joined

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

1 Corinthians 6:17

I came to You, Lord

broken… needy… lost

and You met me

You were scarred… risen… God

wrapping me in forgiving arms

clothing me in righteousness

You took me

as I was

and made me

what You always meant me to be

Your Holy Spirit

intimately, fully filled my soul

and Your Holy Son became

both Savior and Brother

as transformed by Your Spirit

in my spirit

joined to Christ, in Christ,

I now live for Christ

My Father ran to me

prodigal though I am

and brought me home

celebrating, accepting, reinstating

all that was broken

all that I needed

all that was lost

now joined by Christ

joined in the Spirit

joined to the Father

my new identity is

child of God

Grace, mercy, and the start of a new year

Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Psalm 69:16

On the cusp of a new year with just two days left in 2024 I’m reflective. Of course, in a sense, a new year is just the rollover of a number… a new calendar hanging on the wall. But there is a time of reflection that I find myself doing… and 2024 has a whole lot of reflection to ponder. Taking my cues from this scripture, I will let God’s Word guide how I frame a few reflective thoughts.

First… God’s steadfast love (grace) is always good. I’ve seen His grace flow to me and flood my life in so many ways. Here are two of them:

• Grace helps me minister His grace. There have been some really rough  counseling  ministry situations God has placed me as a pastor to shepherd and care for. And I have tried to keep God’s grace central to those situations. He has been doing redeeming work and changing hearts, but it has been hard. I’d be drained if not for the exhilarating experience of His inexplicable grace.
• Grace received by me in a restart. 2023 was all about grief. 2024 saw me moving forward with my story. No more widowed, but carrying all that past into a new marriage. Going forward, with grace, by grace, in grace, with all those decades behind me so that the new grace of a new marriage might be a big part of God’s steadfast love shown to me. It has been truly amazing and a personal revitalization for me. It is a continuous place of God working graciously in me.

Secondly… God’s abundant mercy has forgiven me and remade me this year. I know I did not deserve the life I have. He has shown me incredible mercy so that I too can be merciful.

• I need mercy to help me be better. The challenge of everything becoming new means that some of my old needs to flex with it. Keeping the old and embracing the new is a tight dance. A new spouse, new family members, a new home, a new kind of lifestyle have all been used to purge out crusty old attitudes and patterns. Mercy falls rich in the newness.
• I need mercy to share with others. All the new things, which are really great, are also touched with a level of brokenness. That is to be expected in a fallen world. The gospel has to fill me and flow into the new. Mercy has to lead me. Thank God His mercy is ABUNDANT going into 2025!

My Judge

For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

1 Corinthians 4:4

I try my best.

It’s not enough.

I feel condemned.

My guilt holds up.

Conscience convinces.

I’m wrong… again.

I’m incapable

of turning it around again.

As much as I try…

in good intent I fail.

And I’ve done much less

than righteousness could avail.

I’m unhappy, unable to please

or help another.

I can’t save myself.

Why even bother?

But Jesus came

to clear my way.

Damning night

He turned to welcoming day.

He bears my current shame.

He took the guilt away.

Uncondemned, by Him I stay.

I have a Savior.

He looks at me.

Declares me pure

as only He can be.

Free from judgement because

He took my place.

He pours out on me

unending grace.

Answering to people,

I let them down.

Looking to Jesus,

I turn around.

He is my only Judge.

He is my only Friend.

I’ll look only to Him

until journey’s end.

a generous blessing

I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children begging for bread.

Psalm 37:25

David composed this verse of a worship song toward the end of his life. It is thus a lifelong observation captured in this song. In all his days he could claim that he had seen God always take care of His people. God does not forsake the righteous… although sometimes it just might feel this way as we learn through discipline and trial. Yet there is this constant: God is helping His people at all times.

In fact, God takes care of us so well that we are equipped to be able to be used by God to take care of other people. Look at the very next verse of the song for how it all is a picture of God’s generous love: “He (the righteous man of verse 25) is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing (Psalm 37:26).

It is true: God blesses us to become blessings ourselves to others. There is always supposed to be a flowing stream of blessing that is fed by the endless churning spring of God’s generous grace and provision. God supples and we share in His gracious gifts to all with whom we happen to come into contact.  God intends the impact to be generational.

Lord,

In this Christmas season of giving, may Your generous blessing flow through me to others I pray. You have never forsaken me. You have indeed given so much to me. May I share Your grace, goodness, and provision generously with others as You have so graciously given all for me through Christ.

Amen

Strength, courage, obedience, and consistency

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Joshua 1:7

The secret to Joshua’s success as a leader is found here at the beginning of the book that details how God helped Israel conquer Canaan. God would use Joshua to lead His people into His promised land. They would, under Joshua’s administration, come to fully experience all that God had promised to them. There were four elements to Joshua’s successful leadership.

1. He would need to be strong. God kept reminding Joshua of this. It wasn’t going to be easy to overtake the Canaanites. But God would use Joshua’s strength. God would use Israel’s strength. God would be their strength. Claiming the promises of God requires faith AND effort.

2. He would have to be courageous. There would be giants to take down. There would be city walls to topple. This means the task to obey God was attended with fears, anxieties, and uncertainties. When God asks us to follow and obey, there will be fear. It takes courage to let God lead us beyond our fears.

3. He would have to know and obey God’s Law. Joshua would need to trust and follow the Law of God given by Moses. His generation would be the first one entrusted with following God’s Word. God promised to reward faithfulness to what He commanded. Thus God was the true commanding general of Israel’s forces. We win by following.

4. He would need to be consistent. Joshua could not deviate from strength, courage, or obedience. That means God expected Joshua to be tempted to turn right or left. But these three charges up front as God gave Joshua His call would guide the leader in faithfulness. Every day God is glorified when His people simply stay on task. 

Lord,

Help me to live in Your strength, to be courageous over my fears, to know and follow Your Word, and to stay on task, I pray!

Amen

nothing except Jesus

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:2

Paul did not try to impress the Corinthian church with cultural or philosophical preaching. He was not about “relevancy first”. And Paul could have chosen relevancy as the first priority. I mean, from scripture we know he engaged philosophers at the Athens Areopagus with masterful insight. We know Paul understood his culture, was well-versed in the thinkers and the teaching of his times. Yet he disregarded cultural relevancy in favor of gospel fluency. He preached Jesus and stuck to that script. He clung to the cross.

It would be equally wise to remember Paul’s preaching priority today. We know we live in a world that intellectually ridicules Christian faith. In the cases where those arguments call out inconsistencies (ie priestly pedophilia… greed and manipulation by televangelists… abuse of spiritual power, etc) that is actually a good thing God is using to sanctify His church. But when the culture attacks the gospel itself or when the popular Christian deconstruction movement mocks Jesus, we need to boldly hold to the truth of the gospel in Jesus. And His death on the cross is the center of that truth. When the cross makes someone uncomfortable, there is room to press in! What a doubting, confused, and hateful world needs is the reality of a Savior’s love, death, burial, and resurrection. And they need to hear His call to repent, believe, receive His cleansing, and follow Him as Master.

Lord,

May Your people know nothing compared to our commitment to the gospel. Will the reality of our need for a Savior, of Your sacrifice at the cross, of Your victory over death and hell at the resurrection, of Your position as our Lord whose Word we obey… Will that be our distinctive? May all that be our constant and consistent message! It’s all we need. It’s all this world needs. May we preach Jesus, and Him crucified.

Amen

A prayer to my God

See now that I, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

I kill and I make alive;

I wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Deuteronomy 32:39

Lord,

I read this song of Moses today and I recognize the ancient faith that trusts Your complete control over all there is or ever will be in the universe You spoke into existence. There is only You. And as much as I may think my life is the center of everything, I must bow to You, I who am a mere fraction of a speck of dust in Your vast domain. You are the Lord of it all. In my world, You bring life and death. Your bring health and wounds. You design weakness to show Your strength. You work in sorrows to bring joy. And only You are the perspective of strength, healing, and purpose to rise above the dissonant notes of the song of my life.

