he is referred to as a lion, the scepter would remain in Judah meaning the royal line would come through him, to him would come the obedience of the peoples, there is a reference to the foal of a donkey and his garments being washed in the blood of grapes,...
Indeed, through the line of Judah a king would come. His name was Jesus. All Israel, in fact all people, will one day bow before Him and offer their obedience. He is described not only as the Lamb of God but as the Lion of Judah. His triumphant entry into Jerusalem would be on a foal of a donkey. His garments would be stained with the blood which he shed for the cleansing of many people. Though Jacob may not have known the full significance of what he said, truly his words pointed to the Bible's central character, the Lord Christ.
The Apostle Paul was not always convinced of Jesus' centrality. In fact, he persecuted those who preached Christ. But after Jesus made Himself known to Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul could speak of nothing but the Lord Jesus. In our reading in 1 Corinthians 3, Paul declares in verse 11, "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." For Paul the foundation of all faith must be Jesus Christ. To start anywhere else, to build upon anyone or anything other than Christ, is folly. It is building on sand.
No wonder there was such joy from the angels in Luke 2 for the birth of Jesus who they declared as "glory to God in the highest and peace among those with whom God is pleased". No wonder Simeon and Anna found such peace and gratefulness knowing this One was born who was the consolation of Israel, the redemption of Jerusalem, a light of revelation, our salvation. The One whom all Scripture points to had come, and could not but celebrate His arrival.
As we think about our faith, how important it is to keep Christ central. His name must be on our tongue. To neglect Him, or to speak only of God in generic terms, is to keep the One who is the Light of the world in the shadows. Let us with Paul "proclaim Him (Christ), teaching every man and admonishing every man, until they are complete in Christ."

A Godward Focus

In several of our passages today we see people living with a Godward focus looking at their lives only in light of what they know of God and His promises.
The first is Jacob. Now at the end of his days, sitting before his beloved son, Joseph, he reveals what has been central to his life. He tells Joseph that God Almighty had appeared to him and promised to make him fruitful, to give him an offspring that would inherit the promised land. Now in his closing hours, Jacob passes on this vision to his son and grandsons. He blesses the grandsons, asking God to make them into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Then he turns to his son and directs his attention to God, confidently stating his expectation that God would be with him and would bring him into the land. What a way to bless our children - to point them to God and His magnificent promises. Jacob truly had a Godward focus.
We see Mary next. She has been highly favored of the Lord, to be able to bear the Son of God. After receiving kind words from her relative Elizabeth, Mary breaks out in a song of her own. In this song she reveals how she interprets all that is happening to herself. She says in verse 54-55 that God "has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever." Mary looks at her blessed circumstance and sees it in light of God's promises to His people. Her speech reveals that she lives in light of God's revealed will. That is central to who she is.
Zechariah has a similar story. He is blessed to have a very special son who will be called, John the Baptist. His prophecy reveals that he, too, interpreted his blessed circumstance in light of the promises revealed to his fathers. In verses 72f he speaks of "the mercy promised to the fathers" and the "oath that God swore to...Abraham". Then he blesses his son just born, blessing him in light of what God has revealed to him about his kind intentions for this world. Again, we have here a tremendous example of the way a godly parent, who has a Godward focus, blesses their child.
Now if anyone has a reason to have a Godward focus it is the Christian of this age. In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul says two amazing things about believers. He says in verse 12 that "we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God." Later in verse 16 he says that "we have the mind of Christ". It is incredible to think that the Spirit, who Paul says knows the mind of God, lives within us. That being true we above all people who have ever lived should live with a Godward focus. We have His mind; we know the things He has freely given to us. We have His Spirit giving us a wisdom that does not come from this world.
Today I want to ask us all: Do we have a Godward focus? Do we interpret all of life's events in light of what we know of God, His promises and His purposes? And are we passing on this Godward focus to our children (if we are so blessed with them)? As you walk through this day, remember that you have the mind of Christ. Let that mind inform all that you do; let it interpret all that comes to you this day, whether it be bad or good. Let others around you see that your life starts and ends with God.

