our great home

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 14:3

Jesus is always with those who follow Him and always will be with us. And He has now gone to prepare a place for us in the Monday rooms of His Father’s house. Eternity is abiding with our Lord. And He always wants us with Him. Sweet life with Jesus is always the believer’s eternal hope.

There is within us a warm appreciation of just how meaningful that future is right now. The older we get, the deeper our sense of mortality points to the eternal life in Jesus as our great aspiration. Bodily pains, earthly disappointments, and sinful struggles all make us long to be done with all those experiences in the joy of our Father’s huge house with Jesus!

That hope is not defeatism. It is the exact opposite. Jesus has already scored the overwhelming win. We are just waiting out the clock, holding on for the duration, calling others to believe and join in so we all can be celebrating the coming eternal joy of God’s people forever together with Him.

have mercy

And have mercy on those who doubt...

Jude 22

I have to confess that my attitude toward those outside of Christianity who have expressed their doubts has often been less than merciful. That is in direct disobedience to this command. I sin when I self-righteously judge those outside of Christian faith with my sanctimony. God forgive me! I need to love sinners like Jesus loves sinners.

I believe having such mercy in no way excuses sin. And it does not cheapen the gospel to help a sinner wrestling with doubts. It is instead a loving way to show how much you love Jesus and value faith in Him. Show some mercy because that is what God does. He rains down common grace with each breath a sinner takes, giving them the chance for the gospel to snatch them from judgment (see Jude 23).

Lord,

Help me to be merciful as You are merciful. I want the blessing of receiving Your mercy as I live with mercy and in Your mercy toward others (Matthew 5:7). You are merciful, my God. It falls on me daily. I found mercy in Christ when I confessed my sin, trusted in the salvation work of Jesus, and was eternally forgiven. And now, may I have mercy.

Amen

a model of repentance

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Daniel 9:9-10

Daniel prays and seeks to model repentance for an entire nation in this prayer. He read through the prophet Jeremiah and was convinced through the prophet’s words that the exile could come to an end after 70 full years in captivity. And moved by the realization that all that had been endured in Babylon was God’s just judgment, the old prophet offers ups sincere and honest confession of sin before the Lord in a prayer on behalf of all Judah and Israel.

Daniel also firmly clings to the mercy of a forgiving God Who could pardon His people’s rebellion and restore them back to their former position. And so by faith Daniel confesses, repents, and pleads for God to be merciful. He pays heed to the words of the law which the prophets gave. He trusts God to restore His covenant with Israel.

In so doing Daniel models what confession, repentance, and faith also look like today. First, we are confronted and convicted by the truth of God’s Word by the Holy Spirit. For us, it is the gospel that shows us how far we have fallen and how much Jesus will save us. Then we confess and turn from our own failed efforts, trusting only in God’s saving mercies. Then we can be restored to obedience and joy as we walk with Jesus!

known in the nations

Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!”

Daniel 6:16

God answered the prayer of this confused and easily flattered pagan king. Darius obviously had huge respect for Daniel. He had been unwisely misled to make a foolish decree only to have it backfire when Daniel kept worshiping God during an enforced 30 day moratorium on worship. The king wanted to deliver Daniel from the consequences of death by lion pit (Daniel 6:14). When he could not do so, bound by the law, he too made a kind of prayer (technically putting himself under the same penalty... but nobody threw Darius to the lions)!

God delivered Daniel partly to continue to grab Darius’ heart. The king is relieved that Daniel was delivered from death by lion mauling. He immediately sentences the conspirators against Daniel to the same fate and they are destroyed.

And then Darius takes worship of God further: he issues a decree that God “is the living God” and in turn the Lord prospers both Daniel and this pagan king (Daniel 6:28). God wants the worship of the nations. He places His people in the nations so that God might be shown in His mighty power and known as the living God Who rules forever!

walking in the truth

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

2 John 4

In the morning

opening the pages

I see You there, Lord

and I begin the day

walking in the truth

As I reflect

on what Your Word says

and I trust You, Lord

to speak to my way

walking in the truth

Throughout my day

I look back

at what You say, Lord

and I continue to commit

walking in the truth

So at close of day

as sunlight retracts

I reflect on Your Word, Lord

thankful for direction in it

walking in the truth

sin leading to death

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.

