“For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.”

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

Lo! He comes, with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand, thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign,
God appears on earth to reign.

As we await the coming of our Lord, about which this hymn is written, God’s Kingdom continues to grow just as this hymn once grew. Preachers, cobblers, land surveyors and those who embellish with hallelujahs build on one another’s efforts for the glory of God. They are just a few of the “thousand, thousand saints attending.”

Lo, how a rose e’er blooming
   from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
   as men of old have sung.
It came, a Flower bright,
   amid the cold of winter,
When half-spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it,
   the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
   the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright
   she bore to men a Savior,
When half-spent was the night.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender
   with sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
   the darkness everywhere.
True man, yet very God,
   from sin and death he saves us
And lightens every load.

Therefore God exalted him [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above very name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

• “my body of work”
  
  
• “my family”
  
  
• “my home”
  
  
• “my beauty”
  
  
• “my talent”
  
  
• “my charming personality”
  
  
• “my something else.”
  
  

When we take personal credit, gloat over others, or try to impress others, we have taken those things that God has given us and turned them into objects of our own personal pride. We have forgotten that God is the source of every good and perfect gift in our lives.

Even countries, cities, and churches can become prideful about the wonderful things that have come their way through God’s grace. When I hear people talk about “American Exceptionalism,” I agree in part. But, I wish those who speak so pridefully of this characteristic of our nation would also recognize that God has “shed His grace on us.” As a nation, we have been extraordinarily blessed by Him. We simply cannot take sole credit for anything our nation has.

Can we feel pleasure in the things God has uniquely given us? Certainly. But, when that pleasure erupts into praise of self and a sense of willful pride, we have crossed a line. When sinful pride creeps into our thinking, we should step back, realize all God has done for us in creating us with gifts and abilities that He has chosen to give to us, and gratefully bow in worship before our great God. He gives us gifts of all sorts. And, He wants us to joyfully use them to glorify Him.

In our example of Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning of this blog post, we see a pagan king, who experienced the humbling of God, pausing to reflect on this powerful, righteous One. How much more should we daily acknowledge God’s work in us. We should take no credit. Instead, we should bow in grateful praise. Everything we have should be on display for God’s glory—not ours!

—Posted: Monday, November 20, 2023

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Gratitude Erases Fear

There it is! The key statement! It’s right there in the middle of the verse at the beginning of this blog post!

Who has time to be thankful in the middle of an anxiety producing crisis? Apparently God expects it of us regardless of the circumstances.

We can always begin by thanking God for Who He is. Elsewhere in Scripture we read that God has almighty power. Even the devil and his demons shudder at that! (see James 2:19) That means that God is bigger than any trouble we may have. We can also look to His omniscience—His “all-knowing wisdom”—concerning us. God knows us in more detail than we know ourselves. And, God knows about every situation in which we may find ourselves.

Add to that, God’s omnipresence—His “everywhere presence”—which He has promised will never leave us or forsake us. We can also thank God that nothing comes our way unless He allows it. It’s true that God has a perfect plan for us, and He wants to use everything, even our troubles, to accomplish His perfect will in us and for us. Therefore, we must wholeheartedly thank Him for it!

In the middle of any prayer-producing crisis in our lives, for what else can we give thanks to God? We can remember how God has treated us in the past. We can focus on how God has answered our prayers. We can remember how God has spared us from worse harm than we experienced. We can recall how God has revealed His love to us during each situation we had to face in our lives.

Has God answered our prayers and healed us before? Then, we must thank Him, and allow that remembrance to take away our fears. Has God provided for us when we have needed help? In response, we must praise God for His faithfuleness. Don’t fear. Indeed, God will provide for us this time, too.

What does the verse at the beginning of this blog post, from the Book of Philippians, promise us when we come with gratitude to God with our requests? It promises that we will have:

Does all this seem too much to get our minds around? Perhaps, but that’s the kind of powerful result we will see from praying through our fears with thanksgiving.

During all fearful and impossible situations, I challenge each of us, including myself, to live in the place of thanksgiving. Let’s see what God will produce in us to replace all our fears!

—Posted: Monday, November 13, 2023

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Godly Ophthalmology

I once had cataracts. The cataract clouds the vision of the lens of the eye and can be blamed for the majority of human blindness across the world. I am grateful that here in the United States, we have routine cataract surgery, easily done and usually without serious consequences.

What a contrast between blindness and the brilliant glory of Christ. Eugene Peterson defines glory as:

The brilliance of God’s glory as referred to in Exodus 34:29-35 caused Moses’ face to shine so intensely that he had to wear a veil when he spoke to the Israelite people. God’s glory, brilliant and dazzling, lies in contrast to the blindness of the human race, struck sightless by the sin we bear.

Just as a cataract fogs the lens completely if not removed, so sin takes away the sight of all of us until God gives us the ability to see again. All of us know the phrase, “I once was blind, but now I see” from the hymn Amazing Grace. ²

A graphic picture of this comes to us in the story of St. Paul on the road to Damascus, found in Acts 9:1-18. Religious and obedient to his faith in every way, Saul thought persecuting this new sect of “Christians” fell on him, and he went about the country making “murderous threats” and imprisoning them. The day that glory of Christ Himself shone on Saul, knocking him from his donkey and blinding him, Saul heard God speak to him from this “glory” and Saul turned to God in repentance and new faith. God then changed Saul’s name to Paul.

Acts 9:18 tells us that after Paul met Ananias, who laid his hands on Paul:

Like the removal of cataracts to restore our physical sight, God miraculously removes the spiritual blindness of our hearts caused by the clouding of sin. He comes to us with that unique life-changing encounter with Him. We then begin to see in a new spiritual way things we never could see before.

We can now observe the brilliant colors of God’s truth that once was a drab absurdity. We understand in a new way God’s wonderful love and His amazing provision for us. Christ Jesus, who once dwelt so far away that we could not see Him, now is seen up close, with clarity and definition.

Let us rejoice today, if God has removed our spiritual cataracts so that we can see Him and know Him. We must pray for those we know who still stumble in the darkness, and ask God for opportunities to allow us to share with them the transforming vision we have received from Him. He has made this operation available to them, as well, through His birth life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. The Great Physician waits to heal spiritual eyes and restore sight!

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—Posted: Monday, November 6, 2023

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A Unique, Beautiful Frame

When looking at a picture, do you notice the frame? The frame can either enhance or detract from the picture it holds. Sometimes, it can reflect as much beauty as the picture. I am convinced that our lives compare to frames. They get more ornate as the years add up and reflect the imagination of God, the Creative Artist who fashions each life.

As time works on us, our struggles bring out a rich patina to the metal. The trials and deadly effects of life add swirls and cut deep into the wood, adding carved designs to the frame. In the end, we realize that Romans 8:28 has become true for us:

Recently, in preparing to teach from 1 Samuel about Samuel’s mother, Hannah, I came across this quote about her: ¹

When we feel the effects of wear and tear on our bodies, or the scraping and carving of the knife on our emotions and heart, we must realize that God considers the unique, beautiful frame with which He has surrounded us.

Our prayers and our words of encouragement to others have been framed by those circumstances that God the Artist has allowed us to experience. The picture may not be completed yet. Nevertheless, along with the finished frame, that picture will sometime reveal a more beautiful piece of art than we have ever realized.

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—Posted: Monday, October 30, 2023

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Taste Test

I am always heartened to see the professional cooks on television taste their food to see if they like it. As a rather insecure cook, I must frequently use the taste test myself.

Psalm 34, quoted above, was written by David when he was in trouble. He had no one to trust but God Himself. Here David urges those who have difficulties like his to test the Lord and to find out that that the “taste” proves God’s goodness.

So, how are we to implement this particular kind of “taste test”? We perform that test by putting our trust in God when we need protection or provision. David tells us we won’t be disappointed. The test of our faith will reveal so much more nourishment and enjoyment from God than we could even imagine or expect.

We can also “taste” the goodness of our God by the reminders of His power, mercy, grace, and love through His written Word. Like a savory meal or a rich, satisfying dessert, we can dine on God’s revealed truth to us in His precious written Word. Another Psalmist tells us, in Psalm 119:103:

When I have guests coming for a meal, I am especially nervous about the right balance of the food. When we share our favorite dishes, we want those whom we’ve invited to enjoy them as much as we do.

But, what about those who have never “tasted” our God through the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son? How should we prepare and season the food of God’s written Word for those we hope to invite to the meal?

We want our feast filled with the zest of Christ. We desire those who have never tasted Him, to smell the aroma, to be drawn to the table prepared by the Holy Spirit. As Christians, even Jesus told us that we have the effect of presenting the world with His savory goodness. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said:

Let us pray that God will allow us new bites of His goodness. Then pray that He will make our lives and the “food” we present to those who need it, tasty indeed, full of flavor, and sparkling with fresh goodness.

