Conversation

One issue that contributes to a strained relationship is the failure to communicate.  It should be of no surprise then, that communication is probably a problem in our relationship with God.

Some of us have a wonderful prayer life.  Prayer is us speaking to God, but it is not a conversation.  Think about it.  Conversation or dialogue is interactive.  In other words, there is a speaker and a listener.  When one person does all the speaking or the other person isn’t listening, it’s a monologue.  When the speaker stops talking and waits for a response from the other person and the other person thoughtfully answers, it becomes a conversation.

God is a good listener.  Over and over, scripture tells us God hears us.  But as we are praying, are we listening for God’s answer?  What are we expecting to hear?  Are we having a conversation?  Paradoxically, Peter tells us that in Jesus, God has “given us everything we need for life and godliness” (II Peter 1:3).

One of the reasons why Scripture was given to us is so that we can hear God’s answers.  If you’re like me, I often don’t like the way God answers.  When I pray for the essentials of life, I hear, "Trust Me” (Matthew 6:33).  When I tell God that I am unhappy with my life’s situation, I hear, “Count it all joy” (James 1:2).  When I ask God to get me out of a situation, I hear, "I am your strength" (Psalms 27:1).

God may not answer you this way, but when I hear the voice of God, I’m satisfied.

Amazing Grace

One of the most beloved hymns amongst Christians is “Amazing Grace” which was written by John Newton.  While this song has a heartfelt meaning to every believer, it is so much more amazing when we hear Newton’s story.

When I heard John’s life story, it made me think of what Paul told the Corinthian church: there is an “immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur among pagans” (I Corinthians 5:1).  Paul’s statement described John’s life—John’s life and treatment of others was despicable and appalling even to his contemporaries.  John lived this way until he met the LORD, and then his life made an about face and was filled with regret of the life he lived.

Newton was a slave trader and it seems to me that his treatment of slaves would later haunt him—rightly so.  While there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2), we still have to live with the consequences of our actions.

I often wonder if this was also Paul’s thorn in the flesh (II Corinthians 12).  In his younger years, Saul (Paul) was on a mission to destroy the apostasy that was taking place in the Jewish religion (Acts 8:1, 9:1).  After Paul met the LORD, his life made a 180° and he confessed, that he was a “violent man” and “the worst of sinners” (I Timothy 1:13-16).  I would not be at all surprised if Paul’s persecution of the church of Jesus Christ tormented him for the rest of his life.

When we read Paul’s words, “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,” I wonder if we if we think that we should no longer feel guilty for our past actions.  I don’t think so.  I think this is called denial and if we do not acknowledge our guilt or our guilty feelings, it will probably lead to other issues in our soul.  We should leverage our past actions against our Lord’s words to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (II Corinthians 12:9).

This is the glory of God.  It can be said in so many different ways.  God loves us in spite of who we are, what we’ve done or what we’ve said.  We are what we are by the grace of God.  However we express it, God’s kindness is astonishing—His Grace is amazing!

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

My son Tom told me that he asked me a financial question when he was growing up and my answer to him was, “Fix your eyes on Jesus!”  I was embarrassed when he told me this.  I don’t know why I answered him this way.  I don’t even remember the incident.  My family has claimed that I have a selective hearing problem—perhaps this was proof.

The more that I reflect on this incident, the more “I’m good with my response.”  I might have said this to Tom because I didn’t know the answer to his question.  But if “Fix your eyes on Jesus” is the only thing my children remember their dad saying, I’m okay with this because Jesus has been my answer.

Life is difficult.  Sometimes it’s unbearable.  Life is complicated, bewildering, and ambiguous.  Often there are no answers with unending questions.  Sometimes the journey through life is long and the road ahead seems endless.

Fixing my eyes Jesus has been my relief.  In Him, I have found stability, strength, wisdom, stamina, and sanity.  In other words, He has been my Savior.

At the end of every day, I try to remember Paul’s words.  In II Timothy 4:6-8, Paul says:

I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have long for His appearing.

It doesn’t matter when He shows up.  It does matter that He finds a trusting and expectant heart.

God Knows

In Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses from a burning bush and said him, “I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt.  I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land…” (Exodus 3:7-8).  When God said this to Moses, He wasn’t saying, “It has just come to my attention that the Israelites are in trouble and I am making a plan to save them.”

The Israelite’s plight came as no surprise to the LORD.  In fact, He told Abraham about His rescue plan well before Abraham had any children (Genesis 15:13-14).  When we hear this, have we ever asked ourselves, “If God knows everything and He’s going to bring about His purposes, why bother and what’s the point?”  Paul answers this question.  Paul said, “Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us…” (I Corinthians 10: 11a)

In I Corinthians 10, Paul informs us that our spiritual forefathers walked with God and experienced Him (vs. 1-4).  Paul reminds us that God was not pleased with most of them (vs.5) because they set their heart on “evil things” (vs. 6), which he then goes on to define (vs. 7-10).

