Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Where is the Awe? Where is Our God?

Acts 2:43, And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

Note that this feeling of wonder did not come about because of the miracles performed by the apostles (as the NIV translation would lead us to believe). Rather, looking back to verse 42, this sense of the presence of a worthy God within the early church was the result of sitting under the apostles teaching and delighting in each other's fellowship.

Where is the awe today, Father? We perform our religious duties perfunctorily and wonder that Your presence is nowhere to be found in our midst. Therefore we see none of Your mighty power surging through Your people for we have lost our first love. But how can we stand in awe of a God who means so little to us and whose worth and omnipotence we assent to intellectually but do not embrace with our hearts? We need a bigger God in the West, a deity that is more sovereign and more Godlike than our material-bound culture is willing to accept. We need our eyes unveiled to see the real Yahweh that we may tremble and stand in awe-full wonder of Him! Desvele nossos olhos, ó Pai, para que tenhamos corações que maravilham a Ti, atitudes dignos dum Rei tão potente. "Unveil our eyes, oh Father, that we might have hearts that wonder at You, attitudes worthy of so majestic a King."

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Christ, Our Authority on Eternity

Ecclesiastes 3:11b, He has set eternity on [man’s] heart.

How true! Even those who deny there is a life after this spend much of their time defending their position. Every human thinks on eternity and most of us admit we have to take into account life after death. And Christianity is the only religion has authority on such a subject for we have God who has told us what to expect. Moreover we have the testimony of the God-man, the first fruit of the resurrection and our surety that there is a life after death and that, for we who believe, it will be wonderful! No other religion has one who has tasted death and life after it and therefore can speak with authority on what will happen.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Embracing the Creature's Sophistries and Eschewing the Creator's Statutes

I Kings 13:14-24And he went after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.” Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.” And he said, “I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place, for it was said to me by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came.’” And he said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. So he went back with him and ate bread in his house and drank water. And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. And he cried to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water,” your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’” And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back. And as he went away a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body.

(Please read I Kings 12-13 for crucial background on a story we never hear in church or in our devotional materials.)
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This story has always troubled me, Lord. Your measures were too drastic, too harsh for something this insignificant. After all, this man was Your servant and You killed him for merely eating and drinking?! Are You not unfair, unsympathetic? No, and a thousand times no! This is how we humans understand things, we who do not fully grasp the greatness of Your person, the terribleness of our mission, and the awfulness of our sin.

First, we must not downplay the truth that this was a true servant of the LORD, chosen by Him to bear a message of judgment to Israel. He’d been charged with a specific, personal command from the LORD to not eat or drink in Israel but to return straight way after discharging his burden at Bethel. Yet, when the evil prophet finds the LORD’s servant, he is sitting down. I could make too much of this little detail, but it does seem the man was weary and ready to give in to his fleshly wants, fearing too little the awful weight of judgment the LORD had cast upon Israel. In this state of weakening resolve, the man of God meets the old prophet who convinces him that the old man has received a message from the Lord contradicting the revelation the servant of God had received directly from the LORD Himself. The man of God chose to ignore what he know to be the word of God for what he heard from another man regarding the Lord’s plan. He abandoned divine revelation in favor of human interpretation.

Why? Because, I think, human interpretation sounded more appealing than God’s stark commands requiring sacrifice and suffering (lack of food and water). Fleshly desires for comfort (a comfort promised by those who claimed to speak for God) superseded God’s clear commands and the importance of complete obedience. And, Lord, as You so often do to underscore the enormity of such an offense in Your eyes, You slew Your own servant so the rest of us would not mistake the gravity of rejecting clearly divine revelation in favor of man’s more comfortable interpretation.

There is so much in this passage that applies to our souls today! Lord, preserve me from following the easy way, from being weak in my heart and ready to crumble before temptation. Don’t let me sit in the way of sinners (Psalm 1:1). Help me to be ever moving away from the kingdom of judgment toward Your kingdom of truth. Do not let me be fooled by false teachers (Matthew 7:15-16a) who come bearing a word that seems similar to Yours but that leads to a drastically different end (Proverbs 16:25). Never let me swap the truth I know comes from You for something more palatable reinterpreted by men who do not believe in the sufficiency of Your powerful and eternal Word. Make me such a lover of truth, such a man of Your word, that I will immediately recognize, avoid, and condemn any false doctrine that leads to death! Do not let me be led by any man save Him who is also God. Jesus my Shepherd, speak often to me that I may know Your voice and Your voice only (John 10:26-27). One final request, loving Savior: let me die before I follow anyone but You!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Betraying Our Jesus With a Kiss

Luke 22:48, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?

