Smallness

While the world works desperately to bolster our sense of personal significance and individual importance, biblical truth drives us in the opposite direction. A hallmark of biblical humility is the realization that we are infinitesimally small, juxtaposed with a growing appreciation for the magnitude of God’s love to stoop to care for creatures like us. Our need is not for an amplified “self-esteem” (that has been the source of immeasurable trouble in the cosmos since the inflated self-perception of a certain angelic being – Isaiah 14:13-14).  Instead, the real challenge is to get ourselves in perspective as we seek to know the transcendent and majestic God who made us and chose to redeem us.  David sang: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps.8:3-4). When we are able to see our fleeting lives against the backdrop of our immutable and eternal God, our hearts find their dependant and appropriate place in God’s world – a prerequisite for fruitful living.  Again David typifies the godly perspective when he wrote, “He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer… O Lord, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him?  Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow” (Psalm 144:2-3). May we learn to esteem our great God as we recognize our smallness.

Passing It On

The Bible has much to say about our responsibility to pass on our spiritual gains to those who will be here when we are gone. This is more than a parent’s responsibility to teach their kids the Bible. It is much broader and much deeper than simply communicating biblical data to children. In Scripture, the call usually comes from those who never had kids. It is, more fully, an urgent exhortation that has younger non-familial adults in view. By “spiritual gains” I mean the kind of sage counsel and practical insight that comes from successfully implementing and applying the truths of God’s word. If the goal was simply “passing on truth,” we could just hand out Bibles, but the objective of spiritual reproduction is to functionally train and instruct those younger in Christ to know how to do what God has said. Paul shows the breath of this task when he wrote, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me – put it into practice” (Phil.4:9). To his spiritual protégé Paul writes, “You know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions and sufferings… continue in what you have learned” (2Tim.3:10, 14). It won’t happen without being intentional. You and I must purpose to “pass on” our spiritual gains. At whatever stage we may be in the Christian life, we must meet with younger Christians, talk with younger Christians and share our insight with younger Christians. We must purpose to train others up in truth who will advance the cause of Christ for years after we have finished our work and gone on to be with the Lord.

Joy

While it is true that sorrow may teach us more than happiness (Ecclesiastes 7:2), joy and gladness are certainly more appropriate in the hearts and attitudes of those who know and love God. The psalmist exclaimed, “Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him” (Psalm 33:1). Paul exhorted us, “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). Would you be counted by your friends and coworkers as one who is obedient to that biblical command? Are you seen as someone whose temperament is characterized by a biblical optimism? Would others say you are quick to smile at the thought of God’s grace and his ever-present help in your life? It may be a challenge in a world filled with so much pain, but how displeasing and unbecoming it is for the forgiven children of God to be the most sour, critical, discouraged and pessimistic people on the block. Let this never be true of us. Let us find our joy in the transcendent truths of God’s word. May we learn to rejoice as we meditate on the forgiveness, grace and acceptance that is ours in Christ. Let us be those who are known for smiling, singing and reveling in God and our standing in grace.

Weakness

As sinful and fallen people we hate the feeling of weakness. On the other hand, we love feelings of strength, dominance, control, power and independence. But the reality is, that as creatures of the One who “gives all men life, breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25) all of our perceived experiences of strength and power are derived and not autonomous. As Nebuchadnezzar poignantly learned, God “does what he pleases with the powers of heaven” (Daniel 4:35). The truth is we have and are nothing without the active and gracious involvement of God, for he “sustains all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3). He freely chooses to “bring one down and exalt another” (Psalms 75:7). In other words, we are all inherently weak! We have no independent power or intrinsic strength. And in the normal course of life we periodically get a taste of that reality. There are times when we painfully feel the reality of our weakness. The Bible says it is then when we are prepared to experience the transcendent strength of our God. For when we recognize and ask the true source of power, then he “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:29). As Paul learned in his episodes of palpable weakness, “when I am weak, I am strong” for God grants strength to those who trust him for it (2 Corinthians 12:10). So let’s get honest and be willing to “boast all the more gladly about [our] weakness so that Christ’s power may rest on [us]” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Don't Grow Weary

In a world that rarely rewards truly good behavior, it is not a surprise that God’s people would be tempted to grow weary in doing what is right. But don’t. The Bible calls us to constantly renew our perspective and our strength, remembering that doing the right thing is always the right thing. After reminding us that “sowing and reaping” is an unwavering reality (even if the sprouts of consequence are long in coming), Paul calls the Galatian churches to “not become weary in doing good, for in the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal.6:9). We must not forget that God is on the throne and he will inevitably reward righteous behavior. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. Keep faithfully following his path and upholding his precepts. In the end he will vindicate every good deed. In the meantime, look to him for strength. He can give you the perseverance you need. “The Lord gives strength to his people” (Ps.29:11) and God “increases the power of the weak” (Is.40:29). So ask him today for the courage, the power and the perspective to keep doing what’s right regardless of what others may say. In time we will see it was all worth it.

