In Luke 13:22-30 Jesus shares a parable and talks to the listeners about what the parable means. The teaching event began with someone getting Jesus’ attention and asking Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved”” (vs. 23).

This question probably arose in the person's heart because of the hard sayings Jesus had be giving to the people. In chapter twelve Jesus had spoken of the cost of being a disciple. The commitment required an act of obedience that could potentially lead to division in some relationships. Some people would not understand why a friend or family member would turn to Jesus, and the act of doing so would lead to hostility and conflict on their part.

To follow Jesus was a call to give one’s whole life into the hands of God, not holding back anything, and knowing some people would not understand. So, in the eyes of someone witnessing it all, to follow Jesus was demanding, so demanding that he thought that maybe there would just be a few people who would dare take up their cross and follow Jesus!

Jesus didn’t directly answer his question. Instead he got the person thinking about the kingdom of God. He spoke of the fact that some people would just never get it but that others from all over the world, “east and west and north and south” would come into the kingdom and “recline at the table in the kingdom of God” (vs. 29).

The question the man asked was too narrow. The kingdom is huge, and the invitation is to all. “whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely” (Rev. 17b KJV).

“Whosoever.” What a mighty, wonderful, and awesome God we serve.

WITH GOD’S HELP

Because our faith in God means so very much to us if God is not at the center of our story, by default, we become the center of the story, dependent upon the mortal and finite capacity of our own little worldview. And, truthfully, this way of life leaves a lot to be desired.

In Jesus we are stretched to think outside our worldview, to think the thoughts of God as revealed in His awesome deeds in Jesus.

In Jesus we are brought into the Kingdom of God where the ways and means of God permeate all things.

In Jesus we become “I can” people. Life doesn’t have to do us in. We can face life and live in the power of God.

All these things being said, I am thinking that we ought to begin and end every dream, every work, every event, every process, and every aspiration with a prayer that says, “WITH GOD’S HELP.”

With God’s help I will undertake this thing.

With God’s help I will pursue this dream.

With God’s help I will undertake this work.

With God’s help I shall be faithful to His work in the church.

Remember what the angel said to the virgin Mary as he was explaining to here what was going to happen in her womb? He said to her, “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). And, Mary believed him, and off to the home of Elizabeth she ran to tell her the remarkable story (Luke 1:3945).

The incarnate ministry of God in history began with the promise, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” There might be a lot impossible with us, but with our God nothing is impossible.

So, with God’s help I will do what I must do.

With God’s help I will be what He has called me to be.

With God’s help I will be faithful.

With God’s help I will follow Jesus wherever He leads me.

With God’s help I shall ______________________.

In Colossians chapter three the apostle Paul shares twelve quality characteristics that are present when Jesus lives in a human heart. It’s quite a list: Compassion (12), Kindness (12), Humility (12), Gentleness (12), Patience (12), Bearing with one another (13), Forgiving each other (13), Love, which is the perfect bond of unity (14), The Peace of Christ (15), Thankfulness (15), The Word of God (16), Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (17).

As I read this list I can’t help but pray, ”Give me Jesus.” If these are the kinds of things He brings to a life, then I give Him my life. I’m in hook, line, and sinker. It’s no turning back for me.

By way of contrast look at some of the ways and characteristics that fill the world: It’s quite a list: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech (5, 8).

When I read this list I can’t help but pray, ‘give me Jesus.” If He wants to lift me out of that kind of stuff, I give Him my life, no turning back.

In a sense this is how the church finds itself in the world. In Christ, we are brought into a new and living community where everybody is somebody and Jesus is Lord; or, as Paul says in verse 11, “Christ is all, and in all.” This community is one where barriers are broken down and people really do live with each other in peace.

Paul says it doesn’t matter what our background is because in Christ we blend into each other and become brothers and sisters. We become a community defined by twelve quality characteristics that define us as a people and enable us as witnesses of Jesus.

Church. What a great idea! What a great miracle! Welcome home.