Celebrating Weakness

As Paul winds down his argument in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians he gives a reason why God does things the way He does. He says in verse 29, "...so that no human being might boast in the presence of God."
As humans we have a tendency to elevate ourselves - to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. That's probably why God designed things the way He did because He knows our tendency toward boasting. We strive to work hard and produce. We seek advanced degrees. We spend hours trying to perfect our technique. Often we do so with a tinge of pride in ourselves. We tell ourselves and our children that we can do anything we set our minds to - that we can do it! We love to be in position of "omnipotence" from which we can display to others our glory. (Now I am not saying that working hard, or gaining degrees or perfecting technique is bad. In fact, we should do these things, but in doing them we should be careful of boasting.)
Fortunately, God has a way of bringing us down to reality. He has a way of orchestrating life so that in the end we boast in God and not in ourselves.
In Gen 47 we see Jacob's family, in the midst of famine, in a situation where they could not provide for themselves, actually flourishing. While the rest of Egypt is selling all they have and making themselves servants to Pharaoh, Jacob's family is flourishing in Goshen - the best of the land. God had so ordered events to promote the welfare of His people in a way that would cause them to see the real hand behind their prosperity. They could not boast in their achievement, but could readily boast in their God who had miraculously cared for them according to His promises.
In Luke 1 we also see two women in their weakness being recipients of God's mighty workings. Elizabeth is old, well past her child bearing years, yet according to the Lord's promise and purposes she becomes "with child", and a significant child at that (John the Baptist). She could not glory in her accomplishment, for she knew this was the Lord's doing. She could only glory in the One who had brougth it to past.
Mary, as well, was not in a position to be bearing a child. She was unmarried. Yet the Lord came to her and said she would have a child "by the Holy Spirit". She had been chosen by the Lord to bear the "Holy One of Israel", and all Mary could do was glory in the Lord. When she asked how this could be done, the angel reminded her that "with God nothing is impossible".
Back in 1 Corinthians Paul says, "For consider your calling brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many of noble birth." And why would God choose the foolish, weak and common of this world to do His work? There is only one reason, so that we would boast only in the Lord and not steal His glory.
Are you feeling inadequate these day, inferior to others? Do you bemoan the fact that you are not as intellegent as others, as powerful as others, as __________ as others (you fill in the blank)? If so, remember it is the Lord's way to use us in our weakness so that we are not tempted to boast in ourselves, but always to boast in His wise and powerful ways. This day let us celebrate weakness as an opportunity to trust and boast in our Lord.

Promises fulfilled - Mysterious ways

In today's entry (Job 12) of the ongoing argument between Job and his friends, Job declares that we really can't put God in a box. Yes, we can say that it is He who is behind all that transpires in life, but that is as far as we can go. Though Job's friends think they have God all figured out, Job argues that His ways cannot be crammed into their tidy little system. As we said before, this God "cannot be tamed".
We see how true this is in our other passages today. God had given Abraham many promises (Gen 12, 15,...). He would have a son; his name would be great; through him a great nation would be birthed; in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And as we have read we see that God is being true to His promises, but what we also see is that God often does things in ways we could never have imagined. Yes, He is true to His promises, but the way He chooses to fulfill them is often in ways we could never have imagined.
God promised Abraham he would become a great nation, and how did God choose to do it? From Jacob's perspective, God ripped his son out of his life. For years he lived with the delusion that his firstborn son was dead. Then a famine came, and he had to send his sons away to find food. Fast forwarding to Gen 46, Jacob, now a company of 70, is reunited with Joseeph where God plants them so that they can become a multitude - a great nation. Who would have written that script? All the twists and turns (at least from the human perspective), yet God was being faithful to His promises.
Then there is the promise of blessing all nations through Abraham. How would God accomplish that? He sent His Son, whom He loved, to mount a cross and take upon Himself the sins of the world AND the punishment those sins deserved. He would cause His Son to cry out "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Who would have thought of that? Can you imagine the confusion of the disciples as they saw Jesus taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb? Do you think they wondered for a moment what God was doing? But Sunday came, and Jesus burst forth from the tomb, proving that His sacrifice for sin was acceptable and that He indeed had conquered death.
We could go on and talk about how God chose to propagate this message of good news, to bring the blessing of Abraham to the nations. Would we have chosen Saul, a killer of Christians, to become the prominient apostle, the writer of much of our New Testament?
No - God's ways are not our ways. Yes, He is faithful to His promises. We can count on that, but know that He will surprise us over and over again in the way He chooses to fulfill those promises.
Are you experiencing some difficulties today? Are you confused, wondering what God is doing? Do you think He has made some mistakes with your life? If you have ever had thoughts like that, today's lesson is for you. Know that God is true to His promises. Find those promises in the Bible and cling to them with confidence. God will be found faithful to every one of them. But don't put God in a box. His fulfillment of those promises may not be in ways you would expect. Though you can't see how your life circumstances fit His plan, know that our God has no limits and that His ways are "passed finding out". Romans 16:17 -...to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Handling the guilt of sin

