scripture’s value

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 19:10-11

This section of the nineteenth psalm is all about the extreme value of the Word of God. Scripture is called law, testimonies, precepts, commandments, fear, and rules in Psalm 19:7-11. All these multi-faceted descriptions show us what God’s Word is. But scripture also produces personal impact. It revives the soul. It brings sure conviction. It makes one wise. It brings light to our ways. It is forever enduring and right.

Scripture impacts us personally as we meet our Savior’s love for us in its pages. It becomes our life value worthy of the investment of our time and resources. It is more desirable than the finest gold. It is more flavorable to us than the sweetest dessert. Reading, studying, applying, and living in God’s Word enriches us and brings us sweet joy. The best time of any day is the time I spend unrushed in the rich reading and reflection on the Bible.

There are finally two great personal impacts that come to us from centering our souls in God’s Word. The first is found in the word “warned”. Scripture warns us away from missteps and mistakes our hearts would make without God’s wisdom to guide our thinking and choices. Every regretful choice I have made has come from my own fear or selfishness. I’ve never regretted a scripturally informed decision, even when it was hard and had difficult consequences. Scriptural warning brings solid conviction and hope.

The second impact is called by the psalmist simply “great reward”. I look at what my life could be outside of Christ, the Living Word, and the wisdom of God’s Word, and I shudder.... I know I am most personally satisfied and rewarded in Jesus. I would be miserable without my Savior and His precious Word and Holy Spirit in my life.

a king’s trust

For the king trusts in the Lord,

and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

Psalm 21:7

King David journals his own walk with God in this psalm celebrating God’s gifts to him. And David knew that it was God Who gave him the successes in his kingdom. It was God Who blessed him and all of Israel along with him. It was God that deserved the recognition, the grateful thanksgiving, and the praise for all the blessings in David’s reign.

David’s first order of business as king was to trust in the Lord. He attended to worshiping, loving, and obeying God, and that led to the sorts of covenant blessings that kept the nation strong. The points of strength in David’s throne were all found in his relationship with God. And the weaknesses and failures were all the result of his sinful lack of trust and failure to obey.

The governing style that made Israel thrive under David can still find application for life achievement now. The heart that trusts and follows Jesus will find that the grace and steadfast love of God will bring stability and spiritual progress to life. That grace will bring perspective in good times and in bad times. It will brighten all days and bring comfort and resolve in hard times. It will bring success in God’s eyes and carry a soul until it hears at last from Jesus, “well done, good and faithful servant”.

Following Jesus as His disciple is a life marathon and not a series of brief Sunday sprints. It is about trusting God daily over the grind of life. It is feeling, appreciating, and knowing the gracious love of Christ for us over time. It is surrendered and seen over a lifetime. That is what gives us success in the Lord. And in Jesus I will always be blessed to trust!

my last river

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22:1-2

My soul is soothed knowing that at my final destination, I will live in the “city/garden” of God’s own design. And this crystal river of life running along a boulevard of life-giving healing trees shall fill me with its calm. When you look me up in heaven, you will find me by the river. Really. If Jesus lets me stay there as long as I want, I doubt I’ll ever leave. 

It’s no secret that I love rivers and streams. I have since my earliest childhood memory. I must have been about three years of age. One morning in the mid 1960’s, I snuck away from home with a wind up toy boat and made my way with several neighborhood kids to the creek at the end of the cul-de-sac in Newton, Kansas. I remember picking over rocks to find bugs and crawdads, and floating that boat in something more substantial than a white bathtub. Then my mother, worried sick and thoroughly upset with me, found us all, and carried this muddy crying little boy home for a bath and a lecture about possible drowning! To this day I still don’t know why I had to take a bath for playing in the water.

I believe that in eternity, when I get to stand by the river of the water of life, I’ll get to experience that childlike delight all over again (sans lecture and bath). And a cold crystal stream has got to have some nice trout holding water in it, right? It won’t surprise me if I find a four weight trout fly rod in my hand in that river, and wading in, get the best casts to rising trout sipping perfectly tied caddis flies.

