Lent, Day 30: BY GRACE

Ephesians 2:1-10

We “were dead…but God…made us alive together with Christ” (vs. 1).  The past … the present.  From death to life.  From bondage to freedom. From what was, to what now is.  God has broken into our history and changed the trajectory of our lives.  Out of the “Kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:5), God has brought us to the place of grace.  And God did all of this “when we were dead in our transgressions” (vs. 5).  While we were caught up in the bondage and destruction of our relationships with “the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (vs. 2), God worked the greatest of all possible miracles.  God welcomed us into His forever family.  He welcomed us home.

As to what God has done in our lives, we can take no credit.  We didn’t earn it.  We didn’t deserve.  We didn’t merit it.  Paul says, “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (vs. 8). As the Message paraphrase says, “He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah” (vs. 5-6). The old Gospel songs says it well, 

Love of Christ so freely given;  

Grace of God beyond degree; 

Mercy higher than the heavens;  

Deeper than the deepest sea                        

                     Thoro Harris, 1931

In this Lenten Season, may the truth of God’s amazing love captivate our hearts, and open us up in greater ways to a grace and mercy and love that is beyond human comprehension.  The great British preacher, Charles Spurgeon, told of an evening when he was riding home after a taxing day at work. He felt weary and depressed, when suddenly 2 Corinthians 12:9 flashed into his thinking, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” He said, 

“I should think it is, Lord,” and burst out laughing. He said that it seemed to make unbelief so absurd. It was as though some little fish, being very thirsty, was troubled about drinking the river dry, and the river said, “Drink away, little fish, my stream is sufficient for thee.” Or, it seemed after the seven years of plenty, a mouse feared that it would die of famine, and Joseph might say, “Cheer up, little mouse, my granaries are sufficient for thee.” Or, a man away up on a mountain saying to himself, “I fear I shall exhaust all the oxygen in the atmosphere.” But the earth might say, “Breathe away, oh man, and fill thy lungs ever; my atmosphere is sufficient for thee.”  (From Streams in the Desert, Mrs. Charles Cowman)

“But God, being rich in mercy.”  This about says it all, doesn’t it. Amen.

Lent, Day 29: WHEN I AM OVERWHELMED

Psalm 143

The psalmist was going through what were, for him, horrific times.  Does that sound vaguely familiar?  How many times have you and I been in horrific times.  Sometimes life hits us so hard that it leaves us reeling in physical or emotional pain.  The psalmist describes his issues this way: “The enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground…My spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart is appalled within me” (vs. 3-4).  He was hurting and the pain was overwhelming.  What did he do?  Several things, really.  He remembered the faithfulness of God in the past.  He meditated upon the works of God.  He said, “I muse on the work of Your hands.  I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land” (vs. 5-6). 

The Season of Lent is a good time to remember that we are not yet home.  We live in what C. S. Lewis called, “a dangerous world.”  There are issues all around us seeking to undermine the reality of God in our lives.  In his 1721 song , “Am I a Soldier of the Cross,” Isaac Watts asked, “Is this vile world a friend to grace, To help me on to God?” Even though there are countless things in the world that are beautiful and wonderful, the truth is, our world is not a friend to grace.  Mr. Lewis was right, the world is a dangerous place.  It needs to be navigated very carefully and mindfully.  Curves can be thrown at us from out of the blue.  People hurt and suffer and die.  War and crime and unrest are rooted throughout the world.  We live in a very real world, and we are not yet home.

The psalmist can help us on our journey.  He helps us pray for help.  He helps us ask God to teach us and to lift up our souls (vs. 8).  He helps us to affirm our trust in God (vs. 10).  He helps us draw near God and to come within God’s loving embrace.  He helps us bring our lives to God.  Some people run away from God when things get tough.  The psalmist helps us run to God in our overwhelming circumstances. 

In His desert experience, Jesus didn’t run from danger.  He ran into the danger, faced down the enemy, trusted His Father, and came out victorious on the other side.  He turn His life and conditions over to God, and stood His ground when the enemy sought to take Him down.  In his own way, the psalmist also did this, and in the end he said to God, “I am Your servant” (vs. 12).  