Handling Criticism of Your Faith


In Psalm 42:3 there is a poignant moment where the writer is taking heat because of his faith in God. He is going through a very difficult time when his critics and detractors mock him, saying, “Where is your God?”

A part of being a believer in God, particularly those who follow Jesus, is to recognize that many people just don’t get it. Some of these detractors will come even from within the ranks of what we call “the Church.” They will seek to undermine your view and beliefs all in the name of their view and beliefs. Others, who have no room for God, will play the role of judge, jury and executioner. They have their beliefs and won’t rest until they see you writhing in pain on the floor, your beliefs having been ripped out of you by their arguments. These folks might be your work associates, a professor, a neighbor, or from a thousand other sources set on the demise of your faith.

What do you do when your faith is attacked? Some say we must have equally strong intellectual arguments to rebuff the assaults. This is probably true. The apostle Paul told Timothy that he needed to be diligent to present himself approved to God…accurately handling the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:16). In I Peter 3:15 believers are counseled, “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you…”

There is another part of the story, however, that needs to be affirmed. You know what Christ has done for you. You know the difference He has made and is making in your life. The apostle Paul witnessed to Timothy by saying, “I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him” (2 Tim. 1:12).

Some people in your world will fuss and fume about your faith connection with Jesus. Let them. That’s their issue, not yours. Don’t give them unwarranted access to your mind, your faith or your will. You know what Jesus has done for you. And, as Paul said to the Corinthian Christians, don’t “be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3).

The love Jesus has for you and the love you have for him calls you to trust His integrity to keep His word. He said, “I am with you always…Come to Me…Learn from Me…You will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 28:20, 11:28-30). When the heat is on, and it will be at times, trust the One who died for you as opposed to the one who would destroy what has been so profoundly important to you, simply because they have a different view. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). What does that say about your critics and detractors? Not much except that they are on the wrong side of God’s grace and mercy. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Jesus says to us today, as He said it to His first disciples, that in Him we have peace. He said, “in the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Don’t try to win every argument because some people cannot hear the truth. Just take courage, trust in Jesus, tell the truth, and leave the results to God. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ and remember there is nothing in all creation that is able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

BROKEN CHORDS WILL VIBRATE ONCE MORE
Rick Savage

A man who has greatly influenced my Christian journey was a Roman Catholic Priest from Belgium by the name of Henri Nouwen. He had reached the summit of academic excellence and held teaching positions at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard. (The following quotes by Nouwen are found in, In the Name of Jesus (Crossroads: New York, 1989), Yet, his academic success and his twenty-five years of priesthood left him, he said,

Praying poorly, living somewhat isolated from other people, and very much preoccupied with burning issues. Everyone was saying that I was doing really well, but something inside was telling me that my success was putting my own soul in danger.

Isn't that an intriguing thought? Putting my own soul in danger. Nouwen began to struggle with these issues. He said,

I began to ask myself whether my lack of contemplative prayer, my loneliness, and my constantly changing involvement in what seemed most urgent were signs that the Spirit was gradually being suppressed. It was very hard for me to see clearly, and though I never spoke about hell or only jokingly so, I woke up one day with the realization that I was living in a very dark place and that the term 'burnout' was a convenient psychological translation for a spiritual death.

In the midst of all these things Nouwen was invited by a man named Jean Vanier, the founder of the L'Arche communities for mentally handicapped people to, as he said, "Go and live among the poor in spirit, and they will heal you." And so it was that Nouwen left the elitist world of Ivy league education and, moved from Harvard to L'Arche, from people he said, "wanting to rule the world, to men and women who had few or no words and were considered, at best, marginal to the needs of our society." Nouwen says this about his move to L'Arche.

The first things that struck me when I came to live in a house with mentally handicapped people was that their liking or disliking me had absolutely nothing to do with any of the many useful things I had done until them. Since no body could read my books, they could not impress anyone, and since most of them never went to school, my twenty years at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard did not provide a significant introduction. My considerable ecumenical experience proved even less valuable. When I offered some meat to one of the assistants during dinner, one of the handicapped men said to me, "Don't give him meat, he doesn't eat meat, he's a Presbyterian."