Yes, Lord. With attestations and outward forms of affection and loyalty, I would surrender this body You have doubly bought back to sin. I kiss You before my fellow Christians, yet leave You to mockery and shaming in the presence of Your enemies. With a kiss, I too often betray You for the same lips that proffer love to You are the same that speak the evil that draws blood from Your back.

How cheaply do we sell our Savior? How little do we value the preciousness of His blood split to buy us back from all our impurities? And we who are saved have a thousand reasons more than Judas to remain faithful to our Jesus because we understand to some degree just how beautiful He is and how much He has done for us. But sometimes I wonder how my own heart is so easily enticed by the silvery glint of sin offered me by the devil if I will only betray my Savior's wishes for me.

Why is it so easy to put on a front, to skulk with sin and come shortly after and kiss the altar of our God in pretended worship? Who are we fooling? Jesus knew what darkness lay in Judas's heart. Sadly, I think the show we put on is more for other Christians than it is even for our God. We don't want others to see what Judases we really are inwardly.

But maybe if we all were frank with each other about our failures, we'd find allies in our war against secret sins. And perhaps, rather than kiss the Son with falsehood in our hearts, we might honor Him with purified lips, having had our brothers and sisters in the faith put the coal of God's gospel to our unclean, duplicitous mouths (Isaiah 6:5-7). Then might we better serve as His messengers for the world will see our affection for Jesus is real and not some hypocritical show put on by yet another Judas.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

He Is Longsuffering, But Not Ever-Suffering

Romans 2:4-5Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

One day we will see just how we have misjudged You, oh God. We will see just how awful sin is and how terrifying its consequences are! We will tremble before a God who is no longer mighty to save (Zephaniah 3:17) but mighty in judgment… And we will be completely undone. Our hard, impenitent hearts will be shaken to their core to see our Creator’s almighty power, the beneficent side of which we have only known thus far, now turned in all of its irrepressible, inavertable potency against us. We will feel the full weight of horror for having made God our enemy. In dread we will cringe before the wrath of God from which there will be no escape. We will call on the hills to fall on us and the mountains to cover us (Revelation 6:15-17), desperate to find some deep place where we can be hid from the all seeing, burning eye of God. But there will be no place to run to from the omnipresent Judge who will tread the winepress of His wrath and bathe His righteous robes in the blood of those who spurned the Son’s sacrifice for them and chose instead to be their own blood offering in payment of their sins (Isaiah 63:1-6)! And in that day, we will realize just how foolish we were to think You would treat sin as lightly as we do. We will weep that we so presumed upon Your kindness and did not repent when You had given us years to do so. And the flames of hell will burn hotter for our knowledge that this eternal agony might have been avoided.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Things That Are God's

Luke 20:25, He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

I think too often when I have read this story I marvel at Christ's wisdom in getting out of the bind the Pharisees thought to put Him or I take this lesson as proof that Christ commands submission to our temporal authorities. But this is usually as far as I go: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's..." Yet the implications of the second half of the verse are its most profound!

How we fail to render to our God the things that are His! We are so much better at giving our temporal leaders their due (especially as tax season rolls back around in the US). And still God receives so little of what we owe Him––perhaps because He doesn't tax audit. And what are God's things? Hardly the mere "ten percent" we grudgingly place in the offering plate as though we were trying to buy off God's claim to our entire being! This week I heard a terrifyingly convicting quote from John Piper regarding our reluctance to give even the minimal tithe: The question of giving is not "how much do I give" but "how much do I dare keep for myself."

God claims our all, our every breath, thought, action, moment. He expects devotion to Him with all our emotion, our will, our strength, and every fiber of our being. Yet how often do we yield even one percent of the total consecration He expects? The stats say that American Christians, among the wealthiest self-professed Christ-followers in history, don't even give 5% of their income. Yet a tithe of one's material gain was simply the minimum for Israel, and they didn't even have the permanent indwelling of the Spirit! Where is the all we should be consecrating to God as the temples in which He chooses to abide?

Father, I give You my all, only to take it back again later today, I know. But I give it to You again and ask You would keep me from my continued attempts to steal it off the altar.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Weeping for Wretches

Luke 19:41-42, And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes."

The crowds during Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem celebrated the earthly peace they believed would come through the Messiah. However, Jesus wept that Israel did not know the true meaning of peace. Rather, in their continual warfare against God, they were about to commit the greatest atrocity known in history: the creature would strike down God. How could they know the peace they clamored for when they were not willing to accept the vineyard Owner’s own Son (Luke 20:13-14)?

