Celebrate more than a day …

“What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.” 
(1 Peter 1:3-5, The Message)

  Long after the plastic eggs are cracked and put away for another year and the dyed and decorated eggs have passed their time and purpose … the Lord behind the celebration, longs for connection in a loving eternal relationship with us.   Many Christian Believers celebrate the day of Christ’s Resurrection while somehow failing to realize Christ did not rise to become a symbol on a day to commemorate new life. The Risen Christ desires to bring new life to us by being the truth, the way and the life to us.  He left His Spirit especially for that purpose ... to teach, convict, direct and guide us as He empowers us into a new life.

     Since our sins were nailed to the cross by Christ’s willingness to suffer and die for the sin of the world and every sin in each of us, He also took every one of those sins to the grave where they were permanently laid and left in the carved stone tomb. Our new life comes as the Risen Christ meets each one of us, knowing every facet and nuance of the weaknesses in our human heart and every foible in our personality. He comes to us to encourage and help us live the new life He brings through His endless and eternal grace.

     He is the way, the truth and the life but many times we hold unto our way, our truth and our life; which is actually living in our old ways, believing our illusions of the truth and walking in the selfishness of our life. This is how the Risen Christ can be set aside or discarded like the colored eggs and decorations of the Easter season.  The Risen Christ does not desire to be a decoration in our life but to be our life as we live out the days of our lives. The purpose of the Resurrection is not a story or a theme about a new life but to impart a new life to us.  The victory found through the Resurrection is not in the knowing about a new life but in desiring the new life that our Lord and God can bring when the Risen Christ is allowed to be alive in us.  His ways are the ways we follow, His truth is the truth we believe and His life is the life we desire.

     The celebration of Easter is not about a day nor can it be contained in a day.  The celebration of Easter radiates through the Risen Christ living in us.  A Risen Christ who guides, leads and encourages as He meets and walks with us in every moment of our days until He greets us as we come into His presence forever in eternity.  There is no condemnation in His love for us, nor is there anything on this earth or in the heavens that can separate us from His love (Romans 8).  His Spirit may bring conviction but the conviction is simply to turn us in repentance from the futile life of sin and selfishness towards the new life He desires that we live.

     It is sad to limit the blessing of a new life which the Resurrection brings to us, to a celebration on a single day.  A single day ends like the grass, naturally fading away as its time comes to an end.  The new life our Lord and Savior desires us to be part of, is an endless string of new days in the abiding presence of the Risen Christ.  Celebrate each and every day in the life you have with the Risen Christ walking along side you, as your Lord and Savior.  It is the only journey that will matter in this life and in eternity.

"Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew he was going to do this for you. It’s because of this sacrificed Messiah, whom God then raised from the dead and glorified, that you trust God, that you know you have a future in God." 

(1 Peter 1:18-21, The Message)

Suggested Reading … 1 Peter 1,  From The Message  

Online Version http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+1&version=MSG

What we have in Christ Jesus …

“Praise be to God for what he has given, which words have no power to say”

(2 Corinthians 9:15 BBE).

  As we see and sense the warmth of God’s love for us on this day as we realize the gift of love to us through the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross and as we realize the victory we have because He is risen.  May our hearts be overwhelmed with gratitude!

      Let us be Thankful for God’s love being poured out in the death of the Son. A Son, whose liberating life, death and resurrection demolishes all sin, oppressions and every stronghold.  It is an extravagant love that brings a living hope to the hopeless and a love from which we cannot be separated.  Can we give expression to this gift in words?

If we were to offer words about what we have in Jesus Christ, we might use the words Longsuffering and liberating, overcoming and overreaching, vulnerable and vigilant and extravagant and eternal might be our best attempts to describe God’s love for us. Yet really, all of our words are not adequate nor could even a myriad of words from a myriad of angels express the love of God upon us in the gift of His Son.  Rejoice in the gift of grace from our Lord and Savior which is of such significance, power and sustenance; we are incapable to fully describe or realize all we have been given. 

      As we realize the great victory we have in the Risen Christ may we celebrate the salvation we have in Jesus Christ our Lord from our countless sins.   We celebrate the victory we have over death in His resurrection from the dead.  We cannot give words to what we have to celebrate on this glorious day of new life and promise.  We long in our hearts for the new heaven where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and there will be no more death, sorrow, crying and no more pain.  In His glorious presence in heaven, He will make all things new and we will inherit all things as His children forever. This place where we will dwell with Him is beyond our capacities to imagine or comprehend.  We give all praise to you Jesus, the King of Kings and our precious Lord and Savior.  Come to us now, Lord Jesus, come.