Eternity is a beautiful picture. Jesus will return us to the Eden we were made to roam, walking with God along a beautiful river. The Bible ends with that picture. I’m thrilled that it does.

King of kings

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Revelation 19:16

So for the past month, in my Christmas playlist, I’ve shuffled in Handel’s Messiah... one of the true classics of sacred music. I’m thrilled to listen to this masterwork at Advent. And what moves me most is the clear message of scripture in it. That’s all the lyric is... God’s Word, prophesying about Jesus... set beautifully to orchestra and choir. It is powerful.

And of course there is one part of Handel’s Messiah that soars even higher.... the Hallelujah Chorus. And it builds so dramatically so that when it reaches the point where the choir sings “King of Kings (forever and ever) and Lord of Lords (forever and ever) and He shall reign forever and ever,” my heart just soars along in praise... not just because of the music, but because of the wonderful truth it proclaims!

Jesus rules over all. He is King of kings. He is Lord of lords. And He reigns forever, never to be diminished in authority. He reigns above all earthly power. And my only allegiance is to Him, for I will serve Him, love Him, be loved in Jesus and by Jesus forever! That’s what everything is about! And that purpose brings every other thing into focus and makes life make sense. Nothing else should rule my heart under the King of kings. Nothing else directs me when I am under the Lord of lords.

Jesus,

You are my King!

You are my Lord!

I worship You!

Amen

...in His name all oppression shall cease...

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...

Isaiah 61:1

This messianic prophecy was picked up and read by Jesus Himself in His home synagogue in Nazareth where the people of His own home town rejected His ministry (see Luke 4:16-30). My own church read it as part of our final Advent Sunday worship just two days ago. And it echoes a haunting bit of lyric from a Christmas carol that has been twisting and burning inside my brain all season. That line from “O Holy Night” that is so incongruous with experience worldwide: “...and in His name all oppression shall cease...”

How can we continue to sing that line when there is still so much oppression in our world? Another depressing carol lyric echoes this observation: “...for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.” Jesus came to bring peace and there is still so much violence. So much is still so very, very wrong. It is heartbreaking. People suffer. Good people suffer... a lot.

Last night, after attending my own church’s afternoon Christmas Eve celebration, I brought my entire family to attend the service of a large urban church. It was a beautiful thing to stand shoulder to shoulder in a loud and very vocal celebration of Jesus in this urban context. Hispanics, African Americans, Asian Americans, new immigrants, and whites, all were together. Then it happened. By candlelight we sang “O Holy Night”. We got to that gut wrenching line I’ve been struggling with all season... that line about “oppression ceasing” and I looked out at young and old of every race worshipping Jesus and I started to tear up. I saw young urban males who represented the most at risk group for death by gun violence or incarceration, I saw single urban moms with several kids a piece, I saw new Hispanic immigrant families, I saw senior citizens in economic hardship, and all were singing joyfully that Jesus came to end all this mess. 

The gospel story and belief in Jesus brought us all together. And in the hope of the gospel, in the hope of Jesus, oppression ceases. Where and when He rules, there is indeed, peace.

No doubt, many left that service to a more challenging set of life circumstances than I went back home to in my 35 minute commute to the false safety of the suburbs. But Jesus, Prince of Peace, shall bring us all peace. And that is the powerful truth of Christmas... a Savior is born. Oppression shall cease! Amen.

saved from a grim and frightful wrath

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

Revelation 16:17

What is “done” in this passage is a complete judgment upon the “great city Babylon” — a worldwide power that has systematically persecuted the saints. God is pouring down avenging wrath on a people dead set against Him and His people. And it has been a series of tragic catastrophes that have only been received with increasingly hardened hearts, similar to Pharoah’s response to the plagues in Egypt under Moses.

Massive earthquakes shake the globe with the pouring of the seventh bowl. The city of Babylon is split three ways. The urban centers of the world are all in ruin as well as they crumble under the quakes. One big earthquake is a human tragedy. The scope of these quakes makes it a global catastrophe. As survivors struggle through the chaos, hundred pound hailstones (perhaps the result of volcanic activity that caused the earthquakes) fall on what is left. Even these jaded survivors curse God in the smoking dust of fallen civilization. It is a grim description (Revelation 16:17-21).