1 John 5:16-17

I should be proactive in praying for my own and for others in repentance and forgiveness. Christians will do wrong, personally, and to one another. And when we do, we turn from it in repentance, trust Christ to receive and to give forgiveness, and are thankful in the outcome of grace. Those are the sins “not leading to death” as John puts it here.

But what do we make of this concept of “sin that leads to death”? I think we need to place this statement in context. It comes at the end of John’s teaching in this letter. It seems clear that death punishable sin is that committed by an unconverted person. John has constantly talked about the signs of life in a Christian: 1) we repent of sin (1 John 1:9), 2) we believe the true gospel doctrine of Christ as Son of God and fully human (1 John 4:2-3), 3) we love God and love God’s children (1 John 4:7-8, 11). A life not professing and evidencing these three aspects of faith may be committing sins that lead to death.

Thank God that repentance and faith are real life experiences! Thank God that His Son has taken death’s sting away so we may know eternal life with Him! Thank God that we can prayerfully turn from wrongdoing and follow Jesus!

exclusive life only in Christ

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

1 John 5:11-12

The New Testament is very direct. There is no pluralistic solution to the issue of eternal life. There are not many paths to God. The only way to find eternal salvation is through Jesus. God only gave us eternal life through the Son. Those who have believed the gospel of Jesus Christ have this life. Those who do not believe it simply cannot have eternal life.

Yes, the Christian message is distinctive and exclusive. There is only one way to salvation... one way to eternal life... one way to heaven. And believing and knowing Jesus through the gospel, trusting in His saving work by His death and resurrection, is the only way of salvation. I can’t be good enough to save myself. I can’t be at peace with God, or myself, or the universe, by some kind of mental focus, meditation, or release of bad karma. I can only be saved by Jesus.

I am drawn to apply this truth in two ways: First in thankfulness, secondly in proclamation. I am beyond grateful that Jesus is my only eternal salvation. And it means so much that the gospel message informed my life at an early age. It has kept me from many heartaches. And this good news should flow through me regularly. I should tell others what Jesus has done. I am saved by the gospel. I am not ashamed of the gospel. I will share this blessing with others.

this is love

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:10

I truly only know love because God has loved me. And that love was shown by the Father sending His only Son to pay my sin debt. By the death and resurrection of Jesus love has been forever shown and can be personally known. And God did not wait for me to love Him first. That would have been impossible. Instead, the Father sent His Son even though I (yet to even be born) would enter the world a miserable, condemned sinner. This is love.

It’s one thing to love good people. That’s quite natural. But only supernatural love would die for those deserving death, and then raise His Son to life so that those caught in the curse of death would know eternal life. This is love.

Lord,

I thank You that I can and do know love in Christ Jesus. Thank You for being the perfect, satisfying sacrifice for our sins. You took the wrath of God for us! You give us eternal life and we now know the love of the Father Who sent You. God loved us first so that we might know You and return that love. This is love!

Amen

what and why

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4

Through the saving work of Jesus and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the believer is empowered to overcome all that is against Christ. In the context, John admonishes us to apply tests of sound doctrine to all that we hear and see, the first and foremost test being the deity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This truth overcomes all lies. And it is Jesus and the Holy Spirit within us that is greater than any other philosophy, mode of living, or fad that currently rules the world.