My God,

I only need You. I only bow to You. I want to only trust You. I ask for Your mercy and forgiveness because I still often live for my own sense of control, I worship my false gods, or I live with my needs at the center of my life. Help me fully to trust You Who kill and make alive, Who will wound me and heal me, and Who will, in Christ, always be my deliverance.

Amen

the wisdom and the folly

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

1 Corinthians 1:21

In the wisdom of God

He sent His Son

wisest man to ever live

eternal truth and life to give

it is Jesus’ name we proclaim

for His glory and the shame

The message of the gospel appears

foolish to those who hear

the cross is not worldly wise

it finds no acceptance in their eyes

but is often sniffed at with disdain

mocking Jesus and His name

But it is this folly that we preach

and God’s wisdom will still reach

those lost in confusion and sin

the gospel will help them enter in

the wisdom of God will rescue

those who call out, Lord, to You

Lord, please save those who will hear

and listen as Jesus will draw near

call them to reject those worldly ways

filled with Your Spirit, fix their gaze

on Jesus, the wisdom of God to see

them safely Yours for eternity

the One and the Way

Then I said, “Behold, I have come;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.”

Psalm 40:7-8

There is One Who says these words of commitment with perfection. One and only One is the true fulfillment of the prophetic praise of this passage. Jesus is the One that the scroll of the book continually points toward in any place we read the Word of God. He is the One of Whom this is written. Jesus delighted to do God’s will, to give Himself for us because the burnt offering and sacrifices would never be enough (Psalm 40:6). Jesus is the One Who fulfilled the Law as from His heart flowed the true meaning of all God’s Law. Jesus is the One Who could say all this.

There is also a Way explained in these two verses. It is a Way that is better than the sacrifices of the Old Testament. It is a Way that underlies all of scripture. It is a Way to true peace and satisfaction. It is a Way to find joy. It is the Way to do God’s will and always please Him. It is a Way not just to obey God, but to have God’s Will and His Word flow out from a transformed heart. And that Way is also only found in Jesus.

Lord,

I come to You today recognizing that only Jesus can show me how to live. And in the life He lived, and still lives for me, I find the way to pleasing You, It is all in You, Lord Jesus! I have found the One and the Way.

Amen

prayer for today

For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.

Deuteronomy 31:21b

Lord,

I have a day plan in front of me. I believe I’ll talk with broken and hurting men, hoping as You enable me to encourage them to find grace, forgiveness, and peace in You. At least that’s what my calendar tells me I have planned. And I plan to study Your Word, prepare a teaching series to build up Your saints in their most holy faith, helping the flock in my care to grow in faith, in love for Jesus, and in living like Jesus to the people You have put us all around. At least I hope to gain the insight to teach Your truth and show Your ways to Your people.

Yet, my plans, informed as I hope they are by the gospel, are totally outside my control. You know every second of this coming day more than I can possible anticipate. You know what I am inclined to do. And You take that into account in Your sovereign, gracious demonstration of Your love for me.

You know what I need to know today. So teach me in Your Word as I prayerfully seek Your truth.

You know what I need to believe today. So work by Your Holy Spirit to increase my faith.

You know how I need to feel today. Grip my heart with an awestruck awareness of You. Calm these anxious thoughts. Heal my broken, weary sadness. Encourage me where I am discouraged. Strengthen me where I have no power or desire to go on.

You know where I will be tempted today. Guard me with scripture coming to mind. Confront my selfish thoughts which are always with me. Pull me into a love for You and for others that overcomes the drag of my self-centered mess. Forgive my trespasses and help me to forgive others who may hurt me.

My inclinations are Your intimate understandings! And so I commit this day asking You to draw me to You, Lord… to Your ways… Your will… for Your glory alone!

Amen

Grace with you

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Galatians 6:18

Any gift I could give you

simply cannot compare

to the grace God gives us

in the life we share

I love this life with you

together we serve

a God Who bestows us

with grace undeserved

We worship a Savior

Who loved us in His death

and gave us all grace

to His very last breath

The Father then raised Him

all sin to erase

now in Jesus forgiven

our spirits know grace

A family now united

in Christ we can stand

with the gospel commission

we share grace in our hands

Our spirits are strengthened

our souls in repair

with the gospel on our lips

this grace we will share

I love what God gave us

as in Jesus we thrive

His grace ever with us

His song in us alive

Until heaven is around us

until His kingdom come

may grace keep us together… forward

as God’s will here is done

Overtaken

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 28:2

There is no doubt in my mind that my life is overtaken by blessing. It may not be anyone else’s vision of a perfect life, but looking back over six decades I am humbled by the blessings God daily gives to me. And the fact that blessings also are right with me in difficulties is the greatest blessing I can know. Life is hard. God is so very good. Life is a blessing when those two things are what I know! Bear with this paradoxical language for a moment…

Blessing has overtaken me in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessing overflows into all my other experiences. The fact that Jesus died for me, bore my sin, guilt, and sorrow on the cross so that I could know abundant and eternal life through Christ’s forgiveness is my defining center. So much good grace overflows from that truth. It is like a crystal spring of blessing flowing up from the center of my soul. The gospel overtakes everything!

Here is what the blessing of the gospel overtakes:

• My own struggles with sin. I can find grace as I confess, forsake, and obey what Jesus shows me and what the Spirit leads me by the Word of God’s instruction.
• My own sorrows and grief. I’ve had my share, but I do not live in grief and sorrow. Because of God’s blessing I can live beyond loss. And grief still visits me everyday in some way or another, but the loved ones I have been separated from who are with Christ are not lost to me! They are just ahead of me! I remember God’s blessing and know that I will see them all again as surely as their memories are still with me.
• My own challenges and hardships. I live in a broken world. And there are hard things I face personally, and in pastoral ministry. Despite the reality that relationships, following the Lord Jesus, and making a living are all hard work, I am extraordinarily blessed! And that blessing compels me to want to generously pour out God’s grace in me to others in ministry, fellowship, friendship, love, relationships, good neighboring, gospel proclamation, and showing the kindness of Christ.

Thank You Lord for the real experience of the promise of Your blessing overtaking me! I am indeed carried by the current of Your grace! Amen

In step

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Galatians 5:25

When we follow the Word of God (as Paul taught here) we will also follow the Spirit of God as He leads us. The ESV rightly translates the last phrase of this verse as “keep in step with the Spirit.” it means so much more than just “walk in the Spirit” as other English translations have read. The Greek word is used to describe following in line, marching in step, like a precision march of soldiers, or if we want a more modern image, a marching band or drill team. The Spirit sets our cadence and direction. The Lord wants us to embrace and understand this powerful image.

All my life I have heard sincere Christians give vague, fuzzy, touchy-freely descriptions of the Holy Spirit’s “leading”. It is common for Christians to say “I just felt led”, or “I feel this is what God wants me to do”. But that sort of “out of focus” thinking is not at all how the New Testament describes how the Holy Spirit of God leads us. I mean right here in Galatians five there is crystal clear description with specific wording on how God’s Holy Spirit keeps us from gratifying the flesh (Galatians 5:16-17). There is a specific list of fifteen selfish, feelings-based desires (bookended interestingly enough by actions of sexuality outside the bounds of God’s design: and we think we post-moderns are so sexually expressive!), that would never be evidence of the Spirit’s leading. It is clear their is fleshly, sinful evidence of a heart not led by the Spirit of God.

Instead, the Holy Spirit makes it possible for a new internal character to come into visible display as fruit in our lives. It is this nine-fold fruit that lines out our marching steps. We keep in step with the Holy Spirit as we exhibit Christ-like character: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are the steps He leads us to follow. That’s the line we follow. That’s the cadence we hear. Those are the steps that set our pace, rhythm, and direction.

slave / son / heir

So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Galatians 4:7

What I was:

born enslaved

caught in sin

mastered by selfish choices

unable to break free

bound to wrong

dead to God

a miserable slave

who could not know God or please Him

What Christ did:

born in the right time

sent by the Father

to become my new Master

Jesus broke me free

He defeated sin

made me alive through Jesus

no longer a slave but a son

I can know God and please Him

What soon will be:

reborn an heir

bound for glory

serving my Master… my Father

set free to represent Jesus

clothed in righteousness not my own

alive like I’ve never known

a praise-singing son

I will be with God

and His people — pleasing Him and pleased in Him — FOREVER!