According to Paul, in our spiritual journey we are going to be tempted or tested in every way (vs. 13).  The bottom line is that God is faithful and the unspoken question is, “are we going to trust Him?” (vs.13)

But Paul’s not finished.  Paul says that when we take “Communion” (vs. 14-17), he reminds us how we began our journey and who we are journeying with.  In the context of “the Exodus,” we are reminded that God saw our need well before we existed and when we look at the world around us we are seeing what God saw and we are discovering what God has known from the beginning.  I think that the rest of the chapter (vs. 14-33) can be summed up by what Paul says in his next letter when he says, “all this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:18).

God is going to accomplish His purpose in the world, but He’s asking us to join Him—daily. 

To Die is Gain

When I hear Paul saying, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), I am reminded of a woman who Robin and I know.  This precious sister told us that when she opens her eyes in the morning, she says disappointingly, “I’m still here.”  This woman is not suicidal.  She’s not suffering and certainly not tired of living. 

When I think of Christ, I often associate Him with suffering, dying, hardship, and labor.  Yet, this is not what is in Paul’s mind when he says this.  In spite of his own suffering, when Paul says, “For me, to live is Christ” he means that he is living a full, bountiful, and productive life.  We know this because Paul goes on to say, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me” (Philippians 1:22).

Robin and I hear our friend echoing Paul who said, “I am torn between the two: I desire to be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.  Convinced of this, I know that I will remain…” (Philippians 1:23-25).

Our “natural” longing should be for Jesus.  In the meantime, Paul says, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27).

May Paul’s words be the desires and the prayers of our heart.

Spiritual Warfare

There are many hymns like “Onward Christian Soldiers” that tell us that we are engaged in a spiritual battle, and rightly so.  Paul exhorts the Ephesians to, “put on the full armor of God” because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood…” (Ephesians 6:10-18).  As sound as this admonition is, the best counsel that I have heard concerning spiritual warfare comes from the mouth of one of the apostles’ enemies.

In chapters 4-5 in the book of Acts, after the apostles were thrown into jail and warned not to do what they were doing, they continued to preach in Jesus’ name.  This infuriated the religious leaders and they considered putting the apostles to death.  While they were conspiring to do this, Gamaliel stood up and said, “If their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:38-39)

These words that Gamaliel spoke are amazing and astonishing.  It shows me that God is not a respecter of persons (Romans 10:34).  He can use our adversaries to bring a prophetic message.

This is a sobering thought to me.  It is warning me to know God and know what He’s about, then identify the enemy.  It’s a terrible and devastating thing to think you’re fighting for Him and then find out that you’re fighting against Him.  Ask Paul.  He’ll tell you.

Cracker Jacks

When we walk down the aisles of a grocery store, we look at the products, and we assume that what’s on the label is what’s in the package.  Yet, when we go into someone’s workshop and see the multitude of containers like cans of coffee and jars of peanut butter, our immediate thought is not, “Wow!  This place is like a grocery store!”  Instead, we assume that there are nails, screws, etc. in these containers.

More often than not, when I meet someone and discover something about them, I immediately label them and see them like a product in the grocery aisle.  I know who they are and what to expect because I know their brand.

In many ways, we are all alike.  We are mortal.  We are fragile.  We are flawed.  I am so glad that when I read about Jesus, He does not treat people as something that are defective, decaying, or tainted.  Instead, in every interaction, I feel like Jesus is opening a box of “Cracker Jacks,” expecting a surprise in every box!

May we all be more like Jesus, who sees something valuable and precious in us.  LORD, help us to see the treasure in this jar of clay.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Must - 2

The other day as I thought about the word, “must” in Scripture and in the context of our lives, another verse came to mind.  In Matthew 24:4-7, Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, claiming, “I am the Christ, and will deceive many.  You will hear of wars and rumors of wars…Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places…”  The “must” that I was pondering was in the middle of these verses of Scripture when Jesus said, “such things must happen…”

I know that we all might have different ideas of the specific time of these happenings that Jesus spoke about, but there are three things that Jesus said that I have meditated on.

First, when Jesus says, “such things must happen,” I hear the omniscience of God.  Remember when God appeared to Abraham and told him that his descendants would be slaves for 400 years (Genesis 15:13).  God told Abraham about this years before he had Isaac.  Throughout scripture we are told of God’s knowledge of things to come. 

Second, I hear the sovereignty of God.  In the same breath, before Jesus said, “such things must happen,” Jesus said, “do not be alarmed…”  In other words, Don’t panic.   Don’t fall apart.  God’s at the helm so be at ease because things are going along as they should.

Third, Jesus reaffirms this by saying, “All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:8).

Most of us are parents.  Along with the announcement and anticipation of a child come anxiety, worry, and fear.  However, these feelings are overshadowed by the joy and excitement of the advent of a new life.

In a similar way, the Apostle Paul wrote, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed…the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:19, 22-23).  John adds, “We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2).  In other words, the climax of the Christians life will be the emergence or advent of Jesus. 

Even though Jesus told His followers the disasters and turmoil “must happen,” He was letting them and us know that the best is yet to come.