Your Word Shows

I will meditate on your precepts

and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word.

Psalm 119:15-16

I need Your Word, Lord

I need it to see my way

dark is my day

but Your light on the way

will show me the path

I will think on Your Truth, Lord

mulling it over right now

so that You can show me how

to face what is now

in the best way

I look only to You, Lord

to the path that You show

so that I may always know

the right way to go

fixed on the road to You

I will rejoice in You, Lord

because I know Your heart

as Truth always will impart

the most joyous part

of my life is You!

I will worship You, my Lord

Your Word gives me light

ends the darkness of this night

and helps me to do what is right

as I’m led to only truth by my God

judges and justice

…and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the LORD. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”

2 Chronicles 19:6-7

This was the reform work in Judah led by king Jehoshaphat. He drew the people back to the true worship of Yahweh, eradicated idol worship wherever it popped up in Judah, and made sure that the Law of the Lord was instructed to the people as the Law of the land. He appointed local district judges who also were firmly committed to the worship of the Lord, reminding them that they should only make their judgments in God’s wisdom and character.

In many ways his work, though done by a flawed sinner (Jehoshaphat had an unhealthy friendship with wicked king Ahab of Israel that caused him much trouble), was a model of the way God had intended His people to thrive under His rule and Law. Jehoshaphat took the Word of God and obedience to its social instructions very seriously. He demonstrated that God was the hope, the wisdom, and the true Ruler in Judah by His royal actions, decrees, appointments, and commitments.

The best that Jehoshaphat could do was to obey God and instruct other leaders to do the same. But sadly, within a generation, his reforms would fizzle as other kings appointed judges who did not commit to the same love of God’s truth. This pointed to a greater reality… for the need of a True Righteous Judge, still to come, to remedy all flawed human justice systems. The Lord Jesus is that righteous Judge (2 Timothy 4:8). Jesus is the One Who ultimately judges with absolutely NO injustice or partiality. He is the One fit to judge both saints at His judgement seat, and sinners at the Great White Throne. Earthly justice will eventually fall short. But Jesus, the True, Holy, and Perfect Judge will never be wrong!

God never sells judgment at a discount.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.

Numbers 33:55

This is a warning to Israel that God gave to them BEFORE the conquest of Canaan. It concerns the consequences of casually disregarding God’s command to drive out the inhabitants of the land. Any Canaanites who remained, no matter how small and inconsequential a minority they seemed, would create painful problems for Israel. God expected a complete obedience in this matter. It could not go well for them in any scenario where they failed to drive out the inhabitants before them.

This warning is sadly prophetic. We know from the rest of biblical history that Israel failed to heed this call to completely drive out the inhabitants of Canaan. And they actually let several groups of Canaanites continue in the land, some by treaty of peace with them, and some as practical slaves forced into labor for Israel. It might have felt like good politics or smart business to make peace and get free labor, but the price of disobedience is always high!

The price Israel paid was expensive for two reasons. First, the sin of idolatry became endemic among them, always simmering because of the Canaanite influences they allowed to remain in the land. Secondly, the judgment of God on these sins was cyclically at play in their history. Generation after generation endured judgment because of this idolatry, starting quickly after the conquest as detailed in the book of Judges, and lasting all the way through the entirety of the Old Testament until the Exile. The Old Testament stories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah repeatedly show the various thorns and barbs that pained God’s people just as God said they would. Nobody ever gets a great deal on judgment at no to low cost. The cost of disobedience to God is always high!

precious blood

...how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 9:14

My only hope, my only way, my only strength for doing what is right is through the redeeming work of Jesus. His blood, shed willingly to cleanse from all sin, can purify me body and soul. He gave Himself for sinners so we could be purified to serve a living, holy, and loving God.

Christianity is not fixated on the cross of Christ because we are fascinated with Jesus’ gruesome, bleeding death. It is a horror... a holy horror. We are focused on the cross AND the empty tomb because in them we have complete forgiveness, access in freedom to God, and eternal life. What Jesus has done for us by His blood, He has done for us, once for all... forever! We are right to be singularly amazed and gospel centered. God’s love is centered forever on that cross.