 “‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57, NIV)

Our Savior and Lord

In a familiar garden, he cried out, desperately, for the passing of this course before him,

yet he humbly forfeited his broken will to the Father’s all encompassing salvation plan.

Asking his devoted followers to remain attentive to his agony was his simple request

but it was long forgotten, as sleep pressed in and as he took up the cup of living sacrifice.

Stepping forward into this night of death, he was met with a brutal kiss of betrayal,

sticks and weapons were abundant but rendered ironic when he volunteered to be seized. 

Ropes now bound the hands, whose touch had healed the multitudes of sickness and pain,

 as false accusations and questions were hurled in disgust at this compassionate one.

He was struck as he offered truth, cast off from one authority to another in mockery,

while his identity, ministry and very utterances were scoffed at, with heaps of ridicule.

Royal attire was draped upon his severely beaten body as judges were called to condemn, 

eventually they placed a crown of cutting thorns on his head, driving it into his brow.

Even as this assault wore on with savagery, no one spoke out requesting mercy,

as endless noisy riotous calls to crucify, rose unjustly from raving, shouting crowd.

Nails pierced his flesh, fixing his battered bodily frame upon a torture intended cross,

yet even here he offers forgiveness, as he takes his final breath, of a life given in love.

His life was over and most of those he called apostles had long disappeared into fear,

leaving someone else to find a place to lay this seemingly forgotten rabbi and prophet.

 Hope was gone and a gloom settled over all the earth and all of his followers,

And he was quietly put in a new tomb surrounded by guards to guarantee his remaining.

What no mighty armies could ever deliver and what no earthly powers could ever attain; 

this one, forever secured for all time in the shedding of his life giving, sin negating blood.

Soon the grave was empty to the amazement of the startled viewers attested to by angels,

and this Jesus was raised up, forever alive to offering a peace beyond understanding.

We cannot begin to express our thankfulness for His giving all, that we will ever need,

as we humbly realize our Father’s love for us in giving His Son to take away our sins.  

 Nor can we grasp the indescribable power of His Spirit that raised our Lord and Savior,

to be the Christ who now lives in our hearts and will someday usher us into life eternal.

Yet as surely as Jesus lived, He leads us in life. As surely as He died, He redeems us.

And as surely as He arose, He gives us life forever.  Christ is risen. Yes, risen in deed!

The Tale of Two Followers

  Many years ago a man began to follow a great teacher.  The reasons that this man began to follow the teacher we do not know.  Still there was something in this teacher that seemed special because he treated all people so fairly. It might have been that this man struggled with the issues of unfairness, justice and hypocrisy in the world he lived in.  The teacher he was following; stood up to those in authority and the teacher loved the poor in sincere ways unlike so many other teachers. The man admired the teacher because of the teacher’s living faith shining through loving and compassionate ways. 

     This man became part of elite group of followers who were allowed to travel with this master teacher and privileged to special teachings along the way.  In fact, this man was put in charge of the money for this group of followers.  The days became months and the months became years and countless amazing events were seen by this elect group.  This man saw many healings and, heard the pure teaching about God. He enjoyed the benefits of traveling with this chosen group and being led by such a special teacher. This teacher seemed to have a unique ability to help people sense that as God was worshiped in your heart; your actions would follow that change as your heart changed. Old wooden and stale religion could be now be replaced by a new and living faith.  The teacher spoke of days to come when the world would be changed as well. The teacher spoke of changes in a kingdom and the man began to believe this teacher might be the Messiah.

     Still somehow and somewhere as this man learned from the teacher, confusion began to enter this man’s heart.  The teacher began to do strange things which this man could not understand. There was a recent incidence when the teacher let a woman wash his feet with costly perfume.  This was an injustice, with so many poor surrounding them on every side, needing food to eat. That jar of perfume could buy food for very large group of people. Later, just when it seemed this special group of followers would assume a significant role in a new government, the teacher began to speak of leaving them.  These things did not make sense. 