This is part of the “last act” of God’s drama of human history. And I can’t help but stand it against the time of year, starting this evening as we focus on the redeeming love that occurred with the gift of the birth of Jesus. God will spare those who believe in His saving work in Christ. God sent His Son to take His wrath on the cross so we could know peace with Him! We may have a holy fear to see what awaits those who reject God’s love in Christ, but we are free to love God in Christ’s forgiving love. And that gift is what I celebrate in joy! Amen! 

The seventh angel

...but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 10:7

This is always the part of the Book of Revelation that gives me cold chills. And reading it on a cold winter solstice morning only adds to the dark feeling. This is a picture of a world about to be judged. It is a vision of the moment where the rejection of Christ demonstrated by the martyrdom of Christians will cease by the firm and furious wrath of God.

The seventh angel standing with a foot on the sea and a foot on the land and a hand in the heavens unites all creation in a visible picture of the rule of Christ. There is no more delay. The Day of the Lord, so prominent with the prophets, will be at hand as the seventh angel delivers his message.

Jesus,

Angels sang as You made Your entrance in a peasant’s feeding trough. Angels ministered to You as You began Your ministry. Angels held You close as You agonized in the garden before the cross. Angels announced Your victory over sin and death at Your resurrection. And angels will proclaim Your coming judgment. You are Lord of the angels, glorious in power, Lord of my life and worship.

Amen

Prayer to the Shepherd Lamb

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Revelation 7:17

O Lamb

Who is the Great Shepherd

Look down from Your throne

upon Your very own

whose prayers You have heard

Our Lamb

O Jesus

See Your flock’s need

for Your leading love

and from Your throne above

with tenderness lead

King Jesus

Sovereign Lord

You are in control

of our joys and pain

may You always reign

so the world may know

You are Lord

Redeemer

We are under Your command

The gospel we will tell

so souls are saved from hell

as we spread good news in our land

Redeeming Savior

under the altar, close to God’s heart

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

Revelation 6:9

Of all the unusual and fearful visions of the Apocalypse, this aspect described in John’s vision of the opening of the fifth seal is both terrifying and remarkably tender. It opens my eyes and warms my heart.

It is terrifying in that the very souls of martyrs in heaven still cry out for God to avenge their murders. It is tender because their souls are under the heavenly altar, as the blood of a precious sacrifice would gather, known by God and close to Him. Each martyred soul is given a white robe, encouraged to rest in God’s presence just a bit longer, and promised a future in which their prayers will be answered once the last martyr has borne witness. (Revelation 6:11)

And their numbers still grow. Every month around the world roughly 255 Christians are killed, with an estimated 215 million Christians worldwide living under high levels of official persecution (source: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/). These souls under God’s altar still cry out as our world still hates Christ and His followers. The blood of martyrs still waters the church as the gospel rolls forward.

God,

Encourage my persecuted brothers and sisters worldwide to hold on just a little longer. May they feel the warmth of Your grace and Your tender love for them, Lord Jesus.

Amen

holy, worthy Savior

and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

Revelation 4:8b

The mighty Lord Jesus, our Savior, the Lord of all is worthy of our praise! Always before the throne of God His praises are ringing out now. He will be praised forever and we shall join our voices with that vast worship choir if we have truly believed and trusted Him. All praise here on earth is “choir practice” for that great future. This glorious thought is strengthening as we face the struggles and challenges of life in a broken world.

The broken nature of the world in which we live coupled with the fallen struggles in our own hearts fade when we begin to know the glorious worship of our holy God. Even this morning after a night of less than refreshing sleep, my soul is calmly lifted with the glorious, vivid realization that Jesus is always praised, and I will praise my Savior too!

