For all Seasons

A blank canvas is colored and filled with strokes and directional shadings by an artist’s loving hand desperately trying to capture the essence of the baby Jesus asleep in the manger nestled in the center of his painted interpretation of the scene of a miraculous birth in a stable.  A writer carefully crafts descriptive phrases and words, intently and with purpose … trying to invoke the deep meanings and significant realities of God coming in the Flesh to bring favor, grace, and salvation to a sinful world.

A young child looks affectionately at the tiny baby in a “Nativity” on a small table delighting in all the charm of the story and the characters but lacking a full appreciation what a Savior is. An elderly gentleman nearby yearns for the phone to ring … for anyone to remember him in this season of remembering.

Across the city, a waitress collects her tips at the end of her shift wondering why in the season of generosity, her meager earnings are coming up shorter than the average day at the diner. Just outside of town a rancher beds down his cattle with fresh straw in his decaying old barn and smiles at the recollection that a place of animals was chosen for the Christmas “Birthday of the King.”

In a gleaming tower of steel and glass in a far off urban landscape, a very successful self-made man who has made his way to the top of being highly successful, wonders why he feels so unsatisfied with all he has amassed. A few miles away along an eroding ravine in a shack of rusted tin and twisted boards, a family shares a bag of decaying oranges … delighted at their unexpected find in the city dump and talking of provision and hope because they have a living “King” born on this day who knows their names.

An emotionally broken couple sits contemplating the severing of a relationship that they once believed God had put together lost midst the uncertainty of any real hope. Pain, suffering, conflicts both large and small and trivial and majorly significant seem to daunt the promise of the season and yet these aspects of life have always been present on the earth.

In a jail cell, hopelessly confining and limited, a young man’s face brightens as reads of a “liberty for the captive” from an ancient passage in an unfamiliar Bible, as he realizes a spiritual release can come to his heart regardless of the bleakness of his surroundings.  Just a few miles away on a foreboding street in a dark car, a young woman considers where the “Christmas Star” can be found, so she might find some possible brightness for a path out of the overpowering darkness she is sensing and feeling in her soul.

The Christmas season is filled with countless life scenarios, too numerous to possibly list: those of hopelessness and hope, discouragement and promise, losing and giving, sin and forgiveness, hurt and love, discord and peace. The Christmas season is a time of contrasts as it brings forth a myriad of feelings forgotten and remembered, repressed and expressed, fractured by circumstance and those bursting forth with promise. In all realms, in all stories and places, the Savior comes for more than a season as He brings forgiveness, redemption, peace, joy and life.

Even as Christmas seasons come and go … the Jesus who came as a baby and became the Savior of the world, never forsakes His giving to us.  Jesus Christ came in the season of Christmas but what He gives is not seasonal in any way. He gives far more than any and all of seasons of all time can contain.  More than can be captured in thought, words or representations. More than can be recognized, appreciated or even understood.  Jesus Christ redeems, heals and restores all the moments in all the seasons from all their brokenness, pain, discouragement, frustration, heartache, suffering and an endless array of all that would come against us throughout our days on the earth.

The hope, promise, love, peace and joy that God bestowed by His favor through the gift of His Son was never meant to be found in the characters in the Christmas story, the place, the star, the day, the situations, the timing, the conditions or even in the season. All that God longs to give to the world by His loving favor was and is always to be found in the Son.

God’s full favor comes to us, as we become His children through His extravagant love being poured into the faith relationship we have with Jesus Christ the Son. Through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven of all sin and blessed throughout all the days and seasons of our lifetime, eventually coming into eternal life. 

The gift of a Savior is for far more than any and all of the Christmas seasons … whether past, present or yet to come. Jesus Christ the Savior of the world, who came so long ago, still comes to any and all people in every season who call upon His name.  Jesus Christ is more than a baby born in a manger, more than a seasonal event, more than a reason for the season … for He is the Savior of all people, all seasons and for all time.  

Blessings to All

The Thankful Psalm of Knowing the Good Shepherd

Ever humbled in gratitude and thanksgiving for knowing the Good Shepherd!