As we have read through the story of Joseph and his brothers I have detected that the brothers have for many years born the weight of guilt for their sin. Now it is not that they should not have guilt. To throw your brother in a pit, and then sell him as a slave, covering up the whole thing with lies, causing great grief to your father,....all of this is grievous sin. And I believe that God has so designed guilt to make us uncomfortable with our sin, so that we will do something to make things right.
But Joseph's brothers never did anything with it. It was a secret that they held in their hearts, which over the years grew to be a burden. Now when they are confronted with the prospect (Gen 44) of hurting their father again,...the guilt of past sins brings up its ugly head . Judah declares, "What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants..." He was obviously still living with the guilt of past sins.
In our reading today from Mark 14 we encounter two more sinners: Judas and Peter. Judas is disenchanted with Jesus. Jesus' remarks about dying and rising again have turned Judas off. So, he offers to betray Jesus for a few coins, and in the garden that night he gives his Lord the kiss of death. What a heinous sin! Jesus had done nothing but love Judas, yet Judas repays Him in this way. Surely Judas' choice brought to him a load of guilt.
Peter, on the other hand, had every intention of supporting Jesus. In fact, he boasted that he would stand for Jesus even if he had to die for Him. But as we all know, that was not the case. When questioned, even by servant girls, instead of courageously standing with Jesus, Peter declared that he didn't even know Him. When his eyes met Jesus' later, he was filled with guilt and went away weeping.
Guilt for sin is a reality of life. Though modern psychologists may tell us guilt is imaginary, the fact is God designed it for our good if we deal with it properly. Now if we don't deal with it properly, it can kill us. It acts as a weight dragging us down day by day. It acts like a parasite sucking the very life out of our soul.
But that is not the design of guilt. It is meant to make us feel uncomfortable about our sin, so that we will confess it and forsake it. It is meant to prick our hearts until we agree with God (confession) that what we have done is unloving and contrary to His glory. Then it is meant to compel us to go to Christ where alone we can find the complete removal of sin and its accompanying guilt. And when we have done this - when we have confessed our sin and run to Christ for forgiveness - we will feel the burden removed and experience a new freedom in our souls.
Have you been dealing with guilt of past sins? Know that guilt will remain a burden and will continue to suck life from your soul if you do nothing about it. If that is where you are at, know that the Lord is calling you to come. Confess your sin, lay it at the cross, and come to know the freedom of having your sin removed from you "as far as the east is from the west". Praise God for His incredible mercies! Run to them today!

Drifting or On Course?

Do you know where you are headed or are you merely drifting? In Ephesians 4 Paul speaks of those who are "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." One gets the sense from this description that its possible to live life like a storm tossed sailor, but there is a better way.
Joseph had plenty of storms in his life as we have noted before, yet I think his life had direction because God had given him a sense of his future. In those dreams he had had earlier in his life, God had indicated what his future looked like. He did not know all the details, but he knew one day his brothers would be bowing down to him. Perhaps this God-given vision of the future sustained him through those blustery days in Egypt.
In Mark 13 Jesus alludes to some pretty stormy days ahead. He mentions false prophets, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, persecution, family deterioration, and the abomination of desolation. He speaks of a tribulation that is unlike anything this earth has ever known. But in the midst of this is the knowledge that God will cut these days short, that the Son of Man will come in the clouds and will gather His elect from the four corners of the world. This is a vision of the future that Jesus says should inform our daily living; that should give us direction and help us to "keep awake".
Paul seems to be motivating his readers as well by reminding them of the future. He says you know the time. He says that the night is far gone; the day is at hand. Salvation is nearer to us now that when we first believed. This vision of the future - of things to come - should inform our daily living and give us direction. In Romans 13 Paul clearly spells out that direction. He says we must wake from our sleep (similar to Jesus' words in Mark 13). He says the we must cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. He says that we should walk properly, doing away with licentious living. He says (and this is the key) that we should put on the Lord Jesus Christ thus making no provision for the flesh.
Do you have a vision of the future that is informing your daily living or are you drifting, being tossed here and there by what comes your way each day? The Christian has been given a clear vision of the future. Christ is coming in the clouds with power and great glory. He will be gathering His elect to Him and bringing in the fullness of His kingdom. Place that vision before you. Let it encourage you to stay alert, living as a child of light, daily putting on Christ, who is our life today and into eternity.