Though knowing the fickleness of this mob, their hearts of rebellion, and what crimes they would commit against Him in Jerusalem, far from ripping into Jerusalem with righteous anger, Jesus wept for this people. Knowing His own imminent death at the hands of these miscreants, the Savior nonetheless grieved for them and the suffering they brought upon their own heads by rejecting Him. What a blessed mystery You are, Lord! How far short of Your example we fall who too often respond to wretches with wrath and not weeping.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Luke 19:10, The Outcasts

In Jericho, there lived two men. One was fantastically wealthy and the other miserably poor. One enjoyed a position of high power in the government and the other sat amid the road-dust kicked up by his betters. The one was feared and hated, the other pitied or scorned. Though separated by a huge social gulf, these two men shared one thing in common: they were both overlooked. And it was with these two men, the tax collector and the beggar, that Jesus had business on the day He travelled through Jericho. This was the Messiah's last journey through that region. In a few days, the enthusiastic crowds that now followed Him would be calling for His blood. Yet Jesus would not take the road to the cross until He had restored the two outcasts in Jericho.

Bartimaeus's cry for the Son of David was drowned out in the commotion of the crowd rushing from Jericho to glimpse the great miracle Worker from Galilee. Heedless to his pleas for help, the multitudes streamed by the blind man begging by the roadside. When they did notice him it was only to angrily hiss, "Silence! The Rabbi has no time for you!" Yet the great Shepherd had come to Jericho listening for the cry of His sheep, and amid the chaotic babble of the multitude, He heard Bartimaeus bleating for help. In perhaps the most tender moment in redemptive history, the Creator God knelt down in the dust before the filthy, shaking beggar, the man no other man had taken time for, and asked, "What would you have Me do for you?"

The following miracle only caused all of Jericho to erupt in ecstasy. Young street urchins ran through the alleyways of the city announcing that Jesus of Nazareth was on His way and had just restored the sight of old Bartimaeus who once begged by the roadside. The crowds pressed hard against the narrow street straining for a glimpse of the powerful Healer.

Trapped within the swarming throng was Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of the region. A man of pretended dignity, he had no real respect among his fellow Jews. He demanded passage, but when the mob saw the hated and short tax collector trying to shove his way to the front, they both cursed him and laughed at him, deliberately blocking his way. Most men as rich as he would have instantly received a place of honor in any crowd, but Zacchaeus met only with the turned backs of his own people. He had traded his place among his own countrymen for wealth, and nobody was going to step aside to let this sinner see the great Prophet in Israel.

He looked up and saw several young boys dangling from the branches of a nearby sycamore tree. Desperate, Zacchaeus threw aside any pretense of august stateliness and did what no other self-respecting man of stature in Jewish society would do. He knew he would be the mockery of the city for years, yet he hefted himself in a gangly mess into to tree's embrace and clung desperately to the branches groaning under his weight. The scornful barbs from watchers below flew fast and stung him in humiliation. Soon everyone under the tree was hurling insults and making mockery of him. He shouted back angrily, waving a pudgy fist, and nearly tumbled off his branch which only heightened the mirth of the crowd.

Suddenly, the Shepherd was there, standing there beneath the tree, watching His frightened and angry sheep butt against shadows, perilously close to toppling back down the dark ravine of doubt, hurt, and self-consumption. In a soothing tone, He reached for the lamb, calling it with the voice He knew it would recognize: "Zacchaeus, come down. I must stay at your house today."

The mocking crowd hushed in disbelief. The Rabbi had not only spoken to this sinner, this traitor, He would now eat with him? In his home? Surely to darken that door would be instant impurity!

Bounding lamb-like down the tree, Zacchaeus ambled beside the great Prophet with childlike glee. Later at supper, Zachaeus, so filled with rapture and the joy of acceptance, stood impulsively and declared to all that he would give up his swindling ways, pay restoration to all, and distribute half his wealth to the poor. Lover of money though he had been, the tax collector felt nothing but deep satisfaction as he gave up his golden idol.

To the grumbling and disgruntled crowd, the Savior spoke these measured words, which summed up the eventful day: "The Son of man has come to seek and to save the lost." The Shepherd had come to Jericho to bring home the outcasts.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

It Has To Hurt If It's To Heal

Luke 18:18, 23, And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ...But when [the ruler] heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

The rich young ruler knew that for all he actually possessed, assurance of salvation had escaped him. He probably came to Christ tormented, anguishing in his heart over the state of his soul. And Christ seems to have blown him off (see here for the rest of the story)! But Christ wasn’t being a jerk; far from it, Mark 10:12 claims Jesus loved the man and, therefore, was only exposing the man to his own lostness. The ruler had to recognize his inability to save himself and come in childlike dependence upon Christ. This anguish of soul was the first step to discovering the dependence necessary for salvation.