Henri Nouwen passed away a few years ago and I still grieve the loss, but I will always read his books and I will always remember this one paragraph. Speaking again of the move to L'Arche Nouwen says,

This experience was...the most important experience of my new life, because it forced me to rediscover my true identity. These broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self--the self that can do things, show things, prove things, build things--and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.


I believe this is what Jesus wants to do in His Church. He wants His people to lay aside, in their inner most being, the paraphernalia of success and greatness and reclaim the unadorned self in which we are completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.

In the Church of Jesus Christ everybody is somebody and the love of Jesus is the very air we breathe. The love He pours into our lives is the love we pour into each other's lives. The love of God in us is a healing, restoring, reinvigorating love. It's the love people most need. It is the love of which the Good News of the Gospel is made. It is the only love that has a real chance of making a different in the human heart.

Back in 1869 Fanny Crosby wrote a song that is still in our hymnbook today. I hope they never stop including it in the updating process of the hymnal just because of verse three of the song. It says,

Down in the human heart,
Crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.
Touched by a loving heart,
Wakened by kindness,
Chords that are broken will vibrate once more.
Rescue the perishing;
Care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful;
Jesus will save.
(Rescue the Perishing" by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869)

This Jesus is the very air we breathe. May the fellowship we share together in Him be the kind in which "chords that are broken will vibrate once more.

The apostle Paul never asked this question directly but he could have, “What are you doing with your life?” Good question isn’t it? Am I giving my life to things that are destructive or am I giving my life to doing good (see (Gal. 6:8). It seems the choice is mine when it comes to me and yours when it comes to you.

Paul calls us to sow to the Spirit of God knowing that in the end to do so means to reap “eternal life” (vs. 8). The journey of being of the Spirit can be long and hard sometimes, however. We can get tempted to be discouraged, tempted to grow weary. Not everybody who really matters to us will be as excited about God as we are, and sometimes they can apply pressure that bears down on us and tempts us to “lose heart” (vs. 9). It can get very lonely out there when something like this happens.

Still, when we walk with God we walk with a certainty and a confidence that continually affirms us in our relationship with God. We know what God has done for us. We know how much Jesus means to us. Pressure may come but pressure is not lord of our lives. Jesus is Lord. So, Paul’s counsel to us is “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (vs. 9).

Remember, too, that we are people of the cross. What Jesus provides for us because of His atoning sacrifice is greater than any pressure that may come. In Him, we’ve let the old things of our lives go and we have taken upon ourselves a new life, a life bought and paid for on the cross of Calvary. Now we participate in something no less than “a new creation” (vs. 15).

My brothers and sisters in Christ stay encouraged. Don’t grow weary. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Let God be God in your life. Be blessed by Amazing Grace.

Hebrews 10:23 says, "let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." I understand this "hope" to be the relationship we have in Christ which will lead us finally to that time when we "will receive what he has promised" (Heb. 10:36), "a kingdom that cannot be shaken" (Heb. 12:28). Jesus said he was going to the Father's house, in which there were many rooms and that while there, He was going to prepare a place for his people (John 14:1-3). The hope to which we are to "hold unswervingly" is taking us to that place, heaven, the place of promise, the unshakable kingdom, where we will be with Jesus Christ forever.

However, is the Christian life only about tomorrow, and what will be? I think not. Hebrews 13:5 reminds us of the commitment of our God who said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." The fact is "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb. 13:8), and as He will be with us on that final day to take us to the heaven He has prepared, He is with us now.

There is a good word in Hebrews 7:25. It says that Jesus "is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." Did you know that Jesus is talking to God about you and that He talks to God as your advocate. Right now, today, in this very world, Jesus stands with you as your saving and interceding Companion. You have no better friend in your life situation than Jesus. He is so powerfully present that who He is in you, you have as "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Heb. 6:19).