The Primacy of Love

In Mark 12 the religious rulers are getting desperate to get rid of Jesus, so they resort to try to trip Him up with His words. They ask Him questions which they think will trap Him, that is, any way He answers the question He will likely alienate some of His followers. One of those questions was about which commandment was the most important of all. That was a subject of great debate and with over 600 commandments there would likely be many answers to that question. Surely, whatever Jesus answered would alienate some people.
But like a Master, Jesus penetrates to the heart of the question. He answers, "...And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
Later in the chapter Mark contrasts the religious rulers and a poor widow. The religious rulers like to bring attention to themselves. They wear long robes; they like respectful greetings. They like to be recognized and honored by others. They will even make long prayers so that others will think more highly of them. Worst of all they are guilty of "devouring widows' houses. All that they do demonstrates that they are on "the take". The flow is coming into them, but never flowing outward. That is a sad example of a loveless religion.
On the other hand is the poor widow. She makes her way to the offering box and drops in two small copper coins. She shuns the embarrassment that would come because there are others who are rich that are dropping in large sums. But Jesus sees beyond the amount to the heart. This poor widow is depositing all she has in the box. So full of love for God is her heart, that she wants to empty herself as an act of worship for God. This kind of religion, so marked by love, is the kind that Jesus commends.
Paul commends it as well in chapter 12 of Romans. After having laid out the "principles" of the faith in chapters 1-11, Paul now lays out the "practice" of the faith in chapters 12-16. And toward the top of the list of practices is love. We see that especially in verses 3-21. And what does this love look like? Paul mentions many things: it pours out its gift in service to other; it shows brotherly affection; it gives preference to others in honor; it contributes to the needs of the saints; it practices hospitality; it blesses those who persecute; it rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who are weeping; it associates with the lowly; it seeks to live at peace and in harmony with others; it never takes revenge nor succumbs to evil, but rather tries to overcome evil with good.
The religion of Jesus is eminently a religion of love. It is a pouring out of oneself - giving all we are to the Lord like the poor widow, and it is a taking on of the life of others as if it were our own. It would behoove us all to look at our religion today and see what effect it is having in our lives. If it doesn't make us look and act more like the One who poured out His life for sinners, then it may be that we don't yet have the genuine article. Jesus said that all men will know His disciples by our love. May He so work in us that we are forever marked by His love!

Light for those dark moments

Life can have its dark moments, and sometimes they are not just moments. In fact, when you experience them they probably never seem like moments; they seem like an eternity. Weathering these dark times can be a challenge. Have you been there?
In our reading today we saw that Job was in the midst of his dark time. Having lost his family and possessions he now is dealing with the loss of his health. He talks about his flesh being "clothed with worms and dirt" and of his skin "hardening and the breaking out afresh." In the midst of this severe trial Job seems to despair. He speaks about emptiness, and misery and coming to end without hope (7:3,6).
Paul, in Romans 11, alludes to Elijah's despair. He looked at his world and saw only darkness. He had seen other prophet's lives taken. He had seen altars torn down. He thought he was the last prophet remaining and now his life was being threatened as well. It truly was a dark time for Elijah, at least from his vantage point.
In Genesis Joseph, too, knew of darkness in his world. Rejected by his brothers, thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, thrown into jail, forgotten by those he had helped,.... What more could go wrong? Those moments of questioning and wondering I'm sure were ceaseless for Joseph.
So how do we weather such dark times of life which seem to be so common among men? I'm reminded of George Morrisons's thoughtful words. He said, "If our darker hours have no meaning, if they are devoid of plan or purpose, if life is nothing but accident or chance, the highest a person can achieve is resignation. But if God is love, and if everything that comes to us arrives in the perfect ordering of the Father, then another frame of mind becomes possible. The person who believes that God is in the hard part is empowered to endure the hard part. Faith finds goodness in things evil."
A big part of weathering life's dark storms is to gain the perspective of God. Our vantage point is always so small. We are so crowded in by our circumstances. But when by the grace of God, we are able to rise above the clouds, and see life from God's grander perspective, we will have reason to hope and even find joy. We will understand that our life and even our trials have purpose; that somehow they are part of God's good intentions for this world. Then from this vantage point we will declare with Paul:
Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has know the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The Posture of Salvation