     He tried to question the teacher but his thoughts were ignored by the teacher and ridiculed by the others around him.  This man became bitter and angry towards the teacher.  Ironically in his heart, the teacher’s words about anger, burned and stung when he remembered the teacher had spoken of anger as being a step towards murder. His mind was filled resentment and as the rage started to build, he wanted nothing more than getting even with his teacher.  All this talk from the teacher about a change of heart was not helping anyone change their plight in life and these arrogant Romans around them were just getting more demanding.  Somehow this follower needed to get back at the teacher and teach the teacher a lesson.  At an evening supper together … the teacher peered directly into this man’s eyes, as he told of someone betraying him; the man burst out with this questioning statement “Is it I?” 

     From then on, everything becomes a blurring and escalating series of events.  There are bargains and embarrassments, weapons and kisses, anger and beatings, remorse and heartache, frustrations and trials and finally an outcome that would bring death to the teacher. The man ultimately feels remorse at his hand in this tragic ending and takes his own life. This man was close to finding life but ended up choosing death as decides to he take his own life.   Who was this man and why did it end this way?  This man drifted around the Light of the world but in the end flings himself into the darkness. The man is Judas and forever he is known as the betrayer.

               

    There is another story unfolding during the Passion Week and it elicits thoughts of another failure is many ways, but this story doesn’t end in hopelessness. It is the story of Peter, another follower of the Teacher.  In a brutal way, one is the story of a sinner lost in the darkness of their own sin. The other is a story of failure redeemed in hope wrapped around the same events of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  There are two betrayers in the week surrounding the season of Easter, but only one finds the hope in the dying, risen and forgiving Savior. Judas is no more evil than any other sinner before or after and Peter is forgiven of nothing more than any of us have done in our own lives or will yet do. 

     In the crux of the life that we all live; we all listen to the stories and lessons that Jesus the Teacher tells us. We all can hear of the way He loves, we all can sense the compassion He has for everyone but only those who know Him as Savior and Lord, have the life that He gives now and for eternity.  A life full of grace poured out upon any that will come to Him. A forgiveness for all our failures. A grace we cannot understand it because it is just too amazing for any of us, as sinners to fully describe.  Jesus Christ is a Savior and King who desires all people to become His children and gives to His children indescribable riches of His love.  This is not just a story, it is the truth.  It is the truth lived out and fulfilled in the events of the Passion week with an abundant love given for all people to become His followers. A gift to live all out, all of our days, in a life, overflowing in grace sufficient for every one of our failures and to come into His kingdom now and forever.  “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15, ESV). 

Easter brings us a living hope …

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” ( 1 Peter 1:3-5, NIV)

  Christian people come to the time of Easter with a thankful heart realizing that this season gives them both salvation and eternal life.  In the resurrection, we as Christians rest secure in the eternal victory that was purchased at the cross by the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Still I wonder if we as Christians really desire more of ever present Christ and powerful work that is un-going in us because of His death and resurrection. We know God’s powerful hand is working in the lives of all who believe in Jesus Christ, but we can also lose our focus and fail in seeking all that God wants to do in our lives.  We desire some of the victory but sometimes hold back from letting Christ have full reign in our lives and the full victory that He desires for all of us.  

     Peter calls the reality of our faith, is “a living hope” coming from our “new birth” (Peter 1:3).  I have seen people become born again by their acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Lord in their life.  I have seen people become reborn after their baptism, people reborn after a prayer and some even by a mighty act of God coming directly upon their life.  Sometimes these events make for spectacular testimonies and I dearly love seeing these and hearing about them, but the truly amazing and powerful fact is this; accepting and giving Jesus Christ the Kingship he deserves and being obedient to Him in all things from baptism to our daily living is what brings us into this “living hope.”  This is not a hope just for the eternal future as much as it is the eternal future is part of this secure living hopeful reality that is ours in Christ, now and forever.

      Just before Peter talks about the “new birth” and the “living hope” that it brings, he speaks of the elect place and position that is ours as believers.  God in His mercy has chosen us in foreknowledge to come into relationship with Him. This relationship comes through the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross which leads us into obedience as the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit changes and transforms us.  This is the living hope that is alive in us.  It is alive because we are invigorated with hope, hope comes new each and every and we are filled with hope for eternity.

