Fresh Start

Isaiah 52:12 NIV

But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

How Does the New Year Look?

Now that Christmas has passed and all the rush of it has settled, there is a certain amount of reminiscing that happens.  Perhaps these stories of Christmas will warm your heart!  One woman told of her business friend’s daughter who refused the gift of a “new, gold Mercedes convertible because, she told her parents, ‘You knew I wanted a black one. ‘’’ Another writer had this horror story to tell.  “My boss told me they had to go to the Apple store after closing to return the iPhone 8 her nephew’s parents bought for the child after he cried all Christmas Day because he wanted the iPhone X.”  Listen to this great story.  “My childhood best friend threw a three hour crying fit when her high school boyfriend propose to her on Christmas.  The reason?  The ring he proposed with wasn’t the one she wanted.”   One more to help you appreciate your own Christmas Day.  “An acquaintance yelled at his aunt after she gave him a $50 Amazon gift card, demanded cash and then when his aunt refused (rightfully)—threw the card at her and left the family party.  He’s 40.”  How would you like to have those family members on your gift list?

Not everyone finds Christmas time to be a happy part of the year and in fact many aren’t all that thrilled about facing a new year either.  Haunting memories and traumatic experiences beat down the future for them.  Recent setbacks and crushing mistakes may give the new year a certain ring of doom to it; a foreboding pinned to it.  Perhaps this coming year is not exciting for you, it carries with it the same humdrum and disappointments previous years offered.  Not everyone looks forward to January 1 with anticipation and enthusiasm.  Some of us, and perhaps you do too, have a bit of dread as you await the coming year.  It is not crazy to feel that way.  You certainly aren’t alone if that is where you find yourself.

Many of us made big mistakes last year.  David from the Bible certainly is famous for several.  One that is rarely talked about is the time he decided to use his soldiers to count how many men he had who could serve in his army.  The commander of his forces was incredulous!  But Joab replied to the king, "May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?" (2 Samuel 24:3 NIV) David would not back down and so for the next nine months Joab and his associates tramped all over Israel counting the men.  Altogether there were 1.3 million potential soldiers in the kingdom.  Something about his order to take the census though did not set well with David.  David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." (2 Samuel 24:10 NIV)

Somehow David realized that his demand to count the fighting men of Israel was a grievous offense to God and he was right.  Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer:  "Go and tell David, 'This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.'" (2 Samuel 24:11-12 NIV) The choices were not good.  So, Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me." (2 Samuel 24:13 NIV) If it was me, I would have asked if there was a fourth option, but of course there wasn’t, and it would have been ridiculous of me to pose the question.  We cannot say for certain what about the census was so wrong; God after all ordered a number of them (pardon the pun) when the Israelites were making their way to the Promised Land.  It seems though that David was making the kingdom about himself and the ability it had to fend for itself rather than relying upon God and His power to save them.  Whatever the case, this was a huge mistake of David’s, publicly humiliating, and certainly he regretted it the rest of his life.

We must say that Job had a pretty rough year.  So did Ruth, losing her husband and Silas being beaten within an inch of his life.  Many of us still carry the scars of mistakes we have made, mistreatment we have suffered and losses that have nearly broken us.  Imagine if Thomas ended the year doubting the resurrection of Jesus, Peter suffering through his denial of Jesus, Mary her fears that Jesus had gone insane, and Euodia and Synteche and their humiliating quarrel that created turmoil in the Philippian church.  Your year might not have been very good, and it is certain that nearly every important person in the Bible had a pretty bad year too.

God makes a promise to us through the prophet Isaiah.  But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. (Isaiah 52: 12 NIV) You have trailing you memories of mistakes you have made and hurts you have suffered and perhaps for you they are like a lion hunting your down into this coming year.  They plague your plans and bring a certain amount of dread to the coming year.  God though is your rear guard.  He is the Savior of your past.  There are some things that you have done that were wrong and really wrong; words that never should have come out of your mouth.  Actions you took that were harmful to you or someone else.   Decisions you made that are costing you dearly.  Not only that, you have been hurt by others and the wounds are still tender, troubles have hit you that seem impossible to overcome.  Yet God is your rear guard.  He is the protector of your past and He will carry you out of it into a new day.

When the Israelites stood at the edge of the Promised Land, they had to decide if they were going to leave behind their past wanderings or enter into a new adventure.  It was a fresh day, that early morning as they marched up to the Jordan River.  It was a fresh start.  It was not just what was before them that could keep them back; it was what was behind them too.  You are at the edge of a new year and God is ready to lead you across December and into January.  What lies ahead you cannot say.  You do know what is behind you and it is up to you if you are going to let Christ your Savior take care of it, take it out of Satan’s hands and give it a new life as a step in the right direction.  Plenty let the past keep them from what God has ahead for them.  Surely you aren’t that sort.  You believe the promise God has for you as is recorded in the old King James Translation of the Bible, Behold, I make all things new. (Revelation 21:5 KJV) Whatever is behind, God is making it right so that you can move forward with His creativity and insight and direction and power and forge together, the two of you, a bright and “glorious morn”.  Today is the day you cross the river and start fresh with Christ as your Savior leading the way.