What is the posture of salvation? In Mark 10 Jesus is very clear: we are to come to Him like little children. What kind of posture is that? It is the posture of humility, weakness, dependence, unworthiness. Such was the viewpoint of children in the days of Christ. They were not highly valued nor seen to have much to offer.
As humans we don't particularly like that posture. We think more highly of ourselves. Like the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17f) we want to offer God our goodness - our deeds of righteousness or lawkeeping. (That is exactly what the Jews were trying to do of whom Paul speaks tenderly in Romans 10.) We want to cling to our supposed "riches". But we cannot come to Christ with full hands. Jesus can only fill empty vessels.
So if we cannot offer God something for our eternal life, then how can we be saved. Jesus' answer is that "with man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God (vs. 27)." In fact, if we are to be saved - to inherit eternal life - we must come like the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. All he did was cry out for mercy. He said, Son of David, have mercy on me. He did what Romans 10:13 suggests - For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Offering nothing, with empty hands, he cried out for God's mercy and found Christ very responsive to such a call.
Spurgeon aptly says that we are much more sinful than we think we are, much more unworthy than we know ourselves to be, much more weak than we comprehend. But the good news is that "Jesus Christ is able and willing to save those who come to God through Him. Our emptiness does not affect his fullness. Our weakness does not alter His power. Our inability does not diminish his omnipotence. Our undeserving does not restrain His love." He is able to save!
That's really good news! So how do we respond? Again Spurgeon directs us well when he says, "Gospel pharmacy is for the sick; gospel bread is for the hungry; gospel fountains are open to the unclean; gospel water is given to the thirsty. Let your huge and painful wants impel you to fly to Jesus. Let the vast cravings of your insatiable spirit compel you to go to Him. Your unworthiness should act as a wing to bear you to Christ, the sinner's Savior."
Have you found the posture of salvation? Though humbling for a moment, in the end it elevates us to the heavens where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father on high. May God grant us the sight of Bartimaeus so that we, like him, cry out for the mercies of our Savior!

The Mystery of our Sovereign God

I am ever appreciative of Romans 9, for in this passage Paul lays out a clear argument about God's sovereignty. He talks about God choosing Jacob over Esau before either of them were born and had a chance to do any "work". God Himself had declared that "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
Paul continues his argument using Pharoah as an example. God had told Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." God did some hardening on Pharoah's heart to accomplish His purposes. Paul's conclusion is quite clear: So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."
At this point in the argument I love Paul because he asks the question that all of us are thinking. "If this is the case, why does God still find fault? For who can resist his will?" In other words why is man still accountable if God is sovereign in election?
Now at this point the reader is looking for how Paul might unwrap the mystery of God's sovereignty and man's accountability, but he doesn't do that. He doesn't deny either, but merely says, "God is the potter. He can do whatever He wills. The clay has no right to question." Case closed!
Now some of us won't like that answer. We want everything to fit neatly together. We want to have God all figured out. This is the way Job's friends operated in their religion. They had this suffering thing all figured out. At the end of Eliphaz's speech he declares, "Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear and know it for your good." Sounds like a case closed again, but we will find out later in the book that Job's friends didn't get it right. They thought they had God all figured out, but they didn't realize "God is not tameable".
Aldous Huxley, English writer of the early 20th century complained about Christians. He said, "I object to Christians. They know too much about God." I think in this he was saying that Christians seem to claim that they have God all figured out. They have removed all the mystery of God and have organized all thoughts about Him in a neat and tidy manner. Now I don't object to studying all that God's Word has to say about God and trying to bring it all together in some sort of coherent system, but at the end of the day, I hope we haven't erased all the mystery. God is to grand, too unsearachle for us finite ones, to have Him all figured out.
This is a practical truth when life's challenges come our way. I am sure Joseph didn't know what was going on when he was thrown in a pit, sold as a slave, falsely accused, and thrown in jail. (We only know what God's intentions were at the end of the story, but image the years of wondering Joseph went through.) The fact is there are imponderables in our life. Situations come into our life or the lives of those we love and we don't have answers. (Why does God take the life of a baby? Why does God allow half a tribe in Columbia to be wiped out by disease just before they were going to have the gospel in their own language?) We can't place all of life in our neat little packages. At times like these we must merely trust. We must take our place as clay in the potter's hand, and allow the potter to remain in mystery. Let's be grateful for what the Lord has revealed to us about Himself and let's order our lives by what we know of God, but let's never think we have searched out the unsearchable One.

