A friend of mine posted this on Facebook today. It is such a beautiful story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that I thought I would share it with you here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A Journey Worthy of Repeating
Isaiah 53:1-12 and John 19:1-19
It is summer and the long, hot days bring thoughts of vacations spent on warm, sunny beaches, camping and fishing in the mountains, or touring sites that offer us endless recreational opportunities. The majority of Americans are only able to afford a week or two to take a holiday from the daily grind. The rest of the summer is spent playing during the short weekends, taking brief jaunts not too far from home. However, there are some who have scrimped and saved to take a unique, once-in-a-lifetime trip they know will never be repeated. Perhaps you have planned to visit another country or take an extended trip across our own in order to become acquainted with its history and diversity. When the money that was targeted for this vacation is gone, all that remains are photos stored on a hard-drive or placed in a photo album, a few trinkets, and memories that are tucked away to revisit when they are stumbled upon. We think we were fortunate to have been able to accomplish this dream vacation that we know will happen only once.
The lasting effect of vacations can be rewarding, especially when family is gathered and relationships renewed and encouraged. Our children and grandchild are, perhaps, the greatest beneficiary of such times together. I have my own special childhood memories of vacations and weekends spent with my family. But even they are apt to forget, storing away in their mind’s souvenir box the special times spent on trips far from home, only bringing them out and dusting them off when prodded to do so. As our children grow, they will plan vacations and trips with their own children, continuing the practice of escaping the doldrums of work and home, and their children will also store away the memories to gather the dust of everyday life.
But there is a journey that all of us are capable of taking, one that does not require the extra efforts of saving money, taking time off from work, and attempting to cram as much sight-seeing and recreation into the little time we have. It is a journey that is free of cost and one that can be taken at any moment we are so inclined. The journey can be long and arduous, sometimes even heartbreaking, but the benefits of it far outweigh any discomfort you may experience. It crosses all boundaries, requires no passport, and the time you are able to spend there is limitless.
The photos you take will forever remain fresh and vivid in your mind. The souvenirs you gather are made with the finest, purest gold and adorned with precious and brilliant gems - and they are free. You will never tuck them away in a box where only you will be able to view them, for you will want all you know to see them, handle them, and desire them for themselves.
When you come to a certain part of the journey where you believe the end of it is near, you will not despair like you do when most vacations come to a close and you have to return to the drudgery that awaits you back home. At a crossroad along the way, there stands a cross. It calls out to all who come to take a moment and contemplate its importance. It is there where the most rewarding part of your trip waits because, if you choose to continue, it promises it is only the beginning of a lifetime of wonders, beauty, inspiration and joy that knows no end. You will find new and exciting things at each bend and curve in the road; the road that extends throughout eternity. You will drink from the purest waters and dine with others from a table spread with the richest fare. And you will be in the company of the One Who has made it all possible.
I hope you will consider taking this journey. It has already been mapped, planned, and paid for by Another. Nothing is required of you except pausing a moment to consider it and taking your first step on the pathway. As you travel along the road, open your eyes to the scenery around you and delight in what was placed there for your benefit. I am sure that when you do, you will find it is a journey worthy of repeating.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Standing the Test
Oh, how I dreaded tests in school! Especially pop quizzes that took me by surprise. If the subject at hand was one that did not grab my interest, what I was instructed usually went in one ear and out the other. I would read the assignment and the information it gave fell into a dark hole somewhere in my brain. Retaining certain data was definitely not my forte, so much so that when it came to the testing stage, I often panicked and would frantically try to recall the correct answers. I did well in school, graduating with honors, but it was accomplished with music, literature, and the arts, not math, science, or any of the others that stressed my intellect.
As I opened my Bible this morning to 2Corinthians 13:5-11, it reminded me of the responsibility we have to study God’s Word and how crucial it is to retain it. The Bible is not full of secular, humanist theories. It is intended to instruct us about Jesus Christ, why He came, and what to expect as we spiritually mature. In other words, it is a text book that contains within it all that is necessary to understand God’s plan for mankind. From beginning to end, the Bible speaks of the science of creation, the establishment of governments, and the history of warfare. It broadly lays out what is essential to maintain civil societies and even speaks of the arts, music, industry, trade and commerce. Not one subject is missing from its time-honored pages, for within it lays the wisdom of God.
The apostle, Paul, encourages Christians to be vigilant in their study of the Scriptures. He exhorts us to read it every day and apply it to our lives. The Bible is our only source of knowledge for understanding salvation. It is also the only instruction manual available to us that clearly defines and outlines what it means to claim our Christian title and, most importantly, to live it. There are far too many professors of faith in Jesus Christ today who continually and wantonly fail to do their homework or, worse yet, search out other sources that mislead them.
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” (v5)
We should give ourselves pop quizzes from time to time. We are no longer school children who put off reading our assignments because we would rather do something else. We are now children of God and are under His tutelage. There is an eternal wealth of knowledge waiting at our fingertips if we will only take the time to study it and then apply it to our lives. There is no greater advanced degree than what can be achieved through God’s Word.