Missed Christmas

Matthew 2:1 NIV

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem

What Should You Expect of People?

I was substitute teaching in a sixth grade class and one of the students walked past me after recess and I could tell she was quite upset.  In fact, nearly everyone in the class noticed it.  I pulled her aside and asked what was wrong.  At first, she wouldn’t say, but then a tear or two trickled down her cheek and she told me what happened.  She was playing in a four-square game and some of the kids told her she had gotten out.  She told them she wasn’t, and they made fun of her and yelled for her to leave the square and go to the end of the line.  Humiliated and feeling wronged, she just quit the game and waited for recess to end.  I didn’t have any wise counsel for the child, now suggestions.  Because I was not there, I could not even be certain her side of the story was accurate or not.  What I did know was that the student was a bit heart-broken and I had no real strategy for consoling her.

It of course makes no sense for children to get upset while playing a game intended to be fun but there are many times when what is done isn’t reasonable.  The problem we face is that we do not live in a reasonable world.  We see examples of this time and again.  My son was recently in a car accident and his car was totaled when a car and a pickup truck collided on the freeway and the truck spun out and hit my son’s car, sending his car into a guard rail.  Now, the insurance companies for both drivers are refusing to pay for the damages to my son’s car because each driver claims the other was at fault.  This of course is not reasonable because now lawyers will have to be paid to help settle this.  Elvis Pressley was well-known for taking a gun and blasting TV sets when he didn’t like the show he was watching.  The shoe company Puma was formed because the two brothers who created the Adidas company had a violent falling out and one brother, Rudolf, left Adidas and formed Puma.  For twenty-seven years, the two brothers battled over market share and did not talk to each other the rest of their lives.  This is not reasonable.  The cofounding brothers of Kellogg cereals became so angry with each other that they sued each other for more than a decade and did not talk to each other for thirty-three years.  The world is not reasonable and much of what happens in your home and mine isn’t either.  We do things that don’t make sense even though we know better.

When the shepherds Christmas Eve saw the angels up in the sky singing praise to God, they immediately, as soon as the angels left them, ran off to follow the instruction to go find the newborn baby Jesus lying in a manger.  Like me and you would have been, they were amazed at the sight of the prophesied Messiah born in their town and it catapulted them to action.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. (Luke 2:17-18 NIV) It is most interesting in this account what is not said here.  No mention is made of anyone else going to see Jesus.  There was no parade of worshippers heading down to the stable to see the King of Kings.  Everyone that heard the shepherds’ story was amazed, but it does not seem that anyone followed the example of the shepherds and went to see the baby “lying in a manger”.  It was not that big of a deal for them to leave their homes, quit making dinner, stop doing their chores to make it out to the place where Jesus and Mary and Joseph rested.

Now the other Gospel writer who talks about the baby Jesus, Matthew, also makes it clear that no one made any sort of fuss about seeing the Lord Jesus.  In fact, it seems that the birth of Jesus went completely unnoticed by the world at large.  When the Magi from the east came to see the King of the Jews because they had been led to Israel by the great star, no one in Jerusalem, which is only a few miles from Bethlehem, knew anything about the miracle of Jesus.  King Herod, who was paranoid about any threat to his rule immediately became alarmed when the Magi came to him wondering where the newborn King of the Jews was to be found.  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (Matthew 2:1-3 NIV)

Herod quickly called for the Bible scholars of Jerusalem to come and tell him what the Scriptures had to say about the birth of the Messiah.  "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" (Matthew 2:5-6 NIV)  What is astounding about this record of the birth of Jesus and the events surrounding it is that even after Herod and all those in court found out what the Bible said was the location of where the Messiah would be born, not one of them went themselves to see Him.  Not a single scholar bothered to hike down with the Magi and go see what might have happened.  Despite the star, despite the account of the shepherds, despite the coming of the Magi, not a solitary soul explored the possibility that the long awaited and anticipated Messiah was actually in their midst.