This prompts me to ask myself whose servant I am.  Who do I run to in the time of trial?  How do I face the enemy of my life?  When I say I believe in God, do I really mean it?  Do I act like it?  Do I model it?  Can I honestly say to God, “You are my God…I am Your servant” (vs. 10, 12)?  

Hear these wonderful words from an anonymous writer,

Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee,  

trust Him when thy strength is small, 

Trust Him when to simply trust Him  

seems the hardest thing of all.

 Trust Him, He is ever faithful; 

Trust Him, for his will is best.

Fifth Sunday In Lent: LIFE AND PEACE

Romans 8:1-11

As followers of Jesus we are citizens of two worlds, flesh and spirit.  When we speak of the flesh, we speak of “the law of sin and death” (vs. 2).  When we speak of spirit, we speak of “the law of the Spirit of life” (vs. 2).  In Jesus we are under no obligation to live condemned by the works of our own brokenness and sin.  In fact, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (vs. 1).  

A condemnation free life!  Does this not sound wonderful and amazing, almost incomprehensible, too good to be true?  That’s why when we speak of the things of God we speak of grace and mercy and love.  Sin brings destruction and death.  Grace brings wholeness and life.  It gets even better.  Paul writes, “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (vs. 11).

In the flesh, we can live indwelled by God.  We are a resurrection people, right now, today, in our very world.  That’s why Sundays are not a part of Lent.  Sundays are in Lent but not of Lent.  Sundays are about the resurrected life of Jesus and the resurrection life He brings to us Monday through Saturday.  We are not victims in this world. We are victors.  We overcome in His overcoming.  

In Romans 8: 35-39, Paul speaks of “tribulation…distress…persecution… famine… nakedness…peril…sword,” and says of them, “in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”  He says, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What if God could come into the stuff of our lives and work in us, out of the creative capacities of His infinite and sovereign imagination, until we could become something beautiful for God? What if our humanity could actually be a vessel of the glory of God? The resurrection of Jesus says this is exactly what happens.  We do not have to live in the chains of sin.  We are invited to live in the freedom that is in Christ.  We are invited to embrace the grace of God that has come to us, and then live in that grace, a grace that is for this world and for the next.  

Join me in this great affirmation by Henry J. Zelley, from 1896.  He wrote,

Then forward still - Tis Jehovah’s will 

Tho’ the billows dash and spray. 

With a conquering tread we will push ahead; 

He’ll roll the sea away.

Lent, Day 28: HE OPENED THEIR MINDS

Luke 24:44-53

After the resurrection, and just prior to when He returned to the Father, Jesus met with the remaining eleven disciples and saw that they were unsettled, and He asked them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (vs. 38). Then He showed them His hands and feet, and the wounds in them left by the crucifixion.  He then explained to them that all the things written about Him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets had to be fulfilled. He reviewed with them His suffering and resurrection and that “repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations” (vs. 46-47).  He remined them that they were “witness of these things” and that He was going to send upon them “the promise of the Father” and they would be “clothed with power from on high” (vs. 48), to enable them to accomplish the mission given to them.

In all these things, Luke says that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (vs. 45).  I think we really do need to hear these editorial words from Luke.  Spiritual things are spiritually appraised, and the natural mind simply can’t understand them.  

Jesus makes no sense to those who minds are not yet opened to His reality.  This is why we can’t afford to attempt to tell the story of Jesus in our own strength and abilities.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work of God in the world.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit to live faithfully for God and to experience all that God might have for us.

He opened their minds.  I need to hear this for my own life.  Spiritual things don’t come naturally to me, and I’m still amazed that God loves me and is working in my life.  

What God has done for all of us in Jesus is absolutely breathtaking and marvelous.  However, if Jesus doesn’t open a persons’ mind to understand and grasp the meaning of it all, it simply remains as an unopened gift.  

I am learning that it isn’t about what may or may not be natural to me.  It is about the grace of God, and what God is seeking to do in human experience.  God is with us in Jesus, and will reveal Himself to us if we will allow it.  He will soften our hearts to hear the truth and to accept it.  He will work the works of His grace and love and truth and mercy into us, and we will stand amazed at how good God is.