Life flows out of the heart

In Mark 7:21-23 Jesus shares a truth that helps us understand our lives. He says, "For from within, out of the heart of man, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
Jesus shared these words in answer to the religious rulers of His day who were complaining that Jesus' disciples didn't wash their hands before they ate. Jesus' answer to them makes it clear that the central issue of life is our heart (that which is within) not something external. If our focus needs to be anywhere it needs to be the heart, because we tend to live out of our hearts.
Joseph's brothers lived out of their hearts. When Joseph's father favored him with the coat of many colors, his brothers' hearts were filled with jealousy. When he told them of his dreams which suggested they would one day bow before him, his brothers' hearts were filled with pride and hatred. So, filled with pride, hatred and jealousy, Joseph's brother acted out of their hearts which led them to throw their brother in a pit and later sell him as a slave.
The religious rulers of Jesus' day acted out of their hearts. They were filled with pride in their law keeping (though as Jesus points out they had created their own laws some of which cancelled out God's commands) and in their position as rulers of the religion. But when Jesus began to bring in doubt regarding their teaching and when the crowds began to follow Him, their hearts were filled with jealousy. They, too, like Joseph's brother sought to do Him harm in the end. They were living out of the heart.
Job, too, lived out of his heart. In Job 3 we hear his words - his cursing the day he was born. The obvious conclusion we take from his speech is that his heart was full of despair. So hard were his life circumstances that his heart was flooded with despair and anguish, and he spoke out of those things which filled his heart.
On the positive side (after all the heart can be filled with graces as well) is the example of the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus just about calls her a dog (is it right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs...), but she responds in a way that would blow most of us away. She says, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Her words evidence a heart that is filled with humility and respect for the Lord Jesus. She spoke from what filled her heart, and in this case was rewarded by the Lord who fulfilled her request.
Today, as we live out our day, let us be mindful that we live out of our heart. Be heart aware! When we are talking with our spouse, or child or irritating colleague at work let us consider what is controlling our heart, what fills our heart. Will it be as Paul puts it in Romans 7, the law of sin and death, or the law of the Spirit and life? As Christians we have been united with Christ. He wants to be filling our hearts with His grace and love, and when that is what is filling our heart, our words and actions will be glorifying to God and uplifting to others.

Are we really getting it?

I am wondering today if we really understand who Jesus is and what it means that we are united to Him by faith?
When Jacob was first introduced to God (when he was fleeing from his brother), he told the Lord he'd believe in Him if God blessed his journey. It was almost like he was saying, "God, I am not so sure about You, but if you show Yourself by prospering my way, then I'll be on your side." One goes away from that account concluding that Jacob doesn't think much about God. His view is fairly small. Thankfully, when we see Him in Gen 35 his faith and insight into God has grown, and he does seem more commited.
When Jesus walked the earth He did some amazing miracles. In Mark 6 alone He healed anyone who touched Him; He walked on water and with a word stilled the wind and the sea; He fed 5000 with only 5 loaves and 2 fish. That is just in this one chapter. And yet the response to Jesus was lukewarm. His family and friends took offense to His teaching and works. The disciples couldn't connect the dots from one miracle to the other. They were said to be in this "hard hearted". That may be a more common human condition. We tend to think less of Jesus than we really should.
And I think that affects our daily living. As Christians we believe that we are united to Christ by faith. Think about that! We are united to this Christ who stilled the wind and the waters with a word. We are united to the Jesus who fed the 5000, satisfying them all even with some left over. Paul says because of our union with Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God. We are not under the law of sin and death, but we are under grace which is God's enabling agent to help us live in newness of life. We are, as well, slaves to righteousness and no longer slaves to our own passions and desires. Now all of this sounds far-fetched unless we think about to whom we are united. If we consider this Christ, if we really get who He is, and then realize we have been miraculously united to Him.....all of a sudden we see the possibilities of living in new and glorious ways.
I think there was one character in our reading today who "got it". It was Job. When his wife was telling him to "curse God and die" because of all his affliction, Job answered, "Should we only receive good from God, and not evil?" With that answer Job showed he had a grand view of God (though the rest of the book will show it still had room to grow). He believed in a God who was sovereign, who ruled over all, and that this God had the right to bring to pass whatever He purposed.
My prayer for us all today is that through reading the Bible our perspective of God, the Father, Son and Spirit, will grow. I pray that we will understand how great and awesome is our God. I pray that we will marvel that through Christ we can be united to this God, and be empowered to live in a dramatically new way.
May God help us all to "get it" more each day!