If only we Christians today weren’t so afraid of “offending” people with the truth of their own sinfulness and lostness we might see more souls come to salvation. God, give us courage to tell those around us the saving word that, like most treatments, must first sting before healing. And let us not be so afraid of unfavorable outcomes that we fail to speak at all; note, that Jesus seems to have "lost" the ruler as a convert, but of course we don't know the rest of the story. At any rate, this man's self-confidence (a common trait especially among Westerners) was shattered and this made for the first step toward salvation.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Of Debts and Debtors

Luke 17:7-10, Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, "Come at once and recline at table"? Will he not rather say to him, "Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink"? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, "We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty."

I think there is something in contemporary Westerners that balks at Christ's example here. Americans in particular prize equality and "giving a man his fair share." If you've worked hard, you deserve recompense and you shouldn't have to bow and scrape to anyone to get it! Of course, for most of humanity both outside the West and across the span of history such egalitarianism and "square deals" have never been prevalent or even popular, contrary to what Westerners tell themselves.

Though these ideals doubtless have their virtues, they have too their latent "poisons" as do all things consumed in large quantities. The worst effect of a whole-hearted embrace of rights and dues is an inoculation against grace! In a world where everyone "deserves" this or that, the concept of grace is foreign and even loses its potency. (Of course, grace was as alien to those in Christ's day as it is in ours which is why grace will be the wonder of eternity.)

You don't see much praying happening on the silver screen but on the few occasions I have, I've noted a common refrain, last repeated in Mary's prayer for Matthew in Downton Abby season two: "If I've ever done anything good, do this for me." You have to admit this is commonly our attitude toward God. Even when we're doctrinally savvy enough to never actually voice those sentiments, they still roil deep within our hearts. Often, all we have to do is look at our response to God when something happens to us we don't think we deserve. Accusation. Anger. Rebellion. And my favorite, an attempt to "get back at God" as though anything we do could hurt Him more than it does us. How often have you responded to your "unfair" circumstances with "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord"?

I love the corrective to our skewed hearts Christ gives us in this passage. Having lived as God has called us, we dare not think we are doing God a favor! God hardly owes us something because “we’ve been good.” Let those anxious to speak of debts and "just" deserts first gaze deep into the mouth of hell, our rightful home.

Yet even were we to have never fallen and have lived a life in perfect harmony with God's precepts, we would still only fulfill the role of a servant to his Master who needn’t thank His slave for doing as he was told. Perfect lives, were they at all attainable, are merely what God expects from us. And there is no way to exceed perfection and thus put God in our debt. Far from it, because we are fallen creatures and the expected standard of perfection wasn't even a dream for the apostle John, our failure to meet God's requirements only earn us damnation. And still we have the arrogant audacity to exact pretended debts from a God to whom we are deeply indebted for any good thing we enjoy in life!

How wonderful to serve a God who keeps no record of our debts, who like the prodigal's father joyfully throws good money after bad when his errant son returns with nothing in his hands but the scars of a failed past and the muck of a swineherd. Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily, I'm constrained to be!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Christian Living: God's Measure of Faith

Luke 17:3-4, "Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him."

Far from remaining detached from the spiritual state of our brethren, we must have a vested interest in their wellbeing, even though it comes at injury to ourselves. After all, in our non-confrontational age, who has the courage to rebuke another for sinning knowing this could well mean the end of a close friendship (note that the rebuking takes place among brethren)! What kind of friend are we if we see a sin imperiling the spiritual vitality of one we love and remain mute? That's like refusing to warn your little sister she's about to step on a copperhead or cobra, reasoning thus: "Well, I'm sure she sees it and knows what she's doing, and I wouldn't want to upset her." Where's the love in that?

Yet how much easier we find it to ruthlessly tear into people who's sins affect us personally. Rather sad, isn't it, how completely opposite to God's wise ways our human tendencies are? We silently watch those we love ruin themselves yet viciously attack people who have slighted us when our new Christian nature would have us speak with loving alarm when evil threatens our brothers and, in Christ's own lamb-like patience, suffer personal offense in silence. Yet we remain so flippin' self-centered.

I love the disciples' response in v. 5, "Lord, increase our faith!" They knew, selfish as they were, they couldn’t handle this kind of responsibility toward each other and prayed for greater faith to do the impossible. However, Jesus’ reply (in v. 6) indicates that God doesn’t expect the kind of living described in the verses above only from those with great faith. Rather, those with even a little bit of faith should be capable of great feats and, as though it were a given, Christian living!

An interesting thought, isn't it? The strength of our faith is measured by how we comport ourselves among other Christians. Oh how small my faith is when held to this standard! Lord, increase our faith!