—Posted: Monday, October 23, 2023

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Sibling Rivalry

Where does sibling rivalry come from? It seems to me that largely it comes from jealousy, selfishness, or a combination of both. Even the Bible has stories of such family disputes. These stories caution us about the common, but contentious, occasions between brothers and sisters, both at home and perhaps especially within our churches.

One such story occurs in Luke 10:38-42. You know how this story goes. Martha is cooking, while pots and pans pile up in the kitchen. But, Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to Him teach. Martha complains to Jesus and He sides with Mary because she chose to do “the most important thing.” Mature Martha loves Jesus. So, she undoubtedly responds in humility and love for her sister, as well.

Jesus tells another well-known story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. In this story, the younger brother rebelliously demands that his father given him what will become his inheritance money, recklessly spends it on foolishness, but later returns home to ask forgiveness from his father. The older brother, who has remained faithful, stayed at home, and continued to work for his father, doesn’t appreciate the celebration and the banquet given to this ne’er-do-well sibling. The rift may have separated these brothers permanently. But, we aren’t told whether or not this is true.

My last illustration from Scripture can be found in Mark 10:35-45. This story shows what can happen within a faith community infected with rivalry. Brothers James and John come to Jesus and ask if they can sit in the two most prominent seats in heaven—one on Jesus’ right and the other on His left. The remaining ten disciples became so indignant that Jesus has to sit them all down and tell them:

These stories illustrate the way that small rifts between brothers and sisters can cause disunity in our homes, at our workplaces, and, sadly, in our churches. Each such rift provides an entrance for the devastating work of the evil one. This kind of disharmony adversely affects the witness of the body of Christ and tends to turn Christians from allowing the power of the Holy Spirit to work freely in that body. Scripture admonishes us often to work at maintaining peace with our brothers and sisters, particularly within the church.

As Paul tells Christ’s followers in Ephesians 4:3:

We may expect, even tolerate, sibling rivalry between little children. But, among mature believers, we must ask God to protect us from the sins of jealousy and selfishness that create an atmosphere ripe for disunity. In our homes, in our places of work, and particularly in our churches, may God’s peace grow and abound to Christ’s glory!

—Posted: Monday, October 16, 2023

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Not Seen As Yet

Noah found favor with God. And, according to Scripture found in Genesis 6 and 7:

Noah was chosen by God for a very unique and historical appointment. In great detail, God laid out for Noah plans and promises for building an ark because God intended to send a great flood of judgment on the world.

Scripture tells us in Genesis 6-8 just how Noah dedicated his time, effort, and faith in doing exactly what God had said. This act of extraordinary faith landed Noah in the “Faith Hall of Fame” found in Hebrews 11:7.

Noah no doubt suffered cruel mocking by the godless people who lived around him. Yet, he followed every element of God’s plan. Noah may not have understood these life-changing commands of God, but Noah was rewarded with the saving of himself, his family, and all the living creatures when the world was indeed destroyed by a great deluge and flood.

Consider the extraordinary matter of this story. The key to the strength of Noah’s faith is contained in that phrase: “…of things not seen as yet.” Despite what Noah could not see, he believed God and obeyed.

Puritan Thomas Manton comments on Noah’s faith:¹

Could this account of Noah speak to us in 21st century America? Does God see things in our lives that we “have not seen as yet”? In His good season, does God intend to ask us to step out in faith? Are there new relationships He wants us to form? Does God have a new ministry that He wants us to create or join? Does God intend to give us new talents that He wants us to develop for His use?

While God may not ask us to build an ark to save those we love from the judgment He intends to bring against our generation, certainly He calls us—and all Christians in this day—to step out in faith for the saving of His people and for the performance of the work of His church.

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—Posted: Monday, October 9, 2023

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Yet

Don’t you just love procrastinators? They say they will send you something, or come to visit you, or do something for you or others, or take care of an issue, but you can’t depend on when, or if, they will actually do what they have promised. You watch and hope they will come through. You wait, and you wait, and you wait.

Many accounts in the Scriptures make God look like a giant procrastinator. We wait and wait and pray and pray and nothing seems to happen like we think it should. We have many examples in the Bible:

Yet, in the study of all these stories, and many more, we see that God actually had a long-range plan and, which was His right as God, He waited for the right time to bring that plan to pass. A pastor I once knew called it: “the eventuality of God’s working.”

In the Book of Habakkuk, we read the prophet’s cry in Habakkuk 1:2:

Then, God answers the prophet in Habakkuk 2:3:

Finally, in Habakkuk 3:17-18, we read that the prophet himself has taken up the word “Yet”:

When we seem to “hope” our procrastinator friend will come through, we actually “wish” more than having a godly hope. But, when we wait patiently on God to act, the Bible encourages us to depend upon real God-given hope.

The Psalmist speaks of such a hope in the verse found at the beginning of this blog post. As we read in Lamentations 3, the Prophet Jeremiah, whose “splendor, and all he hoped for from the Lord was gone,” used the word “yet” and spoke of the “hope” he had.

What a God-given hope it takes for us to believe that, after months or years of praying, and believing, and waiting, God will eventually act according to His plan and His love for us. We must always wait, and pray, and believe. We must trust God to strengthen us for the waiting days ahead. And, to encourage us in our waiting, let’s read biblical accounts of faithful servants who hoped, and waited, and finally received that for which they prayed to God.

—Posted: Monday, October 2, 2023

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We Had Heard

I had heard about and seen pictures of Pikes Peak in Colorado for many years. In fact, I showed pictures to classes as I taught “America the Beautiful” written by Katherine Lee Bates from the top of that mountain. But, I had never seen it for myself. Then one summer my husband and I traveled to Colorado Springs and drove up the mountains to the Peak. I experienced something much broader and bigger than I imagined. The winding, treacherous road, the clear air above the timber-line, the steep climbs, the breathtaking views from the summit, all gave me a much more vivid view of this great mountain.

In Scripture, we find several examples of persons experiencing the wonders of God for themselves that they may have only heard about before. In Psalm 48, the people recount the deliverances of the Lord in their past history. They exclaimed together:

In the book of Job, we read the story of God’s servant whose life God allowed Satan to devastate. Job suffered great torture and never knew the reason. Yet, he didn’t give up on God. At the very end of his story in Job 42:5, Job confessed to God:

Job’s experience far outweighed the stories about God. In 1 John 1:1, the Apostle describes what he and others had experienced of God:

Here again, the early church gave great significance to the experience of seeing and knowing Christ. The Apostle Paul also recognized the importance of a personal knowledge of God. In Philippians 3:10, he yearned:

Do we want to know Christ in this way, by experience? God invites us to come near, to know Him, to experience the way of life He offers, and to no longer live only on the encounters of others.

—Posted: Monday, September 25, 2018

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By Hap

Sometimes the language of the King James Version of the Bible catches my attention in a way that the modern translations don’t. When Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote his devotional book, Morning and Evening, he used the word “hap”—a word that was quite familiar at the time of his writing in the mid-1800s. It means “by happenstance,” or “taking place by coincidence, or chance.”

The unknown author of the Old Testament Book of Ruth tells the story about how Ruth, seemingly by chance, gleaned in the field of her mother-in-law’s relative Boaz. Here’s what Spurgeon wrote about the story: ¹

If we stop to consider carefully the days of our own lives, most of us would see times when things that seemed “by hap” actually turned out to have occurred by the design of our Sovereign God. Along this vein, I read an account of the day Christian artist and author, Joni Eareckson Tada, had the diving accident that left her a quadriplegic for life.

Joni’s sister, Kathy, was at the beach with Joni. She stayed near the shore and suddenly felt a sharp pinch by a crab and screamed to Joni to watch for crabs. Because Joni didn’t respond, Kathy immediately went looking for her and ended up saving her from drowning. Kathy writes, speaking of God: ²

When we are tempted to think that we have experienced a coincidence, we must remember that, as God’s dearly loved children, our Heavenly Father sovereignly looks out for us, directs our ways, uses us in the lives of others, and yearns to have us honor Him with our thanksgiving for all that He so graciously does for us. In the lives of those of us who belong to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, there simply is no such thing as “by hap”!

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—Posted: Monday, September 18, 2023

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Beyond

Sometimes I hear people questioning to what the “Beyond” in the chain store Bed, Bath and Beyond^® refers. But, it got me thinking about that English word, and two Scripture passages containing it.

Perhaps the first passage came to me in an especially difficult time. From 2 Corinthians 1:8, I recalled:

Many will say that God never gives us any burdens we can’t bear alone. I’m not so sure. He wants to grow us to the point in which we have no strength left in ourselves, so that He can show us His mighty power at work in and for us. When we run out of our ability to endure, we can count on His power to take over.

I know this because I read about this power in another of the Apostle Paul’s words found in Ephesians 3:20-21 (NASB):

Our God gives us trials beyond our abilities to endure so that He can do what goes abundantly beyond all that we could even imagine!

In response, I repeat to you from a contemporary hymn:¹

The only thing we can do when God shows His “beyondness” over our weakness is to offer Him our thanks and praise in such a way that honors His wonderful name. Amen and Hallelujah!