With that in mind, I remind myself today of what and why I believe. What I believe is that Jesus is the solution to the world’s biggest problem: that sin rules in the hearts of people. And only trusting Christ’s death and resurrection will end the rule of sin on hearts. Why I believe it is both personal and practical. I can’t deal with my sin on my own. Jesus is the Savior that I know I need. And the peace I have found in Him is life-giving and lovely. It keeps me believing in hard times and in happy times.

following this command

And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

1 John 3:23

I want to live every one of my days following what this verse commands of me to love my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to love other people as Christ does. I need this love. The world needs this love and always has. Imagine what joy could be known if everyone believed in, loved, and obeyed Jesus in this way. Imagine if we all truly loved neighbors as ourselves. There is a beauty and wisdom in this vision for humanity and it comes from Jesus Himself.

Of course, human sinfulness complicates this, which is why it is impossible to love others well without loving and obeying Jesus through belief in the gospel first. But if Jesus is my Savior, then all other people are to me those whom Jesus loves equally as well. The gospel is the way to obey this command.

Jesus,

I believe You are my Savior. I have trusted You for eternal salvation and I know You are calling me to love and follow You. It is a daily faith adventure to trust You in this way. I also know You call me to share Your love in my world. Help me to care for others as You do. I want to love others as You love me.

Amen

Do you believe this?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26

Jesus asks us to believe the unseen. Even in the gospels, when He interacted with people, He called them to faith. He called Martha, who was in the midst of grieving her dead brother, to believe that He was the resurrection and the giver of eternal life. That seems impossibly hard to do in such a moment, and also exactly what her heart was crying out in hope to understand. Yet she still needed to believe.

I first felt the strong tug of the gospel to believe the impossible truth that Jesus is the resurrection and the life when I was just a child. I remember that moment, what I now know was the Holy Spirit’s tugging at my heart to believe, as I realized that Jesus died for my sin and rose from the grave so that death would not claim me eternally. And I believed, talking through the gospel and then praying with Mrs. Adams on the second floor of the education wing of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas one summer morning in 1971. 

And from that moment Jesus became my resurrection and my life. Christian faith and thought became my underlying foundation for the rest of my life. I entered into a lifetime of following Jesus, and there is not one regret. I’ve had my struggles. I’ve had my heartaches. I have processed seasons of doubts with a reasoned faith. And all the while, I will answer Jesus’ question with a resounding: “Yes, Lord! I believe this!”

children of God

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1

God created people so that they would be His people. He has always wanted humans to reflect Him, to be like Him, to be His children. This is why Adam and Eve were created “in the image of God”. This is why God promised Abraham that He would make of him a great nation with a people more numerous than the sands of the seashore. This is why God called Israel to be a kingdom of priests to represent Him to the world. Yet in the case of Adam, of Abraham, and of Israel, human failure via sin tarnished this plan for people to be image bearers of God in the world. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Abraham tried to create his own way to have a son, and even laughed when God finally revealed that barren Sarah would have a son. And Israel constantly struggled with idolatry throughout the Old Testament, eventually going into exile for their refusal to live as God’s covenant people.

But Jesus came to change all that. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the second Adam. He fulfilled the Law. And He gave His life a ransom for many so that God could truly bring together a family of people who represent Him. Through the gospel, we can be redeemed, changed, and enabled to live like we bear the image of God. We can be the children of God.

Yet as God’s children, we are no longer like the world around us. And that means that in some ways the new way we reflect God seems strange to those who do no know Him. We will be in this world, but not like it. We will reflect God’s image to draw people to God. We will live like His children. And this is the love God has given us, to be called His children and to live like it so that others might also come to Him.

hear and follow

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

John 10:27-28

Jesus makes a bold claim for all who follow Him. They do so in relationship, not religion. They hear and recognize His voice. He knows them. They follow the One they know. And He, as only God can, gives them eternal life as they are securely now in relationship with Him. This is the inviting relationship of the Christian life. Again... it isn’t rote religion, but rather real and intimate relationship.

Of course the reward of eternal life in and with Jesus is amazing. It is a thrilling future that awaits the follower of Christ. But it is equally exciting to hear Him (by the steady intake of the Word of God), to know Him (in Christian growth and experience), and to follow Him (by choosing to live by the teaching and leadership He gives by the truth of scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit). 