On this day in Lent, I pray that God will open my mind to His word.  I have friends whose minds, I pray, will be opened by Jesus.  We dare not trust our own insights and viewpoints.  We need the mind of the Lord, and in ways I can’t even begin to understand, “we have the mind of Christ” (I Corinthian s 2:16).  I just pray I will be a good listener, an honest seeker after God’s truth, and an open, fully engaged, Believer in whom God may do whatever He wants to do.

Lent, Day 27: THE GOD OF GREAT GRACE

Ezekiel 33:10-16

Some of the people of Israel, well aware of their sins, were saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive? (vs. 10).  An honest, self-awareness, is the first step to healing and health and hope.  It was admirable on the part of the people to take this first step.  To this step God responded, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (vs. 11).  God took the initiative then and said, “Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!” (vs. 11).  

Truth is that our God is a reaching-out God.  He brings renewal to anyone and everyone who will turn away from sin and turn to God.  God is not a hard taskmaster, but a Shepherd who loves the sheep of His pasture.  God is always reaching out in redemptive love to bring people into the place of safety and healing and wholeness.  God is more ready to forgive than we are to ask for forgiveness.  

Do you want to change your life, maybe your part of the world?  The first step is to turn to God.  If you are reading this, then most likely you have already taken this step.  The second step is to start living out the meaning of the first step.  God says of the person who turns to Him, “None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him.  He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live” (vs. 16).  “He has practiced justice and righteousness.”  That’s how you change your life and your world, “Practice justice and righteousness.”

Spiritual things are very personal, aren’t they?  Yet, in a very real way, they are social.  To turn to God is to turn to justice and righteousness.  It’s not simply about personal piety; it is also about works of mercy.  It is about being an ambassador of Christ in the world.  In the economy of God, others matter deeply.  Years ago, the Salvation Army was holding an international convention and their founder, Gen. William Booth, could not attend because of physical weakness. He cabled his convention message to them. It was one word: "OTHERS."  

Others!  Jesus said, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39).  He also said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).  To know God is to love God and others.  It is to “treat people the same way you want them to treat you” (Matt. 7:12).  

In this Season of Lent, may God help us to examine our hearts so that our love for God will be expressed in our love for others.  The world needs a good dose of justice and righteousness.  God help us to be His ambassadors in the world.

Lent, Day 26: WAITING AND HOPING

Psalm 130

I once read about a speedboat driver who had survived a racing accident. He said that he had been at top speed when his boat veered slightly and hit a wave at a dangerous angle. The combined force of his speed and the size and angle of the wave sent the boat spinning out of control into the air. He was thrown from his seat and propelled deeply into the water; so deep, in fact, he had no idea which direction the surface was. He had to remain calm and wait for the buoyancy of his life vest to begin pulling him up. Once he discovered which way was up, he could swim for the surface. 

Sometimes, I think we are living in an age that doesn’t know which way is up, and that it is furiously fighting to find a way through.  Maybe this is a condition of humanity that must be corrected, or the outcome will not be lovely. Isn’t it true that sometimes we find ourselves so surrounded by confusion and anger and countless options, that it is difficult to know which way is up?  Ancient Israel sure had her problems.  It seems that with her own heart of rebellion and the hostility of their neighbors all around them, she was drowning in the chaos, and didn’t know which way was up.   

Fortunately, God raised up prophets and poets to draw them back to the heart of God.  One of the poems is contained in Psalm 130, where the poet leads the people in worship calling them to draw near and remember their God.  When they were in the depths of life, he called them to cry to God and to ask for help and hope and forgiveness.  He called them not to panic but to “wait” (vs. 5-6).  In the waiting, he called them to never lose “hope,” but to remember the “lovingkindness” and “abundant redemption of God” (vs. 7).

You may be out in “the depths,” the thought of survival is a million miles away, and you’re wondering if you’ll get through it.  If you are, don’t panic.  Remember the “lovingkindness” and “abundant redemption” of your God.  Pour out your “supplications” (vs. 2) to your God, and trust.  Wait.  Pray.  Cry to God.  Hang on because you can be sure that God is hanging on to you. 