Did you catch it? An anchor for the soul! Right now, in your life, in your work, in your relationships, in your home, in your pain, in your frustrations, in your successes and victories, in your personal world -- an ANCHOR of the soul. Right now! Today! This very moment. Jesus, the HOPE.

There is a wonderful phrase used by the apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28 that is awesome. He speaks there to the church and says, "You are all one in Christ Jesus." The story of every believer is unique because people come from all sorts of backgrounds. In Galatians Paul speaks of the backgrounds of Jewish faith and of Gentiles ~~ You can't get much different than this. Jews came out of a very defined religious structure while many gentiles came out of no faith at all. Now, in the church they connect up as brothers and sisters.

Paul goes further. He says in verse 28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female…" In Christ Jesus we "are all one."

In the church every one is invited into the place of equality, equality rooted in the life of Jesus. No one is superior and no one is inferior. We are ONE. Wealth doesn't buy power in the church and poverty does not keep one away from the place of authority and influence. We are ONE. Healthy or ill, we are ONE. Red, yellow, black or white, we are ONE. Jesus died for the world and when people step out of the world into the community of Jesus they become "Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise" (vs. 29).

In Christ strangers become friends and enemies become colleagues. Differences become blurred in the church as the life of Jesus blends into and permeates everything. In Christ we become sons and daughter of God. So it is that we become brothers and sisters; we become family. In a grace that will most likely never be fully understood Jesus stepped into our story one day and invited us into a new way of doing and being. He lifted us out of the ways of the world that seem to be so divisive and tribal and hurtful, and cleared a place at His table so that with the family we could draw near to God and find a fellowship that is awesome.

Sound too good to be true? Probably; but it is true. Welcome home.

One of the challenges the early church faced two thousand years ago was what to do with all the gentiles coming to faith. Should they undergo some sort of ceremonial acceptance into Judaism first because the Messiah came through Israel, or did knowing Christ stand on its own merits. There were strong opinions on both sides of the issue.

In the end the church came to agree that knowing Jesus Christ stood on its own merits. He was enough. God had brought forth a new movement, a Church, where all stood equal and all were one in Christ, not Jew and not Gentile, just brothers and sister in the common faith.

Some folks had a more difficult time adjusting than did others. Some believers, when they were in the presence of Jews, acted Jewish. The same people, when they were in the presence of Gentiles, acted in a fashion consistent with being a Gentile. The apostle Paul did not like this arrangement at all, and said so. He was very concerned that some people "were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel" (Gal. 2:14).

I am intrigued that Paul called the early church to a clear and unambiguous commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord. No vacillating allowed. Straightforward was the word. He knew that the law could not save but only Jesus could save. He believed God was doing a new thing in history and that what God was doing was realized in Jesus. It wasn't keeping laws that saved. It was knowing Jesus that saved, and so Paul told the folks by way of personal testimony, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).

It's not rules and regulations we need. It is a personal relationship with God we need. Just be Christian. Nothing to the left and nothing to the right; Jesus only.

In many ways Saul of Tarsus was a terrorist. He hated Christians, He hated Jesus, and He hated the Church. Because of this he engaged himself in a one-man extermination project, a mission to rid the world of Christians. And, he was good at what he did. Christians feared him, and knew that should their paths cross, Saul would do whatever was necessary to rid the world of that pesky Christian sect. Prison or death, it mattered not to Saul. As long as Christians were silenced the work was worth it.

On the road to Damascus one day to do his work there, Saul made a huge mistake. He stumbled onto Jesus Christ, and Jesus shook the foundation of Saul’s world, lifted him out of his sin and rebellion, transformed him within, and called him to become one of those pesky Christians, whom he used to hate.

One of the next things on Saul’s agenda was to convince the Christian community that his conversion was really real. I mean, can a man really change? Really? Can grace work that kind of miracle? Understandably it took some time for the Church to assess and evaluate and to conclude that something profound and divine, even supernatural, had transpired in Saul’s life. But, God’s grace is amazing and they began to say of Saul, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” Then Saul, who had been given a new name, Paul, said, “They were glorifying God because of me” (Gal. 1:23-24).