We have expectations of others and set standards that we think they should reach and they all too often fail us.  They don’t love us like we think they ought, they aren’t honest with us, they don’t work very hard or put the effort into their endeavors we hoped they would.  Friends and family members do mean things, are selfish and get easily offended, they aren’t faithful, they sin in ugly ways and embarrass us.  I have good Christian friends who are sad because of what their children are doing.  Some have cried when they told me about the awful choices their sons and daughters are making.  The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; (Ecclesiastes 5:8 NIV) We should never be surprised when someone we love falls into an immoral lifestyle, a politician lies to us or a close friend stops talking to us.  This is a broken world and every person we know is corrupted by sin and damaged by it.  Christian people have old habits of sinning that have not yet been turned around and many are emotionally and psychologically damaged by sin and its destructive force.  Should anything evil in this world surprise us?

Each of us need Christ to take away our sin.  We need His perfect life worked into us so that we can be thoroughly transformed and made Christian.  When salvation is typically described, it almost always is spoken of as getting to heaven.  Salvation is much more than that.  It is Christ becoming a part of you and working out of you all the sin and making you perfect in every way.  That is why all people on this planet need Christ as Savior.   Sin cannot be removed from them any other way.

The Great Revelation

Luke 2:15 NIV

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

My earliest memory of Christmas was when final proof came that Santa Claus was real.  I was perhaps four or five years old and Christmas Eve, I heard a loud banging around on the porch, a boisterous, “ho, ho, ho” and a firm knock on the door.  My mom urged me to open the door and go out on the porch and I found the most beautiful tricycle in the world sitting there.  I shouted with glee, jumped up and down and gazed in wonder at what Santa had left for me.  The joy of Christmas was gloriously physical, encompassing, radiating.  Of course, my take on Christmas is much more sophisticated now and so is yours but, I wonder if that makes us better.

Christmas was not always Christian, at least in regard to the time of the year we celebrate it.  We know that it was first a pagan holiday, a time of drinking and carousing.  Yet, it did not immediately “clean up its act” even after the Christian community took it over and made Christmas a time of celebrating the birth of Jesus.  There was much about the reveling that made it a fearful time for good families who avoided the drunken mobs running the streets during Christmas.  It really was not until the Protestant Christians of Germany embraced Christmas fully as a time of honoring the Christ child that Christmas took on its holiness and wonder.

The night Jesus was actually born a great split in the cosmos occurred as the supernatural met the natural in a spectacular display.  Rarely do we see the supernatural beings of God’s universe; they remain almost entirely hidden from us.  Abraham came upon them.  Elisha did too, along with Samson’s parents and Jacob.  They are generally spotted only in dreams if at all.  Of the many billions who have come and gone, only a handful have ever seen God’s angels and knew they had.  However, that one night, whose date has been forgotten by the world, a small cadre of shepherds were stunned by their sudden appearance.

Only Luke records the moment.  The other Gospel writers and apostles failed to mention it when they wrote their parts of the Bible.  There was nothing notable about the night to warn the shepherds of what was coming as far as we know.  No meteor showers, lunar eclipses or bright Christmas stars paved the way.  It just happened without warning; a split second the shepherds were tired and bored and maybe even hungry and the next, the heavens exploded before them.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-9 NIV) A single angel was enough to throw the shepherds into panic.  We certainly must not skirt quickly past the included note that the “glory of the Lord shone around them”, but, it was the solitary angel that shook them violently.  This consideration should not be taken lightly.  When the supernatural crashes down upon the natural, there is shock and amazement.  The senses are almost always dazzled and overwhelmed.  The spiritual core of humanity cannot take in the supernatural casually.  A violent eruption occurs within that shakes the ground of those who come upon it.

We know that the presence of the angel did not bring this to a conclusion though.  More of the night exploded with wonder as the shepherds took in the glory of God.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:13-14 NIV) Imagine the spectacle of it and how shook they all must have been by what they witnessed.  Not a single shepherd could have been unmoved.  Before the sky filled with supernatural though, the first angel announced happily to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 2:10-12 NIV)

How would you have responded to this declaration?  What would you have done if you heard this strangely electrifying news?  Would you have continued to stay with your sheep that night?  Would you have kept watching your show or checking Facebook?  Would you have worked on your dinner or gone through your emails or maybe even headed off to bed?  Not everyone who comes upon the supernatural is transformed by it.  Plenty, like the Israelites who gave little thought to the God who revealed Himself to them in a cloud with lightning and great glory, simply go on with the day as if nothing much happened.  Such was not the case though with these shepherds!  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (Luke 2:15-16 NIV)

When God reveals Himself to you, it is a supernatural event.  No one comes to Christ without the Spirit of God intervening.  It is not an intellectual exercise, not a logical conclusion, this matter of being born again.  This is always a work of the supernatural Presence of God who makes it clear that you must come to Christ for salvation.  It never is just you and your mind making this connection.  Always God must be there for you to trust Him, want Him.  Any other religious or political or intellectual consideration can spring from just you but not this.  Jesus must enter your mind if you are to ever become actually Christian, truly a new creation in Christ.  The conclusion of the text is one of the most heartwarming accounts found anywhere in literature.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:17-20 NIV)