One day in our future, there will be a final examination. Our departure from this world will bring one last pop quiz that will reveal how much we learned and applied while we were here. The most vital question we can ask ourselves before that happens will be whether or not we will stand the test. We will not be graded on the curve. Each of us will receive what we deserve.
I am not willing to fail my final exam. I have enrolled in the most prestigious university and have sought out the best teachers who are divinely equipped to instruct me from the greatest textbook in history - and I am studying for an “A+”. How about you?
Matthew 5:6
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Behold Your God!
John 1:1-18
No portion of the New Testament speaks more clearly and more precisely to me of the person of Jesus Christ than John’s description in his beginning verses. I am not saying that the accounts of the other disciples do not hold as much weight as John's, nor do they have less value, less truth. All were eyewitnesses of the life Jesus led while He walked the earth, and what the men who faithfully followed Him beheld with their eyes and heard with their ears is accurately preserved and in harmony with one another. But John gives us an account that is filled with greater intimacy, and his words convey unequalled wonder and awe over Who Jesus Christ was, and still is.
In just eighteen verses, John effectively provides us with proof of Jesus’ preexistence and His plan to redeem mankind from the fall that cursed them and separated them from God. In the first three verses, John declares that the Word, Jesus Christ, was not only from the beginning of all creation, but that He was the Creator and was before the beginning, eternally and divinely God in the flesh. It is no wonder John writes with such passion, for the literal translation of verse one is “face-to-face with God.”
John understood that the man he walked with, ate with, slept alongside, and reclined upon at the Passover meal was more than just a man with a message or a cause. He grasped the full extent of Jesus’ uniqueness. John comprehended the magnitude of Christ’s divine nature and the reason for Him stepping down from His throne and becoming human. In verse fourteen, the verb “became” does not signify being created as natural man is created. Instead it implies that God emptied Himself upon the person of Jesus Christ, becoming flesh with every human attribute, yet maintaining His sovereignty and holiness in perfect unity with Jesus (Phil. 2:6-11).
There are key words within these verses that speak of the nature of Jesus Christ. John refers to Him as “the Word” Who was “with God” and “was God” (v. 1). He is the “life” that all men so desperately need for redemption (v. 4). He is the “light” to those standing in darkness, the “light” that shines gloriously upon the pathway He provided to salvation (v. 4 and 5). And to all of those who have believed the Word, He has given “the right to become children of God” by being “born of God” through God's Son, Jesus Christ (v. 12 and 13). With great effectiveness and in one simple, yet profound, statement, John declares that God is a just God and He is also a merciful one (v. 17).
As he continues to build upon the person and character of Jesus, John confirms his testimony by stating that God, through the person of Jesus, had “made His dwelling among” them. God did so, not in a tabernacle built by human hands, but by appearing in flesh and blood, in human form. John professes that even in His human state, God revealed Himself to them and His glory was unmistakable. “God the One and Only” now stood among them and had made Himself “known” to the world (v. 14). And to a world steeped in sin and darkness, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (v. 17)
I invite you to re-read these verses through John’s eyes. We sometimes forget the divine nature of our Lord. All too often, we whittle Him down to fit our individual perception of Him and forget Who He really is. There will come a day when all men will finally see Him in His glory and realize their mistake. But for now, behold your God! Stand in awe with John and see Jesus as he saw Him. He is the same as He has always been from before the beginning and always will be throughout eternity. He is I Am, Jesus Christ, the Living God!
In just eighteen verses, John effectively provides us with proof of Jesus’ preexistence and His plan to redeem mankind from the fall that cursed them and separated them from God. In the first three verses, John declares that the Word, Jesus Christ, was not only from the beginning of all creation, but that He was the Creator and was before the beginning, eternally and divinely God in the flesh. It is no wonder John writes with such passion, for the literal translation of verse one is “face-to-face with God.”
John understood that the man he walked with, ate with, slept alongside, and reclined upon at the Passover meal was more than just a man with a message or a cause. He grasped the full extent of Jesus’ uniqueness. John comprehended the magnitude of Christ’s divine nature and the reason for Him stepping down from His throne and becoming human. In verse fourteen, the verb “became” does not signify being created as natural man is created. Instead it implies that God emptied Himself upon the person of Jesus Christ, becoming flesh with every human attribute, yet maintaining His sovereignty and holiness in perfect unity with Jesus (Phil. 2:6-11).
There are key words within these verses that speak of the nature of Jesus Christ. John refers to Him as “the Word” Who was “with God” and “was God” (v. 1). He is the “life” that all men so desperately need for redemption (v. 4). He is the “light” to those standing in darkness, the “light” that shines gloriously upon the pathway He provided to salvation (v. 4 and 5). And to all of those who have believed the Word, He has given “the right to become children of God” by being “born of God” through God's Son, Jesus Christ (v. 12 and 13). With great effectiveness and in one simple, yet profound, statement, John declares that God is a just God and He is also a merciful one (v. 17).