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Life's Opposition

Many Christians assume that if God really loves us, he will fill our lives with good feelings, satisfied desires and things that make us happy. That may be a common assumption, but it certainly isn’t what God told us he’d do. The Bible is clear that for now, because we live in a fallen world, function in fallen bodies and interact with fallen people, we will experience a life of difficulty. Yes, God loves us (so much so that he was willing to provide for our forgiveness by punishing his Son as though he was the sinner we are), but he has delayed his ultimate blessings until we are done drafting the rest of his yet-to-be enlisted followers. Our goal is to maintain our faith, hope and love until the job is done. In the meantime Jesus reminds us that “No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (Jn.15:20). Jesus experienced both, and so will we. Unfortunately, more people rejected, disdained and hated Christ than rightly responded to his call to be reconciled to God. But some did obey his teaching, and occasionally with us they do also. There are those choice few who hear us out, repent of their sin and trust in Christ – which makes all the opposition worth it. So when things in this sinful world make your life hard, know that it was the same for God’s beloved Son. We certainly can’t expect our earthly experience to be any better than the King of kings. But remember that just as Jesus finished his race and entered the perfection of “paradise”, we will too. When our job is done, the love of God will be manifest in uninterrupted good feelings, satisfaction and happiness.  Maranatha!

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Obedience

Obedience to Christ often comes down to whose reputation you care about the most. When God calls us to stand up for what is right, speak up for what is important, or be counted with his children the price will usually be debited from our reputation. On the other hand, obedience to God will promote the reputation of Christ. How many times have we refrained from the “right thing” because we were afraid of what people would think? Had we stepped up or spoken out, we would have in some way advanced the glory of Christ. Jesus is the ultimate example of obedience at the cost of acceptance and popularity. Christ was singularly focused on the glory of the Father (Jn.17:4), but it led to increasing opposition, betrayal and rejection. Jesus knew his followers would wish for an exemption. But the principle highlighted by Christ’s obedience can be expected in our own lives. At one point Jesus had to draw what should have been an obvious comparison: “If the world hates you, keep in mind it hated me first. No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (Jn.15:18, 20). So when we are faced with doing right and we are afraid it may cause us problems, we need to remind ourselves that we are to care more about the glory of God than our own glory. We need to clarify that we should value the advancement of Christ more than our own advancement. We should resolve that Christ’s reputation is more important than our own. Lastly, we must remember that the injustice will be short-lived. One day God will eternally honor those who honored him (1Sam.2:30). He will purpose to serve those who served his cause (Lk.12:37). While the world may shun us, ridicule us and persecute us, we know that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2Cor.4:17).

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Reliance on God

King Asa was a righteous leader of God’s people. This ancestor of Christ and third king of the divided kingdom was a devout reformer who abolished the worship of foreign gods, put an end to cultic prostitution, and even dethroned his family members who disdained obedience to Yahweh. The Bible says God brought peace to the land because of Asa’s righteous leadership (2Chron.15:15). But in the course of time Asa fell to a subtle sin. It was a sin that ultimately cost him his life. It is a sin that entangles many of God’s people in comfortable places and in peaceful times. After many years of trusting God for victory on the battlefield and amid crises at home, Asa’s confidence slowly shifted from God to people and to the resources around him. When battle sprung up near the end of his reign, he relied on military alliances instead of trusting God. When he faced illness in his latter years, he trusted in his physicians instead of hoping in God. Of course military strategies are vital in warfare and doctors are important in facing a health crisis, but in both cases these should be seen as tools in the hand of our God of hope and not the hope themselves. A few generations before, King David wrote the words that should have governed Asa’s mind: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps.20:7). This of course did not mean that David didn’t utilize the tools which were entrusted to him. But as his son, Solomon, had learned, “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord” (Pr.21:31). The sad and final chapter in Asa’s life reads, “even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians; then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died” (2Chron.16:12-13). So then, as God blesses you with doctors, advisors, consultants and investors, please always remember the battle belongs to the Lord.