When the supernatural meets you; when God invades your heart, you are stirred with either resentment toward Him or devotion to Him.  Satan and the Israelites who rebelled against God each did so because the glory of the Lord was frustrating to them and felt like a hindrance to what they wanted.  For the shepherds, it was the beginning of eternal life, the start of joy.  What does God do for you?  Does He stir up resentment and disappointment?  Do you get aggravated by what He expects of you or are you thrilled by His love for you, captivated by His presence in you?  Have you the pleasure of the shepherds in you; joyful that He is there with you?  You can quickly tell who has your heart, the devil or supernatural Jesus.  If it bugs you that Christ seems to expect so much of you, wants more out of you than you are willing to give, then Satan is more your friend than you might be willing to admit.  But, if there are no boundaries to how far you will go to glorify and bring honor to Jesus, then you are close to where the shepherds were, to where Jacob was and where Mary was as she sat with the crucified Christ in the tomb.  What sort of reaction does the presence of God here stir in your heart as you come before Him now?  Are you with the shepherds in this, full of joy at what the Lord has done in you or are you a bit cranky that He expects too much of you?

Taking Charge of Our Emotions

Some are surprised to discover when they read the Bible for the first time the range of emotions Jesus exhibited.  Emotions are a normal part of being human.  Jesus was emotional and was not embarrassed by His emotions;  He never tried to hide or stifle them.   Jesus could thrive within His emotions because they were perfectly aligned with the Father on every matter.  So why are our emotions out of whack?  Our failure is summarized in Psalm 4: 4.  In your anger do not sin…  When our emotions are drawn into sin, they collapse into a fit of rebellion and vanity.  The depression that forsakes God in its despair, the anger that strips fellow sinners of their humanity and the fear that immobilizes us and keeps us from being led by the Holy Spirit need a Savior.  In Psalm 68:3 we find God’s plan for the normal Christian life.  God has designed  you, regardless of your circumstances and difficulties, regardless of where you were raised or who is in your family, to live happily.  But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. (NIV)  Of course you may think that this is impossible.  You may call it a pipe dream or something only for those who die and go to heaven.  But the psalmist is quite practical and states without equivocation what God’s plan is for you here and now.  However, you have to decide if this is something you want!  Are you ready to have Jesus rework your emotions?  Do you want God to give you supernatural happiness?  Jesus maintained His joy because He continually aligned Himself with the will of the Father.  It takes courage and faith to believe that your circumstances are Christ given, that those who surround you are placed there by God and that your body is safely in the hands of the Father.  Each time you find your emotions sweltering with panic, rage or despair, breathe deeply and whisper a prayer of child-like dependence upon Christ to rework your heart.  “God, save me.  Come to my rescue and restore to me the joy of my salvation!  I have a Savior.  I have a Father who loves me.  I am safe.  My Lord is good!”

Jesus wept. John 11:35 NIV

Time Out

Revelation 12:14 NIV

The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.

Have You Been Sent To Time Out?

When I first arrived at the college where I would earn my degree, I came by plane, was picked up at the local airport by a college representative and dropped off at the dormitory where my room was on the second floor.  Carrying my two suitcases up the stairs, I was all alone.  I did not meet anyone in the lobby.  No one was in the hallway on the first floor; no one was in the hallway on the second floor.  I came to my room, which was empty except for two beds, two dressers, a sink and a phone on the wall and I tossed my suitcase on the floor and began to unpack it.  My roommate would not be arriving for two days.  I pulled the blanket and sheets out from my suitcase, made the bed and lay down on top of the covers, wondering what it would be like to go to school here.  Outside my window, I heard laughter and male and female voices chattering.  It sounded like there was a party going on below my room and I wasn’t invited.  I cannot say what is more lonesome.  Being alone in a great circle of emptiness or being by yourself when you can hear the crowds having fun without you.    That night, without a single soul to keep me company, two thousand miles away from my family, my church and my friends, I felt like I had been sent to time out.

“Time out” as an expression has shifted in meaning over the years.  It used to mean “taking a break”.  In basketball or football it is the term used for regrouping and talking about what to do next as a team.  It also has been the idiom for going off and having fun; taking in a movie, hanging out with friends, going dancing, eating at a restaurant.  The field of psychology embraced the term as a descriptor for a mild punishment given to a youngster who is disruptive or disobedient.  If a parent sends a child to time out, it means the child is ordered to go sit alone for a certain period of time in a boring place and “learn a lesson” about how to act properly.  Not many kids like being sent to time out and rarely do we adults either.  “Jail time” is the grown-up version of it.  A boring, inconsequential job is too.  Many of us feel like from time to time we have been sent to time out and it generally isn’t something we like.