Monday, January 28, 2013

The Role of Tempter

Luke 17:1, And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!"

Oh that we would listen to this! Yes, temptations abound but this shouldn’t cause us to lightly regard the role of a tempter. Of course we can play the tempter in any number of ways. However, given our American fascination with the physical body, we Christians need to be especially wary in dress. Though everyone else around us seems to “get away with” dressing seductively (women and men) and enticing the eyes of the opposite sex in an unholy way, we cannot justify doing the same and joining the ranks of tempters and temptresses.

There's no other way around it: those who cause others to sin will have to answer to God Himself for the failure of their brethren. It's hard enough for me to face the owner of some object I've borrowed and broken, even if he is a friend. How much worse will it be to face the Almighty Father of those we have wantonly led into sexual failure and face His righteous anger? And all because we thought we had to show of our bodies to get the affirmation we crave.

Oh that we would love God enough to realize His approval is all we need and that we would love each other enough to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of protecting one another (the kind of attitude Paul pled for in I Corinthians 8-10). God, open our eyes to see life is not about us but about You and those You have placed around us!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Jonah 2:5-6, A Prayer From the Depths

A personal prayer I share with the hope that it may encourage you, as it did me, to trust.
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Father, I’m panicked by life, by how relentlessly its dark, fast rapids swirl me off my feet and hurl my powerless frame against the jagged boulders of commitments, friendships, events, academics, ministry… Looking ahead I see nothing but more hungry rocks, more narrow, skin-scraped escapes. I can do nothing to stop the powerful current of time and my desperate gasps for spiritual air too often end in half-drowned convulsions to rid my lungs of the river’s substitutes for the Spirit's breath.

But bedraggled and torn though I am from the chaos of this mad current, You have steered me clear the sharpest edges that would have shattered my bones. And I have yet to drown under the mirky, convulsing waters of time. You have kept my lungs filled with pneuma.

Oh help me now, Parter of the Red Sea and Stiller of the Jordan. Place my feet on solid ground and do not let me be shaken. I know at the end of this river lies the sea of death after which I may find the land of life eternal. I know I cannot walk there untouched by rough waves and the thundering rapids I so fear. But if I must swim this terrifying water-path, do not let me navigate it alone but hold me powerfully and secure in Your hand.

Thank You for placing Your body between the rocky shards of death and my feeble flesh. Thank You for parting the surf-smashing breakers with Your own broad back, giving me time to catch my breath. As I slip under the foaming swirl once more I cry, “Bring me safely home, oh my God, my Wave-walker!”

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Truly Miraculous Power

Luke 16:31, He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."

See the preceding verses for the full story of Lazarus and the rich man.

This verse contains an important principle. God’s word alone is enough to convict people of their sin and turn them to God. Those who do not repent after hearing the preaching of the gospel will never come to salvation for there is nothing else in the world that could convince them, not even great signs and miracles. The word of God alone is sharper than a two-edged sword piercing through our stony human hearts to the depths of the soul (Hebrews 4:12). And we are entrusted with this life-changing message mightier than the power it takes to do the impossible and raise someone from the dead. That's a lot of power! God, give us the will to use it well!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Watching the Father Rejoice

Luke 15:7, 10, 24, "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents... There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents... 'Let us eat and celebrate! For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found!'"

Note the progression of rejoicing in the three parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. First, all we know is that "there is rejoicing" in heaven for the lost one returned. Then we discover that angels witness the rejoicing, though they don’t seem to be a part of it. Who then is doing this celebrating? In the story of the returned prodigal, we see that the great joy filling the heavens comes from none other than the Father Himself, singing over the homecoming of His son! And here I'd always thought it was the angels rejoicing.

As children of a good Father, our hearts should long to bring joy to our saving God, and there are many ways to do this. However, in my own experience, I have focused almost solely on "right living," presenting Him my weak strivings for His honor and my Christlikeness. Yet, while God calls us to pursue conformity to Christ's image and the advancement of His Kingdom, I too often neglect the chief way to accomplish both––evangelism.

What is more Christ-like than bringing the gospel to the hurting and dying, the castoff and the repulsive? What advances God's glory more than another sinner snatched from the devil's chains? How Pharisaical are we who think that giving Christ "our goodness" will please Him when we ignore the lost cries of Les Miserables around us. (I just watched the film, after reading the book, and find Victor Hugo's characters the embodiment of our need to be socially concerned Christians.) Let us bring unequaled, undying love to the ravished Fantine. Let us bring identity, hope, and peace to the conflicted and past-hounded Valjean. Let us show grace to the unyielding and lonely Javert. Let us give true purpose to Marius and his fervid revolutionaries.