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Loving God

When the call of God on our lives and the message for us in Scripture is distilled into one line it reads like this: “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.” This was the central command of Old Testament Judaism (Dt.6:5) and it was the primary imperative of the one whose name we bear (Mt.22:37). But when that clear and forthright standard is held up for comparison with modern Christianity, it seems that only a few are focused on this goal. It appears to be a paltry and seemingly “fanatical” minority among us, who would even name this central biblical command as a part of their life’s mission or current goals. But before we call this folk fanatical, remember that the responsibility to love God with all that we are cannot be erased or minimized under the guise of New Covenant grace. When some claim we are unfettered from this calling because we are “not under the law” they fail to realize the promised effects of grace. Jesus said when we have been forgiven much we love much (Lk.7:42-47). Grace doesn’t free us from the obligation to love God with all of our hearts, it is the fuel for doing so. The Apostle John penned an entire New Testament book based on the proposition that loving God is the sign of those who are actual participants in the grace of God (1 John). Lastly, it is important to note that this supreme love is not meant for the “god” of our choosing. Seeking to fulfill the primary biblical calling must be aimed at the only God who is – the God of the Bible. As John clarifies, this love will be measured by an honesty about our transgressions of his holiness (1Jn.1:8, 10) and our resolve and growing consistency in keeping his commands (1Jn.3). He exhorts his readers, “This is love for God: to obey his commands” (1Jn.5:3). So the next time someone asks you about the goals for your life or the plans for the year, be sure and respond with the fundamental Christian calling, “I am planning to love God with all of my heart, with all of my soul and with all of my strength!”

Isolation vs Encouragement

There is too much spiritual danger inherent in Christians choosing to be isolated. The New Testament model shows us Christians who are interested and involved in each other’s lives. Paul shared his joys and victories, as well as his hurts and struggles with his friends. He was transparent about his pain, even to the point of telling the Corinthians that at one point he “despaired even of life” (2Cor.1:8). When he was weak, he not only cried out to God, but he also called out for the help of his Christian friends. “Come to me quickly” he told Timothy because he was left without the support of those he formerly trusted (2Tim.4:9). And when he openly sought the needed fellowship of his spiritual family, he saw the hand of God and encouragement of the Holy Spirit in their voices and consolation: “God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us with the coming of Titus” (2Cor.7:6). When Paul sat with his Christian comrades, he wasn’t trying to keep up some kind of super-spiritual appearances, he was there as a real, vulnerable and transparent follower of Christ. We would do well to follow this biblical pattern. Spiritual trouble finds its fuel when we choose to be isolated. So reach out and be real. Seek to serve and be served. Look for the mutual encouragement and support that comes when real Christians truly get to know and love each other.

Light

Jesus said that people prefer darkness rather than light because people don’t want their sinful deeds exposed (Jn.3:19-20). Of course this is an analogy. Your willingness to sit in the sun or your desire to dim the lights in the family room has nothing to do with your sin or righteousness. Christ meant that one’s readiness to embrace him and his message constituted a willingness to step into the exposure of the “light” of God’s truth. On the other hand, one’s avoidance of him and his message was depicted as a selfishly motivated retreat into the “shadows” of one’s own opinion. On the surface, it is easy to read Christ’s words about sinners loving darkness with feelings of immunity. After all, every reasonable person loves the “light”. Right? Not actually. Consider some of the avenues through which the “light” of Christ’s truth shines today. The Bible is the brightest record of that light. A biblical sermon aimed at life-change can feel like a laser of concentrated truth. Christian friends who are quick to speak of Christ’s commands can be bright reflectors of God’s light. But how do most people respond to those conduits of God’s light? Most avoid their Bibles for days on end. Many look for excuses to miss church and those “convicting” messages. And who hasn’t heard the “Bible-thumping” Christians dismissed as “holier than thou”? We must see that simply imagining that “Christ would agree with me” while avoiding the avenues of Christ’s light, constitutes nothing less than hiding in the darkness of one’s own opinions. Jesus said “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (Jn.3:21). So then, it behooves us to give attention to how we are interfacing with accurate conduits of Christ’s light. Avoiding them is never a good sign. Eagerly and regularly diving into them is indicative of those who are actually living by the truth.