“Holy, holy, holy”

I will sing it too

Jesus in Your glory

I will worship You

broken, I kneel praising

You for Your holy, healing love

lifted, You are raising

me to brighter visions above

my Alpha, my Omega

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:8

God’s love in Christ is truly a universal constant because the second person of the Godhead has always been, has come to save us, and will always be. He will come again and every eye shall see him, the One they have pierced, and all the tribes on this planet will give account of themselves to Jesus (Revelation 1:7). Jesus is the Almighty Alpha and Omega, who was, and now is, and is yet to come. He is now always for us and will always be with us.

Just as this is a constant fact about the universe in which we live, it is also true of my own individual life. God loved me before I knew Him. He brought me into this world. He sovereignly made the gospel known to me by drawing my parents to Him quite dramatically when I was only seven years old. It’s been almost five decades since then and I remember it still so clearly. Jesus is my Alpha, right there as my life began.

God has shown me His Son all my life, and I am grateful for that life in Christ, though I haven’t nearly honored Him enough yet. Jesus is what I live for now. He is my Lord. 

And Jesus is my Omega. He is what I look forward to forever. I will stand before Him complete and whether I see His return to join Him in the clouds, or if He holds my hand in the valley of the shadow of death, I shall always worship my Lord. This is the certain hope of every Christian.

so that we might live

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

1 John 4:9

“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.” Here we are just ten days away from when the big celebrations of Christmas 2018 will start. Christmas Eve is a big deal at my house, and usually busier than Christmas Day itself. And I see dozens of people in my own church pouring themselves into Christmas services and productions. This year my family will attend Christmas Eve Services in two different congregations just because that is what our lives are filled with. It will be reflective... and touching... and busy.

But stepping aside from the tinsel and gloss... the parties and food... the production and the pageantry, there is a deep gospel reality that keeps Christmas real for me. It tugs at my heart. It fills me. Christmas is about rejoicing in the fact that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might really know life in Him. I know life... I only have life... I only get what life is about in Jesus. I honestly have nothing else worth living for without Him. 

I have been blessed for years now with Sojourn Music’s simple, reflective “Advent Songs” album in my Christmas playlist. If it were vinyl, I would have worn it out by now. There have been so many loved ones I have lost in the past six or seven years, so much unexpected but important change in my own life, that the constant of Jesus is my mainstay. It isn’t all bad, but even good change is hard. And this song (sorry for the tacky graphics in the YouTube video, but just listen)  brings tears of thankfulness and agreement to my eyes... every time, even now:

Let every creature rise and bring
Their grateful praises to our King
Angels descend with songs again
And earth repeats a loud “Amen”

Amen, Amen
Amen, Amen
I found my life
I found my life in Him
Amen, Amen

Peace like a river from His throne
Will flow to nations yet unknown
His Word a light where all hope is dim
And all tribes unite to cry “Amen”

Amen, Amen
Amen, Amen
I found my life
I found my life in Him
Amen, Amen

And in this Child we’ll find our rest
And all the meek and lowly blessed
An infant tongue could sing the hymn
Of Hallelujah and Amen

Amen, Amen
Amen, Amen
I found my life
I found my life in Him
Amen, Amen

Amen, Amen by Sojourn Music

walking as Jesus walked

By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1 John 2:5b-6

John’s simple, direct language calls Christians to a noble, seemingly impossible task: to look like Jesus in the world. If we say we are made alive, if we say we trust and believe in Jesus, if we claim to be His disciple, we must live like Him. We must, as John puts it, walk in the same way He walked. When people wonder how Jesus lived, they should look no further than His followers to get their answer.

I am completely inadequate for this measure. I need the Word of God to instruct me and the transformative leadership of the Holy Spirit of God to lead me to walk as Jesus walked. I want to care for people like Jesus. I want to give myself away like Him. I want to be friend to the lowly. I want to commune with the Father. I want to invest in disciples. I want to weep over Jerusalem’s lost sheep. Yet I’ve go so much change to be made to get and stay like that.

Jesus, You have to live in me, transforming my heart so I might die to my selfish desires and You might live in me. This is the only way I may walk as You walk as I journey with You.

Amen

something more sure

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts...