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalm 23, KJ21)

The Lord is the Shepherd of my life, He is always good! He satisfies every want before me, fulfilling all yearnings, even those I do not realize I have and need.

He guides my heart to the peaceful meadows of His presence; He leads me to the quieting comfort the nourishing stream of His steadfast love. Over and over he restores my very soul.  He leads me on the pathways that change me into someone who reflects the glory of His righteousness by His faithfulness.

Even though I struggle and stumble when circumstances and pressures darken some of the seasons of my life with aching pain and deep despair, I will not cower and lose faith … because You, O Lord, as my Shepherd are ever with me.  O Lord, you direct me ever closer to the truth by the rod of your perfect wisdom and stand ready with your mighty hand upon your staff to ever protect me.

There is no end to the extravagant banquet of your goodness that You, O Lord put before me as a feast so abundant that my very enemies fall back in great astonishment. You anoint my head with the overflowing oil of your favor and your blessings saturate my daily living.

Your goodness fills every moment of my living and your merciful grace freely flows in and through every day and every season until I come into the eternal home I will share with you forever. Thank you, O Lord for being the Good Shepherd of my life. Thank you! 

Paraphrase - S. R. Maas -2016

The Glistening Temple

The foundation was laid with massive stones hewn from deep in the earth. The walls leading up to the sacred place were straight and true positioned perfectly with white marble. The courtyard was ordered and marked for specific people and access to each designated area was secured only by sacrifice and decree. Beyond the courtyard, the chosen could venture to the soaring edifice with bronze doors that towered to the sky. Through the doors the cleansed and holy leaders came to beckon and petition the Creator and Sustainer of all life for the people. Deeper still, curtains as tall as the cedars of Lebanon separated the holiest of men from the presence of the holiest visitation dwelling of the Most Holy God. This was the temple that glistened so brightly on the peak of Mount Zion that those who gazed upon it had to turn away from its spectacular and stunning brilliance.

Yet this magnificent edifice that shone so brightly glistening in the sunlight was destroyed by the powerful Roman army and all that is left is a mountain of massive foundational stones. The Savior who foretold of second temple's destruction will someday come with an indescribable brilliance brighter than the sun which He created and with a greater power than all the armies that have ever held power in their hands and efforts.

In the meantime the temple that glistens does not shine from reflective light. The “Temple” of today is where the Risen Christ dwells in us and it glistens from the living presence of the “One” that created all things and reigns over and above all things (Colossians 1, 2) as He imparts His Holy Spirit to guide, comfort, teach and convict us.  He is not separated from us by a heavy curtain but has torn it asunder forever that He might be with us always (Matthew 28:20) There is no need for endless sacrifices for sin for our Savior became the sacrifice for all sin for all time for any and all who come to Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Finally He does not withhold His holiness to times and calendars but He covers us with His holiness because of His boundless loving grace that we might not bear condemnation. (Romans 8:1).

Rejoice in the Christ who lives in you through the Holy Spirit and let Him shine through you as you follow Him as Lord each and every day.

Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you and which ye have from God, and that ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, KJ21).

Into the woods of dappled light …

Into the woods of dappled light …

Just beyond the meadow of blossoming clover soft and fair …

Are the woods of dappled light which beckons all to freely come.

We cannot sense the destination only the life around our cares,

Still walk we must, venturing forth adding only to the unknown sum.

For there was much to see and much to note as we seek our way …

Essence in the leaves of days yet undiscovered colored green and bold.

What all that is new and laden with dew midst the branches as they sway,

is mingled with ancient wood of legacy giving as much life as it is old.

What will be of us, if we remain in the meadow rolling soft and fair … 

and venture not into the unfamiliar woods of nuanced dappled light?

Will we stay or go, following what the dancing rays offer willing to share, 

joyfully lit, yet fully challenged of adventure, trial, beauty and delight?

So what becomes of us will always be in the look and the simple choice … 

always unknown but ours to find along the winding trail just beyond the glade.

Our faith gently pushes and pulls us forward giving life and giving voice,

in what the woods of dappled light will gift us in the journey we have made.