Contentment

Recently, after seeing a “Christian” book entitled How to Get Everything You Want, I was reminded of God’s call to contentment. The Apostle testified to living out God’s expectation for his creatures. He wrote, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Phil.4:11-12).  God’s call for his people is not to utilize him or anything else to “get everything you want,” for that desire, if fed, will dominate our lives. Scripture says, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income” (Eccl.5:10). From the beginning God has commanded that we keep our desires in check. It was the archetypal sin and continues to ruin many lives (1Tim.6:9). The tenth commandment to resist all temptations to covet should be evidence enough (Ex.20:17). The goal then is to want less. Ideally, it is to only have one desire! Oh that there were more modern Asaphs to write true Christian books which we could entitle, Earth Has Nothing I Desire Besides God (Ps.73:25). His words and his values are desperately needed in an age that fails to detect the “loves” that God labels “the root of all kinds of evil” (1Tim.6:10). The New Testament teaches that compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ everything else is just garnish. God may temporarily bless your earthly plate with a few side dishes, and if so enjoy them. But when the garnish is providentially removed, no real problem. God is the main dish. He is “our portion forever” (Ps.73:26). We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Phil.4:13).

All Knowing God

Our God is a God who knows and perceives all things. He intimately knows all things past, all things present and all things future. He is a God for whom nothing is concealed. With him there are no secrets, there is no darkness and nothing is shrouded from his total awareness and full comprehension. God would surely be something less than God without full acuity. Scripture affirms that “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Heb.4:13). And there is the discomfort in an otherwise consoling attribute – “we must give an account.” If he knows all things, he certainly knows each one of us through and through. He knows our every thought and intention. He perceives our musings and every effort of our imagination. He knows the words in our mind that are never stated and the dreams in our heart that are never acted upon. And as the Scripture often reminds us, “when the Lord comes, he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts” (1Cor.4:5). As Jesus taught us, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs” (Lk.12:2-3). What is left for us but to live a circumspect life – a life that is as judicious about the inner person, as we are about the outward reputation. So, while we take comfort in our omniscient Father whose eye is on the sparrow, we will seek to be holy, both inside and out (1Pet.1:15-17).

Life Perspective

Do you long to see Christ face to face (1Cor.13:12)? Do you truly feel your citizenship is in another world (Phil.3:20)? Have you laid up sufficient treasure in heaven so that your hope is really set on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ (Mt.6:20; 1Pt.1:13b)? If so, most people will think you’re crazy, but actually you’ll be living out one of the fundamental virtues of New Testament theology. Longing for the next life is the expected result of a regenerate heart. You should, with the rest of God’s people, be “eagerly awaiting a Savior from heaven – the Lord Jesus Christ” and together we should be “longing for a better country – a heavenly one” (Heb.11:16). When passion like this is absent in the hearts of professing Christians the Bible calls it “worldliness.” We are told that a fondness for the present life is antithetical to loving God. John exhorts: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1Jn.2:15). Like Demas, you’ll see a love for the world supplanting your zeal to risk and sacrifice in service for Christ (2Tim.4:9-10). Like Judas, you’ll find that a love for the world’s silver will be a source of chronic compromise (Jn.12:6). In contrast, like Paul, our willingness to continue on this planet should be out of a singular interest for the next one. Consider the conflict created by his passion for the next life: “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” (Phil.1:22-23). May we genuinely be able to say with the apostle: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil.1:21). Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus! (1Cor.16:22b; Rev.22:20).

Forgiveness and Happiness

Knowing that we are truly forgiven should naturally give rise to real joy and genuine happiness. When forgiveness is real, having been secured by those contrite sinners who have thrown themselves on the grace and mercy of our forgiving God (who has paid the ultimate price in redeeming us from the penalty of our sins) then they should encourage their hearts to rejoice in the good fortune of this amazing transaction. David wrote these seemingly obvious lyrics for Israel and the church to echo throughout the centuries: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him” (Ps.32:1-2). The word “blessed” translates the familiar Hebrew word “asher” – the name given to Jacob’s eighth son in response to Leah’s delight over his birth. The word “asher” means “happy” – the joyful or jubilant disposition of someone who has become the recipient of something good. Amid the domestic politics of the patriarchal drama of Genesis 30, Leah could not contain her joy at the arrival of the newborn son. Their little “Asher” had brought her profound “asherness!” That was certainly good for her, but nothing could be better for us than having our list of damning sins accusing us as sinners being totally and completely erased! Praise God, with great joy, that the transgressions which should assault you on Judgment Day are not and will not be counted against you. Rejoice afresh in the “covering” of your sins by God himself. Tell your heart to be glad that you will never know the dread of being condemned before your Creator. Do something today that expresses and reflects the happiness of a forgiven life!