And above all, let us bring our perishing, aching, needy brothers and sisters in Adam to our Father and watch Him rejoice.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Compel the People to Come In

Luke 14:23, And the master said to the servant, "Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled."

Thank You, Lord, for compelling the dregs of the world to come to Your wedding feast. We all would otherwise find some excuse (see Luke 14:16-18) to join the devil in his misery and turn down Your invitation to blessed life in You. Thank You that You were not content to let us make our poor decision to skip out on the Lamb's marriage supper but determined to have us there, not simply as guests, but as the bride herself! For this You deserve eternal praise from a grateful people.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Degrees of Condemnation?

Luke 12:47-48, And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

I don’t see another way around this; the Bible indicates in multiple places that, even as there will be varying degrees of rewards (see for example the parable of the talents), there are will also be varying degrees of punishments. Those to whom much has been revealed will be expected to live up to all they knew. While God will only hold those who knew little to the little they knew. Therefore, it seems there is great condemnation for those who have grown up around Christian influence and know what their Maker would have of them. However, those living in darkness will only be held to the abundant witness of creation (see Psalm 19 and Romans 1 and 2). Suddenly makes you wonder how faithful you've been to live according to the revelation God has bestowed on you, doesn't it?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Yearning

Luke 12:35-37a, Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.

How hard it is to remain alert in a world that sings us a thousand lullabies hoping to get our attention drifting. We ought to love God such that, like a restless dog not content until his master returns, we wait anxiously for Him knowing that the yearning He has placed in us will not be satisfied until He has come for us. Praise God for yearning, for restless dissatisfaction with the status quo! It is the one thing that reminds us not to get comfortable in this world but to joyfully anticipate our true fulfillment that comes when He returns! Yearning keeps us awaiting and alert for we know that the house is empty, dark, and cold until the Master returns.

On this theme, below is a song that beautifully captures the yearning of the human heart for the restoration of all things that only Our Messiah, Our Emmanuel can accomplish. It's a beautiful choral piece which, if you can find it for online purchase, please let me know about it!

There is a yearning in hearts weighed down by ancient grief and centuries of sorrow.
There is a yearning
In hearts that in the darkness hide
And in the shades of death abide,
A yearning for tomorrow.

There is a yearning,
A yearning for the promised One, the Firstborn of creation.
There is a yearning for
The Lord who visited His own,
And by His death for sin atoned,
To bring to us salvation.

There is a yearning
That fills the hearts of those who wait the day of His appearing.
There is a yearning
When all our sorrows are erased
And we shall see the One who placed
Within our hearts the yearning.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts, the yearning.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Best Friends Stick Together

Luke 12:8-9, "And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God."

We humans invest a lot in cultivating the right relationships and growing friendships. If nothing else, today's church has mastered the language of relational interaction. Now if we church-goers only spent our time investing in the most important relationship of all. We pour time and money into family, friends, significant others, and sometimes even neighbors and coworkers. But quite frankly, on the relationship scale, I fear God ranks around the "coworker level" as measured by the time, effort, and money we put into our walk with him. Yet we claim Him as our Bridegroom, our best Friend.

We whose eyes have been opened to see the supreme worth of Christ ought to proudly confess Him before all. What newly engaged young woman doesn't chatter incessantly about her fiancé and their future life together? (And I speak from experience because lately many of my friends have golden bands around their ring-fingers.) And we are awaiting our marriage to the Lamb! I know its a long engagement, but should that in any way dull our passion for Christ or render Him too boring to talk about?

Yet so often, cowardly human that I am, I deny the only One who gives value to my life and makes me any different from others. Those who deny Christ before men because they don’t esteem Him enough to risk losing either the approval of the contemporaries or even their own lives (see Luke 14:26, 33) will find Jesus does not consider them worthy of His friendship. And His is the only relationship that will spare any human from hell.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Because He Cares for You

Luke 12:6-7, Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Though in our moments of temptation we may choose to forget God, He does not forget us! Even as we are called to fear Him (see last post), Christ reminds us that we are valuable to God who concerns Himself to know the very number of our hairs. If God, being so great, will condescend to know so much about lowly me, how then can I not devote my life to knowing Him? Yet we humans think we are so important that everyone ought to know about and care about us––even our God! And we spend so little time outside of our self-preoccupied bubble. What wonders we would find if we looked up from our navel-gazing into the wondrous, mysterious face of God and spent the rest of eternity searching Him out!

I was just now struck by the full and blessed weight of the little phrase at the end of I Peter 5:7–– "because He cares for you." Why would, why should God care for us? He has nothing to gain from His relationship with us but grief and suffering. Yet He has chosen to enter into this relationship with us regardless of what it costs Him. Far from trying to avoid the troubles we bring Him, He urges us to "cast our cares on Him." WHY? "Because He cares for you."