It is easy to remain in the comfortable. It is easy to stay in places of the familiar and friendly.  These are always meadows of what we know and what we have. The ease and calm of these places of remaining in the secure and the known can be our undoing. It can also be deadening to our faith. 

There is unknown place just beyond the meadows of the comfortable life. It beckons and intrigues us but it is unknown.  Most people even as they see edge of this place just beyond do not go forward but remain in what they know and believe.  Jesus spoke of the way beyond the way that was.  To the “Rich Young Ruler” it was the way of journeying beyond what he had done in comfort to a place of life in the surrender in the unknown.  We can stay in places of comfort or we venture forth into the dappled light of faith and find life.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (Hebrews 11:39, ESV)

God is the good in all things!

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, KJV).

There is nothing inherently wrong in the common translation of this major, familiar and meaningful verse but we often miss the deeper insights of faith-giving implications of truth woven into the promises found in this verse.

We often make this verse about “things” when the truth is far more powerful and life changing. We diminish the powerful and incredible direct attention, responsiveness and work that flows gracefully from the extravagant love of our Heavenly Father as Almighty God upon our lives by making this verse about concepts of good feelings, things and outcomes that we as created beings long for.

The truth is much deeper as to the point and purpose of this verse. The greater context of the verse revolves around our purchased and secure relationship as heirs and children of God through the redeeming and interceding work of  Jesus Chris as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as the Comforter in all things.  Thus the days that make up our lives are really not about good things coming to us or even having faith to perceive things as good.   This verse is also nestled directly in thoughts and truths regarding suffering throughout our lives and the unwavering involvement and care of the Holy Spirit in all things including suffering.  Suffering is seldom evaluated as good in our fleshly understanding but going deeper in our faith as children of God.  We must seek to understand Heavenly Father’s love upon us and His working through and in all things by His Spirit alive in us.

Thus we give Him all our things and all our days that He might do His work in and on our hearts of clay with His masterful hands as the “Potter” who knows all things and crafts us as His masterpiece as we yield to Him.

God is in the good in all things because He is good at all times in all things. Thus our lives are not about things being good or bad and trying to make sense of them but about loving and trusting our God who is working in us in and through all things because of His great love, for His purposes. 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, NIV)

 Suggested Reading ... Romans 8

You shalt not murder!

“Thou shalt not murder” (Exodus 20:13, NKJV)

Of all the commandments, the commandment to not take a human life is one of the easiest commandments to dismiss.  “You shalt not murder” (Exodus 20:13, NKJV) is a more correct and a better translation than “You shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13, KJV).  The number of murderers in most societies is quite small. Yet from time to time, murder does take place on occasion. We see systematic brutal slaughters in nationalistic or religious fanaticism and pointless or senseless murder at times in our own culture and cringe, but generally it becomes somewhat easy to dismiss this commandment because it might apply to others in other places but never seems very near to us.

Yet Jesus … takes this commandment from the realm of a general non-applying rule and thrusts it like a burning ember into the lives of all human beings. Thus the commandment that most lends itself to being easily dismissed becomes a cautionary truth about anger which should sear the tendencies of rationalization and non-application in all of His followers (Matthew 5:21-26).

Although most people do not carry out plans for the taking of a life, Jesus identifies the source of all fiery and burning deeds of murder lies in the tinder of anger that leads to the beginnings of any such action. In the Kingdom of God, judgment from Christ comes to those who are unrelenting in their anger, sentencing follows on those who attach contempt to their verdict and severe and lasting condemnation to those who in anger would curse another person.

Jesus desires his followers to understand in deep ways the danger of anger and need for forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption. We can see our need for these actions for our salvation but their application is needed in our daily walk and in every relationship we have in the world around us that we may save ourselves from our own destruction.

Jesus later identifies all sin as coming from the heart (Matthew 15:19) and any strong and unreleased anger in our hearts will bring about many of these sins including the taking of any life. Thus the commandment to not murder is not a commandment without appropriateness in our lives but one of daily application to listen to the Spirit of God to release and even crucify dangerous contempt and anger so the “Fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) may grow in our lives.