As he continues to build upon the person and character of Jesus, John confirms his testimony by stating that God, through the person of Jesus, had “made His dwelling among” them. God did so, not in a tabernacle built by human hands, but by appearing in flesh and blood, in human form. John professes that even in His human state, God revealed Himself to them and His glory was unmistakable. “God the One and Only” now stood among them and had made Himself “known” to the world (v. 14). And to a world steeped in sin and darkness, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (v. 17)
I invite you to re-read these verses through John’s eyes. We sometimes forget the divine nature of our Lord. All too often, we whittle Him down to fit our individual perception of Him and forget Who He really is. There will come a day when all men will finally see Him in His glory and realize their mistake. But for now, behold your God! Stand in awe with John and see Jesus as he saw Him. He is the same as He has always been from before the beginning and always will be throughout eternity. He is I Am, Jesus Christ, the Living God!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Just One Word: חַי, היה בחיים
How can there be so much power in just one small and seemingly insignificant word? Translated from Hebrew to English, four letters are formed into a verb of divine action, one that bears all the majesty and might of our omnipotent God.
With a single word, God created all that is seen and unseen. From an empty and dark void, He breathed forth all the universal elements, set in place the starry hosts, and made man from the very dust He created from nothing. What a magnificent God we have Who would, with one word, display His far-reaching and abundant love so eloquently!
“There speaks a God! Who but He could thus venture to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable?” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Evening By Evening, pg. 197)
But man fell from the Grace God so richly poured out upon him. Sin entered man’s heart, defiling the perfection of all creation. The sentence imposed upon the first man for his disobedience was passed on to every man born from the first seed. And with it came death and a vast, expansive separation from the Living God.
Some will say that man’s fall from Grace was not in God’s eternal plan. But they are wrong. Our omniscient Creator always knew beforehand that sin and disobedience would come. And when it did, He also had a plan from before the beginning to redeem man back to Himself. Although there are times when it feels as though the chasm that separates us from Him is impassable, His omniscient eyes see us wallowing in our guilt and shame. God, Himself, crosses the vast expanse to pause and hover over us. And as He looks upon us “kicking about in [our] blood,” He speaks the single word that is able to restore us and bring us back to life.
With His voice uttering a single command, our condemnation is reversed, bringing with it a pardon and release from the sentence imposed upon sinful man. Even in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord’s voice is still heard and man may rise to eternal glory.
One simple word uttered by our Almighty God is the single most important word man will ever hear. But to heed it is the single most vital action man will ever make in his earthly life. His ears will not hear it spoken ever again after his last breath here. The choice now, not later, must be made while he dwells in his earthly body, and that choice will determine his eternal destination.
The word is a command by God, one that is spoken to redeem His children who are living in sin and darkness and to present them to His Son as His Bride; washed and cleansed by His atoning blood. It is a call to rise up from our depraved state and be renewed and restored to perfection as it was meant to be.
It is for God’s honor and glory, for His Name’s sake, that He cries out to His children this one small word that bears such great significance:
With a single word, God created all that is seen and unseen. From an empty and dark void, He breathed forth all the universal elements, set in place the starry hosts, and made man from the very dust He created from nothing. What a magnificent God we have Who would, with one word, display His far-reaching and abundant love so eloquently!
“There speaks a God! Who but He could thus venture to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable?” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Evening By Evening, pg. 197)
But man fell from the Grace God so richly poured out upon him. Sin entered man’s heart, defiling the perfection of all creation. The sentence imposed upon the first man for his disobedience was passed on to every man born from the first seed. And with it came death and a vast, expansive separation from the Living God.
Some will say that man’s fall from Grace was not in God’s eternal plan. But they are wrong. Our omniscient Creator always knew beforehand that sin and disobedience would come. And when it did, He also had a plan from before the beginning to redeem man back to Himself. Although there are times when it feels as though the chasm that separates us from Him is impassable, His omniscient eyes see us wallowing in our guilt and shame. God, Himself, crosses the vast expanse to pause and hover over us. And as He looks upon us “kicking about in [our] blood,” He speaks the single word that is able to restore us and bring us back to life.
With His voice uttering a single command, our condemnation is reversed, bringing with it a pardon and release from the sentence imposed upon sinful man. Even in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord’s voice is still heard and man may rise to eternal glory.
One simple word uttered by our Almighty God is the single most important word man will ever hear. But to heed it is the single most vital action man will ever make in his earthly life. His ears will not hear it spoken ever again after his last breath here. The choice now, not later, must be made while he dwells in his earthly body, and that choice will determine his eternal destination.
The word is a command by God, one that is spoken to redeem His children who are living in sin and darkness and to present them to His Son as His Bride; washed and cleansed by His atoning blood. It is a call to rise up from our depraved state and be renewed and restored to perfection as it was meant to be.
It is for God’s honor and glory, for His Name’s sake, that He cries out to His children this one small word that bears such great significance:
“ חַי, היה בחיים ... LIVE!”
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