It is good that the Bible says I’m bad.

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Galatians 3:22

So does the Bible talk about sin so much to fill us with a sense of guilt? Is God just trying to bash us into depression? In other words, is it a bad thing that scripture has so much to say about the bad things humans do… things that displease a holy God? Not really. It is a good thing. But there needs to be some explanation, which Paul masterfully teaches in Galatians three, despite faithless attempts to paint Paul as some sort of warped, puritanical killjoy. You see, when the Bible shows us sin, it is NOT to make us holier-than-thou or judgmental of others. Self-righteousness is one of the worst symptoms of faulty biblical interpretation. Sadly, many get it wrong and so those outside of Christianity and some within it suffer with the delusion that Christians are always prudish, unyielding, and finger-pointing hypocrites. We are not to become self-righteous when reading what the Bible says about human evil.

But it is also a horrendous hermeneutic to internalize guilt over sin and fill my self with self-loathing when God confronts sin as we read the scripture. That self-loathing is just another type of judgmentalism and legalism that twists the gospel and corrupts the truth. God never meant for us to beat ourselves up over our sin. It would change nothing, Yes, I should feel guilt, but I also have hope in God. He had to change it all, but His grace!

Paul insists here that Scripture makes strong, declarative pronouncements against our sin, not because God is a stern judge wanting to throw the book at us, but instead, it highlights the beauty of the sweet offer of forgiveness He brought us in our Savior. We have to have bad news (we are powerless and locked-up in our sin) before we can embrace the good news (there is deliverance from the penalty of sin, the pervasiveness of sin, and the power of sin in Jesus! In eternity He removes us from the presence of sin forever). 

And that really is a good thing. The way the Bible shows the enormity of my offense against God magnifies the greater glory of the amazing grace that lasts forever in my great eternal salvation brought about by the atoning death of Christ and the declarative, authoritative, delivering resurrection of Jesus from the dead! The promise is now given to those who believe: Sin is forgiven! We are no longer imprisoned because Jesus is the Risen Savior! Amen!

gratitude for grace

Do not forsake me, O LORD!

O my God, be not far from me!

Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!

Psalm 38:21-22

As I prepare, in gratitude, to celebrate and give thanks today, I am reminded by the penitent passion of David in Psalm 38 to be at all times most thankful that God delivers me from the worst that is within me. Psalm 38 was composed in the moral aftermath of David’s confession and public exposure of the sins of adultery, murder, and conspiracy. The Law demanded death for all three offenses. And yet David pled for mercy, for forgiveness, for a return to healthy relationship with God. David is well aware of God’s discipline and wrath because of his guilt (Psalm 38:1-2). He is burdened in the depressing weight of the guilt of his sin (Psalm 38:3-4). He takes responsibility for his foolishness and selfishness (Psalm 38:5-8) even as it physically exhausts him to do so.

David acknowledges and is hurt by the relational damage he has done (Psalm 38:1-12). He is so done with the shame and guilt that he feels speechless and struck dumb (Psalm 38:13-14). And what does he do in this state? He turns to God in full repentance. He rejects living by feelings for living by faith.

And then insights about God give David hope:

• God will answer as we wait (Psalm 38:15).
• Confession clears a path to deliverance by God not only from sin, but from the torment of accusers (Psalm 38:17-20).
• God reveals a new direction, following the good, that emerges from His grace and forgiveness (Psalm 38:20).

And all those insights lead to confidence that God, in forgiving grace, will not forsake us. Jesus, Who is our salvation, will help those who humbly confess sin, grieve over the consequences, and then follow God Who is salvation. Thank You, God, that You deliver us at our worst to help us serve and love You at Your best!

a different gospel

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:6-7

I too am astonished at the way in which “different gospels” ensnare souls. Satan loves to counterfeit. He loves to clothe his lies in a robe of religiousity, twisted thinking, and a pinch of what looks like truth… but this is destructive. There are many distorted gospels today. Here are some that come to mind:

• Legalistic distortion. It is all about what I do, not much of what Jesus did matters. I will prove to you how good I am. I will judge sin around me distorting the fact that Jesus took all of the judgment at the cross.
• Liberal distortion. There is no such thing as sin. Jesus tried to show us a way to happiness by accepting ourselves as we are in Him. We can only find love by loving ourselves and accepting “the way we are”. There is no need for a redeemer, just a divine buddy who accepts us as we are and changes to be like us.
• Loving distortion. God just wants me to love everyone and everything and be kind. It starts with loving myself. And Jesus tried to tell people this but they killed him for it. His disciples couldn’t deal with it and created a new religion, destroying his original message.

All these distortions are lies. Jesus died for our sins. He was raised for us to find renewing power so He could change us. A new birth means we repent of an old sinful life, allow the gospel to renew our deepest, darkest impulses and live in the transforming work of God’s Spirit and Word as new creations in Christ.

You are

He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.

Deuteronomy 10:21

You are my praise, O God

to You I will always sing

for You have done everything

for me that I could not

You are my praise, O God

for Your power alone

paid the price to atone

for the sin-debt that I could not

You are my praise, O God

great is Your sustaining grace

in Christ I will always see Your face

when my broken sin meant I could not

You are my praise, O God

forevermore I can sing

and thanks I will bring

before You I stand when I should not

You are my God

the center of this soul

where You sustain and hold

what circumstances I can not

You are my God

I worship You my King

with Your people I can sing

of the glory I have not

You are my God

Creator, Sustainer, Savior, Lord

Redeemer, Enabler, precious Word

You teach me what I know not

You are my God

and I bow before You

I submit to all You do

thankful You are and You do what I cannot

the darkest day

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34

And in that moment Jesus bore the worst anyone could ever imagine. With the evil of all humankind upon Him, every murder, every torture, every genocide, all the sorrows, griefs, burdens, and sins ever done in all the earth for all of human history past, present, and future, Jesus found that God the Father had truly forsaken Him. He was all alone in all that pain. He knew no sin but became sin for us. And nailed to a cruel cross with a crowd of onlookers jeering insults, Jesus atoned for MY sin. It was the world’s burden He bore as well as all my pain and grief and selfish sin heaped upon Him at the moment. No wonder the world went dark (Mark 15:33).

And by Jesus giving Himself on the darkest day, new light now fills the world. We can trust that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and on the third day rose again according to the scriptures. Bursting through the black clouds, the gospel shines an everlasting spotlight of hope! And in that massively important event, the central truth of humanity and of all human hope, salvation broke through the most impenetrable darkness of our worst days even today! There is no more darkest day because Jesus gave Himself on that day. The darkest day of human history has already been. There was only one afternoon like that one… the real Black Friday. And from it now all hope rises eternal.

Jesus,

You were forsaken on that dark day so that I can be accepted in the full light of God’s grace. You were abandoned so that I could be received as a son, adopted into God’s home, an heir of eternal life with You. My sins were part of that horrible weight on that day. My wrongs were made right in Your love and obedience. I am now dressed in Your righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne! I will have no dark day of judgment because You already had my dark day on Your dark day. You have taken the darkest day for all of us. Praise You, O King of love!

Amen

difficult by design

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:2

As a generation in Israel stood ready to cross the Jordan, enter the land God had promised them, and undo the forty years of judgement and wandering that had previously defined their lives, Moses reminded them that their difficult past had a definite, divine purpose. God had led them, not abandoned them, in the wilderness. God made that time what it was… a time to mature His people and show His power. He developed trust and obedience as the wilderness generation watched their parents die so that they might gain what the previous generation had rejected.

So what did God do by bringing them through all this difficulty?