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—Posted: Monday, September 11, 2023

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“The Cows are Out!”

Usually the call came from my dad, frantically yelling into the house, “The cows are out!” That meant everyone had to jump into action and move out into the backyard, or road, or wherever the family herd had meandered.

Cows do not seem to have the intelligence that you would expect from animals that produce so much of our food. So, they quite frequently get themselves into serious trouble.

The cows, when out of the barn, or a fenced in area, have to be corralled and driven back where they belong. If the barn door gets accidently left open, or the gate gets broken down by weather or struck by a piece of farm equipment, the animals take that as an invitation to explore a world they have only observed from afar.

On the several farms my family members own, stray cows have been known to peer into house windows—even licking them repeatedly. They will stand ankle deep in freshly seeded lawns or flower gardens. And yes, they have even ended up in the family swimming pool.

Cows are curious creatures, and sometimes they just want to try new adventures. And, it seems that they believe the grass might truly be greener and taste sweeter outside the fenced-in meadow.

Truthfully, in all too many cases, we’re not unlike those cows. Sometimes we just wander off. For no apparent reason we take advantage of an “open gate” and launch off into someplace we really shouldn’t go. We just drift away from the safety of God’s best place for us. We, like the cows, don’t see the warning signs—like “speeding traffic” or “a pool of water eight feet deep.”

How many times do we get dissatisfied with certain aspects of our own lives and take it upon ourselves to explore new vistas, even sinful ones we know will lead us down the wrong path. Discontent can provoke us to move into dangerous territory. How do we avoid getting “outside” the boundary lines that God has assigned to us?

First of all, we need to stay close to our Heavenly Guardian. If we ask, He will remind us that we are getting too near unhealthy and ungodly associations, temptations, or influences.

Secondly, we need to very insistently and very carefully watch out for ourselves. Proverbs 4 instructs us to guard instruction, guard our hearts, and pay close attention to our paths. We do this by staying close to God’s written Word, and by remaining vigilant against the evil suggestions of our culture and of our enemy, Satan, who 1 Peter 5:8 tells us:

We should gratefully submit to the instructions of God’s written Word and to His known will for us. In addition, when we seem penned-in to some place where we would rather not live, we should consistently trust God’s grace.

If we belong to Christ, when we do stray from the center of His will for us, we can be assured that He diligently calls out His heavenly crew of angels to get us back inside the fence of His divine and perfect will. But, how much better for us and for our witness to the watching world, if we stay out of the places where we don’t belong—places of ruin that we can certainly avoid!

—Posted: Monday, September 4, 2023

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Fill 'er Up

Patrons at gas stations didn’t used to pump their own gas. Instead, they stayed in their cars and let the attendant on duty “fill ’er up.” Every service station provided full service. Full service meant checking the oil level, cleaning the windshield, checking the air pressure in the tires, and filling the tires with additional air if necessary. Once you drove away, you felt that you could travel safely until your fuel level once again hovered near empty.

As Christians, God gives us the seal of His Holy Spirit when we turn to Him for forgiveness from our sins (Ephesians 1:13-14). And, as we live out the Christian life, the Holy Spirit continues to fill our spiritual “fuel tank.” Like empty vehicle gas tanks, we need that “filling” in order to travel through this life living for Christ. None of us has the ability to faithfully serve Him without the intervention and help from His Holy Spirit.

Have you ever noticed one of those yard inflatables that has lost air and droops over and looks half dead? Sometimes, after a particularly difficult time of spiritual warfare, I feel like one of those lost air inflatables when I come to God asking for a “fill-up.” On our own, none of us has the strength, the grace, the power, the energy, or the wisdom we need. In fact, God purposefully gives us tasks and circumstances for which we need His help. Without His divine aid, we are rendered useless.

How does God fill us? If we allow His written Word to soak into us, He gives us direction and faith in His ability to live through us. If we ask Him, He will govern and empower our way with the filling He wants to provide. One of my favorite hymns puts it like this:¹

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—Posted: Monday, August 28, 2023

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Not an Easy Game of Telephone

Nearly everyone has played the “Game of Telephone.” A simple phrase gets secretly passed from one person to another until the last person proclaims it aloud. To the enjoyment of everyone, the secret phrase has often drastically changed from the original whisperer. The game seems more fun, the more outrageous the change.

When the Gospel of our Lord passes from one generation to another, we should aim at accuracy above all else. We all know people who come from a long line of faithful Christians, but who may have heard a twist to the story that changed them into doubters or cynics of the faith, or even deserters from the faith. Other voices get into the “Game.” In fact, one who sows lies joins the circle and, before long, what the the last “hearer” receives completely disavows the truth of the original message.

How do we keep the children of this generation from those who would try to influence them away from the Truth of the written Word of God? Parents can’t always prevent their children from hearing wrong voices. However, if they have carefully orchestrated whom their children hear the most, and find ways to introduce them to winsome Christian friends, this generation can carry on the faithful truths of our great Christ-centered heritage.

When I taught elementary music, folk songs became the “fodder” of my curriculum. Not only did they supply the musical elements I taught, they also provided students with the “mother tongue” of their heritage as Americans. Scripture is the “mother tongue” of our Christian heritage. Our children need to hear faithful preaching and faithful teaching. They need to know faithful Christians in the church and observe their lives of service and devotion to Christ and His Kingdom.

Children need to see and hear people who have made the Christian life a firm foundation for their personal lives and whose devotion they can emulate. They need to learn the songs and hymns of their Christian heritage.

At the end of Moses’ life, recorded in Deuteronomy 31, he wrote a song and instructed the Israelites to teach it and sing it as a testimony of God’s work. Similarly, Psalm 78:1-6 speaks of writing parables to teach the next generation. Excerpts of those verses say:

Not only has God given us the means to teach the next generation, He can give us the courage, wisdom, grace, and all that we need in order to do so. Let us pray for this generation of children and for those who not only begin with the message of Christ, but carry it on throughout their lifetimes.

—Posted: Monday, August 21, 2023

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Joy

I could hear the squeals of delight as Jamie came down the hallway. In these first few days since he had learned to walk, he had the time of his life. Jamie had come to kindergarten in a wheelchair. Eventually, he learned to move beyond his ability to crawl, and through much therapy, began to use a walker.

Another year had Jamie walking with braces and crutches. And, then came the time, somewhere in the middle of his second grade year, when Jamie could walk on his own. He acted much like an ecstatic baby who had just learned to walk. Everywhere he went, the same joy and laughter accompanied him.

I remember thinking that when God makes us new creatures in Christ, our first days of “walking in the Spirit” seem like that of an ecstatic toddler. We walk in joy, for we have been healed from the bondage of sin. But, like Jamie, after we have walked perhaps somewhat unsteadily in this new life for awhile, the novelty of it wears off, and we start to behave like all the others around us.

Human nature causes us to forget our early joys. In Revelation 2:1-7, the risen Jesus gave the Apostle John words to send to the Church in Ephesus. After telling them the good things about their church, Jesus says this:

I don’t think our Lord intended for us to ever lose the joy of first love. He wants us to walk with Him every day in delight and gratitude, just as we did that very first day of our walk with Him.

Take time today to reflect on your new life in Christ. Remember your first excitement in following Him, and the freedom that kind of joy brings. Others will notice the difference Christ has made in your life. As you traverse the hallways of your life, may laughter and gladness accompany you!

—Posted: Monday, August 14, 2023

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Faded

As a teacher, I always looked forward to the first day of a new school year. Summer came to school on the children’s faces and gradually faded into fall. I remember those pink cheekbones and glowing tanned arms and legs. Yet, without any advanced notice in another month, the sun’s influence on their complexions faded, just as their first intentions to behave and please the adults around them faded, as well.

God notices the glorious joy of new Christians. Luke 15:7 speaks of the rejoicing in heaven whenever a sinner repents. The parables of Jesus in Luke 15 speak of the “Lost Sheep,” the “Lost Coin,” and the “Lost Son.” In each case, the “finding” of these lost ones brings great celebration.

God also notices when the attitude of that one who once took great joy in the early relationship with Him drops off to a routine, or to the place of a forgotten “experience” at summer camp, or to a no-longer-remembered particularly blessed time of the Holy Spirit’s movement in a congregation.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus speaks through the exiled Apostle John—imprisoned on the island of Patmos—to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor. This is the land now occupied by Turkey. In each instance, Jesus commends those in each Church for various aspects of their faith. Then, Jesus continues by speaking bluntly about those things in each Church that distress Him.