What kind of Being is this who would care so much for those who care little for Him and who would bear all the burdens of those who spat in His face? This God, our God and our Savior! And He cares for us!

Friday, January 11, 2013

The Role of Fear in the Christian Walk

Luke 12:4-5, I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Having exposed man’s stupid desire to impress other men with a false show that does not deceive God (see verses 1-3), Jesus now targets our fear of other men that too often overcomes our fear of God. Our priorities are so mixed up! God should be a primary focus, the One we fear most and the One we most seek to please. Yet so often our efforts are aimed at other humans who, if impressed with us, can do little truly beneficial for us or who, if hating us, have only the limited power to kill us. We think on such a temporal scale when our minds should be fixed on eternity.

Also note that Jesus Himself ("Love incarnate") had no qualms about stressing the fear of God. And this fear is a legitimate sentiment even among Christians who should at least fear the consequences of disobeying their Master if they do not feel the impulse to obey out of love. I am not endorsing a cringing, sniveling adherence to the rules for fear of being "beaten" by a God who sadistically pounces on any who mess up. Rather I understand that God would have us obey Him out of love for Him as our Father. However, we should also recognize that as our Father He will discipline us for our good when we stray (I Corinthians 11:32). So with this in mind, we have a double impulse to remain faithful for if our love for the object of our temptation threatens to overcome our love for our Father, then perhaps the stinging memory of His kind discipline will cause us to fear the consequences of disobedience and turn us back to our God.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

How to End Temptation

Luke 11:41, Give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

An intriguing statement I had never noticed before. If we give God what He’s looking for, in other words a heart that is molded by Christ after His own, then everything else in life becomes clean for us because we are no longer tempted by that evil God does not find tempting (consider Galatians 5:16). Once our heart is in line with God's, we no longer have to set up external boundaries to keep ourselves from sin because sin will not appeal to us. This is the task of the Christ-follower, complete conformity with the Father’s heart reflected best in the person of Jesus (Paul's point in Philippians 3:8-10, 14, 17).

As with everything else in this blog, this post is nothing more than you already know. But I hope it will simply serve to remind us where to keep our focus while in the thick of our battle against sin. Eradicating evil in our lives can itself be a distraction from God if we simply focus on making ourselves sin-free. We will never succeed in our attempts to exterminate our inclination toward wrong if we do not first develop a taste for what is right! Only by filling our lives with more of our Savior does sin, our former master, lose its power over us and its appeal.

At the risk of sounding trite and offering Christian clichés, here's what I've discovered in my own spiritual walk: In the end, the Sunday School answer––JESUS!––is the only right response to everything in the Christian life. And the sooner we learn this truth, the richer our lives will be for there is nothing better for us than the One we were created for, our Savior.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The One Thing Necessary

Luke 10:41-42, But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Given the preceding parable on the Good Samaritan, one might assume that “good religion” is being a good neighbor and that, if one would inherit eternal life, he must be a good guy to all around him. But such an others-focused, works-oriented attitude is not what Luke is trying to convey in his book. While the parable of the Good Samaritan should show us that we all will fail if we try to win our own salvation by being good neighbors, this next story about Mary and Martha shows us there is really only one thing we need––Jesus, the Good Samaritan Himself.

Martha should be considered a prime example of the Good Samaritan in her backbreaking service to others; by this standard Mary was failing miserably to live up to “good-person-ness.” However, Jesus praises Mary for having found the “one thing necessary which will not be taken from her” not Martha for all the kind favors rendered to those around her. While people are important (as indicated in the previous parable), we mustn't forget that Jesus is the center of the universe and the reason for all! He is the one thing we all need and the only thing that can never be taken from us!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Passing By On the Other Side

Luke 10:31-32, Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

How easily we condemn the priest and Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan! However, they were trying to keep themselves ritually pure according to the Mosaic law; possibly both were on their way to the temple for service because the text doesn’t indicate what direction they were traveling in. But Jesus Himself satirizes this fastidious and self-righteous care for the ceremonial law that leads people to neglect the highest order of the law––care for one’s neighbor. Though He doesn’t mention the Pharisee by name (supposing the lawyer who questioned Jesus was a Pharisee), everyone present knew how punctilious this sect was.