So Lord,

I am a sheep listening for Your voice today. You know me. You love me. I will follow You. And my future is secure in that faith and relationship.

Amen

Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:11

Jesus, You are the good shepherd Who has given His life for His flock. And I am one for whom You have laid down Your life. Thank You for bringing me into Your fold. I could not earn this. I did not deserve it. I was a lost sheep wandering away from You. Yet You have sought me and saved me.

And I am not the only one. I belong in a community of those for whom the Great Shepherd has given Himself. And I am thrilled to know the love of a Savior Who loves us all in this way. You sought us. You saved us. You lead us.

By your gracious mercies, You call me to be an under shepherd. I did not earn this. I do not deserve it. But just as I follow You, I can help lead others to do the same. I am the former lost wanderer who can help find other wanderers and bring them home. I can appreciate Your loving Shepherd’s care with all my heart. I can worship with the flock and rejoice in the love of the Good Shepherd. And so I will... today, and through all my life.

Amen

blended body

I write to you, young men,

because you are strong,

and the word of God abides in you,

and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 2:14b

I love the poetic sounding encouragements of the apostle John. Even though he is writing to redeemed sinners in the church, he emphasizes the grace and power of God at work in them. He uses family/life stage metaphors to do this. Children (perhaps new believers are who he has in mind) are blessed with sins forgiven, knowing God the Father (1 John 2:12,13). Fathers (maybe referring to those mature in their faith or in leadership) have a deeper knowledge of the Father (1 John 2:13, 14). And young people (the bulk of the church and probably a metaphor for serious disciples on their journey of following Jesus) are encouraged to be strong, to let God’s Word live in them, and to remain in victory over the devil’s work.

As a pastor, I am called to have the Apostle John’s pastoral heart for the church... to make sure children love Jesus as the forgiver of sin and learn to trust and obey God their Father. I must encourage older disciples to invest their mature knowledge of God in the lives of younger disciples. I must seek to recognize and build up with mutual ministry all God’s church to be strong, Bible-saturated, sin-fighting followers of Jesus.

Lord Jesus,

Your Church is a beautiful family... all of it. Across the globe the church blends backgrounds, cultures, generations, individuals, and callings into one beautiful home where the gospel goes forward! May I always celebrate and support this in my life!

Amen

Self-deifying tragedy

Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’

in the presence of those who kill you,

though you are but a man, and no god,

in the hands of those who slay you?

Ezekiel 28:9

These words were said by God through Ezekiel to the king of Tyre. This Phoenician despot had grown proud and had believed the original lie that Satan tried to sell to Eve... that human beings could be gods. The king of Tyre claimed deity and mocked the God of Israel. But Yahweh will not be replaced by any mere mortal. God decreed that human armies would invade Tyre, capture the delusional king, and kill him. The “god” would die at the hands of soldiers.

A lot can be learned about the dangers of self-deifying. No human can be like God. We are not in control of our universe. When we think we are, God will intervene with a humbling event. He will make Himself known. His power will prevail. None of us is godlike. Even the pinnacle of human power is pathetically weak before God’s sovereign control. The king of Tyre learned this in death. Any human’s boasting will be demolished in the grave.

But there is One Who has conquered death... Whom no grave could hold. There is One Who is the Lord of life. Jesus is my God and Savior. He is my only boast. He is life that defeats death so that even in death, my God prevails. My own pride will not give me life... but God does in His Son!

In the light

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

https://youtu.be/j_aMSjlOFno

In the Light by Charlie Peacock

I keep trying to find a life

On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing that I'll do

Oh, what's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
I'm still a man in need of a Saviour

I wanna be in the light as you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, Lord be my light and be my salvation
All I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light

The disease of the self runs through my blood
Is a cancer fatal to the soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring the sickness under control

I wanna be in the light as you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, Lord be my light and be my salvation
All I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light