In Revelation 2:2, 4-5, Jesus speaks to the Church in Ephesus with these words:

I often wonder what the Apostle John would write, if today he wrote to report Christ’s pronouncements to our current churches. Perhaps Jesus would say:

Or, perhaps Jesus would declare:

Or, might Jesus even state:

Now, let us please translate this example from a corporate church setting to our own personal relationships with the Savior. Has the personal bond we once had with Christ faded? Has this bond that once produced overwhelming joy become dull and lifeless? If so, what does Jesus, through the Apostle John, offer as a remedy for this lost first love? Jesus says in Revelation 2:5:

Remember … Repent … Do …

Has our love for Christ and His church faded from the glowing beginning that we once experienced when we first came to a saving knowledge of Him? I urge each one of us to prayerfully remember when we first experienced the glorious awareness of His deep love for us. Let us humbly repent of our “backsliding” and begin again to do those things that pleased our Savior so much and, in turn, gave us so much joy. Said another way: “Don’t let the “Son”-shine fade!”

—Posted: Monday, August 7, 2023

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The Obi

Usually, when we think of Japanese traditional attire for women, we think of the kimono. As early as the 5th century, these “robes” were worn by unmarried women. Traditionally, the T-shaped garment is tied together around the waist using a sash known as an obi. Obis can be formal or informal, wide or narrow, and of many various materials, depending on the usage.

Wikipedia.com describes the following:

So from this description, we can see that the obi ties everything together with consideration for balance, beauty, and the movement of the person wearing the kimono. What an elegant picture of the kind of unity we find within the body of Christ. Though we see many different manifestations of Christ’s Body—the Church—God blesses His people with the “sash of His peace” that holds everything together in balance and beauty.

In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ has called those of us in His body to peace. The Ephesians passage quoted at the beginning of this blog post goes on to state in Ephesians 4:4:

Are we married to Christ? Indeed we are. Then our “garments of His righteousness” should be evident to all. Just as the obi of a Japanese woman speaks of her marital status, so should the peace that binds Christians together speak of the relationship we have with Jesus, our Savior, Lord, and King.

In this world of constant noise and strife, the unity that comes from the bond of peace must mark us as Christians. As Psalm 133:1 states:

May this unity of God’s peace bind and beautify every member of the Body of Christ!

—Posted: Monday, July 31, 2023

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The Legacy

If we could just see backwards into history and observe the way in which God prepared to have us learn of Him and the gospel message, we would be astonished. Did a great-great-grandmother teach her children well? And, did one of them—the one who became your grandfather—so fall in love with Christ that children many generations later would proclaim God’s amazing grace? Yes! That’s exactly what happened in my family!

Or, did a long ago professor plant a seed of Truth that would resonate for many decades in the life of someone who later took steps to influence you? We just won’t know the beautiful strand of embroidery that God has used to bring us to Himself until some glorious day when we stand before Him.

On the other hand, do we give ourselves to God, so that He can plant the seed of the gospel in those in the next generations that will follow our generation? We may never see the full impact that our lives have had on the younger people whom we have only met for a brief period. Likewise, we may not yet clearly see the impact our lives have had on those we have raised in our own homes, children who will grow to adulthood and carry the message of God’s grace onward through generation after generation to come.

Television writer and author David C. McCasland tells about meeting a member of the Mexico City Philharmonic, Luis Antonio Rojas, who told him that:

Perhaps we have poured ourselves into our children or other young people, but see little evidence to indicate that we have made any impact. We should remember this story about the violin. We must understand that God takes time to work His will into the lives of His children.

Be faithful! Continue to take every opportunity to live for Christ and share His story with those in the next generation, and the next. We will all be amazed when we meet in Heaven to see those who came before us who had been faithful, and those who will come after us who are there because of our faithful witness.

—Posted: Monday, July 24, 2023

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The Huddle

I’ve never played on a sports team, but I’ve watched enough basketball games on television to ponder what players do in a time-out huddle during those few minutes of “down” time. Sometimes, just the five players on the floor gather to share strategy. Other times, I see them reconnect on the sidelines with all the other members of the team whether or not they participate in the game.

Sometimes I see the coach scribbling directions for the next play on a hand-held white board. Sometimes he or she gets in the face of a player who seems to have disappointed the coach by the way the particular player is handling the game. Sometimes I watch as assistant coaches offer their “two cents” by chewing out a player or patting a player on the back.

Most often, at the end of the time-out, I see the players offer encouragement by putting their arms around each other and cheering each other on for the next round of difficult play. They connect on a deep level and remind each other that they are all in this together.

In my opinion, the local church should consider operating with a mindset similar to the mindset of sports team. As they meet for worship, members “huddle” every week. Some come to church needing exhortation or warning. Others need encouragement through the felt love of the Body of Christ. As a key part of Christ’s Body, they recognize that they all wear the garments of salvation and belong to the same family. Though each one may have different gifts, it is the same Spirit by which they live out their Christian faith.

The “coach” and other leaders must try to study the needs of the individuals within this local Body and provide for ways to exhort, encourage, and inspire a sense of belonging. In this way, all the “players” go away prepared to “play the game”—as Ambassadors for Christ and His Kingdom—with new vigor and with a clear understanding of their roles.

The harder the game, the more intense and important the huddle seems to be. As the days of our lives become more difficult, and as the time draws closer to Christ’s return, we should heed the words of the author of Hebrews, as recorded in Hebrews 10:23-25:

—Posted: Monday, July 17, 2023

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The God Who Acts "Suddenly"

For most of us, waiting on God to answer whatever we ask in our prayers, or waiting on God to show us the direction He wants us to go in any matter, far too often seems like a never-ending period of time. When we first started to wait on God’s response, we often wait far longer than we had ever anticipated waiting.

The first Disciples must have felt that way, too. They had seen Jesus ascend back to Heaven and had already stayed together in an upper room for most of the 40 days between His death and His ascension. Now they had continued to wait for His promise—the Holy Spirit—for ten more days.

I wonder what they expected would happen when the Holy Spirit came. This sudden wind and the tongues of fire that landed on each of them must have shocked even these devoted followers of Jesus. I imagine that once they realized what was happening, they experienced a flood of incredible joy! After a time of waiting, God suddenly responded in an overwhelming way.

When we think of “sudden happenings” in Scripture, we must remember the words recorded in Luke 2:13:

Certainly these shepherds shook in their homespun clothing to see such a sight: the coming of this new-born Messiah—the One for whom watchers had prayed and had anticipated for so long a time.

The apostle Paul took a routine “business trip” to Damascus and we read this account in Acts 9:3:

Later, after Paul had begun working for his new “Boss,” Paul shared a missionary adventure with his friend Silas. We read of these two adventurers in Acts 16:25-26. They had been imprisoned for speaking about Jesus. The Scripture tells us:

We should allow these accounts of the sudden action of God to give us confidence and renewed faith that God will always answer our prayers, even though we may have waited for a very long time. When God decides to act, nothing will stop Him from suddenly fulfilling His will. When His sovereign plan comes together, circumstances that ordinarily just wouldn’t work out can suddenly fall into place.

As we think back over our lifetimes of knowing God through Jesus, we must have at least one account when we have seen this character trait of God acting suddenly. Let this personal memory and the recorded accounts in the Scriptures encourage us today. When God wills it, it will happen! And often, it will happen suddenly.

—Posted: Monday, July 10, 2023

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They Called Her: Much-Afraid

In Hannah Hurnard’s classic allegory, Hinds’ Feet On High Places, the main character, little Much-Afraid, lives among her relatives, the Fearings, in the Valley of Humiliation. Even so, she knows the Good Shepherd and desires His fellowship. She learns that He wants her to leave this awful place and follow Him, rather than live forever with those who would have her marry Craven Fear, the fiercest of the Fearings.

Much-Afraid learns from the Shepherd how to climb to the High Places, the Kingdom of Love. This is the place where His love casts out all her fears, including all those fears of the kin who have plagued her throughout all of her life. Through the struggles of a very long and circuitous journey, she becomes a new person—Acceptance-With-Joy—in the Kingdom of Love.

This journey from fear to acceptance, love, and peace does not happen quickly. In our own lives, we seem to have to learn this lesson over and over. Some of us have a greater struggle than others because we, too, live among Fearing relatives who constantly whisper in our ears their evil plans for us.

I am intrigued that throughout Scripture, God speaks the words “Be not afraid” more often than just about any other admonition. He knows our weaknesses and He knows the trials we come up against in this fallen world. After all, Jesus Himself lived with the terrors of sickness, storms, plots of hatred, sleepless nights, suffering, and even death. He most certainly understands our fears.

Unfortunately, this life does not afford us a quick fix to take away our fears. But, I believe that God wants us who know Him, to learn to trust Him, to look in His face, to arm ourselves with His promises through His written Word, and to seek His hope and encouragement. The path away from fear takes us through obstacles, sharp precipices, loneliness, and often dangers on every side.

If we are dogged by this constant companion Fear, we must hear our Savior say to us in the words of Isaiah 41:9-10:

—Posted: Monday, July 3, 2023

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Obstinate

Blame it on a poor regular classroom teacher, poor class makeup, or even on my inability to teach them in my music class, this group of fourth graders made it impossible for me to deal with them! Even though I happened to love this age group the best, this particular class seemingly refused to allow me to teach them.