There is an old adage that says, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” That may be true, but some of us simply aren’t that tough, especially when we’re going down for the third time.  I think a better adage is, “When the going gets tough, the wise person turns everything over to God, trusts the faithfulness of God, hopes in the promises of God, doesn’t panic, and takes hold of the hand that has already taken hold of theirs.”

What is that old promise of God?  “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13).  Trust God, and do what His Word calls for you to do.  God “takes hold of your right hand and says…I will help you.”

Lent, Day 25: WHO IS THIS MAN?

Matthew 9:27-34

When the Pharisees saw what Jesus was doing, they concluded that the devil was among the people.  They said, “He casts out the demons by the rule of the demons” (vs. 34).

Two blind men cried out to Jesus for mercy and he gave them back their sight.  The conclusion?  “He cast out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”  A mute who was demon-possessed was brought to Jesus, and Jesus cast out the demon and gave the man back his life.  The conclusion?  “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”  No gratitude.  No thanksgiving.  No celebration.  None of this, just the conclusion that the devil was among the people in Jesus.

In I Corinthians 2:14, the apostle Paul wrote, “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” Perhaps this is why so many people just cannot believe in Jesus.  They are blinded for whatever the reason, and they simply do not see God’s great grace at work in the world.

When will we learn?  Martin Luther King Jr said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  The enemy of our souls isn’t about healing; Jesus is about healing.  The enemy could care less if we are blind or demon-possessed.  It matters deeply to Jesus, and Jesus is the Great Physician.  

What do you see when you look into the eyes of Jesus Darkness?  Hope?  What do you see?  More than this, though, who do you really see?  Someone who lives in the power of “the ruler of the demons”?  Someone who has greater power than “the ruler of the demons”?  Someone who couldn’t care less about you and your loved ones, or someone who cares profoundly for you and your loved ones? 

The philosopher, Henri Bergson said, “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”  This makes me look deep within my own mind to see what I am really prepared to comprehend.  I know me, and I need to slow down sometimes, open my ears and eyes, close my mouth, observe and listen.  I think sometimes in the past I have missed Jesus when He was very present.  I simply didn’t see Him.  I didn’t hear Him.  Sadly, I didn’t recognize this until much later.  Grace was staring me down, and I saw only pain and frustration and confusion.  So sad.

If you need to, would you join me again at the altar of God in this Lenten Season, and seek to listen more closely, to see more clearly, and to ask God to give us spiritual eyes and ears, so that we might be able to spiritually appraise what is in front of us?

Lent, Day 24: KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT MATTERS MOST

Colossians 1:9-14

We all seek knowledge, don’t we?  Chances are, all of us are seeking to learn and grow and develop in some area of life, maybe in many areas of life.  I am told that there is an Arabic proverb which says, 

He that knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool: shun him. He that knows not and knows that he knows not is a child: teach him. He that knows and knows not that he knows is asleep: wake him. He that knows and knows that he knows is a wise man: follow him.

I am intrigued that in many of the prayers of the apostle Paul for the early Church, he prayed that the Believers would “be filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (vs. 9).  Most likely, this is a lifetime journey of learning the will of God, and seeking to live faithfully to it.  

Being a Christian isn’t a short sprint; it’s a lifelong journey. It is a wonderful walk of learning what it means to be a child of God, to live in Jesus the Messiah, and to be filled with the glories of the Holy Spirit. Paul wanted the Church to be filled with the knowledge of God so that the people would know how to “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (vs. 10).  Paul’s reasoning behind all this was based on the fact that God “rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (vss. 13-14).

We Believers are a redeemed people, finding our lives in the grace and mercy and love and truth of God.  One thing we can count on here is the faithfulness of God.  In I John 1:5, the apostle writes of our God and says, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”  There is a lot of darkness around us, and sometimes the darkness is so overwhelming that one has to be very focused and mindful in order not to get lost in the darkness.  In times like these, and I’ve had a few for sure, the one thing that has held me steady is the fact that “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.”  