      We are forgiven for all sins in the past, in the present and in the future by the blood shed on the cross. There is no condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus.  The grace of Christ covers us to save us; but it also flows over us every day carrying us to the time when we will see Christ Himself.  The victory of the resurrection makes each day, as well as eternity … something truly wonderful.  Let the forgiveness which comes to you from the cross overwhelm you daily in thankfulness and gratitude. Let the living hope that came from resurrection and lives in us by a Risen Christ and His Holy Spirit; empower you to live a new life each and every day from now until eternity.     Let the Risen and Living Christ have His way and His place in your life.   The celebration of Easter is the celebration of the victories of Christ being alive in us as His Spirit is alive in us. The purpose of the cross and the empty tomb is to grant us the “living hope” that only Christ can give.

Suggested Reading … 1 Peter 1

Swaddling clothes, a young donkey and casting lots …

  What kind of garments are swaddling clothes? This was the attire of the baby laid in the manger.  Most babies are wrapped in softness and laid in a bed designed for them but this baby was wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a place designed for the feeding of animals. If this child is destined to be the Messiah, why does he lay like the poorest of children in a place of strange and awkward circumstance?

      What kind of animal is a young donkey? This was the animal that bore this king coming into Jerusalem.  Most kings rode on mighty stallions and demanded homage but this king was coming in humility nodding along a street strewn with branches broken off from the trees.  If this Messiah was truly a king, how can he claim his place of royalty with such a lack of substance and authority?

       What kind of the division of possessions requires the casting lots to acquire?  These garments of cloth were the only earthly possessions of this rabbi which were of any value.  Most great men had gold, silver, scrolls and other treasures but this man had only his garments. If these used pieces of cloth were the Messiah’s only possessions, why were the ones who loved him, not among the bidders as the spoils seemed destined only for a lucky enemy?

      Three separate events from a time long ago of which none of them, seem the least bit logical to most of us.  We would not wrap our child in swaddling clothes to lay them in a manger.  We would not put our king on the back of a donkey and we would be present to try for the possessions of any one we loved.  Yet all of this was prepared in the perfect and planned providence of the Almighty God in the sending of His son into the world to dwell with us and bring us salvation. After all these years, we struggle to understand the purpose of any of it.

       When our Savior, the creator of all things; humbled himself to become a man, his Father left no doubt as to how he would live out his days on this earth. This Messiah with the name of Jesus, who would become the Christ, would experience every facet of life on the earth; starting from the most humble of beginnings to the fleeting praise of the masses and eventually the abandonment of the devotion of most of his followers. He would also know every temptation common to us as humans. These were the experiences of Jesus during his time on earth, ending in the culmination of his brutal death on a wooden cross usually reserved for the worst of criminals.  His redeeming death for the sin of the world required a separation from his Father’s love. This was a separation of the Father and the Son which was unknown in all of time, since the loving union existed without a beginning, from before everlasting. 

       Following the death of the Son, the Father’s love moved across time and space, raising up the Son from the grave through the power of His Spirit. God thus gives new life now and forever to all who believe in His Son. The Son is now lifted high up above all names as He is now and forever more, Jesus Christ the Lord, the Everlasting Messiah and Eternal King of Kings.  Quite a transformation from the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, a Messiah who rode on the back of a young donkey and the man who watched his enemies cast lots over his only possessions even as He died on a cross. 

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Rms. 8:11 NKJ).

Suggested Reading ... John 12

Perfection

  We cannot be perfect in this life. We cannot be a perfect husband or a perfect wife. We cannot be a perfect parent or a perfect child. We cannot be a perfect employee or a perfect employer.  We cannot be perfect in our profession or in any position. We cannot create perfection. It doesn’t matter if we are creating something out of wood, metal, cloth, technology or even with the ingredients we might put into something we might eat. There is always something we miss, something just slightly askew, something we add, something we miss-calculate, something we push too hard at or something we neglect to correct perfectly. There are things we must change, something we may scar somewhat or something internal we not plan for. There is always some variable we did not see interfering as something is not needed, something forgotten as we are rushed or something is remembered when we are taking our time.   

     None of us can function in any of our creating, day to day living or work and or in any relationship; unless we realize the fruitlessness of thinking of perfection as attainable. This is not to say that we cannot be very good at something. Maybe it enough to put as much as we can in all that we do, try and complete. Maybe it is enough to desire to be very good. Maybe it is enough to have a loving passion for what we do and who we are. Maybe it is enough to pursue the development, commitment, the learning and adaptation to be the best we can be what we do, make or become. Maybe it is enough to strive to be very good at what we create and become better and better as we learn, do and strive for excellence at what we do. We can be very good as spouses, parents and friends by being loving, sensitive, caring and adaptable as we put all of our heart and dedication into those relationships.  Realizing we all have some distance to go in all we do, achieve and aspire for; allows us to adjust quickly through instinctual reactions that have been hewn by our experiences and knowledge or adapt and modify slowly through calculation and evaluation by assessing the goal of being better at what we do. An element of humility enters into all of this as we become self-aware of changes we need to make in ourselves to become a better person.