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day

And there may I, though vile as he

Wash all my sins away

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed church of God

Be saved to sin no more

E’er since by faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply

Redeeming love has been my theme

And shall be till I die

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue

Lies silent in the grave

Then in a nobler, sweeter song

I’ll sing Thy power to save

bold... despite what we’re told

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:19-20

The Jewish religious council of leaders, the Sanhedrin, the same body of religion that condemned Jesus to death, now menacingly warned the disciples of Jesus, who had amassed thousands of new followers in Jerusalem, to stop teaching in the name of their Master. They tried to use their power to stop the spread of the gospel. They threatened Christians.

But Peter and John would have none of it. The Sanhedrin said “Stop preaching!” The disciples responded, “No way.” They politely heard the leaders out. And with equal civility, refused their order, appealing to God and to scripture for the authority to preach the good news. And it all was complicated for the leaders by the undeniable reality that just like Jesus, these men had healed by the power of God... a man everyone recognized as a paralyzed temple beggar now walked, leaped, and laughed among them. The change that the gospel brings was publicly visible as the good news was publicly declared and believed by a growing crowd. The power of God at work was impossible to deny. And the Sanhedrin ultimately sat powerless to stop the work Jesus was doing through His disciples (Acts 4:21).

So Lord, we take courage right now when this world rejects and seeks to silence the gospel. The one thing it is powerless to stop is the healing change You bring! And lives transformed by the gospel are the most powerful witness to the truth! Let us trust You, mighty Savior! Let us be bold even when earthly authorities wish to silence the message of salvation and hope. We cannot stop speaking this good news.

Amen

Prejudice does not “do well”.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry...

And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Jonah 4:1, 4

Jonah experienced the most dramatic conversion response ever of any prophet of the Old Testament, and he pouted over the results! We know the story from Sunday School flannelgraph days. Jonah was called to preach to Nineveh assuring them of impending destruction by God for their violence and evil. Jonah, a proud Jew, so hated the gentiles of Assyria who lived in Nineveh that he chose to disobey God, caught a ship sailing in the opposite direction of Nineveh, and thought he could outrun God’s call.

God brought a storm to the ship. God controlled the roll of the dice that led to the sailers tossing Jonah overboard. God brought a great fish to swallow Jonah. For three days in a submarine ride Jonah prayed for deliverance. And God made that fish swim right up the Tigris River and barf Jonah up on the riverbank toward Nineveh! Jonah then reluctantly obeyed and preached his message through a city so large that it took three days to walk through it entirely. And Nineveh heard the message and paid attention. From commoner to king, the Assyrians saw their evil, turned from it, and hoped that God might spare them. And God, in mercy, did so because they obeyed His Word (ahem... unlike Jonah!)

Jonah did not unlearn his prejudices despite his storm at sea. He did not unlearn them in the belly of the fish, and he did not unlearn them by preaching to his enemies who obeyed God better than he did. What we see happening in Jonah is a merciful God saving the nations of the world. And the same merciful God confronts, controls, and corners His people, pushing on the prejudices of His people, wanting them to love ALL the people of the world like God Himself does. Anger against a people group is ultimately anger against the God Who makes every person in His image. Such anger/prejudice does not “do well”. It is not the heart of our God. It is not he way His people should be. God will corner us so we are face to face with the stupidity and sinfulness of our own prejudices, in the hope that we will repent and then “do well”.

soft heart, hard heart

Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always,

but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Proverbs 28:14

I want a soft heart that will hear God’s Word and love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength! This warning found in this proverb is quite sobering. We can be tempted to think that faith is just a personal choice. That’s the pressure from our secular culture creeping in. Our world would have us think it is just one of many choices or paths to personal peace and happiness. But to reject God.... to reject Christ... is to harden one’s heart in sin and fall into deep personal catastrophe.