I remember when the doctor announced to me that I had cancer that needed immediate attention, and surgery.  With this staggering announcement, I found myself anchored with King David in Psalm 32:14-15, when after listing awful things that were going on around him, prayed, “But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, ‘You are my God.” My times are in Your hand.”  I remember the sense of a deep settled peace that came upon me with the doctors evaluation.  This is huge, because you need to know that I am no super saint.  I am a very real man, with very real weaknesses and shortcomings.  The peace was a gift from the God in whom there is no darkness. That’s my story.  What’s yours?  

As you and I journey toward Good Friday and Easter Sunday, may we seek to know God, as much as it is possible to know God in this world.

Lent, Day 23: RESPONSIBLE TRUST

Psalm 146

We need leaders everywhere don’t we – in our homes, schools, businesses, governments, the Church.  We can never overestimate the need for good leaders.  At the same time, we ought always to remember that people are people, and they come with blind-spots and prejudices and weaknesses.  At our best, we are not perfect.  This led the Psalmist to write, “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation” (vs. 3).  

The truth of matter is that human beings need God, leaders and followers alike.  People can, and will, let us down.  We most likely have let others down, from time to time.  It is not wise to overvalue any person’s leadership.  Support leadership, yes.  Believe in our leaders, yes.  Pray for our leaders, yes.  Just, don’t think more highly of them than we ought to think.  After all, the psalmist says, our leaders will not always be our leaders.  In time, “his spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish” (vs. 4).

The psalmist calls us to put our trust in God, the God “who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry” (vss. 6-7).  These words raise God to His proper place in history.  It is when human beings lean on human beings for the most important things in life that things go wrong, especially when they forget God, and lean on their own understanding.

I remember a story about a bishop in the early 20th century.  He announced from his pulpit and in the periodical he edited, that heavier-than-air flight was both impossible and contrary to the will of God. Oops.  Bishop Wright had two sons, who apparently didn’t get the message, Orville and Wilbur!  As I’ve think about this event, I am reminded that people many times, gets things wrong.  

Consider these things from wonderful leaders, scientist, and thinkers.  In 1923 physicist, Robert Milliken wrote, “There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.”  

In 1946, producer Darryl Zanuck (20^th Century Fox) said, “Television won’t last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”  In 1943 IBM’s Thomas Watson said, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”  In 1981 Bill Gates said, “640K ought to be enough memory for anybody.”  In 1865 the Boston Post wrote, “Well-informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value.”

In the season of Lent, let’s remember that man is not God.  Sometimes men get it right and sometimes they get it wrong.  We need to be careful.  It is our God in whom we should have absolute trust. “How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob; whose hope is in the LORD his God” (vs. 5).

4th Sunday in Lent: A DIVINE WAKE-UP CALL

Ephesians 5:6-14

Breaking again into the Lenten Season, comes the glories of Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus.  It is glorious because it shines the Light of Jesus on the issues of a broken and hurting world.  The light shines brightly and truthfully, in a world where people seem to love darkness more than light and where falsehood seems to find a way in the ebb and flow of things (see John 3:19).

Every Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the fact that He is Lord of lords and King of kings.  Death could not hold Him.  Our sins had no ultimate authority over Him.  Darkness was overwhelmed by His Light.  Destructive reality was overcome by the Life-giving reality of the Messiah.  When life had thrown its worst at Jesus, He took the blow and rose up from the grave.  As the old song says, 

Death cannot keep its prey,  Jesus my Savior; 

he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!   

Up from the grave He arose.

                                               (Robert Lowry, 1874)

Because our Messiah is Lord of lords and King of kings, having revealed His character in the Resurrection, we are a resurrection people.  Jesus defines us.  Jesus lifts us up to live in powerful ways we could not imagine if left to ourselves.  It’s not as if we will not have problems in the world; we will.  It is, however, that Jesus has overcome the world.  We overcome in His overcoming.  