Isn’t that a wonderful story; from a hater of Christ to a disciple, a follower of Christ. And, in it all we see that God can break into a life that is hardened and make it soft, tender, and open. This gives me hope. God is all-powerful, and He is at work in the human situation.

How is your story going?

What captivates your imagination? Is there something that has just taken hold of your heart and won't let go? Something deeper and more profound than you ever expected to experience?

In Isaiah chapter six we learn about something that captured the imagination of Isaiah, a prophet of God. It radically altered his world and set his heart on fire with a love and passion for God that rocked his world. What was it that captured his imagination? It was a sense of the presence of God he experienced in a moment when he said, "I saw the Lord" (Is. 6:1).

Isaiah got a glimpse of God in His glory and infinite sovereignty. In the spirit of worship he saw God "sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted" (Is. 6:1). What He saw began a conversation with God that led to a conversion, a God-initiated conversion where Isaiah reaches deep down inside his heart and finds the courage to say to God, "I will live for You. I will do what You want me to do. I will go where You call me to go, and I will be Your prophet."

I have wondered if God doesn't want to give His church today that kind of earth shattering moment where decisions are made and lives are changed and futures are rewritten. I have wondered if in some way in worship the people of God ought to become so aware of the presence of God that it shakes the foundation of their world and changes their outlook and draws them into the very presence of God, setting their hearts on fire with a love and passion for God that rocks their world.

Is this asking too much? Taking into consideration the fact that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, I think not.

One of my favorite devotional writers is John Henry Jowett. His book, My Daily Meditation has touched my heart numerous times over the years. May I share his May 16 reading. I hope it touches you as deeply as it touched me. He calls it, THE DETAILS OF PROVIDENCE and bases it on Matthew 10:30. “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
-------------------------------------------

“PROVIDENCE goes into details. Sometimes, in our human intercourse, we cannot see the trees for the wood. We cannot see the individual sheep for the flock. We cannot see the personal soul for the masses. We are blinded by the bigness of things; we cannot see the individual blades of grass because of the field.

“Now God’s vision is not general, it is particular. There are no “masses” to the Infinite. “He calls His own sheep by name.” The single one is seen as though he alone possessed the earth. When God looks at the wood He sees every tree. When He looks at the race He sees every man.

“And, therefore, I need not fear that “my way is overlooked by my God.” He knows every turning. He knows just where the strain begins at the hill. He knows the perils of every descent. He knows every happening along the road. He knows every letter that came to me by this morning’s post. He knows every visitor who knocks at the door of my life, whether the visitor come at the high noon or at the midnight. “There is nothing hid.” “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Israel desperately wanted a king like the other nations around them. They had God as their king, but they wanted a flesh and blood king to lead them. God wasn’t enough. Interestingly, God gave them over to their deep desire to have a king. When He relented and gave them their desire they realized they had acted inappropriately. They went to their prophet, Samuel, and said to him, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king” (I Samuel 12:19).”

In his response Samuel reminded the people that even though they had rejected God as their king, He had not rejected them as His people. He challenged them to remain faithful to God in this new arrangement, to “serve the Lord with all your heart” (vs. 20). They were still God’s people and He still loved them. Their sin would not separate them from His love.

The counsel of Samuel to the people who would get their king was, “Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart” (vs. 24). He challenged them to ever “consider what great things He has done for you” (vs. 24). Of himself Samuel told them, “Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you” (vs. 23). In this new arrangement Samuel told the people, “I will instruct you in the good and right way” (vs. 23).

We are the people of God regardless as to who our earthly leaders may be. God is still our God regardless of the powers at work in the world. Our allegiance is to the living God. We lift Him up in our lives regardless of the arrangement in which we find ourselves. Leaders come and leaders go but “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29)

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (John 14:27). In saying this He speaks right into the heart of lives. Shortly before His crucifixion Jesus spoke to His disciples about the coming event. He concluded by saying to them, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Some time later, after the birth of Jesus’ Church the apostle Paul called the people to “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” (Col. 3:15).