In the past ten years we have witnessed this erosion even at “leadership” levels among American evangelical Christians. Some of it is the result of the weird Christian sub-culture we created that elevated musicians and celebrities to admired status. Christian “music artists”, Christian “internet celebrities”, even some pastors and popular authors have publicly decided to “deconstruct”, “de-convert”, and leave Christian faith behind. To hear them talk about it, they feel liberated. The scriptures call this apostasy, and theirs is not a good end in that choice. Almost all of those who publicly do this state some issues they have had with some part of biblically directed Christian moral teaching. This proverb would call what they have done a “hardening” of the heart that will lead to calamity. The world applauds their actions as “brave”. God calls it foolish. We should weep for those who do this. And we should guard our own hearts, doubling down on faithful trust in God.

Lord,

I weep to see the calamity of rejecting the gospel that is pretty regularly celebrated by those who have rejected Jesus. Oh Lord, You are a faithful Shepherd. You can sovereignty draw even these people for whom You gave Your life to Yourself. You who leave the 99 to rescue just one lost sheep must be broken for them as well! You want to deliver them from the catastrophe that awaits them.

I am resolved to trust You always, to reverently fear my God, and to keep the gospel ever pliable and new in my heart to share even with those confused by our cultural lies. I trust You. Lord, You know what You are doing. You have me and my times firmly in Your hands.

Amen

My Salvation

I thank you that you have answered me

and have become my salvation.

Psalm 118:21

my soul

lost and alone

in pain would sigh

but I did not cry

for salvation

I did not know what I needed

I tried myself

to save myself

but I could not get better

I needed a Savior

to bring salvation

You did all that I needed

I heard

the Word

the gospel came to me

a Savior made clear to see

promising salvation

this was just what I needed

by faith

I’m saved

Jesus died for me

Jesus set me free

I live in this salvation

Jesus Christ is all I ever needed

foundation and security

And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered.

2 Chronicles 14:7

God is gracious in blessing the lives of those who will be faithful to Him in love, worship, and obedience. The story of king Asa in Judah shows this. Asa came along early in the history of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel. Rehoboam, his grandfather, started his rule well, but eventually turned from wholeheartedly worshiping the Lord. God brought judgment as the Egyptian army plundered Jerusalem, stealing treasures from the temple and the king’s palace. 

Asa’s father was Abijah , a king who restored Judah’s military power, but a man who seemed more concerned about establishing control by force than promoting spiritual concerns. Abijah was sort of neutral, giving credit to God, but not really particularly enthusiastic in worship.

But it was Asa who knew that God would bless His people in His worship. Asa purged Judah of her fixation with idols. He issued royal proclamations commanding the worship of Yahweh and the priority of keeping God’s Law. The result of this was a consistent peace during his reign. The defenses of Judah’s cities and towns were bolstered. The army grew stronger. God protected them from all threats.

The foundation for my security is learned from stories like this one. My security CANNOT come from my own attempts or efforts. It doesn’t arise from any of my own work alone. The strong foundation of my life has to be the faith in the God Who has rescued me in Jesus. He saved me by Christ alone and not by any of my own efforts. He builds me in Christ so that I can then obey and build on Him. Jesus secures my hope. And on that I may trust and build, by faith, the life He gives to me in order to display His power, grace, and love!

blessing and following both never stop

And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, “What the LORD has said to your servants, we will do. We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”

Numbers 32:31-32

There was one victory Moses led Israel to experience on the east shore of the Jordan river. God told the nation to muster warriors and defeat the Midianites that a generation earlier had led Israel into idolatry. And God brought victory as Moses mobilized the army and they took battle plans against Midian into action. They wiped out the Midianite threat, captured their cities, took the surrender of the Midianite leaders, walked alway with rich spoils of war, and occupied the land of Gilead.

This land looked particularly habitable to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh. They petitioned Moses to let them settle there in the land of Israel’s first possession. Moses took the matter to God, and the Lord decreed that if the tribes would also continue to be part of Israel’s army as the nation crossed the Jordan to take the rest of Canaan, they could indeed claim their inheritance of the east side of the Jordan.

The eastern tribes were quick to sincerely and bravely agree with God (and Moses) to do these things. And in so doing, the first one-third of the nation came to know the blessing of the Promised Land. God kept His promise to deliver His people, bring them to their Promised home, place Abraham’s offspring in the land He gave to them, and to be their God. This promise was claimed by faith, by obedience, and by sacrifice in battle. All were necessary for God’s Word to be true. And even after the gift of the promise was followed by the path of blessing, the people still needed to believe and trust God. God’s promise never stops. Our obedience to Him never stops either! And the blessing He brings lasts forever.

the One Who makes the promise great

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.