As we walk through the Lenten Season, don’t get lost on the journey. The journey has a destination – the Resurrection of Jesus.  Yet, on the journey, let’s reflect, and search our hearts, and clean out any cobwebs we might have hanging around in our lives.  Remember the humble and transparent and open heart of the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 139:23-24?  It might be a good day to pray it for ourselves again,

Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life. (MSG)

We are able to pray this kind of prayer because of what Jesus provides us in His death and resurrection.  Let’s not diminish the work of Jesus, but draw near to God and seek to be humble, transparent, and open to what God seeks to do in our lives.

Lent, Day 22: GOD IS WITH US

Psalm 23 

¹The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. ³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no ^]evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.⁶ Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord ^]forever.

Most of us have quoted or read this great psalm of King David so often it might have become too familiar.  If so, in this we have forfeited too much.  This psalm reflects the great grace of God even back in the Old Testament, and we ought not miss it.

The New International Reader's Version translates verse one as, “The Lord is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need.”  How could that ever get old?  This changes everything in our lives, doesn’t it?  Within this reality, all of life comes within the provision of God.  He gives us what we most need.  He leads, restores, and guides us.  God is with us even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, (valley of deep darkness).  He brings us inner peace when the enemy is all around us. He anoints our heads with the oil of His Holy Spirit so much so that our “cup brims with blessing” (vs. 5, MSG).

  

“The Lord is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need.”  What a tremendous statement of faith and trust in God.  

Would you pray this prayer with me? 

O God, let me know you and love you so that I may find my joy in you; and if I cannot do so fully in this life, let me at least make some progress every day, until at last that knowledge, love and joy come to me in all their plenitude.  While I am here on earth let me learn to know you better, so that in heaven I may know you fully; let my love for you grow deeper here, so that there I may love you fully.  On earth then I shall have great joy in hope, and in heaven complete joy in fulfillment of my hope. (St. Anselm, 1033–1109)

May we humble ourselves before our God so that who He is will be made manifest in our daily lives.  May we find our lives in His Life.

Lent, Day 21: HONORING OUR GOD

Ephesians 5:1-10

In an age of sarcasm, criticism, name-calling, cynicism, scorn and disdain, how do we people of Jesus live?  Hopefully, above the fray.  In today’s reading, the apostle Paul brings clarity to the question.

As to what not to do, Paul tells us there is to be no immorality or impurity or greed; no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting; no coveting and no empty words.  As to what to do, Paul tells us to “be imitators of God,” to “walk in love,” and to give “thanks.”   A contrasting worldview, for sure.  The way of Jesus is a way of honor, dignity, and powerful, positive ethics.

My dad was not a demanding dad.  He loved us three kids, and he expected us to behave and to be honorable.  He worked so very hard to provide for his family.  He was a godly man, who was in church on Sundays and when Bible studies were offered.  He was not a legalist, however.  He never pushed and shoved, and was known for his honesty and integrity.  As a result, even though I had my issues, I never wanted to disappoint my dad.  He never set me down and said, “Now, don’t disappoint me.”  I supposed it was his character that spoke deeply into my heart, and led me to want to please that man.  

This seems to be what the apostle Paul is saying.  It’s as if Paul says, “knowing what you know about God, imitate God.  Live a life of love.  Don’t get down in the gutter, get out of the darkness, and live in the light because “you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light” (vs. 8).  Live up to your calling.  Pursue “goodness and righteousness and truth” (vs. 9).  Don’t be a part of the problem in the world.  Live in Christ and bring grace and truth and peace into your relationships.

In the age of social media, and the vitriol that appears on Television, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, the Lord knows somebody needs to change the narrative.  At least, those who name the name of Jesus should reflect the love of the Father and the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit.  In an age where pride is taken in putting people in their place, embarrassing them, shaming them, ridiculing them, calling them names, God help you and me not to be caught up in that insanity.  

  

Instead, perhaps we ought to remember that we are people of the cross, and that from the cross Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24).  I’m not sure there is a lot of forgiving going around these days.  Maybe in this Lenten Season, we just need to fall our knees and ask God to help us to live with the dignity and honor of being children of God, followers of Jesus, and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.  

Father, God, live in us so that who You are will be seen in who we are.  Amen.