The Bible is filled with examples of its most famous people stuck in time out.  Imagine what it must have been like for Joseph, the son of Jacob to wind up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and languish there for twelve years.   What about Sarah, the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac who was left behind in camp at the foot of Mt. Moriah as her husband took her only child off to make a sacrifice to God somewhere out in the mountains.  She had to have noticed the taunt and grim expression on Abraham’s face as he shuffled away and wondered what was about to take place and why she couldn’t go with them.  Thomas, the apostle, suffered a sort of time out when for seven days he lived with the disappointment of being the only one of the Disciples not to see Jesus alive after He had been crucified. How about Moses and his forty years of time out after he had to flee Egypt and live in Midian?  Was it not a time out for Jacob, the father of the Jewish nation when he had to run away from his brother and live in near slavery, serving his uncle Laban as a shepherd?  How about the time out Mary, the mother of Jesus, experienced when she left her home in Nazareth to go stay with her cousin Elizabeth because she was pregnant and not married?  David wandered about in the desert wilderness of Israel almost ten years trying to avoid capture because the crazy king Saul wanted him dead.  Was that not a time out?

We almost always assume that when we are in time out, it is something terrible or at least frustrating.  Our time outs keep us from what we like doing, make us wait for something we want, take us away from exciting activities others get to enjoy.  When God engineers our time out, we don’t know what to make of it.  Is He cruel?  Am I out of favor with Him?  Have I lost my best and most productive years?  Am I wasting my life?  Sometimes and we must be open to seeing this is so, we are absolutely off base when it comes to understanding our circumstances. 

In 1889, a publication called The Literary Digest had this take on the automobile.  “The ordinary ‘horseless carriage’ is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course come into as common use as the bicycle.”  Dr. Alfred Vlepeau, speaking for the medical community in 1839 wrote, “The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera.  It is absurd to go on seeking it today.  Knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient.  To this compulsory combination we shall have to adjust ourselves.”  It was only seven years later that anesthesia was introduced into the medical world.  One more example to make this point!  The “Father of Radio”, Lee De Forest, in 1926 insisted, “While theoretically and technically television will be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.”

Even the brightest and most highly educated among us can be and have been thoroughly wrong.  You too are wrong if you think God is wasting your time because you are in time out.  God cemented Mary’s faith in Him and His plan for bringing the Savior into the world while He wasted her time at Elizabeth’s house.  David developed a theology of what a good and faithful king should be when God wasted his time in the desert.  Jacob learned how painful it is to be deceived and the value of integrity when God wasted his time at his uncle’s house.  Moses learned patience and confidence in God when God wasted his time in Midian.  Sarah learned hope and trust in God’s goodness when God wasted her time as she waited for her husband and son to return.  Joseph learned mercy and forgiveness when God wasted his time in the Egyptian prison.

We are mistaken if we think this promise of God’s is just about the future!  It is about now, today.  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) Our Lord knows what He is doing with you at this moment, with the time He is wasting now.  You may not have any idea what that plan is and He may not tell you but Christ has thought this through and He has every detail, every moment that seems so wasted plotted out so that you will be exactly the sort of person He wants you to be when He gets this done.  Why did Jesus waste so much time being an infant, and then a child, a teen and a young adult?  Why not just be settled on earth as a man fully grown, get those disciples and in only three years save the world?  It is because God had a plan and for Jesus to save the world, He had to be a human being in every way…and that meant wasting His time being born, growing up and dealing with all the frustrations and pleasures of being an actual human being.

God has your life thought through in His mind and He has you right where you need to be so everything He wants to make of you can and will be accomplished. The Mona Lisa took time.  The Sistine Chapel took time.  The Golden Gate Bridge took time.  And you also take time to finish or to put it more precisely, to perfect.

Terrifying Realization

John 15: 5 NIV

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

   

What Do You Think Of Your Accomplishments?

At the end of the day I was standing at the door of a high school class where I had been the substitute teacher and as the students filed out, not one of them said goodbye to me or wished me a Merry Christmas or even looked at me despite it being the last class of the day before Christmas vacation.  It was as if I did not exist or that I was not a living being.  I did the same thing though.  A guy was sitting down in front of a business and he had a sign about needing food and rather than look at him as I passed, I turned my head and did not acknowledge he was there.  What is the mechanism we trigger in us that de-humanizes others?  I have let it gain power over me and perhaps you have too; given no thought to the humanity of others.  News reporters are aware of this quality and so are movie makers and authors.  If we hear or see that 15, 000 lost their lives on a battlefield or in a natural disaster, we give little thought to it.  But if we come upon the picture of a little boy or girl or hear the account of a particular parent who died in the same circumstance, we might even shed a tear over it and if not, at least mull it over some and probably mourn the tragedy.