Hebrews 6:13-14

God’s promises and His power rest solely in Himself. There is no other greater power in which to place our hope. When we get promises from other people or from human institutions, their good intentions can and will eventually fail. People break their most well-meant, solemn vows daily, Marriages are decimated by adultery. Parents abuse their kids. Divorce rips apart families. Governments become corrupt. An entire legal system exists in part because people lack the power to make and keep their own promises.

But this is not so with God! His promises and statements are firm, true, never broken, and always faithful. God anchors His promises in His very character. God is perfect, holy, just, sinless, righteous, true, and loving. That combo makes Him the absolutely perfect promise maker and promise keeper. Scripture shows us this over and over. Every promise, every covenant, and every prophecy God has given is firm, true, just, and fully reliable. His Word is as sure as He is!

And the greatest of His firm promises is Jesus Himself. Jesus IS our Savior — there is no other. He is our Lord — nothing else should control us. He is our God — there is nothing or no one greater. We can trust the love of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and the call of Christ to follow Him. There is no better way to live or to love than under the promise of Jesus, our Lord, our King, and our Savior.

gospel promise

For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

Acts 2:39

The gospel is a promise to all the world. At its very first apostolic proclamation in Peter’s Pentecost sermon, where three thousand Jerusalem visitors came to believe the gospel, Peter makes it clear that God is going global with the good news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. The promise for eternal salvation was far-reaching.

Peter wanted all who heard his message to know that Christ’s call to them was real for them, for their kids, and for all people “far off” —- a reference to the gospel call extending into the Gentile lands. God was calling to the world to know salvation in His Son. The gospel was meant to go to the world, clearly from the first sermon invitation given by an apostle of Jesus.

Lord Jesus,

Thank You that Your love extends into ALL the world. And I pray I would keep this vision before me even as my view of the world changes. My I NEVER restrict Your love just to me or to a group I am most familiar with or to a holy handful!

May You keep calling people to Yourself! And use me as Your message bearer to do so. Keep me sensitive to ways my generation and the next generation can clearly know the gospel. And as You call men and women to saving relationship with You, band us together in a vital, loving, powerful family of believers where You are worshiped, loved, known, and proclaimed to the world as You keep calling people to Yourself!

Amen

safe in God’s presence

But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,

and it shall be holy,

and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.

Obadiah 1:17

The only safe place in the midst of God’s sweeping justice is to be close to His presence. Those who would worship God would find this to be true. This was true for the Jews who had been taken to exile as Obadiah declared this things (Obadiah 1:12-14). This would be true as God prepared to wipe the Edomites off the map in judgment of their hatred of Him and His people. They would be treated as they had treated Israel (Obadiah 1:15).

Yet there was this promise for protection for Edomites who would repent. If they rejected the hatred of God and instead turned to worship the Lord, if they found shelter in God’s presence by coming to His temple on Zion, they would be spared. And history knows this to be true. By the time of Jesus, Edomite converts had intermarried with returned Jewish exiles for generations. Herod the Great and his sons were the most notable examples of this. God kept converted Edomites alive just as He promised here.

This promise of shelter in God’s promise and protection in His worship is picked up on and applied to Christ in the book of Hebrews. Christians have come to “mount Zion” in Christ, to live in the worship and presence of God (Hebrews 12:22). Jesus Himself is our temple, a fact He spoke of Himself when He prophesied that the temple of Herod the Great would be torn down, but that He “would raise it up in three days” (John 2:19-21). In Christ we are safe. Faith in Jesus is our escape from the inevitable judgment God brings on all sin. Jesus is our worship, our hope, our Mount Zion, our possession, and our Savior!