• He humbled them. Hunger drove them to cry to God Who gave them manna (Deuteronomy 8:3). Their clothing stayed unworn over four decades in the desert (Deuteronomy 8:4).
• He disciplined them. God disciplined His loved children so that they might emerge mature in their faith (Deuteronomy 8:5).
• He tested their obedience. They new generation was ready to keep God’s commands, walk in His ways, and fear Him (Deuteronomy 8:6).

And after this difficulty and discipline came the delight of the new life! A Promised Land was all theirs for the taking. God was bringing them to good land with fountains, lakes, and streams. He was taking them from desert sand to fertile soil. They would grow wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey. Iron and copper would easily be found in abundance. They would eat and be full (Deuteronomy 8:7-10).

The God of desert discipline is also the God of Promised Land provision. He will bring both trial and treasure, testing and triumph, need and abundance, difficulties and grace to draw us nearer to Him. But it is clear, His good purpose will stand up through every minute of our experience.

not wasted

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.”

Mark 14:6

Anything poured out in love and worship of Jesus is not wasted.

That lesson taught me clearly by a woman with Jesus is not wasted.

The flask of ointment broken and spilled out over Jesus was not wasted.

The fragrance and the flagrance devoted from her heart to Jesus was not wasted.

The reactions of the indignant were actually jealous of her generosity to Jesus. But it wasn’t wasted.

What do I have now to pour out from my life and goods to spill in extravagant worship of Jesus? It will not be wasted.

when the feelings are real but not true

For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

why have you rejected me?

Why do I go about mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?

Psalm 43:2

Things are never as bad as my emotions make them seem. God is faithful. My feelings are not. I may even be taken up in my feelings into spiritual conclusions that are not even remotely accurate. That seems to be what is going on with this lament at the start of the forty-third psalm. The feelings are real, but are not true. The psalmist cries out for God’s justice as ungodly people appear to have the upper hand (Psalm 43:1). The prayer is one of faith (I have taken refuge in You) and of strong feeling (You reject me, I am mourning). It is a kind of worship to pray those feelings to God, as this psalm demonstrates.

There is a confidence in the light and truth of God’s Word to change the situation. And the feelings quickly change as true faith in God’s Word encourages the sufferer. The perspective of God’s presence brings peace (Psalm 43:3). And in the presence of God there is praise as the power of God is remembered at His altar where sin is atoned and wrongs made right in God’s mercy (Psalm 43:4).

And the soul that was once filled with negative feelings is confronted and comforted. The psalmist “talks back” to the negative self-talk. “Why are you cast down? Why are you in turmoil?” This is a blunt “Stop it!” moment. Faith turns the corner on feelings-driven anxiety. The soul now in confidence boldly makes a stand: “Hope in God.” It know that this real praise brings true perspective: “I shall again praise Him.” It knows what it now has in relationship with God: “He is my salvation and my God” (Psalm 43:5).

When troubled, I pray that my soul might work through the progression of Psalm 43.

1. I come to God.

2. I am honest about real feelings, as they are.

3. I look to God’s truth despite how I feel.

4. I praise God anyway for what He already has done.

5. I confront my wrong, feelings-driven, selfish agenda.

6. I hope in God, confident in salvation and in relationship He has made for me.

Glory and Greatness

And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.’

Deuteronomy 5:24

As Israel stood

at the foot of Horeb

receiving the Law

filled with awe

they knew they’d seen God’s glory

they knew they’d seen His greatness

Moses again explained

to those gathered again

all the Law made clear

as they all stood near

the God of all glory

the God of all greatness

A voice from the fire

God’s Law then required

obedience to what was heard

submission to God’s holy word

from the voice of God’s glory

from the voice of God’s greatness

God spoke with a man

who surprisingly could still stand

holding tablets of stone

with authority alone

rooted in God’s glory

anchored in God’s greatness

On another mountain stood

the Savior Who would

at Calvary free us from the Law

so all who on Him call

find God’s redeeming glory

know God’s gracious greatness

until He returns

But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Mark 13:32

It would be amusing, if it wasn’t so disrespectful of Jesus, to line up all the false predictions of His return. Just a month again, as the American presidential election race was in full fever pitch, I constantly heard, read, and saw so many people anxiously convinced that once one party or the other secured the White House in the election, the return of Christ would HAVE to come. Both candidates have been framed to be the Anti-Christ in weird internet conspiracy theories. Sadly, I have seen evangelicals do this my entire life! It’s crazy. It’s sad. It’s unbiblical. And it disregards the direct command of Jesus.

Jesus taught His disciples in Mark 13 to be ready for the end of the age. And since it has not occurred yet as Jesus ultimately describes it, we must assume then that these words of warning apply to us today. Indeed, the teaching that nobody except the Father Himself can know when the end will occur needs to be accepted. Yet here we are, looking at a world in moral chaos (reality check: it always has been since Genesis 3) and we want so bad to predict the timing of future judgment.

So here is what I am thinking as I take in the caution Jesus clearly calls us to practice: Maybe we should just get on with making Him known in a world that needs the gospel and needs us to live like Him to show them what God’s grace is all about! We want to spare them from the worst, right? From Jesus’ conclusion in Mark 13:32-27 I consider these things:

• No one can know when “that day” will be. Stop trying to figure it out! (Mark 13:32).
• Since we can’t know, be sharp, stay focused on the gospel, obey Jesus and love others (Mark 13:33).
• The Master expects us to serve Him while watching for His return (Mark 13:34-46)!
• The tendency to drift into either laziness or hyper-eschatological nonsense are equal kinds of disobedience (Mark 13:36).
• Stay awake! The world wants to lull us into spiritual slumber. Jesus wants us actively trusting Him and watching out for Him (Mark 13:37).

the wonder of steadfast love

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

Psalm 36:10

The steadfast love of God, when used in the Psalms, is an Old Testament poetry theological term for God’s grace. And this psalm is a ballad of beautiful grace. It is both a described and proclaimed grace, understood theologically and shouted doxologically! It is praised and embraced, believed and lived. Look at the descriptions:

• Steadfast love (grace) is vast beyond the heavens (Psalm 36:5).
• Grace is rooted and immovable like a mountain (Psalm 36:6a).
• It is deep and just, benefiting all living creatures (Psalm 36:6b).

And what does God’s grace provide as David sings about it?

• Immeasurable, precious value and true wealth (Psalm 36:7a).
• Refuge in God’s protection of His people (Psalm 36:7b).
• An abundant feast of God’s care and love (Psalm 36:8a).
• A flowing refreshment from God’s river of delight (Psalm 36:8b).
• A fountain of life overflowing (Psalm 36:9a).
• Light that enlightens all our ways (Psalm 36:9b).

Lord,

Like David I too pray that Your steadfast love will continue. And in Christ it is guaranteed because He once for all died and was raised by You in grace and mercy so that with justice and grace my sins are forgiven. And now Your eternal, steadfast love can fill the lives of all who believe! Your grace is my only wealth. Your grace is my refuge against a wicked world. Your grace is my feast and my flowing fountain. Your grace is my light that floods the darkness with Your glory. Thank You for Your faithful, gracious, steadfast love!

Amen

Idolatry is all too easy.

Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire…

Deuteronomy 4:15

God warned Israel that precisely because He did not appear in a visible form to the nation, they would be tempted to want a god with form. They wanted to “fill in” the details that He purposefully left vague so that His glory would be their mental picture of Him. God demands we worship Him in transcendence.

They would be tempted to carve images in human form (Deuteronomy 4:16). They would be tempted to make animal idols (Deuteronomy 4:17-18). They would make the moon and stars objects of worship if left unchecked (Deuteronomy 4:19). Idolatry would whisper to them from every corner of their lives. And God’s voice that thundered from Sinai demanded their undivided hearts and attention. Worship only the God of the Covenant! Never worship an idol!

Yet how like Israel we still are. We may not carve pagan deities to bow to. We may not have shrines and offerings and rituals to idols per se. Be we do replace the glory of God with a worship of the world around us way too much. We do so when we believe wealth will satisfy and provide for us. We do so when we think human government is the key to our security. We do so when we demand that other people meet our needs. We do so when we enshrine animals with sentience, rights, and familial status. We do so when we think the natural universe is all there is and make our creation the result of random chance and an accident of the cosmos. How idolatrous our world still is!

