Being Resolute

So, tomorrow begins a new year. Have you made your resolutions yet? Sources report that some 40% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions while a meager 8% achieve what they’ve resolved. Some popular resolutions involve our health—eat better, workout more, drop a few pounds, get needed rest. Some involve relationships—spend more time with family, call mom and dad more often, invest in our marriage. Maybe you want to manage finances better or have a desire to be more philanthropic. You may also want to care more for our planet by recycling and driving an electric vehicle. Quit smoking, go back to school, write that book, etc. …

Whatever you have resolved to do in 2014, I pray that the Lord will lead and guide your efforts.

May I suggest one more thing…if you haven’t already resolved to do this? May I suggest that you resolve to fervently trust God in 2014 and every year thereafter? Why “trust” instead of pray or go to Bible study, or anything else? Because our Father God is the only one who is trustworthy.  The whole foundation of our relationship with Him begins with the idea that we trust what He has said is true – that Jesus is the Son of God and that His death on the cross is payment enough for our sins. And that we who believe will live forever with Him in His heaven when we die. It’s trust!

And our trust cannot stop there. We must trust Him with our future. We must trust Him with our loved ones. With our jobs. With our hopes and dreams. With our finances. With the details of whatever we have going on. With our very lives! Because when things get hairy…and they will get hairy…we cannot look to humanity or our strength and savvy, or the government, or any other thing for our security and guidance. When the dust settles, God alone is trustworthy. He alone is faithful.

So as you are resolving to accomplish whatever goals you have for the coming year, add trust in there. I will too. And let’s pray about it daily, shall we?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5&6

Take up Your Cross...and Be Strong

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Living this Christian life can be a challenge! We are constantly being challenged.  And we are called to tame our tongues and turn the other cheek. But all the taming of tongues and turning of cheeks can wear us out and be frustrating! Sometimes we just want to let loose and give people a piece of our mind. Sometimes you may even want to ball up your fist and let that co-worker know that you are tired of their shenanigans!

This verse indicates that if we are going to live this Christian life, we can expect that there will be plenty of opportunity to acknowledge…but deny those feelings; not to give in to them. Instead, to take up our cross and to bear the burden that we must, as disciples of Christ.

Jesus told His disciples that He would suffer much harm and be rejected by the authorities and religious leaders of that time. As people who have chosen to identify ourselves as followers of Christ, what would make us think that we would have an easier life experience? So the patriarch Peter tells us “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8&9) And our brother Paul reminds: “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:11-13)

You see, the attacks we face may be far-reaching, government-sanctioned acts of oppression. Or they may be small, covert acts that occur within the relationship you have with your neighbor who is determined to sabotage your rose bushes and let her dog have its way with your lawn. Our task is to be alert, to recognize that our adversary is on the move, and to respond appropriately. We must pray. We must stand on the truth of our God. We must arm ourselves with the full armor of God so that we can resist the devil’s schemes. This means not cooperating with him and not adopting his ungodly thinking or allowing his corrupt messages to become our truth.

This Christian life is a challenge for sure! But it is also the best life one could ever have because the God of this universe, our Creator, is walking with us. He’s got our back. He leads us and protects us. He opens doors of opportunity and thwarts attempts at harm. He strengthens us in the challenge. He gives us hope. He is all we need. He loves us so much that He died for us! And He has set up a wonderful home for us to live in heaven with Him once this challenging life is over. “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.…” Hebrews 10:35&36

Take up your cross and be strong.

An Exhortation: Trust God, and His Signs Will Delight You

WHEN IN DELIGHT I ask for a sign by which to remember some sweet promise, the sign itself becomes a keepsake, a treasure among my possessions. It reflects both the trust of the promise and the trustworthiness of the promisor.

When in doubt I demand a sign as proof that a certain promise can and will be kept, that sign becomes a cold legality, a contract, a bond that binds the promisor. It reflects the mistrust of the promise, the presumption of fault in the promisor.

Thirty years ago my wife and I made foundational promises each to the other: to be faithful unto death. This is not a merely sentimental thing. It is absolutely the ground upon which we build stability in an unstable world, something as solemn as a rock. But it is also a dear thing—and the promise itself binds us together. Therefore, the signs of it are unnecessary but are treasures nevertheless; our golden rings; letters written in absence; certain anniversary traditions.

But there are husbands and wives from whom the promise itself is not enough. Their uncertainty, their personal stability in an unstable world, cannot be built on mere promises, since each sees the other as potentially a part of that unstable world! Therefore, they create legal signs to establish the promise. They bind one another to contracts constructed to outlast any promise of faithfulness: prenuptial agreements. These signs are not treasures. They are grim necessities made powerful by a codified judiciary.

Now, then apply the same alternatives to our relationship with God. How do we react to the promises God makes unto us? In delight do we seek a keepsake?—or in doubt do we demand proofs?

Be wary, my friend: when God is the promisor, delight and doubt reveal no one but ourselves. For God is faithful. God is trustworthy (read Isa. 44:6-8). God is unlike the world altogether. He gives keepsakes of his promises, surely. Unto faith, God grants signs in abundance: rainbows, pillars of fire and cloud, water in the wilderness, lightning to consume Elijah’s wet sacrifice, and this sign: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Again, God is faithful. He does not change. Therefore, if we feel that we must bind him to his promises by some sign, some extra proof (which for God is precisely as insulting as it is unnecessary), we will only bind ourselves. That sign will burden us like a punishment. And more than we ourselves shall suffer for this, our faithlessness.

Jesus says, “I am coming soon.” And how do you respond? Oh, let it be as a bride responds to the promise of the bridegroom, adorning yourself for his return, joyfully shouting with the Spirit, “Come!” (Rev. 21:2, 9; 22:17). Then your joy, your present beauty, your complete sense of assurance and belonging—these shall be signs of the Lord’s trustworthiness and of our trust, signs of his love until he comes in glory.

“Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”

Excerpt from Preparing for Jesus by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

 

 

 

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Jesus' First Recorded Miracle

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,  and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
John 2:1-11

More on Jesus...

“And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.” Luke 2:40

“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Today we celebrate the birth of the One for whom we wait...

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6&7)

AMEN!

Advent - More on LOVE

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].” 1 Corinthians 13:7