     There is a practical aspect of grace needed in any examination of the aspects of perfection.  All of us are in need of grace to make up for our sinful imperfections in order for each and every one of us to be saved (Ephesians 2:8). We cannot attain a life free from sin and so grace is needed, not only to save us but to remake us.  We need grace as well in every one of our relationships.  We need grace from others because we cannot be perfect and we need to give grace as we realize everyone else is just like we are.  Any expectations of perfection in others are thus softened in the mutual need for grace in all of us. Finally we need to give ourselves grace as we are humbled by our mistakes, inadequacies and even as our goals drift just out of reach despite all of our efforts. Grace applied to our daily living allows us to become more, as grace changes how we do things and the results of all we do. Grace is given life in its honesty and thus it empowers us to good.  

      We may never be perfect, but grace applied by anyone to anything allows the imperfect to be perfectly restored, redeemed, changed and remade. That might be the greatest perfection we may see as we live out, all of our days, given to us through the grace of our Heavenly Father.

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you”

(1 Peter 5:10, ESV).

Love was and is and is to come …

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  (1 John 3:1, NIV)

  Love extols kindness, attention and affection. Love gives, sacrifices, moves, does, tries, cries, feels, sees, becomes, saves, lives, reaches, changes, touches, encourages, pushes, lifts, remembers, helps, stands and overflows with grace because love stands through anything. Love is consistently kind, sacrifices all, dies to selfishness and self-centeredness, moves in dedication, tries in all ways, cries deeply, always feels, sees all, becomes what is necessary, lays down its very life to save, gives without condition, reaches beyond danger and damage, changes bitterness and brokenness, touches all hurting needs, encourages in the brightest and darkest, pushes through all impediments, lifts up our very souls, remembers details, forgets hurts and sins, helps appropriately anointing its actions with grace.

     Some note that love is an action or a verb. Of course love is a verb but no verb with a thousand adverbs can describe the infinite capacities and potential of love, as it does or is doing something. No verb or adverb is adequate at any moment to define love, as love overflows and leaks out from any descriptive attempt to capture or contain it. Some note that love does, but as surely as love does; it balances the scales with what it does not do. For as surely as love does, it rests securely on what it does not do as well. For example, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy … (1 Corinthians 13:4, NKJV).”  The essence of love ironically shows its value, significance and power; not by taking, declaring, demanding or claiming love but by giving, sacrificing, releasing and demonstrating love.

     God is love (1 John 4:16) and He does demonstrates His love for us by His actions in loving the unworthy (Romans 5:8) but love is not simply in His doing or His not doing; it is Who He is. What is done or not done is simply the action and demonstration of His love. God was love in creation desiring relationship. God is love in His steadfast and longsuffering caring attentive love given to us while offering abundant grace as He withholds judgment. God is love, which is love to come, as He will welcome us into His loving presence for eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord.  There is no beginning to His love nor is there any end to His love. Love is the essence of God, without beginning and without end. God is infinite and so is His love.

     Still as finite creatures, we struggle as we cannot define the infinite love of God. Maybe it is enough to sense and be ever grateful in the fullness of God’s great and extravagant love poured out upon us through our Savior’s grace. Maybe it is enough to open up our hearts to His love as it overfills our hearts through the communion of the Holy Spirit. We will be blessed over and over again as Christ dwells within us and we can come to know “how wide and long and high and deep” (Ephesians 3:18) His love is as we are filled up with the fullness of God.  

     As human beings created in the image of God; we were created with great capacities to love and we see love all around us in the sacrificial, caring and powerful actions of people loving others. As followers of Christ, we are also called to tap into God’s great and extravagant love which now richly dwells in us.  His love for us; changes us through the grace of Jesus Christ as we become a “new creation” in Him. This should compel us to love as we have been loved. When we love one another with Christ’s love, we leave the mark of being a Disciple of Christ (John 13:34). Let us always love with His love, in word and deed. It is how we best demonstrate that we are children of God.

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18, ESV).

Suggested Reading … 1 John 3:1