Have you ever wondered how often you've played the role of the Levite and the priest in this story? We all would like to identify ourselves with the Samaritan in this tale and with the ultimate Good Samaritan––Christ Himself. But how often do we, in the name of religious obligation or constraint, pass by perishing sinners or even our own suffering brethren? Often we don't even guise our disinclination to help in the robes of pious particularity. I know often I'm simply straight-up selfish and refuse to inconvenience myself for someone else. I assuage my guilt by assuring myself I have other responsibilities, or I am not equipped with the particular expertise needed to address this problem, or if the request had only not taken me by surprise I would be prepared to help. I'm sure these were the pretexts of the Levite and the priest and the inner voices that tempted the Samaritan to continue unencumbered on his way, voices he refused to listen to.

Think of this: God in His sovereignty places us in the moment with the needy person before us. So maybe there is something He means for us to do, and surely it isn't to pass by on the other side.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Who is Your God?

Luke 10:22, All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

I'm only in my early twenties but I've already lived enough life to know there are plenty of "good" people in the world who put my feeble efforts at pious living to shame yet who, because of their rejection of Christ, will be in hell. It's not easy to say that, especially because according to our lowly human understanding of "goodness," these people seem like stellar examples to the rest of us not only in their apparently admirable actions but in their sophisticated understanding of the divine.

I know I can easily feel confused by the many religious folk in this world who seem to have a handle on God. They appear to know Him and can talk easily about their experiences with Him. Even many of their thoughts on their deity seem in keeping with the Scripture's revelation of God’s character as kind, loving, personal, powerful, etc. Yet these are the qualities our age has ascribed to God and too often this understanding is divorced from an acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as the sole mediator between a righteous and indignant Judge and us sin-laden, rebellious humans.

According to this verse and so many others in Scripture, those who have not been led to the Father by Christ’s own hand do not know the real God. They see an image of God conjured in their minds by extrapolating and exponentiating whatever goodness common grace has allowed them to see in their lives onto a projection of God. But this is merely a god created by man.

The true God can be seen only through the lenses given us by Christ, the only One who can show us the divine for what it really is (for those familiar with philosophy, think of Kant’s a priori framework of interpretation only supplied to us by Christ during and after salvation). Jesus alone reveals the Father, and we can only come to Jesus for this knowledge if drawn by the Father (John 6:44a). As Romans 3:10-12 explains, man will not come to God on his own so God must draw man!

Who then is our God? A God who is socially-constructed? A God who shape-shifts to fit our preferences? Or is He the true and immutable God as revealed in Christ and unveiled to us through Christ? Who is your God?

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Focus of Celebration is...?

Luke 10:17-18a, 20, The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them...“Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Too often we get carried away with the benefits of our relationship with God that we ignore the chief of blessings: Our relationship with God! Our eternal destines are secure in God’s hand! This should thrill us more than anything He performs in and through our lives and give us cause for rejoicing though there be things our God chooses not to accomplish through us.

Remember this when you are tempted to look around you and count all God has done through you more valuable than your Savior Himself. (This attitude can be seen when your friendships, ministries, etc., become more important to you than the God who called you to them.) Do not rejoice in the power He has granted you (see vv. 18-19) and the mighty work He has performed through you. Rather, “rejoice that your name is written in heaven” and this only because of the wonderful work of your Savior.

If you feel you know much of God, you are simply a child to whom the Lord has chosen to display the marvels of His wisdom and the strength of His power. And if He chooses to use you, remember He does the choosing and the using, and from His omnipotent arm comes the power He wields in your life. Therefore, He alone is worthy of praise! Let's be sure to reflect glory where it is due.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Prayer for the New Year

Father, so often I come to the word knowing that I need feeding. I’m like a child who sits down to a delightful dinner to enjoy the smells and tastes of the table but thinks little of delighting in his mother who has prepared his banquet. Father, You have been faithful to show me that I must have Your word or be miserable. But don’t let me be so intent on feeding my soul that spiritual nourishment becomes my end during my time of devotions. Rather, show me that my time in the word is time spent communing with You, the Preparer of my spiritual repast. I am only truly fed when I have met with my God.

A meal had without the presence of the Chef does nothing to feed the heart though the belly may cease its rumbling. Lord, feed my heart by meeting with me now and throughout this year. Don’t let the moments I spend with You be a mere exercise in academia or even a desperate desire to keep my spirit renewed. But show me Your face! Let me know You, not simply facts about You, for only then is my soul truly satisfied.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Hit the Snooze Button...

Luke 9:29-32a, And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep...

Why are the disciples always so sleepy when things of great spiritual import take place?! As usual Christ was praying and the disciples were drifting in dream land. This may be a jab at our spiritually lethargy as humans when God is busy accomplishing great works. How much we miss out on because we are far more concerned with the comfort of the flesh than fighting spiritual battles!

God grant us spiritual alertness in the coming year. May we die to fleshly desires and make Him our priority that we might not fail to see Jesus for who He really is (as Peter and his fellows nearly did!).