Work

Working is a gift from God – a pre-fall, pre-sin, pre-curse gift. While sin’s consequence injected obstacles and pain into the equation (“the ground will produce thorns” leading to work “by the sweat of your brow” – Gen.3:18, 19), the commission to work preceded the fall (“God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work” – Gen.2:15). Even in the first chapters of the Bible we are introduced to God who is said to be at “work” in creating his universe (Gen.2:2). And remember that in the perfect and blessed order of things in the New Jerusalem work is not extracted: we are told that God’s “servants will serve him” (Rev.22:3). It may be hard to believe but even now we can experience a taste of God’s perfect design for work as we adopt a new mindset about our labor. It is not a curse. It does not have to be drudgery. It can be a foreshadowing of your eternal home. Notice the Christian perspective on work (even the most demanding work) in Paul’s exhortation to the Colossians: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men, since you know that you will receive your inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (3:22-24). So let’s stop dreading Monday morning, instead let us express a godly passion to work with all of our hearts for the glory of our King. He is coming, and he will compensate us for how we tackled our nine-to-five.

Bible Interpretation

If only we could see how often we abuse the Bible (and therefore, its Author) in an effort to bolster and justify our personal views and proclivities. The process is called “isogesis” – presupposing our own interpretation and views and “reading them into” a passage of Scripture when they are not actually there. The goal, of course, is “exegesis” – extracting God’s meaning from a passage of Scripture by allowing that text to speak for itself. Knowing which we are doing when we are reading or quoting the Bible is critical. Unfortunately, it is our tendency to bring our preexisting understanding of what God is like, our valuations of the world and culture, our beliefs about right and wrong into a passage expecting to find it there even when it’s not. We do this most often by injecting assumed definitions of words into the passage we are reading. We are not tenacious enough to insist that biblical words be defined by the Bible instead of assuming their definitions based on our interaction with our parents, our childhood church, pop culture, our American democracy, our social institutions or any number of personal twenty-first century experiences. Avoiding this tendency is what makes Bible study so challenging. Here we find ourselves confronted with an inspired document that was delivered against the backdrop of a language and culture that is now two thousand to thirty-five hundred years past. This is why we can’t just plop our finger on the page and ask, “What does this verse mean to me?” If we don’t know a text’s historical, literary and grammatical context we are bound to become isogetes and not exegetes. So, let’s do our homework, avoiding “Bible abuse” by expending the necessary effort to derive biblical principles after we have understood the original context and the biblical definition of words.

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Worship God Now

One day God will make all things right. He will straighten out what’s crooked and smooth out the rough places (Is.40:3-4; Lk.3:5), not the least of which is the humiliation of the proud. For “all mankind will see God’s salvation” – a salvation most have chosen to ignore and disdainfully mock throughout their lives (Is.40:5; Lk.3:6). Isaiah had earlier prophesied, “The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted – they will be humbled” (2:12). Those who refuse to respectfully acknowledge God for who he is and all those who stubbornly seek to exalt themselves and choose to spend their lives clinging to their favored “created things rather than the Creator” (Rom.1:25) will be made to face the God they shunned. No rebels will remain when our Lord and his Christ resolve this sinful interlude between Genesis 3 and Revelation 19. Every prideful heart that has led men and women “to live life their way” will bow in silence before the Lamb of God. Indeed “kings will shut their mouths because of him” (Is.52:15). No more excuses, no more profanity, no more narcissistic and egotistical godless chatter. The world’s inhabitants will meet their Maker and confess that his Son is King. May we anticipate that Day with humble adoration (Ps.2). May our hearts long for men and women, teenagers and children to cling to him now with contrite hearts. May we proclaim, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps.2:12).