Suggested Reading ... Matthew 5 and Galatians 5

His Precious Name

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Deuteronomy 5:11, KJV).

How easily the name of God is spoken  in off-handed, thoughtless and most casual of ways! How frequently the name of God is used flippantly to emphasize a point or endlessly and randomly inserted almost as punctuation to change the course of a thought or to start or end a sentence or a story. Then there are the bitter and angry sequences that use the name of God as a rebuking and damning condemnation as if the speaker can decide for God judgment on other people.

All of this vain speaking using  of the name of God makes genuine believers in God, sad and uncomfortable as they hear it happen or leaves them feeling  the sting of guilt if they slip up and fall into an occasion of sinning in this way. It should and must be noted that it is a serious and dangerous thing to take the “Name of God” in vain (Leviticus 24:15-16) as God’s Word proclaims the most serious of judgments as coming to those that practice this sin. Yet the commandment is much broader than most care to consider.

It is a sin to mock Almighty God.  It is just as much a sin to appropriate God’s name as a token banner over a personal pursuit that has nothing to do with the will or ways of God.  This is blasphemy and although that word is virtually unknown in our language, the false teachers and leaders that are using God’s name in vain are very much in danger of His judgment.

Anything that is spoken or done to diminish God’s place of sovereignty, power, majesty and glory is to use or take His Name in vain. Anything that is spoken or done to diminish the name of Christ as the Savior of the world is to take His Name in vain.

It is an amazing thing to be given life by God’s grace, how can we not realize and be ever grateful for the “Precious Name” by which we have our very breath of life. It is an amazing thing to be redeemed from our sin and our words and deeds should never become vain, disrespectful or voiding in their manner, when only praise is due our God!  What God gives us, is precious beyond words and His precious “Name” deserves nothing less than our utmost worship and praise.

“Give unto the Lord, … give unto the Lord glory and strength.  Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:1-2 KJV).

The Neglected Blessed Walk

O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8, NLT)

The walk through many of the days of our lives is oft made more problematic and challenging not by the circumstances of the day but by our choices in each particular day. Of course, one must acknowledge challenges and problems can and will come on any given day and those must be dealt with using faith and fortitude but what about the neglected matter of often choosing not to step into the faith we might so righteously claim is so important to our lives.

Faith is not something to be claimed like an award, at various moments in our lives. Faith is the vital dynamic action of believing and stepping into what is around us and what is unknown before us with our hearts and minds anchored in God’s love and truth while trusting God’s ways will be right and His blessing will follow us as we obey.

What is good in our lives always originates from God and yet we neglect Him and His ways with regularity, choosing instead the easily manipulated and malleable foolishness of our own human emotion, self-centered will and aggrandized intellect.

Oh, that we would see the light of God’s truth and stay on His pathways that will always lead to life and blessing. What contentment we abandon in our hearts when we fail to do what is right and just according to His Word. What joy we forfeit when we fail to love and implement mercy and grace in our involvement with those around us. What peace evaporates and vanishes from our lives when pride inflates and escalates our self-importance at the expense of the truth of our real deficiencies and need of God’s saving and redeeming grace.

I leave you with a simple prayer … “Wonderful Heavenly Father, help me to be thankful and rest with full assurance that everything good comes from you! Give me a contented and courageous heart to always do what is right according to your Word and your Spirit. Help me to love the mercy and grace that saves me through Jesus Christ and help me to freely give it to all of those around me. And Dear Father, let me walk, in all my days … forever and truly humble in my need of you and full of praise for your steadfast love in and on my life. Amen.”

Suggested Reading … Micah 6

No Coveting!

“Don’t desire with obsession the things of your neighbor and do not be consumed with possessing the affections of the spouse of your neighbor,” (Deuteronomy 5:21, Paraphrased).

Why are the things that others around us possess so appealing to our human heart? Why those things seem better and glitter like gold to our eyes as they consume our attention and poison our minds? How is it, that we can be consumed with the beauty, charm or physical attractions of the spouses of our neighbors?

