Faith in an impossible situation.

  The man is prison.  All his resources are unusable and not assessable. He along with all the people in his nation are also facing deportation and becoming slaves to another nation. Put yourself in his place. Now imagine that someone spoke to you and told you that you should look ahead a few years and prepare to come back to your land and your home. In this awful position and predicament you were now instructed to go ahead and buy some adjoining fields next to your land. 

    What a foolish and ridiculous idea that would be.  It would probably feel that this advice was downright mean and vindictive because what hope would a slave have at recovering their land they were being forced to leave by a conquering army. It would be a time of little or no hope in the future.

     This story is true … Jeremiah the prophet is told by God of an impending judgment coming against the nation of Judah.  It was during the very siege of Jerusalem, when Jeremiah’s prophecies of judgment and destruction were being fulfilled, that Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord to go and buy this adjoining field.  As crazy as it seems, Jeremiah obeyed and took his silver and bought the field.  Jeremiah believed in the God who was bringing judgment. Jeremiah gave his life over to the Lord God knowing that the Lord God had delivered His people in bleak and hopeless times before.  He knew the Lord God was the God of mighty powers and wonders and He could make this impossible thing come about.  Jeremiah knew that someday the land would be in his family again because God had promised it.

     This is one of the greatest examples of faith in the assurances of God’s provisions and promises found in the Bible. If God promises something, you can be sure that it will come about.  God still delivers in hard and dry years.  He delivers those in slavery. His promises for the future are true and He will come through for us.  He was and is the Lord God of the universe and nothing is impossible for Him.   

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17 NIV). 

Suggested Bible Reading ... Jeremiah 32

At the feet of those that are loved.

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.  Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:15-16 NIV).

  Is there in all of the writings of all time, in all the recordings of events in all history …  any account of someone in greater position, of greater authority or of greater significance humbling themselves in a greater way then at the feet of those whom he loved,  than Jesus the Christ washing the feet of his followers? 

    This paradoxical and amazing event precedes the betrayal of Christ, the denials, the beatings, the mockery, the sham of a trial, the condemnation, the humiliation, the pain, the suffering, the death and the countless other abuses He suffered.  His exaltation to His proper place at the right hand of God after His resurrection covers the unfathomable distance in the saving and empowering us as followers.

    Jesus kneeling to wash the feet of those that He loved was nothing new.  It was not new direction or a new revelation but simply the position He had taken in His coming to earth to save those that He loved.  His washing and removal of the daily grime off the feet of the Apostles was a simple physical act to show how God’s love looks in deed and action. Love assumes the role of serving.  At the feet of those who are loved is the place that Jesus our Lord assumes in loving us completely. It shows how we love one another with His love.  To be at the feet of those we love, is not an easy place to be but it is the position that love humbly assumes and where the greatest needs are met.

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11 NIV).

Suggested Bible Reading ... John 13 & Philippians 2

That you might have life in His name.

“The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe[a] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name “ (John 20:30-31 NLT).

  The headlines scream about new discoveries hinting of new information about Jesus Christ.  The world stage comes alive with new books, new archeological finds that suggest alternatives to Jesus being the Son of God.  Some would reduce Him to a simple prophet, a political agitator and others want to make Him as an ordinary Jewish man who was married with a family.  The new information is not really new as the ancient church struggled with these divergent views of their Lord. Ancient sects such as the Gnostics, Arians and various other groups tried to separate from the ancient Church over their views of Jesus Christ.  Most ideas about who Jesus was have already been dealt with and any new archeological find must be carefully analyzed over time in multi-faceted, scholarly circles to ascertain its validity and value.  Something can be quite old but could have been rejected by the ancient church because it was written by an unknown author using a false name or contained heretical philosophies. 

     First of all,  as Christians we stand on the Bible which was canonized in the 4th Century.  The Bible reveals to us the power of God’s Word protected by the Living Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12). It was written by eyewitnesses that knew Jesus Christ as the truth and given to us to believe and be saved and to reject anything that counters that revealed truth (John 14:6-7; 20:29-31; 1 John 2:18-27; Romans 1:16-19; Galatians 1:3-9).  Thus the four Gospels are the only accepted accounts of the life of Jesus Christ by the early church and by thousands of years of belief and scholarship.

