The place you have been given.

  It is quite common for Christians to grasp unto a partial understanding of the forgiveness they received at the cross and also never realize in principle or potential the generosity of the grace lavished upon us.

    What no amount of offerings nor no amount of contrition, humility or the massive sacrifice in the blood of animals could barely or temporarily secure; Jesus securely completes once and for all of eternity. “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[a] eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12, NIV). The new place for all of the redeemed comes from the completed sacrificial and saving death of our Lord  and enables the hopelessly sinful to become securely emboldened to come into the place of holiness. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16, NLT).

    What no massively empowered human effort could ever in the slightest way realize in principle or potential; the resurrected Christ lavishly appoints and enables for our living now and for eternity.  “And his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:19-21, NIV).

    We cannot comprehend all that was done on the cross for us nor can we over our lifetimes appreciate our new place in the Kingdom of God that the Resurrection empowers.  Our place as a follower of Jesus the Christ is a place that is securely completed and given as a gift beyond compare and lavishly appointed and enabled in an amazing grace for all of eternity.  We cannot truly comprehend what we have been given in Christ nor can we truly realize all that He will amaze us with as we live all of our days.  “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV)

Suggested Bible Reading … Hebrews 4 & 9 and Ephesians 1-3

Oh, those summer days ...

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,  for those who fear him lack nothing” (Psalm 34:8-9, NIV).

  I will miss summer.  I love summer. I always have and I always will.  I like a cold glass of ice tea with the moist condensation dripping on fingers as I savor the taste I love on a hot muggy day.  I like the blooming flowers and the smell of freshly cut hay.  I love the foods of summer like sweet corn and strawberries.  I like fishing on early mornings and I love just resting in my hammock under the shade of a leafy tree and looking up at a bright sky. 

     I loved the summer when I was a kid.  It was warm out and the days were long.  On some days there simply was no agenda but to just be outside and it just was great fun.  Or you could build something, tinker with your bike and maybe convince someone to go swimming or fishing.  Then the summer of bliss would all come crashing down when the local paper would publish the bus schedules in the late summer.  Somehow the truth was starring me in the face … it was now time to go back to school.  Of course there were some good things about school but overall it is hard to go back after the summer.  Most of us all have good memories of our youth and our summers.

    Have you ever really thought about what God gives to us and how wonderful it is?  How much better it is than anything upon this earth.  His compassion extended to us by His grace is so much better than any afternoon nap in the best of hammocks.  The satisfying living water that comes in the goodness of His care is far more deeply satisfying than any beverage found on this earth.  His forgiveness coming from the death on the cross of our Savior is countless times more compelling and replenishing than all the rains of all the summers of all time.  The smell of the sweetness of His love is better than any fragrance on any summer breeze.   There is nothing that will disappoint us in our relationship with God and it is far better than a lifetime of the greatest things of summer.  Go ahead and “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” for He is better than all the summer days of our lives.   Amen!

Suggested Bible Reading … Psalm 34

A couple of Sabbath days.

No writing for a few days. Enjoying a couple of Sabbath days at Knife River, Lake Superior. Listening to One who calls fishermen in the beautiful world He created.

It is dark in this place.

It is dark in this place.

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me. 

(Psalm 13, NIV)

  In our lives we have all been in places where we could not see. The darkness was penetrating and we have stumbled into things groping in despair to find our way even, in familiar surroundings. If we have no access to a light source or a guide, we remain in a desperate way as we try to negotiate our way.

    We can feel that same desperation when we are in places of depression and sadness. At times we blindly stumble, trying to negotiate our way out of through that darkness as well. Sometimes the place of sadness comes from the action of others that would harm us and sometimes it comes from events and circumstances in our lives that overwhelm us with darkening hopelessness.

    There are even times when we seek light and guidance from our Shepherd and our God and we don’t find assistance in our moment of need. We must wait and trust in the security of our LORD’s unfailing love, as we stumble around for a time, groping in the darkness of the unknowing, unclear and unseen. It may seem hopeless and significant as we cling to simple remembrances of the true and unfailing but our Lord will again come to us. He is faithful and He does not fail even if we cannot see anything in the darkness of the moment.

Dear Lord … help me to trust in your unfailing love as a guiding light that will come again to me, even as I stumble through this moment of darkness.  I praise you as I remember your love for me.  You have always been good to me, so very good to me.  Amen.

How sweet are your words, Oh LORD.