Lent, Day 20: LET LOVE ABOUND

Ephesians 4:25-32

The apostle Paul is calling the Church to a new way of being, a new way of thinking and acting in the world.  In Christ, Believers are called to “lay aside the old self,” to “be renewed in the spirit’ of their “mind,” and to “put on the new self” (Eph. 4: 22,-24).  It is a way of living that is defined not by what the world systems think but on the love and mercy and grace of God.

In the economy of God, falsehood is unacceptable and truth is honored, angered is to be harnessed, stealing is wrong, and unwholesome words are not allowed.  Along with these matters, “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander and…malice,” are to be jettisoned from one’s life.  In their place, Believers are called to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other.” 

The way of Jesus is high and noble.  The natural mind most likely will not embrace this high and noble way.  People live caught up in their own ways, and the ways of Jesus undermines them too much.  Even many Believers can’t seem to adapt to the ways of Jesus.  I know I have to watch my own life.  

I grew up being taught that every day we should put everything about our lives on the altar. I still believe this.  This is one of the reasons I love the Lenten season.  During these days I am called to face the real me and to climb up again on to the altar of God, where I belong.  I don’t trust myself.  I need purposefully to slow down, re-evaluate, look deep within, and open my heart to God.  I can be too easily distracted; a very dangerous place to be for one who seeks to be a man of God.

The apostle Paul helps me here.  He helps me focus on my inner life, to take my spiritual pulse, and to seek to keep my heart pure before God.  This is the place I want to be because in Jesus we have “the Light of the world” in whom we “have the Light of life” (John 8:12).  The Light comes into our lives and lavishes the grace of God on us (see Eph. 1:7-8).  

What Paul describes in Ephesians chapter four is the kind of quality that life can take upon itself when it is lived in Jesus.  It is a life of wholeness and peace.  It edifies the other and keeps us honest about ourselves.  It opens up the heart of God’s love in us and creates the possibility of healthy and wholesome relationships.  

Healthy and wholesome relationship!  Isn’t that a great idea? 

 I think of the words of Richard Gillard’s song, 

We are pilgrims on a journey;  

we are family on the road. 

We are here to help each other  

walk the mile and bear the load.

Lent, Day 19: QUENCHING THE INNERMOST-BEING THIRST

John 7:37-39

The season of Lent is a good time to ask a question: Have you ever been thirsty, I mean, really thirsty.  I have.  I remember playing football in high school, in the San Joaquin valley of California.  In those days, we were not allowed to drink water in practice, no matter how thirsty we got.  Thankfully, those days have changed.  After practice, I would be so dehydrated that I would stand under the shower in the locker room and guzzle water down.  All the other players did, too.  It was not healthy but it was the way it was done.  

I think about this when it comes to spiritual things.  When I look around my world it seems to me that men and women are thirsty for something more.  They look in countless places to assuage the thirst, but the never ending search goes on.  

When I was a freshmen in college I discovered a poem that haunts me.  I find it to be too real.  It is a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson. The song "Richard Cory", written by Paul Simon and recorded by Simon & Garfunkel for their second studio album, Sounds of Silence (1966), was based on this poem.  Here are the words of the poem.

Whenever Richard Cory went down town, 

We people on the pavement looked at him: 

He was a gentleman from sole to crown, 

Clean favored, and imperially slim.  

And he was always quietly arrayed, 

And he was always human when he talked; 

But still he fluttered pulses when he said, 

"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.  

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king— 

And admirably schooled in every grace: 

In fine, we thought that he was everything 

To make us wish that we were in his place.  

So on we worked, and waited for the light, 

And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; 

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, 

Went home and put a bullet through his head.

In contrast, Hear the words of Jesus, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me…from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” 

To this I say, “Thank God, for the refreshing water of Life.” 

Lent, Day 18: THE ROCK WAS CHRIST

I Corinthians 10:1-4

In The Message paraphrase of I Corinthians 10:1-4, Eugene Peterson gives us what is almost a commentary on this text.  The Message reads,

Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea. They went through the waters, in a baptism like ours, as Moses led them from enslaving death to salvation life. They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God. They drank from the Rock, God’s fountain for them that stayed with them wherever they were. And the Rock was Christ. 