Lord,

Purge me from my looking away from Your glory to the stuff around me. Forgive me for the worship of form and not glory! I will watch my heart. I want to see Your glory, hear only Your voice, and worship the mystery of the Almighty!

Amen

God-lovers love others

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Mark 12:34

So what was the wise answer that this scribe gave to Jesus that placed him at the cusp of the kingdom? Simply put: he agreed with Jesus’ summary of God’s Law and expectations of humanity. The scribe had asked Jesus to tell him what was the greatest commandment, a classic theological stump question of Judaism. Jesus responded with a two-part summary of all that God revealed in the Law. If you kept them well, you could keep all the other commands. And they literally are the heart of God’s Law. Jesus’ summary:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself

This summary honors the great Shema: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One. As the scribe put it well: He is one and there is no other. To hold these two commands forth in life is to acknowledge and obey God well. It is worship lived out for all to experience.

Jesus taught that only one object of worship should be the focus of our hearts. We must love God with all we are. That is what worship is. It isn’t about songs or liturgy exclusively. Those will just be dry ritual without a heart, mind, soul, and strength devoted to loving God passionately foremost. Worship is always a heart activity before it is expressed in any outward manifestation.

And from that worship coming from our loving hearts, God leads our hearts to neighbor love. And who is my neighbor? Jesus’ teaching made that clear as well… even my enemy is my neighbor when viewed by the supernatural, redeeming love of God. Any fellow human being, fellow sufferer, fellow sinner, fellow image-bearer of the Creator should be loved as seriously as I love myself. Wow! Imagine a world where by Christ’s power and trust in the redeeming work of Jesus, people love well. This love as God commands would eclipse our petty differences of politics, race, gender, ethnicity, income, education, or any other human difference! That is how Jesus teaches God-lovers to love others.

Sent

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

Romans 10:15a

Sent with a message

Sent to preach

Sent by the gospel

Souls to reach

Sent to the nations

Sent to all

Sent to our neighbors

All ruined by the Fall

Sent by the Master

Sent into the field

Sent to represent Him

A harvest to yield

Sent by Jesus

Salvation to tell

Sent with urgency

To rescue from hell

Sent with others

Together we proclaim

Sent to raise churches

To praise Jesus’ name

Sent in conviction

Sent into the strife

Sent to the dead

To preach them to life

Sent to be loving

Sent to show care

Sent to help anyone

Anytime anywhere

Sent as ambassadors

With a strong gospel bent

How show they believe

Unless we are sent?

by what authority?

…and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?

Mark 11:28

Jesus did not need to answer these questions, and indeed, He did not do so (Mark 11:31). The heads of the Jewish religious system came to Jesus in the temple to confront Him with these questions. THEY were the authorities, at least according to formal Judaism in Jesus’ day. THEY were chief priests (charged with all temple and atonement duties), scribes (charged with maintaining and keeping the Law and its interpretation), and elders (charged with administration, as well as judicial and leadership decisions). THEY were challenging Jesus because His authority was self-evident and a threat to them. He healed by word and touch. He cast out demons. He commanded the heavens. He fed the masses. He taught with authority without consulting them. He took charge of the temple courtyards. He claimed divine power. He forgave sinners. THEY knew all this and still they pushed against Jesus and His clear authority.

Jesus shows His authority, never holding anything back in the gospels. Read through the gospel of Mark. It’s everywhere in rapid-fire narrative. It’s direct and to the point. It’s decisive. It’s powerful. It was ludicrous of the Jewish leaders to ask these questions. They wanted an answer in order to formally establish blasphemy and heresy. Jesus knew that. So He masterfully flipped the script.

Jesus turned them to consider the authority of His predecessor, John the Baptist. He asked them in the presence of temple crowds to explain John’s ministry: Was his baptism from heaven or from man? And they knew in that moment that they were caught. To say it was from heaven was to invite Jesus to point out their own flawed system because they rejected John and Jesus, and thus God Himself. If they dismissed John’s work as merely human, they would enrage the crowds who had flocked to John just like they now flocked to Jesus and this would damage their control over the people. Stuck in the vise of Jesus’ penetrating spiritual logic, they refused to answer Him, walking away stumped by the smartest man Who ever lived!

Jesus,

I know Your authority. You are Lord. You are God. You are King. You are Wisdom personified. You are Strength and Power. I submit to You and Your authority with joy!

Amen

disheartened

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

Mark 10:22

This is one of the most tragic responses in all of the gospels. A rich young man came to Jesus with the right question: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responded with the answer the young man was expecting: Keep the Law. And the young man rather naively claimed to be doing so. You can hear the legalistic rigor in his answer.

That’s when Jesus pressed in beyond mere external religion to get to the heart’s real situation: Sell all you have, give it away to the poor, and follow me. This was a legitimate call to discipleship. All the other disciples had left their livelihoods. Peter, Andrew, James, and John abandoned their nets and boats at the lakeshore and followed Jesus. Matthew left his tax booth behind him. That’s what a disciple should do… we value Jesus supremely. But Jesus, by this invitation, uncovered a collision of values that left the rich young man’s true heart desires exposed. Ultimately “this life” was valued more than eternal life for him.

The young man was disheartened. That’s a word we don’t use much anymore. It means in today’s vernacular to lose determination or confidence. By refusing to let go of his security to desire wealth and surrender instead to a humble life of dependence upon Christ while learning from Him, he revealed that he already had another master: wealth. The young man was already a disciple of possessions. Yet, rejecting Jesus made him sad. He knew riches weren’t going to last, but he chose the sorrow of worldly wealth over the joy of eternal wealth in Jesus. He would rather be depressed with what he did know and want than to risk it following in faith.

This story makes me think about how often we do the very same thing. And frankly, when I am “disheartened” or “depressed” it is always at this same heart level. In this life there is always a war going on in my heart. I feel its explosions and attacks quite regularly. As a pastor I run into active battles others are caught in as the live fire of this conflict rages with their desires. And I have to face it in my own heart when things don’t happen like I want them to… and this happens a lot! 

This war is a war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self. And when I align with my selfish kingdom, I am always at some point disheartened. My self thinks that what it wants is “great” — just like this rich young man considered “great possessions” better than Jesus and following Him. Like him, I can think material things are the answer. This is disheartening. I can crave acceptance from others and place a demand that all people like me or else I am unhappy. This people pleasing is just another kingdom of self battle for me. I know I am a people-pleaser. It too is disheartening. I sadly want many things more than Jesus sometimes. When I realize this I need to repent and reach out to my Master.

Lord Jesus,

Only a life of following You brings joy. I believe and I know this… forgive my disheartened rejection of You. Bring me to deny myself and follow my Master. I am tired of being disheartened. 

Amen

extreme measures

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

Mark 9:43

Jesus has a solution for dealing with besetting sins. It makes us uncomfortable when we hear these words from Him. Jesus proposes radical amputation to deal with controlling sins. In Jesus’ perfect moral logic it is better to be one-handed, one-legged, or even one-eyed in order to remove temptations than to be whole and through repeated sinful habit end up in hellfire.

Of course, I am convinced that actual self-mutilation is really NOT what Jesus is driving at here. Amputees are perfectly capable of being atrocious sinners. What Jesus IS driving at though is to find a deliberate means to maintain true repentance of sin. We take sin seriously. We deal with our tendency to yield to temptation by taking strong actions in response. In decades of biblical pastoral counseling I have seen the wisdom of Jesus borne out with real actions. The drunk drives a different route home in order to avoid the liquor store. The porn addict sells his computer and locks down his smartphone, maybe even switching to a flip phone that has no internet. The money worshipper learns generosity by disciplined auto-drafting in order to give freely rather than be trapped by wealth. The angry man stops following the sports teams that infuriate him and lead to a chain of anger and a miserable home. The person who idolizes politics blocks cable news channels, political podcasts, and talk radio. The thief gives back out of concern for the welfare of others and not his own selfishness. The jealous or envious woman struggling with comparison and lack of motivation deletes all social media and looks instead to scripture and real life fellowship with other believers. Amputation in these ways is just as literal as Jesus illustrates with eye-pokes and foot chops.