It started in the Garden of Eden after the first sin of Adam and has continued to this day.  You and I can take the humanity out of our fellow inhabitants of this planet.  You don’t do it intentionally.  Only the most perverse and broken of us set about to remove the humanness from those around them.  Yet it happens, where we stop thinking of people as people just like we are people and either give no thought to them or act as if they are machines.  The Bible insists that God never does that with us.  Despite the fact that there are over six billion people here on earth, he sees each of us and has His mind on each of us…not as machines but as individuals that He cherishes.  Speaking metaphorically, Jesus insisted that His approach to us is much like a kind and thoughtful shepherd.  I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15 NIV)  It is impossible to see in this a distant and distracted God who can’t even come up with your name.  He knows you as intimately and affectionately as He does the Father and the Father Him.  Even now you are on His mind; even now He is thinking of ways to make your life good and joyous.  Can we say the same of ourselves?  Do we think of God as a real person who cares what we do?

If we give it much thought, there is a terrifying declaration Jesus makes that must be considered.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NIV) We do love the promise found here but have we taken seriously the caveat?  “…apart from me you can do nothing.” Did He really say “nothing”?  It seems like an incredible, perhaps even implausible assertion.  What about all the atheists and pagans who make decisions, alter the environment, impact people, change circumstances?  Don’t they do something without Christ?  Aren’t they functioning without Him?  The world is filled with people who assert their will without giving a moment’s thought to Christ.  Even a casual reading of the Bible has examples of this.  Lamech, who was from the genealogical line of Cain, the first murderer, killed a man because the fellow hurt him in some way.  Lamech said to his wives, "I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.  If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." (Genesis 4:23-24 NIV)  He clearly gave no thought to God and what He wanted and yet seemed to do well.  The Tower of Babel famously was constructed without a bit of consideration for God and His wishes.  In fact it was a sort of monument to the capacity of people to get things done without Him.  As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:2-4 NIV)  Even Jonah the prophet tried his best to get away from God by hopping on a boat that was traveling in the opposite direction of where he knew the Lord wanted him to be.

Probably more people live now as if God doesn’t exist than any time in the history of the world!  Even more though have taken the Godness out of God—if that were possible and mostly ignored Him.  So what did Jesus mean that “apart from me you can do nothing” when it seems like plenty of people are doing something without Him?  Remember the context of Jesus’ assertion.  He was talking about producing fruit that would last.  The world is full of all sorts of interesting activities, challenges and investments.  Adventures are all around us and there is always something to do.  Jesus told the parable of the talents because He wanted you to remember that there is more to life than this world and all its attainments.  There is a world to come that lasts forever and we must never lose sight of it.  The parable has been repeated so many times that it is like elevator music.  Yet it is perhaps more important to you and your welfare than any bit of advice you will ever hear.

It has two juxtaposed approaches to life.  One is that you can live with God in mind on everything and that what matters is how He wants things done.  The other is that you live as if God doesn’t exist and you do whatever you think best.  Whatever you do that pleases God will be rewarded extravagantly, far beyond its seeming worth.  The life that takes no notice of God and does not concern itself with Him will be wrecked and an object of great despair…despair past imagining.  Can this be proved, that God rewards spectacularly those who live for Him in the life to come?  All mysteries have their shelf life.  At one time it could not be proved that the earth was round or how diseases attacked the human body or the existence of ancient Babylon.  Just because you do not have all the facts in regarding life as it will be beyond this world does not mean you cannot be certain that it is just the way the Bible describes it.  You live in the age of faith and by faith you believe that God rewards those who live for Him and do what He commands.  As the Bible makes clear, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 NIV)

The Bible often uses Abraham as an example of how faith in God looks.  It would have seemed lunacy to his friends and neighbors and perhaps even to his dad when Abraham decided to leave his home and travel 400 miles south to a land he had never visited and did not know what to expect from it.  He made this arduous journey by foot when he was 75 years old, leading along sheep and goats because he was certain God told him to move there.  We don’t know how God spoke to Abraham…was it an audible voice, an angel, some sort of vision or just like how He speaks to us now.  The irony of this move is that once Abraham and his wife and servants got to Canaan where the Lord sent him, he discovered there was a severe famine there so he just kept walking south until he got to Egypt.