    Secondly, as Christians we stand with the ancient church and its leaders, knowing that God protected His Church as His Bride and it lives by the power of His Spirit.  The ancient creeds were written to help believers follow orthodox beliefs from the Apostles, the Scriptures and the Church. If any writing or text was rejected then, it must be rejected now. Thus something that contradicts the orthodoxy of the Christian faith may not a new discovery at all but a discovery of something old that was rejected as untrue and heretical many years ago.

    As Christians, it is our greatest desire and purpose in life to know more of Christ.  This comes through His Word, seeking His presence and guidance in prayer by abiding and appealing to the Holy Spirit while living in the fellowship of His body as the church.  We believe in the Jesus attested to by Apostles and by believing in Him, we might have the life He promised and delivered to us through His death and resurrection. 

“Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me’” (John 20:29 NLT).

Suggested Bible Reading … John 20

Tucked away in a nice little box.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails … And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  (Selected verses from 1 Corinthians 13)

  There are nice little boxes tucked away in every house.  Some of these boxes are intricate and ornate noting many hours of careful work by their builder.  Some of these boxes have special significance being made for someone by a father or grandfather.  Some of these boxes are musical and were given by mothers to their daughters.  Some of these boxes might have been reclaimed having previously held other items such as cigars, cheese or nuts and bolts.

    All of these boxes now hold souvenirs, little notes, tokens and possibly coins or money.  Each item has its own unique and personal value. It is a bit sad that even as these boxes hold such valuable things, they are tucked away from daily sight and use.

    One of the most powerful and valuable writings in the New Testament is the “Love Chapter.”  First Corinthians 13 contains some of the most beautiful and  valuable verses in all of the Bible.  The words are direct, succinct and important as they relate descriptively and factually about what love looks like and how love sustains, nurtures and carries the relationships we are involved in.  The love described is the pure love that God gives us which is totally devoted and sacrificial.  We often read this passage at weddings and then we tuck the words away, held in a nice little box until the next gathering.

    The “Love Chapter” is valuable and should be treasured but love is active and dynamic.  Love is involved … as it sees, engages and gives life to all relationships.  Past moments of love remembered are nice to cherish but real love and the “Love Chapter” was never intended to be simply tucked away in a nice little box.

Suggested Bible Encouragement … 1 Corinthians 13

To glance or to gaze ...

My thoughts today … reflect a conversation a few years ago with my dear friend Mary.  Moments spent with her are always insightful and deeply joyful. At the same time, she is always overflowing with gratitude and love whenever she offers reflections about her precious Savior.  These thoughts are from one of those wonderful conversations, as Mary talked about truly gazing into the eyes of her Savior.

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT).

  As we look at our Savior, do we glance at Him casually as if to acknowledge Him but never to involve Him in our daily life or do we gaze at Him?

     A glance is something that we can dismiss with little hesitation or remembrance. A passing glance has little significance in our thoughts or very little influence as the minutes and hours go by.  Sure for momentary time, we may smile or find some joy in the glance but we do not carry much of the glance with us throughout the day.  To glance is to see something but to let all other matters take away any attention one might give to what was seen.  Many people just glance at our Savior.  They look to Him for salvation, but little else.  There is no lingering fellowship or no desire to be with Him, intent on drawing from Him living water or the bread that is life.

    A gaze is much different from a glance.  To gaze means to linger, oblivious to all other matters.  Attention is focused on the object of the gaze. To gaze is to appreciate, to reflect deeply and set aside all other momentary concerns.  The veil of self-centered attention and blindness lifts as something of greater significance is appreciated by the attentive gaze.  To gaze at our Savior is to see His victorious glory as the King of Kings, to see His sacrifice as the Lamb of God and to see all of His concern for us as our Good Shepherd. To gaze at the Savior means a yearning to receive from Him the release that He brings from all bondage, the insight from all blindness and the freedom and peace He brings from all heartache and oppression.  As you gaze into the Savior’s eyes, everything fades away as your only desire is for the water and bread that only He can give.  It is the setting aside of all concerns as we gaze upon Him, desiring all that He gives.   May our eyes expectantly and contently gaze upon our Savior all of our days.

‘“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.’ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18-21 ESV).

Suggested Bible Reading ... 2 Corinthians 3