I had so many fun teaching games and songs to use with them. I knew that if they had only given me a chance, they would have loved my class and learned a lot about music at the same time. Every singing game that involved holding hands in a circle ended in some kind of tug of war, or in a refusal to participate. Games with a ball ended with someone trying to “get” another classmate.

These children preferred to goof around, waste class time watching each other play foolishly, while generally refusing to enjoy the lessons I had so carefully planned and developed for their best interest. I modified my lessons to do everything I could to turn these students around. And then, they had the audacity to complain that they were bored!

Do we treat our Lord the same way? Do we refuse to accept His plans for us and generally do everything we can to make it impossible for Him to deal with us? Do we miss the good things He wants for us because we think we have better ideas?

Sometimes, we stubbornly hold on to things that do nothing to help us, or give us joy. We fight against those individuals whom God has brought alongside us and given to us for the sake of His good purposes. Then, we wonder why our lives disappoint us, and the Lord seems so far away from us.

If this attitude describes us, we must turn from our selfish, sinful ways, confess our sins, and return to the Lord and His mercy. We need to promptly acknowledge His righteous and loving purposes for us. And, we need to take to heart the message of these verses from Micah 7:18-19:

—Posted: Monday, June 26, 2023

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The Most Exotic Flower

An exotic plant takes extra care: avoidance of drafts, careful watering, the right soil, lots of sunlight, and an appropriate climate. No one can just water and forget this kind of flower.

Comparing “love” to an exotic flower, Charles Haddon Spurgeon writes: ¹

We know that love to God and love to each other appears in the greatest commandment, recorded in Matthew 22:37-38:

In the great “Love Chapter”—1 Corinthians 13—we read in verse 13 that:

The list of the “Fruit of the Spirit” stated in Galatians 5:22-23 begins with the most exotic plant—“Love.”

In and of ourselves, we do not have the proper soil, or the ability to nurture the growth of the flower of love. According to Romans 5:5, we must lean on the Holy Spirit, who sheds abroad His love in our hearts.

Pastor James Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle recalls an Easter Sunday in which he sat down on the edge of the platform after the evening meeting. He sat there exhausted, as people continued to pray around him. Shortly, a man with shabby clothing and matted hair came toward him. Tired as he was, Pastor Cymbala had no desire to speak with another person that night.

However, he nodded the man forward and spoke to him. This is how he describes the encounter: ²

After briefly speaking with the man, David, the pastor prayed, “God, forgive me.” He swallowed hard as God’s love flooded his soul. ³

This man from the stret, David, surrendered his life to Christ that night and got the help he needed. His life changed forever through that encounter. Pastor Cymbala sums this up by writing: ⁴

Those of us who desire to obey our Savior’s admonitions to love Him and to love others must realize that, like growing an exotic plant, the necessary conditions must come from the true Source of Nourishment: the love of God for us. We cannot hope to accomplish anything unless His loving Spirit in-dwells us and makes God-breathed love possible.

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—Posted: Monday, June 19, 2023

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Tethered

As a toddler, my younger sister liked to put stones from our driveway in her mouth. To avoid this danger, my mother used a tether on my sister and tied her to the laundry pole in the backyard, while Mom hung the wash on the line to dry. Unpleasant for a time, this method of guarding my sister’s behavior proved extremely helpful in preventing the “stone eating.”

Have you ever felt tethered to something that kept you from the freedom you would like? Certainly, God can use the tethering cord for a short time. But, what about those times when He tethers us for a very long term?

Perhaps you feel tethered to a financial problem, a debt that won’t go away, or a life of poverty. Maybe you have a chronic physical problem that severely limits your activities, even those you would like to accomplish for the Kingdom of God. Or, maybe you feel tethered to a boss who, regardless of your prayers and hard work, fails to commend you for your faithful performance, or to pay you what you are worth.

The Apostle Paul, in the passage at the beginning of this blog post, recounted a physical problem with which God had tethered him. He had begged God to take it away. But instead, God, in His overarching love and wisdom, denied Paul’s request. When we ponder this kind of experience in our own lives, we all ask: “Why?”

Yet, Paul knew why God had given him this weakness. Prior to this, Paul had experienced the privilege of a divine revelation. In order to keep him from conceit, God made him humble through this “thorn” of physical limitation—perhaps something that disfigured his appearance, or hampered his clear vision.

As I considered Paul’s situation, I realized that my mother had tied my sister to the laundry pole for the sake of my sister’s protection—nothing else. We must consider that perhaps our long-term trial has come from God for just such a purpose. What sin might He have kept us from through the trial we continue to experience? What accident or wrong choice from which has He shielded us because of the “thorn” we bear?

Then again, perhaps God saw how self-reliant we had become, how easily we go about our own agenda, how much we had come to lean on our own feeble ability and power, rather than solely depending on His enormous ability and overwhelming power.

Perhaps, God wants us all to realize that, like Paul, we need His strength instead of our own. Paul reports this declaration from God, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

Another reason for God to tether us comes from the reality that He has other people whom He wants to bless through us. Sometimes, to reveal His grace, people need to see the way in which He does the impossible for us. Even Lazarus’ death, recorded in John 11, came about because Jesus wanted to glorify God the Father through Lazarus’ resurrection.

We may never know the reason for the bothersome, painful, joy-sucking “tether” we wear. But, we can get ever-closer to trusting our wise and loving God with the decision He has made to tether us. Let us pray to have the grace, strength, and dedication to Him and to His Kingdom that will result in giving Him the glory that He is most certainly due! Amen.

—Posted: Monday, June 12, 2023

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Lost in Wonder

My old copy of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “wonder” as “rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience.”

Children seem to catch the wonder of a moment more quickly than adults, probably because, to a child, everything presents itself as something new. However, if we take the time, adults can experience wonder, too.

Charles Wesley, the author of more than 6,000 hymns, occasionally would “borrow” phrases from the hymns of others. One such phrase he used, originated from the hymn, “When All Thy Mercies, O My God,” written by Joseph Addison in 1712.¹

In this hymn, Joseph Addison looked back over his life and surveyed the way God had cared for and guided him from infancy through youth, in hidden dangers, sickness, sorrows, and “every period of my life.” As he considered all the times and ways that God’s good providence had washed over him, Addison stated that, he got:

As for Charles Wesley, he used this phrase in his well-known hymn, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” written in 1747.² Wesley wrote this as a corporate prayer, asking God to work in His church to make us, His people, like Him—filled with His love. Wesley asks for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father Himself to invade the hearts and minds of God’s people with His awesome character. We find the “borrowed” phrase at the very end of the hymn, where Wesley concludes:

Taken together, we see that God fills our earthly life with the wonders of His grace. And yet, we look forward to even greater wonders when “in heaven we take our place.” What a wonderful meditation from two godly men of the 18th century.

Let me suggest you find the words to these two hymns, meditate on them, and use them as a means of worship and praise. Lose yourself in the wonder of our gracious and glorious God!

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—Posted: Monday, June 5, 2023

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And it Came to Pass ...

I never stopped to think too intently about the phrase, “And it came to pass …” Because, like the phrase “Once upon a time …” that first phrase often appears in fairy tales. It also repeatedly comes up in Scripture with the regularity of a “Verily, verily …” or “Finally, brothers …” But, this time I paused in my reading to realize that, at some point, all the instances of our lives do, indeed, come to pass. They may have begun, but they also will end. They have “come to pass.”

As much as we like to hold on to the familiar, we are told in Matthew 24:35 that even:

It’s certainly true that throughout the existence of our universe, things come to pass. Now perhaps that kind of statement shakes our foundations a bit. If we believe that God is the “Blessed Controller of all things,” we can relax in the knowledge that a wise and loving Father God plans out and executes the unfolding of our futures.

In Revelation 21:6 we read these words of Jesus Himself:

We also have the written Word of God in Psalm 139:16 that states:

Another way to look at this phrase, “And it came to pass …” has to do with troubles in our lives. Sometimes we think they will never end—that God has ordered something and we have to deal with it forever. Not so. We should remember that troubles, too, will eventually “come to pass.”

The Psalmist in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 was downcast because of trouble in his life. But, he spoke these words to himself three times:

I once heard a sermon where the pastor preaching called this “the eventuality of God’s work.” We can rest in the knowledge that our wise and loving Father knows just how long our troubles will last. Whether they have their ending at some point down the road on this earth, or whether at the moment we pass from life here to new life in Eternity, our troubles will end.

And, oh yes, if we belong to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can know for a certain that not only do things “come to pass”—but that truly, we will live “happily ever after.” How’s that for a good and proper end to the story?

—Posted: Monday, May 29, 2023

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Little is Much

Jesus understood small things and appreciated their worth. In Luke 21:1-2, He remarked about an incident, barely noticed by anyone else:

Jesus honored the smallest things by pointing them out and using them for His glory. The story recorded in John 6:1-15 of the five thousand plus people who came to hear Jesus speak, points to His use of small things.