For Abraham, it was not a matter of what He was to do; it was a question of who was directing him.  He lived within a particular country whose boundaries were fixed.  It was the place where God is in charge no matter what.  Wherever Abraham went, and it was the same for his wife Sarah, God led the way.  Abraham did not have to worry about what he would do today or tomorrow.  He just lived his life with the Lord in charge.  Whether it was digging a well or pulling a goat back into the flock or setting up a tent, he did so acutely aware that the Lord could redirect him and change his plans and he was willing to do whatever God said to do.  That is how you bear fruit that lasts.  God rewards those who follow Him and obey His commands.  The Bible makes it clear what sort of life we are to live: morality, honesty, kindness, forgiveness, love, generosity. 

It is not very funny to think of someone living an entire lifetime and never doing anything that God wants to be remembered.  Like building a sand castle on the beach only to have the rushing surf send it crashing down, many do nothing for God’s sake.  But some take time each day to think about what they could do to please God.  They read their Bible so that they can keep thoughts of Him fresh in their minds and then they go about the day doing any sort of good thing God gives them to do.  A great friend of mine tells the story of the member of one of his former churches who was featured in Guidepost Magazine.  The woman was looking through the newspaper and came upon a picture of cute dogs being petted by senior adults at a nursing home.  The title of the article read, “Visit from Locals and Their Dogs Brings Joy to Nursing Home Residents”.   “Good for them”, she thought as she shuddered and quickly turned the page.  She says in the story that she then heard a voice say, “You have cute little dogs.  You can do that too.”  She wondered if she was hallucinating.  “Dee you do that”, the voice insisted.  She spoke back.  “God, if that’s you, you’re going to have to give me something else to do.  I can’t do nursing homes, remember?”  Again came the voice.  “Yes you can!”  This time she was certain it was a command.  “Fine, I’ll do it”, Dee cried.  The article then goes on to tell how Dee lost her distaste for nursing homes and genuinely developed a love for the residents, becoming a blessing to them and ambassador for Christ…her and her cute dogs.  What about you?  Is God looking at you right now, ready to make your life a blessing?  What can you do today that will please Christ and be remembered by Him as good and worth His praise?

Loyalty

 

Mark 12:30 NIV

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'

What Is Your Top Priority?

I was either nineteen or twenty.  I did drive and had my own car and although I lived at home I had the freedom to do pretty much whatever I wanted to do as long as I did not make things tough on my parents.  A friend invited me to her house for her party.   I had a great time dancing and meeting new people.  The music was loud and the lights were dim and the adventure of pursuing a romance that evening electrified the moment.  My faith in Christ was developing rapidly and I was committed to following Him so I wasn’t exactly a wild partier…I was not even a partier at all but this was my opportunity to start.  The smell of marijuana floated about and there were coolers filled with a variety of alcoholic beverages.  Never before had I even tasted a beer so I was walking about in a new territory.  Because everyone else was drinking, I grabbed a beer, popped the top and took a sip.  About ten minutes later I took another sip.  As I mingled through the room, I held my beer with a ferocious tenacity, refusing to let go of it but dumbfounded by its presence.  Now you must realize that I did not have any strong opinions about drinking at the time, did not know of any Scriptures that condemned it, was not certain if the Bible was in favor of drinking or not and had never been warned by my parents about the dangers of alcohol.  Although I had grandparents who died from alcoholism, I was not aware of it at the time.  Yet as I danced and visited with girls and guys I was just meeting, a gnawing certainty came over me that this was an important moment in my life.  Somehow, without any mystical or supernatural form of communique, I knew that a line had been drawn in the sand for me.  God was setting before me a call to loyalty and the point of determination was the beer in my hand.  Would I drink or would I walk with Him.  Of course I know this sounds absurd and I did not have a single clear explanation for why God might be calling me to this life-long standard but as the evening went along, I was certain God was demanding this of me.  Give up alcohol and be His disciple.  With a room full of people who barely knew me, the Lord had pulled me into a corner and asked me who would I serve and who would rule my heart.  With no pastor to guide me and not a single friend to counsel me, I had a decision to make on the outskirts of a dimly lit dance floor.

It is funny how few people are even aware of what Jesus meant when He invited Peter and His brother Andrew to “Come follow me…”  (Matthew 4: 19 NIV)  Perhaps He used the same phrasing to call the other disciples and many more even to go with Him but we can’t say because much is left out of the Scriptures regarding particulars.  We know of at least one other person who was also asked by Jesus to come and follow Him but that man turned away and decided he wouldn’t…at least for the moment.  This does not mean that the famously labeled “rich young ruler” did not have salvation but he did decide not to have the sort of life God offered him.  You can decide to not “follow Christ” and still have eternal life.  You can be as rough and self-driven as you wish and the blood of Christ will wash away all your sin if you take Jesus at His word and put your hope in Him for salvation.  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  (Romans 10:13)  The question before you today is not whether or not you will have eternal life but rather one much simpler and searching.  Will you follow Jesus?