To desire something or someone so strongly that determined and obsessive actions follow with the intent to possess something or someone is deadly because the coveting leads to sin and sin leads to destruction and death. Coveting is the tainted well of the human heart from which comes the poisoned water of obsessive selfish desire that when consumed as sin leaves sickness and death as its consequences. Still, coveting is almost never talked about and is seldom even considered a sin in the lives of most people.

Numerous examples of coveting becoming sin and leaving heartache, pain and even death in its wake are found in Bible from the beginning until the end.  Coveting and the greed that comes along with it, leads to manipulation, conniving and stealing with dreadful consequences.

Coveting is not innocent and even if it sneaks into our life in the form of ambition, lust, gain and greed, it can become toxic and deadly.  Coveting is dangerous because it takes us beyond desire into sin.  The Commandments of Moses leave little doubt about coveting as the clearly state that God’s people should not covet!  The opposite of coveting is contentment in the love of God as you rest and live in God’s provision and blessing; trusting Him in all things!

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13, NKJV)

The Sabbath is not about the day, but about our Great God!

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, KJ21).

The Commandment regarding the Sabbath is clear and concise in its tone, content and purpose, yet it yields numerous debates as to its application and its day of relevance in the present time.  The Sabbath is first mentioned in the creation of the world as the Creator completed His creation as He rested in His delight in its goodness.  The Creator God did not need to rest from His labors as He does not tire or become faint (Isaiah 40:28) but rather He delighted in all that He gave in creation. Later the Creator would have to become the Savior to redeem the fallen previously created from their intentional sinning.

His intention in giving the commandment regarding the Sabbath involved both the stopping of human toiling and working routines to be thankful to the Creator and Savior of those that would follow Him. This is evidenced in the two distinct versions of the Sabbath Commandment found in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

As Jesus came to complete the Law: we see Him doing good, healing and eating on the Sabbath as He desperately tried to reclaim the purpose of delighting in the goodness of the Creator, the blessing in life and the peace found in the salvation giving God.  His words often failed to penetrate the hearts hardened by tradition which failed to be thankful or delighted in the God they claimed to know. Eventually He offered Himself as the completed redemption for all time as the rest and peace for all souls from the toil and strain of work and days as the Lord of the Sabbath.

The point of the Sabbath was never about the Sabbath Day and what work should or shouldn’t be done on the day.  The point and purpose of the Sabbath was about the stopping of the normal and being abundantly thankful in our delight of knowing the Creator God, the Savior of all people and in the sanctifying Holy Spirit.  Remembering the Sabbath is to let the “Lord of the Sabbath” be the Lord of all things and of all the days of our life.

“Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28, KJ21).

Honor

Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 5:16, NLT).

What is honor and why in its holding others in esteem and respect will blessing be found?  Something transfers in all relationship when in the exchange of seeing others as worthy and valued and in the actions that follow, which give honor; both parties are blessed.  Honor God and His blessings come into your life by His grace and love. Honor your parents and blessings flow from your relationship with them. Honor others by giving and serving them and relationships on many levels are supported, strengthened, secured and even guaranteed.   

It is a strange thing really that something so beneficial to every one of us as honor is something that is lacking in most relationships. The true honoring of others is rare in many ways but it something that marks God as God and something that will mark us as real followers of Him. Honoring involves both the decision to honor and the resolve to give honor through our actions. God values us and He honors us with His love.  Thus we must see the value of others in all of our relationships and honor them with our love, service and action to really be His children.

Eventually honoring others as an action comes around to honor being bestowed on the one who does the honoring. Thus the verb of honoring in and through our living becomes the noun of honor found in the truth of our character and the respect given to us.

The greatest honor is given to those who from their heart and values honored others in their giving and doing. It is from their character and in their actions that specific deeds, times or even a lifetime of dedicated service is given real honor by others.  It is in out of their humility that they are honored. Those that would seek honors from doing a deed, or being in position of leadership that they may be honored, may fool some people by their actions but their inflated pride will give little joy or satisfaction. The truth is quite simple … choose to honor others as God desires us to do and you will be blessed.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.  Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other (Romans 12:9-10, NLT).