“How sweet are your words to my taste,  sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

(Psalm 119:103, ESV)

  A few years ago we read Psalm 119 in its entirety in a worship service.  A number of people were very touched by the words on that day.  It is the longest Psalm and it has one stanza for each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

    The theme of the Psalm is the insight, guidance and sweetness flowing into us as we meditate on the truths and seek a deeper understanding of the LORD through His Word to us.   Even though the Psalm reflects on the Law of the LORD being “sweeter than honey” and how it “gives life.” It is the relationship of knowing the LORD that gives and makes the words of the Law so wonderful as to be a blessing as to us as we read and cherish them.

    I think our relationship with the Shepherd, the faithfulness of His heart towards us and His attentive protective love is the key as to the why and the way the Psalms connect with us.  Over and over we tend to go to them and read them, seeking God.  Over and over we identify with the feelings of frustration and elation that we find in these writings.  I have read them to young and old.  I have connected with them during brutal life events when nothing made sense. I have found understanding in the Psalms as to my frailness, humanness and struggles.  I have been blessed by the Psalms when I have been overwhelmed with the greatness of our God and found the exact words that matched my worshipful heart at that moment. The Psalms have been for thousands of years and will be until time is no more … the treasure of all believers and followers of the Living God.

    In the middle of Psalm 119 is the familiar phrase … “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  The Living God who is our Savior and Shepherd uses the Psalms as a lamp to help us in our understanding as we go through each day and every situation of each day. They also are a light that guides us by His Word on the blessed path ahead of us.  In His Word and in the Psalms we find our God, when we seek Him. His light is more than sufficient for each day and we can trust His light as the way for every day along our future paths.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105, ESV)

Suggested Bible Reading … Psalm 119

Good News.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” 

(Romans 1:16-17 NIV).

  The Gospel is “Good News.”  The Gospel is not about an upcoming judgment and even though it includes deliverance from judgment. The Gospel is the gift lavished upon all who would believe in God’s favor through His Son our Lord. This favor explodes in an amazing grace taking us as are, unholy and unworthy and making us holy and worthy. 

      Thus the Gospel is not just a thought, an intention or even simply an action of  salvation.  The Gospel is the “Good News” alive through Jesus Christ.  Faith in Jesus Christ alive through the Holy Spirit becomes the all encompassing, all securing and all delivering power conquering all bondage and separation coming from all sin in the past while overflowing with enabling strength in the present eventually taking us as believers into eternity.  The power of the Gospel is the living by faith in relationship with Jesus Christ who was and is and is to come … “The Gospel.”

      It is not something to be ashamed of. Instead it is something to proclaim to a world desperately longing for good news.  Becoming an empowered follower of Jesus Christ requires living beyond just the knowledge of the Gospel unto the daily living by faith in "The Gospel.” The good news that empowers our daily living must be a faith lived out in an abiding and trusting faith in the “Good News.”

Suggested Bible Reading … Romans 1

Nothing new under the sun.

 I wonder what Solomon was thinking about in particular, as he penned these words, “What has been, is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  What is amazing is the timelessness of these words.  The reality that he realized as he expressed the words reflectively in what he had seen in his experience is profound but the power of his words is in the fact that they are prophetic in as they would remained significant for future generations as well. There is nothing new under the sun.  There is really no new evil … it has always been around since the fall. People are both good and bad and the struggles and joys have been pretty much the same under the sun over the many and different centuries.

     Later in the same book, Solomon reflected on the equality of life on this earth under the same sun. Life never is what is people expect.  Sometimes the slow win the race, wise are made foolish and on and on it goes … we find that we don’t have a clue of what may happen next in our lives under the sun. In all the things of the earth, we come up a bit empty in our understanding. Solomon examines this thought as he writes this in a passage that comes with an somewhat meaningful prophetic reference number, “Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

    The truth is and remains as John Wesley once wrote, “The nature and course of the beings and affairs of the world, and the tempers of men, are the same that they ever were and shall ever be; and therefore, because no man ever yet received satisfaction from worldly things, it is vain for any person hereafter to expect it.”  Our only hope upon which we can truly stand as we face anything that comes along under the sun, remains in the God who made us and redeemed us through our Savior Jesus Christ.  We don’t know what will come along under the sun but we can have confidence in the one that created the sun.  He knows all about the sun and everything that is under it. He knows everything about us and has engraved us in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16).  We are really and truly His. That is the only thing we truly know as we live out our days under the sun. Amen. 

Suggested Bible Reading … Ecclesiastes 1