Lord,

As I regularly self-examine in Your Word and as Your Spirit searches my heart, reveal to me where “cutoff” measures will help me to thrive. I will trust what You ask as I believe You when You say that such actions will make my life and my eternity much better.

Amen

soul value

For what can a man give in return for his soul?

Mark 8:37

This world offers lots of cheap options to sell out a soul. It is a bad gamble, a losing proposition, and a rotten deal every time. And yet most people will live, and sadly, die, having sold their souls at a steep loss. The world will not offer anything near the soul’s eternal value. Fleeting moments cannot equal the permanence of eternity with Jesus!

Here are some of the cheap plastic knock-off trinkets the world wants to offer for our souls:

“Power” or “Prestige”. But it really isn’t! Let the buyer beware. The world offers AAA battery voltage compared to the unfathomable power of God in Christ that created, sustains, and fills the universe! And political power (despite yesterday’s outcomes)? A burnt matchstick in comparison to the power of God!

Pleasure. This is the most alluring trade off from what we see displayed by the world system. People easily think that the goal of all life is physical ease and pleasure. But sin corrupts all good pleasures when it makes its offer! God provides pleasures forevermore at His right hand. And age and decay do not diminish the pleasures of desiring God and enjoying His gifts!

Worldly wealth. There is no lasting treaure in this world. Jesus calls us to lay up treasure in heaven. But the world offers empty property deeds and bank accounts that will drain dry… and honestly, it will all burn away to make way for Christ’s rule in a new heavens and a new earth!

The world will cheat us! Satan will try to deceive us. We need to heed Jesus’ warning to take up a cross (something this world considers repulsive and will NEVER truly value) and follow Him (Mark 8:34-36). That is the real value. This is the true reward. I am banking on it!

nothing without love

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:2

I am nothing without love.

It does not matter if I spoke every language in earth or in heaven.

If I didn’t have love, I’d be all noise and no substance… just a clang hanging in the air with no meaning.

I am nothing without love.

What would it benefit me to have the deepest insights into the meaning of everything?

To delve the depths of theology or science without love is trivial.

I am nothing without love.

I could have all the wealth possible to gain in this world and then I could just give it all away.

I could donate every organ in my body to sick people, but giving my life away without love is absolutely pointless.

I need love.

I need to be loved by God Who gave His only Son, loving this broken and sinful world AND a broken and sinful me.

I need to be loved by and with those who are transformed by the love of Christ.

I need to be loved by a wife who loves me like the Church love Jesus… if I could just love her like Christ loves us. Love’s beauty lives in that mystery.

I need to love.

I must be patient. I must be kind. I must not envy others. I must not boast in pride. I must lay down my insistence that life always go my way. I must bypass irritations and my tendency toward resentment. I must celebrate the truth over my own perceived gains. 

I need to love by bearing hard things, believing the best when the worst happens, always hoping, committed to enduring through the power of the gospel.

I can be something in that love!

heart target

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him… all these evil things come from within and they defile a person.”

Mark 7:20, 23

My problems may be aggravated or occasioned by external circumstances, but externals are never the real problem. People don’t “make” me anger or cause me to lose control or are to blame for my unhappiness! Other people or their actions may be the circumstances to my problem, but Jesus is very clear that what comes out of my own heart under external pressure is the real issue for me to understand.

Jesus says even the wrong in my actions has its origin “out of the heart of man” (Mark 7:21). From the heart these actions flow. And Jesus does not mince words… He names the worst external sins ALONGSIDE external sins and equates them as equally evil! Look at the list in Mark 6:21-22:

• evil thoughts (internal)
• sexual immorality (external)
• theft (external)
• murder (external)
• adultery (external)
• coveting (internal)
• wickedness (internal)
• deceit (internal and external)
• sensuality (internal and external)
• slander (external)
• pride (internal)
• foolishness (internal and external)

The heart (a term that is biblical shorthand for the inner person composed of mind, will, intellect, emotions, thoughts, intentions, motivations, etc) is the source of my problems. My responses flow from my heart, and when sin or selfishness rule my heart, I shrink everything down to a micro-kingdom of one and then I sin. And in Jesus’ words, I am then “defiled” by my own sin that came from a defiled heart.

Thank God, Jesus is in the heart-replacement business! He renews minds (Romans 12:1-2)! He helps us put off from our hearts what is evil and put on what is good (Ephesians 4:18-32; Colossians 3:1-17)! He fulfills the promise of the New Covenant by giving us new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26-27). His Word and Holy Spirit guide us in all truth so that we can have good things flow from within our hearts and out into a new life (John 16:13).

obedience from the heart

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:17-18

Everyone is a slave to something. Everyone has a master. This is a slavery that rises up from our deepest desires. We want and so we serve until we are enslaved. And although such a truth is unpopular in our culture, the actual condition is, slavery is the natural born state of every person on the planet. In gospel terms, we are either the slave of sin by birth, bound to do wrong with sin mastering us, or we are slaves of righteousness with Jesus as our new Master. Everyone is a slave.

This truth is visible every day. In fact, even for those of us who by grace have believed the gospel, remnants of sin’s shackles still show us just how real sin’s slavery is. We see it all around us. This world is a miserable plantation under the ownership of a sinful system of ungodly taskmasters who gleefully dominate people under sin, controlled by Satan’s cruel hatred for all the good that God has done.

What do slaves do? Paul is very simple yet profound: slaves obey their masters. And we will either obey sin or obey righteousness. But from the heart, the slaves of righteousness have a new way to obey. We have the teaching of the gospel and the example/call of Jesus that is modeled for us to follow. We are committed to that standard. A slave can choose to obey by outward conformance only, but that is not how we are slaves to righteousness. We willingly obey from a transformed heart. We are set free from sin’s absolute control of our hearts, and now we are willing slaves to a good and loving Master… Jesus Christ the Righteous! Serving with obedience to the gospel from our hearts, we find joy in the tasks that Jesus gives us… His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It is a joy to be Christ’s slaves. It is what we were made for!

tear them down

Because they do not regard the works of the LORD

or the work of his hands,

he will tear them down and build them up no more.

Psalm 28:5

There is an end coming for those who mock God, disregard the work of God, and refuse to bow to Him. And this psalm, in worship, acknowledges the power of God over wicked people who reject Him. God will tear them down and see that they are never built up again. It is a truth that keeps our perspective in proper place.

Why do we fret over evildoers? Why do we act as if there is never going to be justice? Why do Christians get so worked up over social issues, political actions, and place stock in flawed, sinful leaders? It’s one thing to have a desire to shine the light of God’s holiness and truth. It is quite another to focus solely on the prosperity of the wicked and pour our energies into using the world’s means for flawed “solutions” that ultimately fail. We need this high view of God’s justice and judgment illuminating our view of the world as we live in human created institutions. David reminds us in this psalm that there is no way that wickedness wins! God will tear them down. God will not let them rebuild. God is in control. Will we trust that He’s got it all under His plan and power?

I’m convinced Johnny Cash is a better theologian in this matter with these thoughts:

You can run on for a long time

run on for a long time

run on for a long time

sooner or later God’ll cut you down

sooner or later God’ll cut you down

Go tell that long tongue liar

God tell that midnight rider

tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter

tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

tell ‘em that God’s gonna cut ‘em down

mustard seed kingdom

…yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.

Mark 4:32

One small seed planted in the garden

became a sprout, then a

seedling, then matured and grew.

Don’t underestimate what one small seed will do.

Mustard seeds surprise you!

One gospel conversation planted in a soul

may germinate in the heart, take

root, and then with faith will grow.

Don’t think the gospel is too slow.

It will spread wide before you know.

One new Christian placed in the position

where Jesus can shine bright

will be used in God’s situation.

Don’t think it a weird aberration

that one person could sway a nation.