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For God's Sake

While most people believe God saves people for "people’s sake" (i.e., because of his attraction to them and his inner compulsion to promote and honor them), Psalm 106:8 tells us that God is in the business of saving sinners for "his own name's sake" (i.e., for his own honor, promotion and glory). In considering his grace and mercy toward his people, God repeats through the prophet Isaiah: “For my sake, for my sake, I do this” and “I will not yield my glory to another” (48:11).  This is where we find ourselves most uncomfortable with the biblical view of God, in this case because his acts of love and mercy are shown to be self-centered – and self-centeredness, we presume, is such an ugly trait. Our discomfort in the face of these kinds of truths about God reveals our desire to see him as a human benefactor instead of the transcendent and sovereign God to whom all glory belongs. “All” is the operative word because he “alone” is the “central One.” “He alone is the Lord” who made all things (Neh.9:6). As heaven sings, “You alone are holy” (Rev.15:4). “There is no one holy like the Lord, there is no one besides you” (1Sam.2:2). “No one is good, except God alone” (Lk.18:19). We see then that God is not like a human benefactor or a human savior – he is not like us at all. Self-centeredness is an ugly human trait, but God is not human. While we may be tempted to think that we are the “center” of God’s life (as modern doting parents aptly illustrate), God loves for his own sake, as the exclusively holy Being in the universe, rightly maintaining himself as the center of his actions. This does not detract from our feelings of being loved and cared for by God, it only helps us to retain God as the center and the exclusive purpose for all of his divine actions. We will after all worship him for saving us not with inflated chests, but “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph.1:6). So then: “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen” (Jude 25).

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Privileged Access

The priests of the Old Testament held a special and privileged position among their contemporaries. They lived as those who were granted an exceptional depth of access to God’s presence and God’s blessings. As such, they were held to a higher standard as compared to the rest of those who lived in the nation. In the New Covenant, while there may be distinction in roles and honor among Christians, there is no distinction in the privileged access we have to knowing God and experiencing his blessings. In fact, the entire band of Christ-followers is designated “a holy priesthood” (1Pt.2:5). Every Christian worldwide is held to the high standard of showing our respective nations that we know God intimately and that we, by his grace, daily walk instep with the Creator of heaven and earth. Understanding our high calling allows us to feel the weight of responsibility that the Old Testament priests must have felt when the prophets exhorted them to live to a higher standard than the rest of the nation. Consider Malachi’s words, “And now this admonition is for you O priests” (2:1). The concern throughout the book of Malachi in general, and chapter two in particular, was that the priests lived as the benchmark for the rest of the nation by “setting their hearts to honor God’s name” (2:2). It was a daily decision for them as it is for us. It begins in the recesses of our soul each morning. Will we resolve today to honor his name? Will we live for Christ? Will we demonstrate that we know God and walk instep with his Spirit? Set your heart today on honoring the God with whom you have been granted special access through Christ.

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Righteous Anger

While most Christians are chasing a modern fantasy of an irenic and affable day-to-day Christian experience, may we recognize the truth that we cannot be godly without regularly feeling and periodically expressing righteous anger. Of course I am not referring to the hot-tempered man of Proverbs 29:22, who, with selfish motive and slight provocation, explodes at those around him. I am referring to the experience of the godly Psalm writers who regularly declare, “I abhor the assembly of evildoers” (Ps.26:5), “the deeds of faithless men I hate” (Ps.101:3), “indignation grips me because of the wicked” (Ps.119:53), and “I loathe those who rise up against you O Lord” (Ps.139:21).  Unless you are living in the perfection of the New Jerusalem, you will not be able to be godly and anger-free. Christ certainly wasn’t. A cursory reading of Matthew 23 or a familiarity with Christ’s temple-clearing rampage will remind us that godliness includes a righteous frustration with the sin and blasphemy that is so ubiquitous in our fallen world. Speaking of “godly,” it is enlightening to note that of the 358 times the words for “anger” appear in the Scripture, over half of them are attributed to God himself. While we are obviously not in the position to respond as God would (and will) to the sin in our culture, historical accounts like that of Phinehas in Numbers 25:1-13, remind us that often we just are not angry enough at the sin and idolatry in our world. May God teach us to “be angry and sin not” (Eph.4:26).


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Love

Love is not as easy or pleasant as it sounds. It is effortless to say “I love you” but so hard to demonstrate in real life. The Bible calls Christians to love “not with words or speech but with actions and truth” (1Jn.3:18). It is not that the words are wrong, but they are certainly not enough to qualify as biblical love. And the “actions” aren’t just any benevolent actions that please the giver, they are to be specifically aimed at the well-being and benefit of the recipient. They are actions and truths that build up, encourage, correct, challenge, and meet the need of the recipient. Such actions can be difficult, involve sacrifice and are sometimes downright painful.  Consider Christ’s ultimate demonstration of love. John utilizes its example as the definition of biblical love when he writes, “This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1Jn.3:16a). But John doesn’t leave it there, he drives home the call for us to do the same: “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1Jn.3:16b).  While the world turns love into an exercise in self-gratification and sentimentality, may we as God’s people continue to love as Christ did – doing the hard work of giving ourselves for the benefit of others. That is biblical love.