Do you love God for nothing?

I hate it when the devil asks good questions, but I have to admit he asks a good one in Job 1. " Does Job fear God for no reason?" The implication is that Job fears God for the benefits he has received. He was a man who was rich. He had many children, much livestock, servants a plenty, the esteem of others around him. God had taken good care of him. So....the devil asks a logical question, "Does he fear God for nothing? If you remove the blessings would he still fear You?"
I think we have to ask similar questions of ourselves. Do we love the Lord only for the gifts He has given? Or do we love Him simply for who He is? Would we still love the Lord if He removed every blessing? Now it may be impossible to answer that question with certainty. In fact, we may not be able to answer it until God removes those blessings (should He decide to do so).
Author Arthur John Gossip (I think I would have changed my last name) aptly states, "So many people's religion is a fair-weather affair. A little rain and it runs and crumbles; a touch of strain and it snaps. So long as God's will runs parallel to ours, we follow blithely. But the moment that they clash, that life grows difficult, that we do not understand - how apt faith is to fail us just when we have most need of it!"
So how do we arm ourselves for adversity? I think we need to have a theology of suffering. Romans 5 offers some beginning counsel when it declares, " More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Every Christian should know that God uses suffering to expose our weakness, so that we will look up to Christ and find Him strong and sufficient for the moment. That's actually how our character is developed.
But more than a theology of suffering, we must have a love relationship with the Lord. We must daily find delight in Him. We must be growing with each passing day to know Him more intimately. Then when the storms of life come and everything we see seems to contradict what we know of God, we can cling to those understandings which have been engraved into our souls.
Oswald Chambers expressed this well in a question. He asked, "Will I trust the revelation of God by Jesus Christ when everything in my personal experience flatly contradicts it?"By God's grace the answer to this would be "yes" if we have been more enamored with the Giver of the gifts instead of the gifts themselves.
Do you love God for nothing? Do I? Let's use this day to examine our hearts and let's use our Bible reading to grow in our knowledge of and love for the Lord Jesus.

Do you not care we are perishing?

Those words sound so haunting to me..."Do you not care we are perishing?" They were spoken to the Lord Jesus who had been asleep in the stern of the boat during a fierce windstorm (Mark 4). The disciples were all afraid, thinking they might not make it. Jesus was resting calmly. Maybe He could be accused of indifference... NOT likely!
If the disciples only knew how much He cared they would see how ridiculous those words were. The fact that He was in the boat with them was an act of utmost care. He was the Lord! He was involved in creating all that was! He is a being that has life in Himself. He does not need anything to complete Himself. But here He was, having left heaven's glory, having come to earth, now in a boat with these humans. And they ask, "Do you not care we are perishing?"
But we know there is more to the story. Not only would He be in a boat with them, but He would mount a cross. He would take upon Himself their sins. Romans 4:25 declares that he "was delivered up for our transgressions..." And having born our sins, He took the hell our sins deserved. And we ask, "Do you not care we are perishing?"
May we know for certain that the Lord Jesus Christ is a God who cares. He was concerned for Jacob and brought an amazing deliverance for him. He was concerned for the Jews during the time of Esther. He was concerned that they were soon to perish and once again He brought about an amazing deliverance.
Whenever we feel abandoned or troubled by life's circumstances and are tempted to look up and ask the Lord of heaven if He cares, we must look to the cross, and know the answer is a big huge "yes". Rejoice, for we have a God who does care when His people are perishing.
But before we leave this post there is an important application to consider. Do WE care for those around us who are perishing? We who have been recipients of such a great deliverance should not forget to care for those around us. If the Lord Jesus is living within us, His Spirit is going to compel us to care. That seems to be what was happening in Esther's day. They were having this great celebration concerning their being delivered, but in the midst of their celebrating they did not forget the poor - the less fortunate - those who are perishing. No, they reached out to the needy and in so doing reflected the caring nature of their God.
May God enable us to care for the perishing even as we are celebrating the great deliverance and life we have in Christ. Rejoice - for our Lord does care!