Iron and Iron

Iron sharpens iron,

and one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

God knows I’m dull

blunted by my blindness

ignorant of wisdom

searching for direction

So He put me

in Christian community

My friends take the off the rust

they sharpen me

speak Truth to me

show me the Way

so my Life is bettered

through being together

And God uses me

to help them grow

refine their thinking

help them see direction

comfort in their pain

help them find their way

Ancient warriors honed their swords

together — iron and iron

bringing edges to dull weapons

strengthening each other

to gain advantage and defeat

the enemy put on retreat

Like those soldiers

fighters together

sharpen each other

stand as brothers

better together

grateful forever

my great Savior

Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;

our God is merciful.

The LORD preserves the simple;

when I was brought low, he saved me.

Psalm 116:5-6

Jesus my Savior has done these four things for me. First, He is the grace of God upon me, showering me with the unmerited favor of God’s love. I did not earn His grace. I am by nature a lowly sinner who was born the enemy of God. I deserve condemnation for all my sin. My sins deserve to be cast away from the presence of a holy God. But grace forgives the sinner and even more than that, draws me near to the Father by the work of the Son.

Next, my Savior is righteous. In Jesus I see all that is good. And I have been blessed by His Word to read His life, seeing His righteousness over and over again in the gospels. And by His death and resurrection that same righteousness is now applied to me. I can be seen as good and can live in the righteous work of Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, my Savior is merciful to me. By giving Himself to me, Jesus does not treat me as my sins deserve. He gives me abundant life instead. He brings me eternal life. He teaches me to be merciful as He is merciful so that I too can be not just forgiven in Him, but also a forgiver to those who hurt me. This frees me from both regret and bitterness. This mercy overflows!

And finally, my Savior preserves me. I am kept, not by my works, which always fall short, but by the power of Jesus, which never fails! He Who began this saving work in me will be faithful to complete it in me. He will always be faithful to me, even when my heart struggles to believe Him. I rest secure in my gracious, righteous, merciful, and powerful Lord!

powerful worship

Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven,

2 Chronicles 6:13

In the public dedication of the temple, Solomon not only made it clear that it was his life’s ambition to complete the Lord’s glorious temple (2 Chronicles 6:1-11), but he also humbly exemplified submissive worship to the Lord as he led in worship at this first public gathering at the temple.

Solomon made sure that all Israel would know that he was serious about God. It showed in his introductory speech. It was shown in his preparation of a special raised platform before the altar that would ensure that all gathered would see and hear the king as he worshiped. He publicly displayed a posture of worship, kneeling on that platform and lifting his hands Godward in prayer. And he prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, acceptance, awareness of God’s care, submission to God’s will, and praise for God’s power to save (2 Chronicles 6:14-42). Solomon’s prayer rehearses Israel’s history (both the good and the bad), commits to the covenant that God has made with Israel and with David’s descendants, and acknowledges the need for forgiveness of sin that the temple sacrifices would always emphasize. It is like a sermon for all listening as Solomon pours out his heart in commitment to God for the nation.

This very public posture of praise emphasized that Yahweh was the true King of Israel. Those who make much of God’s rule will be blessed with peace and His care. And Solomon shows us how humble praise will bring power. Immediately after his prayer, God sent fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice, and God’s glory filled the temple so brilliantly that the priests had to wait before entering. And Israel worshiped... oh how they powerfully worshiped! (2 Chronicles 7:1-3).. Worship is more than just attendance at a gathering. It is mutual recognition and submission to the power of God as He displays Himself among us.

Faithful to judge and save

For the LORD had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

Numbers 26:65

Four decades of waiting

slowly those forty years came

but God was keeping His word

both to judge and to save

The wilderness stretched on

and Israel never could nudge

any further than that desert

as God led, dealt, and judged

A generation endured punishment

from their God’s firm, righteous hand

they all died in that desert

faithless bones left in the sand

Two faithful believers

who trusted God and were brave

watched all their contemporaries fall

while their two lives God did save

Joshua and Caleb

were kept from the grind

of desert wandering death

to know the promise God had in mind

So we worship a God

with power to judge and to save

knowing on the cross Jesus too

judged sin and new life gave

The power of our Savior

we should never begrudge

He can do as He pleases

He is both Deliverer and Judge!

in danger of drifting

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Hebrews 2:1

This warning which was so true for the first century Christian is even more compelling for those of us in the twenty-first century. If we get our focus shifted away from Jesus, we can drift away from the gospel. Some very powerful currents can carry us away from Him! This tendency towards dangerous drift is why we must always center on Jesus. And it is why the letter of Hebrews spends so much time showing us a superior, powerful, saving Jesus.