A David or a Daniel or a Paul

can be planted by God’s hand

carefully watered, nurtured in God’s field.

Don’t give up on what God has healed…

A massive kingdom will be the yield!

the extent of His voice

The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;

the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Psalm 29:8

Over half of this psalm is caught up in the power and majesty of the voice of the Lord as reflected by God’s power over the natural and the political world. It can be charted like this:

So looking at the poetry, what point is being made? It extols the powerful, impressive, and fearful voice of God and ends in worship. People cry out “Glory!” in God’s temple (which did not yet exist when David wrote this psalm). It is somewhat prophetic, perhaps a glimpse into eternity in God’s new temple. Every image is about three things: 1) The exclusivity of the voice of the Lord. When God speaks it is a unique experience attributed only to Him. 2) The power of the voice of the Lord. It is both destructive and, depending upon how the Hebrew reads in verse 9 (ie “deer gives birth”) creative in expression. 3) The rule of the voice of the Lord is global: It extends from Lebanon (north) to Kadesh (south) and embraces all people, coming from God enthroned as King over all forever (Psalm 29:10).

Lord,

You are in control. Your voice rules the world, still echoing across the universe You created as You thunder over wilderness, shake the forests and the cities, send the floods, and yet keep Your creation in Your care. May Your mighty power continue to be made known now in the voice of Your saving love AND Your impending justice is here now in the voice of Jesus for Your glory, O King!

Amen

father of faith

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:3

F aithful

A braham

I nitiated

T his

H ope.

A braham

S urrendered.

R everently

I nvesting in

G od’s

H eartfelt

T ouch,

E ventually

O wning

S pecial

N omadic

E xperiences,

S hunning

S hame.

H earkening to

E xplanations

B rushing

E very

L ie

I nto

E ventual

V alidation of

E ach

D ay,

G rabbing

O nto

D reams.

Leadership matters.

And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD.

Numbers 14:36-37

Leaders are important and God holds them responsible because leadership exerts influence upon the moral outcomes of many. And that influence can be used to lead people to honor God. It can also very clearly lead people to disobey God. Leaders are held accountable by God precisely for this reason. And leaders can influence people, can lead people, to sin. 

Ten of the twelve spies who were sent to bring back a report on Canaan were men with sinful influence. They were driven by selfishness, fear, power, and peer pressure to reject God’s will and to recommend that Israel do the same. Their report was a sinful rejection of God’s promise. They led Israel, by their recommendation, into a fearful, faithless frenzy of rejection of God’s will. In short: their leadership led the nation to sin against God. The text could be no more clear: they “made all the congregation grumble against” God. This is God’s verdict. The spies led others to sin against God.

The consequence for Israel was intense. The bad advice of the spies was magnified a million-fold by people who had never even seen the land. Israel had already struggled to trust God in the wilderness. The leadership of these ten led the nation to set their complaints in concrete. The bad counsel confirmed a consistent choice and tendency Israel already struggled with so that the nation rejected God. Their influence on Israel became a massive rebellion. Leaders can tip the scales toward awful sin and bring about God’s consequential judgment.

The consequences God brought upon those ten bad leaders were severe. Their judgment was swift. They all died of a divinely directed plague while Joshua and Caleb lived on. They were the first to die in the wilderness for their unbelief because of their bad influence. And as a faithless generation whom they made to sin fell dead one by one over forty years, the reverberating consequence of bad leadership that led others into sin stretched on for four entire decades. So does leadership matter? You bet it does!

Never think leaders and their influence are amoral. Leadership is vital! God judges those who lead precisely because leaders can influence people both for good and for evil.

Follow Me

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

Mark 2:14

A simple invitation

with profound implication

“Follow Me”, the Rabbi bade

and another disciple made

his way behind his teacher

listening, obeying the preacher

Leaving empty seat behind him

with many footsteps ahead of him

the disciple pays attention

to the Master’s new direction

Jesus leading the way

in another growing day

The journey began with two words

that set a new command now heard

and a new path to walk

with a new way to talk

forward facing future

friendship building nurture

The Friend of Sinners calls us

to earnestly follow Jesus

Will people still listen and obey?

Will disciples give up and take His Way?

His teaching we must ponder

in His footsteps we must wander

“Follow Me” is what I heard

when I surrendered to my Lord

new journey ever before me

His hand writing my new story

I rise up, with purpose and speed

my Master’s words are all I need

can’t expect “easy”

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

and for as many years as we have seen evil.

Psalm 90:15

There is no promise of continuous prosperity for God’s people. Those who teach this are false prophets. Even in songs of worship, God’s Word reminds us that days of affliction, even years of seeing bad experiences will often mark God’s people. We do not expect an easy life. We do not demand only positively and prosperity. It is the case that God loves us even in affliction and uses even the worst evils we may come to know in order to draw us closer to Him and in deeper life with one another.

So it isn’t about never having a negative episode. Instead, life is all about the way God helps us in our afflictions and through difficulty, even decreeing it for us as a means of grace or a method of correction. When Moses wrote these words in Psalm 90, Israel was condemned to see a generation of faithless rejectors drop dead in the desert sands of the wilderness because of their persistent unbelief. The “days” of their affliction number 40 years. Moses prayed that the nation might eventually find an equal time of gladness from God. He trusted that God would bring good to a new generation, even as a current generation died under judgment.

And so Christians should pray today with clarity about the wrongs we know. God clearly judges evil and sin. Often the most scathing judgment comes as He lets sin play out its natural course to final consequence. That can be see all over our current contentious society where there frankly are no longer good options culturally and politically. God brings the worst judgement when idolatry runs its course. So when I sadly see Christians worshiping culture, celebrities, power, or politics, I am not surprised to see the broader social structure continue to drift from God’s truth into chaos. A dry wilderness is what we live in now and could it be the last 40 years of Christians hungering for worldly power that has brought us here? In an age where people post their desires on their social media “walls” for the world to see, sometimes the idolatry is sickeningly obvious. It is as outrageous as Israel rejecting the promise of Canaan. I tend to think God is currently bringing affliction and using evil to get our attention focused on Him as we have often confused kingdoms.

Lord,

Restore Your people to worship only You. As cultural and political idolatry plague us and will multiply over the next two weeks, pull us to repentance instead, I pray.

Amen

the message of the King

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Mark 1:14-15

And with this first glimpse at the message of Jesus, Mark summarizes the preaching of our Lord. The content of verse 15 in particular is a four part sermon unique to Jesus.

1. The time is fulfilled. A new epoch of salvation history was inaugurated under Jesus’ preaching. Fulfillment had come on one long season of the world that had been awaiting a promised Savior and Messiah. Jesus’ time had come. With the arrival of His public ministry a chapter was closing. What prophets foretold was now here. What the Law and the Prophets pointed to in all the Old Testament, Jesus was making plain in God’s new plan. The Messiah that John the Baptist pointed to now began to change things… forever!

2. The kingdom of God is at hand. A new season of God’s rule over hearts and minds was being established with Jesus. He does not directly say it, but this part of the message implies that Jesus is the King of that new kingdom. Jesus preached it and Christinas believe it: Christ is King!

3. Repent. People will need to change under Christ’s new kingdom. We enter the rule of King Jesus via repentance. We must turn from sin. We must surrender hearts and lives to a new Savior for a new life, and to a new King for His new rule to begin to implement His changes in us and over us.

4. Believe in the gospel. Good news, under a good King, will rule the lives of a people who the King will make good. But those who want this rule MUST believe in the King’s good news. They cannot enforce their own wills. They must trust the good news that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. This King conquered death and sin in order to rule all who will believe! Repentance is what we leave behind, and faith is the port of entry for a magnificent new rule of Jesus in His kingdom.

The time is now here and for millennia the kingdom of God has come with King Jesus! He is still the King. No ruler of this earth changes that. No political crisis or election hubbub makes even a minor ripple of dissent to His rule! This truth compels me to repent, believe His good news, and submit to His rule! Forever reign, King Jesus! 

looking on Your goodness

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD

in the land of the living!