2 Peter 1:19

The “something more sure” that Peter is commending to us is the Word of God. And what is mind blowing in this statement is what Peter says it is “more sure” than. The preceding context is Peter’s own description of his experience with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, where he heard the very voice of God the Father announce His pleasure in His Son’s work (2 Peter 1:16-18). And the Word of God is greater than even that mountaintop experience.

Peter knew that the written scriptures had a fully trustworthy authority that was greater than experience. Why? Memories fade, but God’s Word is always clear. Experiences may differ based on viewpoints but God’s written prophetic word always speaks with exactly the same voice every time it is read, using the same words, to every person who reads it. And that is why scripture is “more sure”.

When we pay attention to God’s Word it lights our way. God’s truth is a lamp to our darkness that will outshine all other lights we may follow. It will grow as bright as day if we will pay heed to it in our hearts.

the sanctity of suffering

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

1 Peter 4:1-2

Suffering is a precious and holy work of God meant to make me more like Jesus. Truthfully, I seldom if ever see it in that light, to my shame. I live in a culture that is uneasy with suffering and seeks to numb all pain. We have numerous appealing temptations to seek to circumvent the noble purposes God may have in suffering. Yet the sufferings of Christ were the best gift to grace our planet. God’s work through the Suffering Servant has saved the world.

Peter calls believers to a proper faith in God that correctly interprets suffering as His means to help us in holiness. He calls us to this attitude in our suffering: a higher view of suffering sees it as a beautiful part of God’s work in us that saves us from missing the sanctity of suffering and calls us into living more like Jesus in the world. It pulls us above the crushing weight of our experience in suffering and saves us from sinking in a sinful response... beyond self, we look to our Saviour Whose suffering saves us and Whom God raised up from the death forever to reign over us! Yet He still is known by His scars. In Christ God loves us. We can endure because Jesus has endured. We will be forever free with Him so that no suffering right now is beyond our ability to trust.

O God,

There is a gracious purpose in all You do in my life. May even my pains fix my thoughts on Your love known in Christ my Redeemer!

Amen

healed forever

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24

The cross is the only thing that can heal my wounded soul. Jesus died for me. He bore my sins on the cross that I might be forgiven. And in that death, I must die to sin and now live to righteousness. I am only free to live differently because of what my Savior has done for me. He is my hero... forever. He is my healer... forever. He is my commander... always. He is my worship... my eternal God.

What Jesus willingly suffered for all people in bearing our sins on the cross cannot be overstated. It deals with ALL human suffering. God chose to send His Son into the world to bear the punishment of death for sin so we could be forgiven. He bore that for every little sin of every human... ever. This is immense, eternal love! And Christians will be worshiping Jesus forever because that is the scope of His love for us. His wounds heal us for eternity!

Lord Jesus,

You have healed me forever. Like generations of believers before me, I trust in You. I worship You. I find my peace in You. I never grow tired of my salvation, and I will sing of Your love forever... gladly!

Amen

generous like Jesus

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:16

Do Christians have the reputation in their community of being people who do great good and give to others in a sacrificial way? Are we generous people, or are we known as insulated people who only give to our own causes? The exhortation here at the end of Hebrews is put in the middle of a list of calls to live like Jesus is better to us than all other things. People who know Jesus is better will live in a noticeably committed way. They will have the reputation of Jesus, Who did good, was extremely generous, and sacrificed for others.

It is the Christmas season, a time in which charities appeal for end of the year gifts. They count on this to survive and do their work. As a financial developer for a non-profit myself, I know that typically we will receive our largest gifts and our best season of giving in December. And I am very thankful that this occurs every year. It is brought about by necessary responses to a lot of factors, including taxation and the deductibility of charitable gifts. People who own their own business have to make these moves at the end of the year. I get it.

My point is certainly NOT to complain about it, but instead to check my own heart. I want to be a generous person, not because of tax breaks, but simply because Jesus is always generous. I have a lot of room still to grow in generosity. But my prayer is to be diligent to do good and to sacrificially share the blessings that God gives to me all year long. The goal is to live like Jesus is better than anything... because He is... even better than my money!