We are reminded that Jesus brings us a “great salvation” and we should never want to slip away from that realization. Jesus Himself first declared the gospel that has saved us. His apostles attested to it. And incredible, miraculous events came pouring forth from the Holy Spirit as the gospel was first proclaimed by the apostles, showing us forever the unique, supernatural, great salvation Jesus brought to our world.

Jesus is Lord over all! How can we dare to drift away from Him Whom God has put “everything (including us) in subjection to”? (See Hebrews 2:6). He is crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2:9). It is for Jesus and by Jesus that all things exist (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus is bringing many sons (and daughters) into glory through His saving work (Hebrews 2:10-11). Jesus has destroyed the Devil’s hold over death (Hebrews 2:14) so that we could be delivered from sin’s slavery (Hebrews 2:15). Jesus is our great High Priest offering Himself as our holy sacrifice for all our sin (Hebrews 2:17). And His own suffering, even in fighting off temptation, helps us find that same victory over sin (Hebrews 2:18).

All of the greatness we see in our Savior helps us see the great salvation that Jesus has given us! On that we would be attentive to it so that we can fight our own dangerous drift!

warmth by His fire

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”

John 21:9-10

This is a resurrection appearance of Jesus that just feels so natural, so real, to me. The disciples have been toying with returning to their former occupations. Peter leads a group of them off to go fishing. They have been out all night and caught nothing... it was a miserable failure that added to their frustration. It was beyond disappointing.

But then a stranger at dawn shouts out encouragement and fishing advice from the shoreline, telling them to cast their net one more time on the right side of the boat. And when the net is filled with fish, they knew at once that this helpful stranger was Jesus! Peter impulsively dives into the lake and swims to shore. There he finds Jesus, and a breakfast of fish and bread ready on the fire where he can warm himself. The last time Peter had stood by a fire hew was in denial of Christ. Now he has come back to be in fellowship with His Lord once again.

The closeness of this encounter with Jesus is compelling. Jesus cooked breakfast for these disciples. And then, after breakfast, He took a walk with Peter along the lake shore, calling Him back to love and follow the Master again. He affirmed Peter despite his three denials. And none of the disciples ever questioned their calling after this encounter. This was Peter’s last brief fishing trip.

Jesus,

You call me, even when my actions deny You... even when my heart is wooed back to the world... even when I think I have to make my own choices without You... You call me to follow You. And You love me, provide for me, and long to walk with me and press me with the hard questions that make me see only You! You bring Your disciples to share life in You and with You in the most natural and meaningful ways. And that is the life that I need, and will enjoy... forever!

Amen

Strategy to resist

Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time,

for it is an evil time.

Seek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said.

Amos 5:13-14

For over forty years now, the trend in American evangelical culture over some societal downgrade is to talk about it loudly, to huddle in our sanctimony and point our fingers, glad that “we aren’t that way”. And then slowly, nearly imperceptibly, that same degradation makes its way into the church by a slow dirty seep. And we hardly notice it, may still rail against it, but have not seen that our tactic to fight it was completely flawed.

You don’t fight the sinful culture by screaming against it. Social change is not affected by Pharisaical responses. This warning from the prophet Amos shows us a more prudent path. When evil runs amok, we fight it by seeking a holy God, following Him personally, and helping one another to stay true to the Lord so that individually we are not taken in by the culture seepage of sinful suggestions. Then we together start working on holy actions that show our world how it is supposed to be.

Screaming on social media will not bring this kind of change. It will instead polarize and anger everyone. Political alignments alone are not the sole solution. Politics are run by sinful people and we have to be aware that brings sinful, cultural seep into the church if we aren’t careful. Instead of adopting cultural means to fight the culture, we should try what God says. Personal discipleship IS THE KEY! Helping one another seek God, personally win against temptations, grow in Christlikeness, live out the gospel, do acts of kindness and justice, care for one another AND the neediest that our culture runs over.... all that will show the world the evil they are in and the God that is with us. Thus the evil days are turned back.