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Unwholesome Talk

God’s word commands followers of Christ to “not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths” (Eph.4:29). Often the Bible gauges our spirituality by our vocabulary (Jms.3:2-12). If our words are unsavory Jesus provides the needed diagnostic when he reveals that “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” because we should learn to see that “the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart”, but “the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart” (Lk.6:45). While a case can be made that the Bible occasionally enlists graphic depictions and jarring words to awaken our minds in order to make an urgent biblical point (which English translations usually water down – e.g., Phil.3:8; Jude 23; Is.64:6, et al.), God is clear that his concern has to do with “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking” (Eph.5:4). It’s the off-color comedy, the sordid expletives and the angry outbursts of vulgarity that God says are out of place among his people. So take note of your words, and the words of others, they reveal a lot about who we are and the state of our hearts.

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Rebellious Decisions

Recently the Supreme Court summarized another decision to move our country and its laws further from biblical principles by stating that their ruling epitomized “the progress of a maturing society.” As we often see throughout biblical history in general, and the book of Judges in particular, when society sees itself “casting off the fetters” of God’s moral precepts and his just dictates, they do nothing more than set themselves up for bondage, oppression and God’s passivity. Like the rebellion of a teenage son, when nations seek to establish their “maturity” by freeing themselves from parental ethics and mores, they always do so to their own hurt. It will eventually be clear that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Pr.14:34) – “sin” defined not by the lowest common denominator of those who might be “offended”, but “sin” as defined by the Father of mankind. Unfortunately, it often takes a series of painful consequences for truly maturing teens to realize the wisdom of their parents’ forsaken rules. May that realization come quickly for us. While the church is not established for the purpose of corporately engaging in politics, it is our duty to continue to earnestly pray for “kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1Tim.2:2).

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Truthfulness

In Psalm 15 David recounts key virtues of a godly character – a kind of character that he says will experience intimacy with God. At the top of the inspired list we find the attribute of truthfulness, as we might expect. How can one claim to have intimacy with the God of truth if one does not consistently “speak the truth from his heart” (v.2)? Because the truth does not always bring us advantage in life, many have become experts at twisting, contorting and embellishing the facts. In our hearts we may know the truth of a given situation, but from our mouths comes a story that is not entirely truthful. David says there is no place for such skill among those making a claim to godliness. Even when the facts may not serve our best interest, those who experience intimacy with God will speak the truth in love without compromising an accurate reflection of reality. To walk with God we will seek to capture the essence of that medieval phrase which has become commonly known, but not commonly practiced – we will tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” May God’s Spirit help us be truthful men and women as we become more closely aligned with the heart of our Father.

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Bible Truth

As C. S. Lewis said about Jesus’ claims (i.e. he is either a lunatic, a liar or Lord), something similar could be said about the choices we face when we consider the book in which those claims are recorded. Either the Bible is a collection of error-laced letters penned by delusional authors who thought they saw and heard things that never really happened, adding interpretations of would-be events which they believed, but which had no correspondence with reality. Or the book is a shrewdly crafted hoax intended to mislead people to believe in things that the authors knew were not accurate or true. Or the Bible is a record of God’s revelation, penned by the means of honest men of sound mind who did not, and would not, embellish or distort the revelation they were conveying. The latter is precisely the claim that is repeatedly embedded throughout the record. Peter summarized, “no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2Pet.1:20-21).  If they thought God was speaking through them but he in fact was not, instead they were delusional, then we would all be wise to throw away our Bibles and run the other way!  Likewise, if the authors were trying to pull one over on us, we should be discerning enough to reject this band of liars and never again expose ourselves or our families to this kind of fraud. But if God was using them to expose his revealed truth, then we ought to be careful to read, study, memorize and meditate on their words ­for in reality then, they are the words of God (1Th.2:13).