These people had come out from nearby towns and had been there many hours listening to Jesus. He told the disciples that they needed to feed them. They brought Jesus all they could find: the small lunch of a little boy that contained five small barley loaves and two fishes. Jesus showed His appreciation and used this small gift by multiplying it to serve all five thousand people present, with twelve baskets of food left over.

What do we have so little of that we feel God cannot use? Time? Money? Talent? Strength?

In Judges 6-8 we read the account of Gideon in the days when the Midianites invaded the land of Canaan. God called Gideon to save His people. In Judges 6:14-15, God said to Gideon:

The story goes on to point out how God chose to use this reluctant warrior. God chose to use Gideon because Gideon was the weakest available: the runt of the litter.

We need to think beyond ourselves, too. Maybe God wants our family, or our neighborhood, or our work department, our school, or our office staff to do something big for Him. Even more, maybe He purposes to use our little church for a big ministry, when it may seem that plenty of mega-churches in our area could do the job so much easier.

God’s voice asks of the prophet in Zechariah 4:10:

Instead of bemoaning our lack of anything, let’s praise God for small things and small strength. He wants to show His mighty power through us. May we submit to His will and watch the blessings follow!

—Posted: Monday, May 22, 2023

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The Mysterious Queen of Sheba

This intriguing queen, from a story recorded in 1 Kings 10, not only was mentioned in the Old Testament, but also in Ethiopian legends, as well. She was known as a searcher for truth, and had heard about Solomon’s fame and his relation to the name of the Lord. With a large caravan of camels loaded with spices, gold, and precious stones, she traveled a long distance, in order to ply Solomon with her questions.

Solomon, traditionally known as the “wisest man who ever lived,” welcomed this Queen from the area we now know as Yemen. He answered all her questions, welcomed her into the royal palace, and entertained her at his table with all the attention of devoted servants and cupbearers. She also accompanied Solomon to the temple, where he made burnt offerings to the Lord and where she saw the worship of the one true God.

Anyone would have been impressed by the wealth and achievements of Solomon. But, as recorded in 1 Kings 10:9, she responded to what she had seen by saying:

This woman, with her thirst for spiritual things, recognized the presence of the Lord God in all of Solomon’s blessings. She hungered for truth and found it. Jesus Himself acknowledged her recognition of truth, and condemned those from His generation who couldn’t see the legitimacy of His Kingdom, even when the Truth walked among them.

Jesus welcomes all who truly seek truth. He, who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” is no respecter of persons. As He clearly said, as recorded in Matthew 7:7-8:

Just as King Solomon welcomed this questioning woman from a faraway land, Jesus waits to answer our questions and reveal Himself to us. Maybe it’s not so bad to have someone say: “Who do you think you are, the Queen of Sheba?”

—Posted: Monday, May 15, 2023

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King Me!

This past weekend, the whole world watched as a man, whom many of us have followed his entire life, achieved the position he had dreamed about and hoped for all of his adult years. Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor was formally crowned King Charles III, King of the United Kingdom and monarch of the 14 other realms of the British Commonwealth. While it is unlikely that he would do so, as we watched his Coronation, we could almost hear Charles turn toward the Archbishop of the Church of England and humbly say: “King Me!”

At one time or another, most of us have played the game of Checkers and know that when our “man” reaches the first row of the other player’s side, we gleefully shout, “King Me!” As a result, we get an extra “man” on top and, now that our “man” is a “king,” he can move in any direction we want to move him.

Let’s face it, don’t all of us want to be “King” of our lives in that way, so that we can move in whichever direction we desire? According to Paul David Tripp: ¹

Yet, over and over again in Scripture, Jesus reminded us that He is King and wants us to honor Him as King. Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 6:15-16, that He is:

Again and again, Jesus taught about His Kingdom: how to enter the Kingdom, how to become great in that Kingdom, what the Kingdom is like, and to whom the Kingdom belongs. In fact, those who belong to His kingdom have made, and continue to make, Him the Sovereign over their lives.

Our sinful nature compels us to want to be the “king” of our own lives. The culture around us lives with that guiding principal. This poem perfectly demonstrates that philosophy. ²

We can see the contrast in this passage from the writing of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:8-11, written about our King of kings:

Though it requires of us humility and suffering, this remains the Kingdom to which we belong and the King to whom we bow! And, that should surely be enough for us.

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—Posted: Monday, May 8, 2023

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Gathered

I usually buy groceries once a week. We, in America, generally like to “stock up,” so that we can feel certain that we won’t run out of anything. Some of us even like to visit the warehouse food stores, in order to save money by buying in bulk. Concerned about some disaster, some people even stock freeze-dried food and have large underground shelters full of provisions for any upcoming catastrophe.

Contrast all of this with the Israelites, who trekked across the wilderness for 40 years. Not only did they not have room for stock piles of food, they had no food to store. They literally lived hand-to-mouth. Every day they went out, as God had told them to do. Exodus 16:4, 12 explains:

I’ve come to realize that our “Bread of Life,” the Lord Jesus Christ, wants us to come to Him daily for the provisions we need for each new day. We can’t “stock up” for the future. We must often come into His divine Presence.

When we gather physical food, we provide ourselves with all the nutrients we need for good health. We get calcium, protein, iron, vitamins and minerals of every kind—all to strengthen us for the day. Not only that, God has given us the capacity to enjoy our food with various tastes and smells.

Just so, we also need to come to our Lord for the spiritual food that we need to nourish our spiritual existence for each day. He has all the spiritual nutrients we need: strength, grace, peace, guidance, help, and much more. Along with these spiritual nutrients, He gives us the capacity to enjoy His provisions. Just as the frosting on a dessert blesses us with delight, so His joy comes as a spiritual “frosting” on top of all the other spiritual blessings He so lovingly provides for us.

God tests us to see if we can trust Him for our daily spiritual food. He will not give us grace for any of those future days we tend to worry about. But, He will grant us all we can gather up in His Presence each morning.

Please join me every morning, as we set aside a specific time, in order to gather the abundant provision God has for us. And, in the evening, let us remember with delight and with thanksgiving the tasty spiritual food He has given us for that day!

—Posted: Monday, May 1, 2023

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An Unusual Kindness

We just don’t forget an unusual kindness that someone may have done for us. Likewise, the missionary Paul, on his way to prison in Rome, spent three months of his journey on the island of Malta because the ship that took him shipwrecked there. The Apostle Paul either journaled about, or merely remembered, the extraordinary and unusal kindness with which the strangers on that island had greeted this dirty, water-logged group of men. It was truly an unusual kindness!

When Corrie ten Boom recalled the days after her release from the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp at the end of World War II, she specifically remembered the nurse who led her down gleaming corridors into a room with a steaming bathtub. She stated that nothing ever felt as good as that bath. She also commented on the bed with sheets and how she could not get enough of running her hands over them, as they soothed her swollen feet. It was truly an unusual kindness! ¹

A missionary, Gracia Burnham, had much the same reaction after spending a year running, hiding, sleeping on the ground, and watching her husband die in the wet jungles of the Philippines. In her vivid remembrance, she too recalled the spotless sheets and the comfortable mattress. She compared them to the terrifying nights she had spent in the open. It was truly an unusual kindness! ²

When we imagine the unusual kindess of strangers that prompts them to take specific action, especially for the benefit of those who have lived through horrific circumstances, we realize that the “Gift of Kindness” comes about as a remnant of the image of God in human form. Jesus—God incarnate—also shows us an unusual kindness. His kindness is always beyond our need. His kindness is always beyond our deserving. His kindness always prompts us to make changes in our lives.

In Romans 2:4, the Apostle Paul asks:

Imagine the Apostle Paul, or Corrie ten Boom, or Gracia Burnham turning down the unusal kindness that was shown to them! God’s purposes through His unusual kindness lead us to repentance for our “old rags.” His unusual kindness offers us fresh, new garments in which He invites us to live.

The Prophet Isaiah, writing in Isaiah 61:3, expresses God’s unusual kindness this way:

Yes! It is so very true that, in God’s loving and unusual kindness, God has a “garment of praise” for us in exchange for the “garment of a faint spirit”—that is, a spirit of despair. This is truly an unusual kindness!

First of all then, let us praise God for His unusual kindnesses to us, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. These gifts of unusual kindnesses that God gives to us should be remembered and shared, especially when we speak about our stories with others.

Secondly, we need to recall the unusual kindnesses that others have shown us—the unusual kindnesses that have led to producing good outcomes in our lives.

Thirdly, as carriers of God’s image, let us show the same kind of transforming unusual kindnesses to others around us. Let us continually ask ourselves: “This day, to whom is God asking us to bless with unusual kindness?”

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—Posted: Monday, April 24, 2023

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Cleaned and Restored

Have you ever salvaged something from an old barn, or found a treasure at an antique mall or flea market? Or, maybe your grandmother gave you an old tea pitcher or a clock that just has never seemed useful to you. But, when someone with an eye for such things sees this object, that one can clean and restore it and bring it to life from what you may have thought was worthless.