Joshua asked a question similar to this of the Hebrew people as he came to the end of his earthly days.  A world of promise and opportunity rose before God’s people.  They had just conquered many parts of the Promised Land and were settling into their new homes.  All around them were pagan people who lived however they pleased.  Their morality and values were not taken from God and the Ten Commandments were not sacred to them.  The Israelites could live like their international neighbors or be different from them.  It was up to them.  God would not force His own values upon them.  Generations who followed would be impacted by the decision they were about to make though and the direction they headed spiritually could impact the course of history.  Joshua stood before the fledgling nation and spoke for God.  "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.” (Joshua 24:14-15 NIV)  If that was you standing in the crowd and you had to give an answer to this challenge, how would you reply?  Joshua made it clear where he stood on this.  “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

(Joshua 24:15 NIV)  God does not demand this of you that you serve Him.  It is up to you what you choose to do with this life!

We have in the New Testament a fascinating peek into the personality of God.  As a great number of followers of Jesus decided to walk away from Him, Jesus asked Peter and the other eleven or so who were standing around what they wanted to do.  “Are you going to give up on me too?”  For any of the rest of us that are broken by sin, His question might hint at a tinge of insecurity.  He wasn’t quite sure where He stood with them.  But Jesus, who was pure in His intentions and clear in His thoughts about Himself, asked them so they could decide if they would remain loyal to God or abandon Him.  Peter was certain of what He was going to do.  Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."  (John 6:68 NIV)  How would you have responded to Jesus’ question?

The last great king of Judah is best known for his tragic decision to take his army and fight against the Egyptians who were on their way to do battle with the Babylonians.  Before that however, Josiah made the most important determination of his life.  Josiah’s father, King Amon reigned only two years but during that time he followed in the footsteps of his father Manasseh who was probably the most wicked and dishonorable king Judah ever had.  

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done.  He (Amon) walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them.  He forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.  Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.  (2 Kings 21:20-23 NIV)  Not many move away from the patterns established by their parents and grandparents but Josiah did.  By age twenty-four, Josiah was actively pursuing Godliness and trying his best to re-establish worship of God in his country.  His first major project was to clean out the Temple of God in Jerusalem and make it fit to worship the Lord there once more.  During the renovations, a copy of the Old Testament was found and for the first time in decades, the people understood what God wanted of His people.  The Law was rediscovered and Josiah had to decide if he would follow it or comfortably ignore it.  There was a line for him to cross regardless if any of the people he ruled chose to go with him.  All eyes were on Josiah to see what he would do about the Word of God.  Josiah called all the leaders of Judah together and had the Scriptures read publically at the temple of the Lord.  The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord-to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.  (2 Kings 23:3 NIV)  Josiah chose to pledge his loyalty to God and follow Him wherever the Lord took him.  Clearly, based upon the record, Josiah was rare among his ancestors and those who followed him as king to choose God as Lord.  How would you have responded to the scriptural call to absolute loyalty to God?

The Apostle Paul made a statement that is nearly always viewed from God’s perspective but never from Paul’s.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39 NIV)  God of course will not let His people be kept from Him.  When Christ died on the Cross, God’s salvation became irrevocable and unassailable.  Nothing could stop His forgiveness of Sin or the salvation He provides from reaching those who turn to Him.  Jesus made certain this was understood when He declared, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.  (John 10:28-29 NIV)

Turn the statement around in Paul’s direction.  Is he also proclaiming that nothing can keep him away from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?  Demons, angels, height, depth, what is happening now or what might happen in the future are all not going to stop Paul or others like him from having the love of God in his life.  It is perhaps too odd to consider this passage this way but could it not be so?  Might it also be that Paul would not let anything stand between him and God?  Consider all Paul suffered following Christ!  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without…  (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NIV)  He went through all this for one reason.  Paul refused to let anything stand in the way of him living for Christ.   Do you have that same loyalty?

The question is not whether or not you have eternal life.  Nor is it, “Are your sins forgiven?”  Salvation is settled for you by what Jesus did when He took your sins from you on the Cross.  Many Christians never go any further than this.  They never want anything more from God than the knowledge that they have a home waiting for them after they die.  Some though want to live with Christ now.  They cannot bear to dishonor God by how they live.  They are hungry for God, thirsty for Christ, they crave more and greater intimacy with the Holy Spirit.  Is that you?  Are you all in?  Will you go with God regardless of what others do.  Are you, like the Apostle Paul, “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile”?  (Romans 1:16 NIV)  Are you willing to declare your absolute loyalty to Christ as the Lord of your life?  Take your stand with millions of other Christians across the ages and state before God that you will follow Him wherever He leads you and go with Him loyally wherever He takes you.