I am thinking that inner peace might just be the most important condition for which the human heart searches. We talk about peace and we pray about peace and we read books about how to have peace. Perhaps peace doesn’t come through a book. Is it possible that peace comes in a person, and that to know this person is to experience the peace that is unique to Him?

In Luke 2:79 we are told that Jesus would “guide our feet into the way of peace.” Of all the things Jesus came to do in the human situation peace seems to lie at the center of it all. He loves us and in this we discover peace. He forgives us of our sins, and in this we discover peace. He lavishes us with grace and in this we discover peace. He speaks truth to us and in His words we discover peace. He treats us with the respect and dignity of the Creator and in this we discover peace.

Let the peace of Christ rules in your hearts.

I may be more of a mystic than I have allowed myself to admit to, but as a Christian who truly believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I really do believe in dreaming and hoping and visualizing possibilities." It is a mysticism rooted and grounded in Jesus, so much so that if I had a personal creedal statement it would read, "Jesus is Lord, and He is enough."

Jesus said where two or three were gathered in His name that He would be in their midst. This one Biblical truth alone sets my heart to singing, energizes my passion to be faithful to God, and ignites a fire in my soul that ever reminds me that where people gather in the name of Jesus, all the possibilities of God are in that people because Jesus is with that people.

As we seek to be faithful in this place at this time, we have valid reasons to be encouraged for Jesus, the Lord of Lords, is with us.

We have valid reasons to dream dreams beyond ourselves because Jesus, the Lord of Lords, is with us.

We have valid reasons to be optimistic in a pessimistic world because Jesus, the Lord of Lords, is with us.

Second star to the right and
straight on until morning.

He Is Risen

"How long will you keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly," so questioned some Jews during Hanukkah as Jesus strolled through the temple in the Portico of Solomon (John 10:22). Sounds simple enough. Just tell us plainly and we’ll get it; we’ll catch on.

Jesus knew better. Jesus knows our hearts, and our words do not deter or impress Him. So, as was His custom, He got to the heart of the matter. Their problem, He said, had nothing to do with Him speaking “plainly” or keeping them in “suspense.” Their problem had to do with the fact that their hearts were not one with His. “You are not of My sheep,” Jesus told them (John 10:26). He could have spoken plainly all day but if their hearts were not of His heart, it would have been an exercise in futility.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me," Jesus told the folks (John 10:27). Something was going on that had nothing to do with explanations or intellectual clarity. God was among us, giving eternal life to those who heard His voice (John 10:28).

Some heard and forever their lives were changed. Some would not hear, and they missed the very presence of God as Jesus mingled among them sharing the word, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Is it really possible to miss the very presence of God in our midst? Indeed, it is. It is not necessary, but it is possible. Can you hear His voice? Does His heart resonate in you? Look at Jesus and watch Him for a while. What do you see? Who do you see? Could it be that the Father is drawing you to Himself? Could Jesus be the greatest gift any of us could ever receive?

Walking with God through His Son, Jesus, and filled daily by the empowering presence of His Holy Spirit is surely grace at its highest possible level of expression. This is truly amazing when compared with the fact that the Bible says we've all sinned against God and fallen short of his glory (Rom. 3:23).

Why would an offended God respond to the offenders in grace and love, when the natural response to them is an "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" (Exodus 21:24). At least on the human level this seems to be a natural response. Revenge. Retaliation. Vengeance. Retribution. Reprisal. These seem to be the natural, unrehearsed response of persons to persons. Legal systems are set up to see to it that these are not the context in which judgment is handed down, yet, they still seem to be the spirit and attitude of so many people around the world.

But God does not come in revenge. Retaliation is far from Him. Vengeance is not the issue with God. Retribution is not a part of His way of doing things. Reprisal is unthinkable to Him. The way of God is the way of grace, so much so that the Bible reveals this amazing thought: "The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

God is about life. God is about love. God is about hope. God is about renewal and new beginnings. Jesus said it was "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" [and how acquainted with his ways we are] but He also said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). That is grace --- Life to the full when your sins say you deserve death.