Many of us enjoy picking out objects that we believe can have a new life. I wonder if we realize that’s exactly what God has done with us. From before the foundation of the earth, He saw something in us that He could clean and restore. So, in due season, He sent His Holy Spirit to salvage us—to clean and restore us—and make us over into a new person.

The word “salvation” actually comes from the same root word as the word “salvage.” The Apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Yet, some of us, who have become new creations in Christ, have also become battered along the way by the trials of this world and by the persistence of sin in our own lives. Like a piece of new furniture that has become water spotted and broken down through years of neglect and wrongful purposes, we have become broken down because of our own neglect and wrong doing. The good news is that just as a talented craftsman can restore that old, battered piece of furniture, so God can restore us, as one of His own dearly loved children, who have suffered neglect and misdirection in our lives.

How does this process of becoming cleaned and restored by God proceed?

It begins when we see ourselves as God sees us. We must recognize the potential we have and the new function He wishes to employ in us. We must trust Him that when He puts the harsh paint remover to us, or the lye to clean us up, He is preparing us for new and wonderful service ahead. Once we see the new beauty He brings forth in us, we will only want to praise and delight Him through a new obedience to His ways.

If we desire the cleaning and restorative touch of God in our lives today, let me suggest that we use the following words to instruct our prayers for cleaning and restoration.

Begin with Psalm 23:3:

Next, from Psalm 52:12:

Then, from Psalm 126:4:

Finally, these words of God from Joel 2:25 NKJV:

Once, we see the lost splendor of our lives given new life and purpose, we will rejoice with the nineteenth century hymn‑writer, Henry Lyte:

Praise my soul, the King of heaven,
to His feet your tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who, like me, His praise should sing?
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him,
Praise Him, Praise the Everlasting King.

—Posted: Monday, April 17, 2023

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Early in the Morning

If I give you the first line of some familiar stories, let’s see how many you can name:

1. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
   
   
2. “Call me Ishmael.”

How about a more modern one?

3. “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair.”

One more:

This last one, two verses of Scripture, especially struck me one Easter as I staggered into the shower at 5:30 a.m. It was another Easter and it was still dark. As I showered, I thought of all those Easter mornings: dressing in new finery, eating a hearty breakfast, or at least having a brisk cup of coffee, and then heading out to an Easter Sunrise Service for a celebration. But, this wasn’t what Mary Magdalene and the other Mary experienced.

Maybe you can recall some “early morning” events that resembled more the mood of these women. The task before them sprung from deep sorrow and a need to do something deliberate, though unpleasant.

They probably threw on their clothes and skipped their usual breakfast patterns that morning—much like we do on mornings when we have to rush out with the garbage bins before the truck comes, or when we have to sleepily drive to the airport for an early flight, or when we hurry to get to the hospital for an unpleasant procedure.

The women came to the Tomb out of deep love and duty, with spirits depressed and terribly disappointed. They came to the site of Jesus’ burial devastated by loss. They may not have slept, or done so fitfully. What they found, they certainly hadn’t expected.

I’ll let Max Lucado tell his version of the rest of the story from John 20:1-18. ¹

Oh, yes. The answers to the first three questions at the beginning of this blog post:

—Posted: Monday, April 10, 2023

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What Can You Do?

Jesus reprimanded those who complained about this woman’s gesture and told them that what she had done in anointing His body for burial would be remembered wherever the Gospel is preached. “She did what she could.”

In John 19:23-24, we find these words:

We don’t know the source of that seamless garment, but it must have been the finest of all of Jesus’ possessions. Jewish tradition called for a mother to make a robe like this for a son when he left home. Did Jesus’ mother, Mary, make it for Him? Indeed, if she did, “She did what she could.”

In Luke 23:50-53, the Scripture records:

This man had come at the risk of his own life and at the risk of losing his credibility with the Jewish leaders. With determination and without fear, “He did what he could.”

In the events of this momentous Holy Week, we also read in Mark 16:1-2:

After reading this passage of Scripture, we could certainly say of these women that out of their deep love for Christ, “They did what they could.”

Just as Jesus gave Mary from Bethany the honor of being remembered wherever the Gospel is preached, so Joseph of Arimathea and the women at the tomb are honored by the recounting of their stories. At the time, they probably thought each gift they gave was an insignificant part of the overall account of the events of those days. But, we can be certain that God saw and rewarded each one of them.

Out of our love for Christ and in response to His sacrifice for us, what gift of time, talent, and treasure will we give? Will it be said of us: “She did what she could”?

—Posted: Monday, April 3, 2023

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Cleansing the Temple

Jesus came to the temple at the time of Passover and saw the following scene: ¹

We have all read the story of Jesus coming upon this scene, angered by what He saw, and taking authority to overturn tables, scatter coins, and let loose the animals. He felt personally attacked because, unknown to the crowd, this was His temple on earth.

I often wondered what lesson God wanted us to learn from this account. How can we apply this to our world? I doubt anyone reading this has seen such a scene in their churches.

However, I am reminded of these verses from 1 Corinthians 3:16-17:

Pretty strong words, right? It begs the question, “What would Jesus in anger like to overturn, or throw out, of our lives?” What does He see in us that does not belong? What should be replaced with prayer, or with a strong healing touch of the Holy Spirit’s power? Have we become so accustomed to the sight, smells, and noise of sinful activity that we no longer notice?

Oh, Jesus, You who died so that we might become a temple in which You feel comfortable to live, to pray, and to serve, please have mercy on us! Reveal to us the sinful clutter, the bellowing din and smelly sins that crowd out Your “still small voice” and Your beauty. Cleanse us, purify us. Reveal Yourself in love, rather than in anger. And, heal us, that we may carry Your precious Spirit glowing with light and peace to the world. Amen.

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—Posted: Monday, March 27, 2023

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Tracking in Mud

Nothing makes a mom crazier than having an unaware dog or unaware child with muddy feet run across her newly mopped floor. You can just hear her shout: “Stop! Stop! Stop! You’re tracking in mud! Take off your shoes!”

Have you ever spent time in prayer when you suddenly got interrupted by something or someone? And, before you could get back to prayer, you realized that you had already said or done something for which you needed forgiveness. Our feet get muddy so quickly that we barely notice. We easily become as unaware as that dog or child running over mom’s clean floor.

After the Passover Meal, on the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, He began washing the feet of His disciples. When He came to Simon Peter, Peter objected to Jesus’ work. John 13:8-10 records what happened next:

What did Jesus mean?

It seems that those who had been baptized into Christ—had accepted the washing He gives to make them new creatures in Him—didn’t really need to continually come back for a thorough cleansing. In contrast however, Jesus realized that feet, in open sandals that walk the dusty roads of Palestine, get muddy over and over again.

We need this same spiritual cleansing today. We go to places we shouldn’t go. We step on others’ feelings. We wander away into enemy territory. We run after things that we don’t need. All our wanderings often act like quicksand to pull us down. We even suffer wounds to our spiritual feet that need cleaning and binding up.

No wonder, in Exodus 3:5, God told Moses to take off his muddy sandals. Like Moses, we need to realize that when we come before God to talk with Him in prayer, our muddy shoes carry the smell of sin. Jesus may not want any part of us at that moment. But, He never turns us away. He merely asks us to allow Him to wash our feet. When we do, we become accepted by Him and enabled by Him to wash others’ feet—to treat them as God has treated us—and to share fellowship with Him.

Like the hymn reminds us, we are “prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love.”¹ How marvelous it is that Jesus, even before He took our sins to the cross, reminded us, through this incident with His disciples, that our feet get dirty more often than we realize.

Daily, we personally need to take account of our sin and submit to the washing before we enter His holy presence. Likewise, when our church congregations come together in His presence, we corporately need to take account of our corporate sin by the “Confession” and receive God’s blessing through the “Assurance of Pardon.” In so doing, we remember that we need the “washing” by the hands of our Savior. Jesus wants to use us with clean shoes and feet!

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—Posted: Monday, March 20, 2023

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Dismembered

Ann Voskamp, in her little book of poetic essays, Be the Gift, writes a lot about brokenness, as it has to do with our individual lives and as a people of God collectively. She writes:¹

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and Paul wrote about it in his letter to the Corinthian church, they each spoke about Jesus’ broken body. The whole thrust of Paul’s writing, in the verses at the beginning of this blog post, concerns the church as the broken body of Christ. We all have broken lives pulled apart by sin, selfishness, hurting, and the misunderstanding of each other.

Especially during this Season of Lent, we need to consider deeply the body of Christ with whom we share this sacramental meal. We belong to each other. As we prepare to partake of the elemements of Communion, we must think:

We come, a dismembered people, to the Lord’s table. Jesus wants us to see the selfless, tortured mind and body that He gave for us. He wants to remind us that He longs for us to be that kind of broken for our brothers and sisters in Christ. He wants to see us re-joined together—“re-membered,” if you will—healed, complete in Him, and completing each other, as we join hearts, minds, and hands and follow Him.