Psalm 27:13

Alongside David of old, I too believe this same confident assertion. God is for me, who can be against me? I am called to confidence. I am summoned to a sure service. I am filled with faith in a good God Who does good things in good ways in the grace of the gospel as I follow Him. I believe in the goodness of the LORD.

I’ve seen death… a lot of it up close and personal. As a pastor, dealing with loss, remembering lives, memorializing moments in time with unique personalities is something I am regularly called to do. It is healthy to have regular reminders that there is a limit to mortality. How do I do this with feet firmly planted (at least for right now) in the land of the living? It is all because of Christ’s death and resurrection. I am certain that death is not the end for the believer. And as those I have loved much have crossed that threshold, I stand here in the land of the living, ready in God’s time to join them on an even brighter side to eternal life in Christ. It is a glorious prospect. Yet… I must still stand on this side, knowing the goodness of the LORD, grieving the temporary separation, and believing Jesus for that certain hope while staying on in the land of the living.

Every day I gaze upon the goodness of the LORD!

Your face shines, O God, in the light of Your Word as I read it. Your glory shines as I worship You both with Your gathered saints and in the quiet morning pre-dawn dark silence. Your goodness falls on me in the forgiveness of my sins, in the wisdom of Your Word as I follow Jesus, and in Your daily provision for me. I have a comfortable roof over my head, warm clothes, loving family, daily bread, service to perform for Your glory, and satisfying joys in simple gifts of Your overflowing grace… EVERY DAY! Yes Lord, I believe that I look upon Your goodness here in the land of the living. And when I leave this land, there is an even greater glory beyond what I can imagine filled with even greater goodness. Praise You, my LORD!

Amen

they will listen

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.

Acts 28:28

These are the last words recorded from Paul in the book of Acts. They form the conclusion to one last recorded conversation with Jewish leaders in Rome. Paul spent an entire day with them working through all of the Old Testament to show them the gospel of Jesus and the kingdom of God (Acts 28:23-24). In the end there was disagreement and unbelief (Acts 28:25). This led Paul to a final conclusion: the Gentiles will listen to the gospel and turn to Christ.

This is a fitting bookend to the Paul story arc of Acts. At Paul’s conversion Jesus revealed that His plan for him was to “carry my name to the Gentiles” and for him to “suffer for the sake of my name”. And now, in Rome, with Paul’s last Acts message he is doing both… committing to Gentile evangelism in the core of the Gentile world in Rome while also under arrest by Caesar. The story reaches the end that God intended. The gospel has spread just as Jesus had prophesied in the opening of the book of Acts: to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.

Seeing Jesus so in control of the growth of His church, the spread of the gospel message, and the worldwide expansion of His kingdom is the main takeaway I have from this current reading of the book of Acts. And this same Jesus is head of His church right now. He is growing His Church, saving His people, and building His kingdom. And we are the people Jesus chooses to use. We need to proclaim the gospel and pray with confidence like Paul that “they will listen”.

praying for day

And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

Acts 27:29

Long night

storm-tossed

weary in the wind

drenched by the rain

sailors, soldiers, prisoners

dropped anchors

and prayed

Morning light

land sighted

breaking on a reef

tossed by the sea

sailors, soldiers, prisoners

jumped overboard

and swam

They prayed for the day

even though God said

they would all be saved

the storm still terrified

the waves still swept them

the night was still long

the threat was still real

And so in life

God does not calm

the waves or always

still the storm

Instead, he asks us

to believe His promise

ride out the storm

swim in the tossing surf

and trust Him to deliver

And He does.

God hears us pray for the day.

God leads us in the storm.

God crashes us into safety.

God saves us by our turmoil.

undeniable resurrection power

Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

Acts 26:8

And with that question Paul makes his defense before Herod Agrippa and Festus, the Judean governor appointed by Rome. His argument for the power of the resurrection is very compelling but not what we might expect. He doesn’t go on and on about the empty tomb. He doesn’t need to produce a shroud. He does not line up eyewitnesses like he does in 1 Corinthians 15. Rather, his preferred argument in his defense is the reality of the resurrection of Jesus and by implication conviction in a future resurrection for His saints that is centered on two-fold implications from Paul’s own personal testimony:

1.  A resurrected Jesus confronted Paul on the Damascus road, saved him, and commissioned him to preach the gospel.

2.  Paul’s own transformation experience from Jewish leader and hater of Jesus to apostle of Jesus and one hated by the Jews for preaching the gospel was a testament to life-giving power.

Paul’s transformed life was already something of an evidential exhibit to God’s resurrecting and transforming work. Paul’s complete turnaround from persecutor of Christianity to unashamed proponent and leader of the Christian movement was proof of this. God’s power was on display in the gospel message and the gospel messenger. The passion for the gospel was there because Paul encountered a real, live Jesus and then believed that His death and resurrection will also transform and resurrect all who believe in Him.

Paul turned the tables. The burden of proof for him was on those who needed to DISPROVE the resurrection. For Paul, this was impossible to do. God’s power was displayed in Christ’s resurrection,. That power is also displayed as the gospel brings new life every place it is preached. And this continues unabated even now. Every changed life is the evidence of the resurrection! How can we not believe when we have a resurrected Savior Who resurrects us to new life in Him and will resurrect us one day to eternal joy with Him?

prayer of the afflicted

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

Psalm 22:24

Oh Lord,

You are in control of everything that happens to me. You lead this life. You direct all circumstances. You lay the path before me and lead me as I walk in it.

And when the road is hard, I am well aware now that suffering is part of Your good design. My afflictions are never unknown or without good purpose. For countless generations You have led Your people through health and blessing, planting and harvest, hardship and hurt, and struggle and victory. You won’t stop now!

And not all afflictions are the same. Sometimes I suffer as a clear consequence of my own sin so that in Your mercy You might draw me to repentance. And other times because this world is so very broken by Adam’s Fall, there is suffering and difficulty… the thorns and thistles of my existence. Suffering is a part of every life… surviving is part of the task of living… and those perspectives are not fatalistic, but faithful for those who follow You, Lord.

For Christians, You may deem us worthy to carry on the afflictions of Christ. We may suffer for His sake, hated by the world, judged by those under Your judgment, and mocked by those who hate You.

I know this: You hear me in my afflictions. You respond with grace, healing, and mercies to all my sorrows. You never hide Your face from me. I believe this. I see it. I rejoice to be worthy to experience Your good hand in hard seasons.

I have one primary purpose in my life: to worship You, my God! I will sing Your praise and declare Your glory.

I have one primary mission in my life: to tell as many around me as I can about Your faithfulness and saving love. I will make my God and Savior known by Your sustaining love!

Amen

passionate for the gospel

Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

Acts 23:6

Paul was transformed by the gospel. And that was a problem for the Jews. He had been a fierce opponent of Christianity when he first heard about Jesus. He had been meticulously educated to defend the Jewish Law in the highest school of Judaism in his day (Acts 22:3). He was zealous to keep the Law and agreed to persecute Christians to wipe out what was seen as a heresy (Acts 22:4-5).Until Jesus Himself confronted him on the road to Damascus and in that encounter turned him from passionate resister to passionate proclaimer of the gospel (Acts 22:6-16).

Paul was then dedicated to proclaiming the gospel despite his notorious past of persecution. He became God’s chosen apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).

And as the events played out in Jerusalem here in Acts 23, the Jews have had quite enough of his gospel-preaching commitment to bring Jesus’ Way to the Gentiles. Paul is still very passionate for the gospel. In fact, he shrewdly appeals to the gospel’s biggest offense to Judaism: The resurrection of Jesus from the dead as the hope of resurrection for all believers. And that appeal blasts his accusers into disarray so divisively that a Roman guard has to whisk Paul away from Jewish religious authority, putting his fate from that moment on in the hands of the very Gentiles Jesus had called him to reach. The gospel in that sense saved Paul again… quite literally.

Lord,

When I read of this kind of courage in Paul with the gospel I am humbled. I pray that a passion for the gospel would indeed rest in my soul. I pray I will live for its advance and rest in gospel hope.

Amen