The apostle Paul believed that even in ancient Israel, all the way back to Egypt and Moses and the Exodus, God was at work in Christ.  There is a wonderful story about a time when the people were thirsty for water, and God told Moses to strike a rock, and when he did, water flowed out to satisfy their thirst (see Exodus 17:6). Water from a rock is a strange event, but this rock wasn’t about a rock, it was about the Rock, Jesus Christ;  grace in the desert; God meeting needs in an impossible place; provision in the place of desert heat.  

And the past becomes present in the life of Jesus today.  In ancient Israel, even though the people couldn’t see it, they were safe in the arms of Jesus.  God was there, step-by-step, leading and guiding and protecting, but the people did not have a heart for God, and time after time, they walked away from the Source of their salvation.  They walked themselves away from Hope, to the place of anger and hostility and rebellion. 

Paul calls to mind the past so that he can teach Believers, in the present, never to forget from whence they come.  “Remember our history, friends, and be warned.”  Remember who you are when left to your own devices. Remember how easy it is to take your eyes off Jesus and get caught up in the desert heat around you.  When you are thirsty, and you will get thirsty, don’t run to the nearest fountain; run to the fountain of grace.  Run to the renewal of God.  Run to the rock which is “Christ, the messiah” (vs. 4).  Remember, and maybe pray, 

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,  

let me hide myself in thee;  

let the water and the blood,  

from thy wounded side which flowed,  

be of sin the double cure;  

save from wrath and make me pure. 

                 (Augustus Toplady, 1776)                            

Lent, Day 17: LET GOD BE PRAISED

Psalm 81

Worship is never just about feeling good in God’s presence.  Worship is about hearing God’s Word, responding to it, embracing it to our hearts, and then being caught up into a life of obedience and ongoing praise.  So, Asaph gets us thinking in Psalm 81.  

In this worship psalm, celebration and praise are ignited.  The people are called to remember the powerful grace of God that delivered them from Egypt and the harsh realities of the pharaoh.  They are reminded that in the past, under the leadership of Moses, God’s people, “did not listen” to his voice (see vs. 11).  They had refused to go with God.  He had called them to be free of strange and foreign gods, and to live for Him, the LORD, Yahweh, who brought them up out of Egypt, with a promise of blessings and continual guidance, but they would have nothing to do with it.

So, in worship, the people remember.  They look back, reflect, examine their own hearts, and hopefully, “listen” to God’s voice this time, and commit again to live in obedience to His delivering, sustaining, and empowering will. Sadly, Israel continued to have its ups-and-downs.  They would draw near to God and then move away again.  They would seek His face and then turn from His ways.  They wanted the blessings of God’s covenant with them, but didn’t want to live in a covenant relationship with God.  

Now, Fast forward to 2020.  Fast forward to your life and mine.  Fast forward into our stories.  Are we faithful?  Do we too easily slip away from the embrace of God?  Do we set up shrines to our own gods? May it not be said of us, as God said of ancient Israel, “My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me.  So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices” (vs. 11-12).  

Sadly, too often I have walked in my “own devices,” and the mess created has been less than pretty.  How about you?  I have learned, by God’s patient grace that life in His embrace is much better than life in my mess.  Maybe that’s why worship with fellow believers means so much to me.  We gather and greet and laugh and hug and shake hands and give high-fives, and sing and pray and hear God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit, somehow, someway, creates within us a deep and abiding hunger to live in God.  Not only does He give us the hunger, God gives us the power to get out of and to stay out of the mess.

So, my fellow believers, “Sing for joy to God our strength; shout joyfully…raise a song, strike the timbrel…blow the trumpet” (vss. 1-3).  Let there be no strange god among us.  Let there be no foreign god among us. Let us listen to God’s voice and obey His will for us.  Let us walk in God’s ways, and let God be God in our midst.  

Praise my soul, the King of heaven;  

To His feet your tribute bring. 

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,  

evermore His praises sing.                            

                              -- Henry F. Lyte, 1834