What is grace? It is God including us in when He could have written us off.

EASTER REFLECTION

We Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is central to all we believe and it stands as the defining event in all history. We live in a world where Jesus has been raised from the dead. The world has a Redeemer, a Savior, a Friend. You have a Redeemer, a Savior, a Friend. None of us can say, “Nobody cares.” In fact, Somebody does care, and gave His life as an expression of the depth of His concern.

In the living Christ God brings His life into our lives and fills us with what it means for God to be God ~ Love, Forgiveness, Truth, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control, just to name a few realities of His life in us.

Jesus takes out of us things like “anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, greed, falsehood, bitterness.” He fills us with the capacity to “be kind to one another,” to be “tenderhearted,” and to be able to “forgive each other, just as,” Paul says, “God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

In the living Christ, our lives are made whole; that’s the pragmatic issue before us. In Jesus God lavishes His grace on people. He does not force Himself on people but to those who come to Christ and who believe in Him, they are lavished with His grace, awestruck by His kindness, and awed by His goodness.

Because Jesus lives, we live free and forgiven and whole. We live within the embrace of God whose very life pulsates through our lives.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed.

In Colossians 3:1-4 the Bible calls us to set our minds on the things of God. That’s a real challenge in the active, aggressive, loud, fast, and distracting age in which we find ourselves. The call reminds me of how intentional we must be if we are going to seriously follow Jesus. It is too easy to drift and to go with the flow and to get lost in the crowd, to hand our spirituality over to chance or circumstances or probability or possibility.

“Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,” Paul says (vs. 1). No meandering here but real seeking, the kind of seeking that draws one to commitment and loyalty and priority. It is the kind of seeking where one ceases to allow anyone or anything to trump the seeking. Paul speaks of it as having “died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (vs. 3).

It makes me think that knowing Christ ought to be the number one priority of a person’s life. Knowing Jesus is the kind of thing that trumps everything else. This is life at its best. In fact, Paul comes out and says boldly that Christ “is our life” (vs. 4). “In Him we live and move and exist” (Acts. 17:28), not simply in some sort of cause and effect way but in a way that defines us as Children of God” (Acts. 17:29).

Jesus has changed our lives and has made such an impact upon us that the deepest joy of our lives is to ‘keep seeking the things above where Christ is” and to focus our minds “on the things above” because in the most real of ways our very lives are “hidden with Christ in God.”

In the words of the popular chorus, “Because He lives we can face tomorrow.” Amen. It doesn’t get any better than this.

He Lives. JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.

Talk about credentials; the apostle Paul had them. He had climbed the ranks of Judaism, and had reached the ranks of respect and honor. In the religious tradition of which he was a part he was one of the top dogs. According to his own testimony he was "a Hebrew of Hebrews…a Pharisee …as to zeal, a persecutor of the church…as to the righteousness which comes in the law, found blameless" (Phil. 3:5-6)

Yet, there came a moment when he realized it all meant nothing. For him, it was empty, shallow, unfulfilling, and meaningless. So, he took his past, laid it on the altar, let God have it all, and he took upon himself the life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything else he considered as "rubbish." He knew he hadn't arrived spiritually but he also knew that for him there was no turning back. He threw himself into the life of Jesus hook, line, and sinker. Then, for the rest of his life, he lived the testimony, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Have you thrown yourself into the life of Jesus hook, line and sinker? Are you so passionate about Jesus that you have given Him all your rewards and recognition and honors? Does He compete with anything that seeks to hold first place in your life?

Are these questions too strong? I don't think so. The days in which live demand that we answer the questions. This is no time for ambiguity. This is a time for people who love Jesus to come forth throughout our land and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. This is a time when Christians must throw themselves into the life of Jesus hook, line, and sinker. This is a time when followers of Jesus must take their stand and proclaim, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel" (Romans 1:16).