-Pastor Mike

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Coveting

Do you covet? Most would say, “not really” or “not too often.” But I wonder how in tune we are with the presence of this subtle sin? Even when we recognize its presence in our hearts, how quick are we to minimize its gravity? It seems we will more readily admit to any of the other moral transgressions than we will to a covetous heart. We have the ability to dismiss the sinfulness of coveting with a shrug of the shoulders, while God, on the other hand, has placed its warning as a part of his centerpiece of moral prohibitions in the Ten Commandments. Christians would be wise to learn to hate coveting as much as God does. It would behoove those making a claim to godliness to ferret out those insidious and unstated feelings of displeasure about someone else’s prosperity, intelligence or beauty the way we would the temptation to murder or commit armed robbery. We would do well to declare war on our inability to honestly rejoice in the blessings of others without the fleshly addendum of “I wish I had that,” or “I’m not sure she deserves it.” God told his people to be content with what they have and to rejoice with those who rejoice not only because it honors his holy character, but also because it has profound benefits for those who obey. As we learn to grieve over our covetous hearts and cry out to God in repentance, we will find a multitude of insidious effects remedied. We might see that coveting is in fact the cause of a hundred lesser evils in our lives. We might discover afresh that a war on coveting is one of the best things we could do for our progress in sanctification. So let’s get honest about its presence and serious about its eradication. And let us look forward to the blessings that come from a heart undefiled by an enslavement to wanting what we don’t have.

-Pastor Mike

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God's Involvement

Some say that those of us who do not believe that God continues to regularly suspend natural law in our presence the way he did through the apostles and prophets in Scripture, somehow “put God in a box” or seek to diminish his work in the world. But if you think it through, it is actually quite the opposite. Those who ardently seek the supernatural alteration of “nature’s laws” are usually relegating the non-supernatural intervals to those times “between God’s work.” They imply that when God sees us “backed into a corner” he then “shows up” to bail us out or make a statement for his glory. But consider those of us who claim that God is active and at work every day, in every situation, working “everything after the counsel of his will” (Eph.1:11). We will be the ones inclined to proclaim that “his mercies are new every morning” (Lam.3:22-23) and that every day “the heavens declare the glory of God” and that “day after day they pour forth speech” (Ps.19:1-2). We will be the first to recognize that God is always working powerfully and sovereignly within the natural laws that he made, never surprised by our circumstances or the dilemmas of our lives. We will be apt to affirm that he sovereignly guides us through the challenges of our lives and that Christ indeed “is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col.1:17). There will be no doubt as we trust our wise and mighty God that “in him we live and move and have our being” (Ac.17:28).

-Pastor Mike

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God's Ownership

Living the Christian life as we ought requires that we periodically ponder the significance of the biblical statement: “You are not your own; you were bought with a price” (1Cor.6:19-20). When we recognize that God not only gives us “life and breath and everything else” (Ac.17:25), but he is actually the Owner of our very lives, it changes the way we think and the way we live. We are his by virtue of creation, but more than that, as Christians, we were actually “purchased” or redeemed by Christ and therefore we are doubly his! This should have a radical effect on the decisions we make and the lives we lead. We cannot be autonomous or self-directed about the choices we face. It really then should not be about what “we” want to do, or where “we” want to live, or about what “we” want to accomplish. The questions rather, have to do with where we choose to invest God’s man or woman – what we do with God’s body, God’s life and God’s asset (Eph.1:14). All of these choices will not only be made with great deference to the perceived desires of our Owner, but they will then be carried out with a sense of stewardship. While Christians sometimes see the use of their possessions as a stewardship, we must think more profoundly about the entirety of our lives being an act of stewardship. So be sure and consider how you direct God’s man or woman today. It is an amazing responsibility and honor! And may it be that one day we hear, “Well done good and faithful servant” (Mt.25:21).

--Pastor Mike

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Forgiveness

God’s forgiveness is complete. Because God is too pure to approve or tolerate what is evil (Hab.1:13; Ps.5:4-5; et al.), to say that we are God’s beloved children because we are accepted by God in Christ, is to make a gigantic claim that assumes that our sin problem has been totally resolved. It can only mean “total” forgiveness. To see yourself in the promise of Romans 8:1 “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” is to affirm that your connection with Christ through faith can be nothing less that 100% release from any residual trace of your sin in the files of heaven. While there may be earthly consequences, we must admit that the cross of Christ has eradicated all eternal traces of your sin that would otherwise alienate you from a perfectly holy God. The transaction which took place on the cross didn’t “help” your problem, it obliterated it! If your trust is in Christ your sin and its condemnation has been forever resolved “once and for all” (Heb.10).  When we doubt God’s forgiveness as a complete and finished work we either don’t understand the profound nature of the cross or we underestimate God’s holiness. For the Bible declares that “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Christ” (Heb.10:10). If we are made holy by God’s standards through the work of Christ then we are holy, perfectly holy. While our lives are in a process of learning to live holy (i.e., “sanctification”), our account has been cleansed by the transaction on the cross (i.e., justification). So, while you may be tempted to doubt it, fight the temptation and revel in your perfect forgiveness!

--Pastor Mike

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