Ann Voskamp, again:²

And sometimes, we must simply absorb the pain of living in a body with sinful members, like our very own. We simply need to forgive and bear the burden. Noted author Karen Mains refers to a quote she once read:³

This seems far easier said than done. But, such a mindset is required, if we are to allow the Body of Christ to function with all its members intact.

As we struggle to bring the broken pieces together in a healthy whole, may we see the model of oneness in Him that our Lord gave us in the reminder of the Lord’s Supper: whenever we eat it, whenever we drink it!

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—Posted: Monday, March 13, 2023

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Congenital Defects

We thank God when we see a new baby, healthy and strong. Most little ones appear so perfect in every way. Yet, some parents know all too well the reality of a baby born with a defect of some kind, even if she appears perfectly normal on the outside.

Many times these parents spend the early years of their child’s life in and out of operating rooms, hoping that doctors can repair the problems with which she came into the world. They wait and watch for signs of normalcy and steady growth. If she progresses well, the parents rejoice that the path to healing was worth all the pain.

Truthfully, all people come into the world with congenital defects of the spiritual variety. We have a “heart defect.” In our natural state, we may look normal to the world, but inside we carry a flaw which, unless we get help, will “kill” us in the end.

We are born spiritually blind to the fact that we begin our lives already stained by the sin curse that we inherited from our parents, all the way back to Adam. Unless we get the right “treatment,” we will go through life unable to see our own condition. In fact, the Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:1 that we are actually:

So, what do we have to do in order to obtain a repair for this condition and recover? There is really nothing we can do on our own. Fortunately, the “operation” has already occurred—the treatment has been completed! Jesus took the pain. He took the punishment for our sinful condition on the cross. By faith in Him we can know His complete healing. As Jesus Himself said in John 5:24:

For our blindness, God has given us a “healing light”—for Jesus is the Light of the World. As the Apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 4:4:

Even centuries before Jesus walked the earth, the Prophet Ezekiel prophesied, in Ezekiel 36:26, about the “surgical procedure” for our healing:

Hallelujah! God has already provided a “heart transplant.” He has given us light to heal our blindness, and eternal life in place of the living death with which we came into the world. Through Jesus, we can walk in His perfection throughout our lifetime and in the eternity beyond.

—Posted: Monday, March 6, 2023

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Unspotted

The principal of the newly renovated school where I taught liked to use my spacious music classroom for faculty meetings after school because I didn’t have student desks, and had plenty of room for adult size folding chairs. In the spirit of Christian hospitality, I enjoyed allowing my fellow teachers to use my room for such a purpose.

However, I cringed to see fellow faculty members balancing coffee cups and stacks of papers as they entered the room. Worse yet were those who would set their cups willy-nilly on the floor near their chairs.

I knew that if coffee spilled and stained my carpet, I would have to wait until the next summer before custodians would thoroughly clean the carpet. By then, the stain might have become so deeply set that it would not completely come out.

For 20 years I had taught in an old building with a room of mixed and matched items. I had an orange-painted desk, a collection of old chairs painted various colors, and a bright green bulletin board. Now, with the recent renovation, I really enjoyed having a newly remodeled room with freshly painted walls and a spiffy new look. I treasured my unspotted carpet.

According to the Scripture, God wants us “unspotted” by the world around us. How easily stains appear when we try to balance too many things and lose our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. How often we let down our guard and allow the culture around us to get too close and become ever-deeply ingrained in the core of our beings.

We need a spiritual vigilance to remain unspotted. We need the Holy Spirit to examine us and to warn us when our thoughts or actions cause us to stray from the pathway God has laid out for us. We also need Jesus, our Advocate with the Father, to cleanse us from all “spots” as soon as they appear and well before they work their way into the fabric of our lives, making them difficult to remove.

Stains seem to become more permanent the longer they stay in the fabric of our lives. Not only do we see these stains, but others do, as well. The stains blemish our example and blemish our testimony for Christ.

I urge you to make the most of every opportunity to do some scrubbing in the Lord’s presence. Confess your sins. Repent of your sins. Fall back into the life-transforming grace that God offers us through His Son. Jesus stands ready to cleanse us, as the Apostle Paul describes in Ephesians 5:25b-27:

Just think how God will approve when He sees our lives “unspotted” through the cleansing power of Jesus.

—Posted: Monday, February 27, 2023

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Rattling Bones

Talk about bizarre! Perhaps, by the time Ezekiel had the vision of the valley of dry bones, he had experienced the Lord’s visions enough times to not completely freak out. Here he sat, among the exiles from Israel in Babylon, with a message from God and the hand of the Lord upon him. The Jews had been captive there for more than thirty years and, according to God’s timeline given to other prophets, they had forty more years left in their captivity.

The people around Ezekiel appeared as those dry bones—lifeless and ignorant of the God who was ordering their nation’s woes. Yet here, in the most forsaken place, God was giving Ezekiel a message of hope using this strange vision.

Ezekiel, the obedient prophet, did as God commanded. In response to the vision, Ezekiel preached to these dry, lifeless bones. Surprisingly, he heard the sound of the rattling skeletons and saw them come together and reconnect with flesh surrounding them.

Next, God commanded Ezekiel to preach to the wind and ask for breath to come again and revive those dead bones. In obedience, Ezekiel did as God asked. As he watched, Ezekiel saw a huge army of people and he heard them confessing that they were dry and without hope. God responded by bringing a message of hope to all of them, by promising that, with His Spirit upon them, they would live and go back to their own land!

What hope this must have brought the prophet and, as he recounted his vision, to the people! God had not forgotten them. In fact, He acted in their behalf to restore them to life.

Sometimes, when we look at our country in the midst of this pandemic and with the political and cultural unrest all around us, it must feel like we lie in a valley full of dry bones. Can God cause us to live again? What must we do to see that happen? Like Israel, we need to confess that we lie dead without hope and without obedience to the living God.

But, not only does our culture look dry, dead, and useless. Oftentimes, we also look at our churches and see that they carry on without the “life” of the Holy Spirit moving them and giving them health and strength to serve God. We ask, “Can these bones live again?” Once again, can we stand like a mighty army and with renewed energy serve Him? In Robert Coleman’s book on revival from the 1960’s, he writes:¹

The church uses the term “revival” as “the return of something to its true nature and purpose.” Certainly, dry bones need to form skeletons, and skeletons need not only flesh and blood, but life breathed in, as God did when He created Adam. From Coleman again:²

Hence, the word to the prophet in Ezekiel 37:5 refers to this kind of reviving power:

Let us listen for the rattling of the bones. As it did at Pentecost, let us pray to see the wind of the Holy Spirit come into our own dry existence, into the life of our churches, and into our lifeless culture. Then, may the Holy Spirit’s power within us and our churches accomplish all that God wants to accomplish, to the glory of His Holy Name!

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—Posted: Monday, February 20, 2023

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The Reflection in a Mirror

I’ve been thinking about mirrors lately. Mirrors reflect what we put in front of them.

If we consider what Christ sees when He looks into the “mirror” of our life, does He see His reflection there? Think of Moses. When he came down from Mount Sinai, after being in the presence of God for 40 days, the Scripture tells us that his face shown with the glory of God.

Because Moses revealed God in his countenance, those who saw him became uncomfortable around him. Too much light compared to the darkness of their hearts. Responding to their discomfort, Moses put a veil over his face, so the people didn’t have to be confronted with the glory of God.

Learn from Moses. Don’t be surprised if, when you reflect Christ well, others around you become uncomfortable.

I’ve been thinking about mirrors lately. They need cleaning regularly in order to reflect the clearest image. Our lives need the cleansing that comes when we bring our sinful behaviors and thoughts before the purity of Christ. He waits to cleanse us—to wipe the mirror of our lives thoroughly clean.

In 1 John 1:9 the Apostle says:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

“He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”

“This man is my chosen instrument.”

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Phinehas son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore, tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’”

“…never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

“Zeal for your house consumes me.”

“It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the mark.”

The rainbow is thus made the lovely symbol of God’s truth. A bow unstrung, for war is over; a bow without a string never to be used against us; a bow turned upward, that we may direct our thoughts and prayers thither; a bow of bright colors, for joy and peace are signified by it. Blessed arch of beauty, be thou to us ever the Lord’s preacher.

Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord.

The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Lord, have we sent You away by ignoring Your written Word? Have we sent You away by too proudly denouncing our need of You? Have we sent You away by making decisions for Your church based on our poor human calculations?

Have we sent You away by cowering before the enemy, when You remain fully available to conquer the evil one? Have we sent You away by neglecting those means of grace, through which You long to abundantly bless us?

O Lord, please return us to You. Please return us to You before we are swept away. In the depths of our hearts, we long for the beauty and delight of the “old paths” that lead us to new growth in You.

For the honor of Your name, we pray. Amen.