Jesus is better.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:11-12

Jesus is better. That is the theme over and over in Hebrews. In this context, He is the better high priest Who secures a better (in fact the best) redemption for our sins. No longer does a priest repeatedly need to offer an endless stream of animal sacrifices entering the holy place. Jesus has done it once for all by His blood... forever. This is definitely better.

“In all my sorrows, Jesus is better. Make my heart believe.

In all my victories, Jesus is better. Make my heart believe.

Than any comfort, Jesus is better. Make my heart believe.

More than all riches, Jesus is better. Make my heart believe.

Our souls declaring, Jesus is better. Make my heart believe.

Our song eternal, Jesus is better. Make my heart believe.

Glory, glory, we have no other king but Jesus Lord of all!”

Aaron Ivey & Brett Land

Austin Stone Worship, 2013

perfect guarantee

This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.

Hebrews 7:22-24

Under the old covenant of the Law, the priests served as the mediating “go between” so that humanity’s sin could be atoned. The priests offered sacrifices that atoned for the sin of God’s covenant people, the Jews, and kept things right between sinnners and a holy God. But the priests themselves were afflicted by sin and its curse, death. So there were many because they died. In this way, it still “felt” like sin had the upper hand.

But not so now because Jesus Who lives forever as the One Who guarantees a better, new covenant now before God, has made it all much better. The covenant isn’t just restricted to one ethnic group, but now extends to all people. His death has forever been the perfect sacrifice. His priesthood is now the better, perfect atonement for all sin. The ability for us to know forgiveness, and to come before a holy God is permanently secured by Jesus and not dependent on daily work of men who are themselves under the same curse of sin. It is all so much better! Because we have Jesus and by faith trust in Him, we have freedom to love and worship God. It is beautiful... forever!

Thank You, Jesus, for being the perfector guarantor of a new freedom in relationship to God. I am forgiven... always. I am free... into eternity. I am forever made new in You! Amen

The sweetness of suffering

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

Hebrews 5:8

Suffering had a certain positive effect on Jesus. Suffering then is not just the result of wrong in this world, because Jesus was sinless and did no wrong. Jesus never did anything that brought the consequence of suffering as a deserved correction. But He did learn obedience through what He suffered. And I’m not sure we can fully appreciate the magnitude of exactly what that means for the Son of God to learn obedience through suffering.

I think the easiest way we can begin to see this in Jesus is when the gospels give us the accounts of His desert temptation (see Matthew 4 and Luke 4). There we see Him do battle with the biggest temptations Satan could offer Him. Things so big and glorious in our eyes that we would succumb to them in an instant I’m afraid. And Jesus obeyed the Father through the strength of God’s Word without fail in every temptation. He suffered there in the wilderness as He fasted 40 days in preparation for His ministry. And He obeyed when He found scriptural resolve in refusing the devil’s allurements. We get a sense of the extreme magnitude of the battle Jesus won through obedience when we see that “the angels ministered to Him” at the close of the temptation. This was epic suffering and an epic win.

If Jesus learned to obey God in suffering, especially in temptation, how much more should I look for the positive growth opportunities in my difficulties and hardships? If life was hard for Jesus, should I expect any better as His disciple? Suffering then can be a sweet moment to grow and to change. A lifetime of suffering can lead me closer to the heart of my Lord. Suffering helps (and does not hinder) Christians to be like Jesus.

The greatness of my King

But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,

the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

Hebrews 1:8-9

We are about a week late with Christmas decorating, but last night started our family celebrations with the placing of our Christmas tree. Celebrating the gift of Jesus is always a high point of the year. Reading Hebrews now as we begin it is even better. This baby in the manger is the Son Who is superior... Lord of all!

The book of Hebrews shows us that the king born in Bethlehem is forever and always has been God, ruling from an eternal throne with justice, fairness, and all uprightness. Jesus loves righteousness, hates wickedness, and is anointed by God the Father beyond any other power or authority. He is God, anointed by God, to rule over us gladly in perfect peace. What a gift!

Jesus, You are great. You are worthy, always, of my worship and praise. I bow to You, my King, and will live forever under Your rule! Amen