Semper Fidelis

Monday, November 27, 2023

Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.  This is the Good News I preach.  And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal.  But the word of God cannot be chained.  So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.  This is a trustworthy saying:  If we die with him, we will also live with him.  If we endure hardship, we will reign with him.  If we deny him, he will deny us.  If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.  

2 Timothy 2:8-13

United States Marines greet each other with the motto, Semper Fi, a shortened version of semper fidelis.[1]  The phrase means always faithful, and is indicative of the character of those who serve a higher guiding principle than self-interest.[2] 

Long before the assembling of U.S. fighting forces, the Apostle Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy, an aspiring preacher of the Gospel, to encourage and admonish him to serve Christ’s Kingdom with an unswerving loyalty.  Paul described the resurrected Jesus as “faithful.”  Dying with Him, we are raised to newness of life by Him.  Enduring hardship, we will reign with him.  Denying Him, we will be judged by Him.  And, in His supreme compassion, when we are less than semper fi He is still faithful.  This could be summed-up in one short verse:

“I am the Lord, and I do not change.  Malachi 3:6a

By comparison, human beings can be remarkably un-loyal.  Our lives typically begin in one direction and, influenced by any of the seven deadly sins,[3] we change our employment, spouse, promises, gender, and a host of all other possibilities.  Despite the call to be faithful, human allegiance is usually sold to the highest bidder.  

I’m reminded of an elder statesman in the Southern Baptist tribe I met in 1981, Vance Havner, who said:  Faith that Fizzles at the Finish was Fickle from the First.  

It’s true!  Most mottos sound wonderful, even noble; most human attempts to live-up to those mottos have holes like Swiss cheese.

So what is the Rx for our Fickle Faith?

I’m glad you asked…and let me point us back to the Apostle’s opening line to Timothy: 

Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead.  This is the Good News I preach.  2 Timothy 2:8

If there is anything that can keep us close to Jesus it is the resurrection of God’s perfect lamb, crucified for our sins, raised to conquer death and the grave.  In staying faithful to proclaim that, we also preach Good News to our own souls.

For You Today 

Find a way to proclaim His resurrection every day, in every circumstance, and, as many have said…always preach the Gospel…even use words if necessary.  What that means for each of us is:  nothing will help keep you faithful like engaging in the work of He Who is Semper Fi.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO

For another post on this text read here:  Gospel Unchained

There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.

Today’s title Image from Pixabay.com  

Images without citation are in public domain or cited via weblinks.  

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©  

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[1] Wikipedia

[2] See Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[3]  pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger or wrath, and sloth – see The Seven Deadly Sins - LIst

Mary's Song and God's Glory

Friday, December 23, 2022

Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.  How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.  For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.  He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.  His mighty arm has done tremendous things!  He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.  He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.  He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.  He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.  For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”  Luke 1:46-55

There is something of an idyllic impression which persists about Mary, the teen virgin;  she is untouched, and therefore “perfect”.  That is not supported in Scripture.  In fact, Scripture goes to great lengths to debunk that notion.  Old Testament prophet, Isaiah pointed to the universality of human sin:

We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.  Isaiah 64:6

New Testament apostle Paul reaffirmed total human depravity:

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Romans 3:10, 23

If all that falls short of convincing, even Jesus said it plainly:

“Only God is truly good.  Mark 10:18

What is untainted in Mary’s case is not sinlessness of the vessel, but the immaculateness of conception…the fact that Jesus had no earthly father.  Mary was simply the host chosen by God to participate in God’s plan.  It was a miracle that she became pregnant, sidestepping the order of things in the natural, or biological sense.  But there was no circumventing the spiritual order of things; Mary was a human, born of a lengthy line of sinners, stretching back to Adam.  It’s often made note of Mary’s (and therefore Jesus’) family heritage, which included harlots (Rahab), and conspirators in murder (King David).  For God to choose Mary, it was the love of God for all humanity, laying aside the prerogatives of deity, choosing mercy and forgiveness to offer holiness to undeserving humankind.  It was nothing less, or more, than grace

It is no wonder Mary sang a song of blessing; even as a human, especially another sinful human like you or me, she could see she wasn’t worthy, except for the gracious love of God wrapping holy arms around her life.  She was overwhelmed by kindness and joy.

For You Today  

We have an immediate identity with Mary.  She wasn’t naïve enough to imagine she was beginning a road-trip paved with rose petals and sunshine; her position was dangerous and swimming upstream all the way.  Her “blessedness” (which we only see from this side of the story) is that she would be overshadowed by the glory it would bring to God. 

Mary’s story, God’s glory, our choice to follow.  True disciples of Jesus Christ can never be bored with hum-drum lives; it’s a path like no other.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

   Highly Favored   and   Mary's Song; Our Song

Images:  Title Annunciazione by DaVinci via Wikimedia Commons   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

A Refreshing Spring Rain

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son.  Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.  May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful.  Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.  May they fear you as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains in the sky.  Yes, forever!  May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass, like the showers that water the earth.  May all the godly flourish during his reign.  May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.  Psalm 72:1-7

In this Psalm there is a very thin and necessary line any leader must walk, if that leader will measure-up to what David prayed for his son, Solomon, who was about to take over for the dying king.  It’s the precarious line of tension between the heart and head.  On the one hand rulers must govern with rulership, applying with wisdom (of the mind) all the laws of the land equally to all the citizens.  On balance, compassion (of the heart) must make certain the law’s rigid nature tramples no citizen.  To achieve that balance is like a refreshing spring rain on a parched soil.  David’s prayer for his son contains superlatives…enemies eternally fearing Solomon, oppressors broken and crushed, fairness in the courts…always!  And let us not forget prosperity until the moon is no more.  We are talking about King Arthur’s Camelot, an everlasting paradise of blessing showered on everyone.  Can’t you just hear the pledge of allegiance?  One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all!

If you apply those standards to ANY ruler of current day, or of any time in history, that flesh-and-blood human will fall short.  Even the one who prayed it in the 72^nd Psalm for his young ruler-to-be couldn’t live up to that standard.  Indeed, it is an impossible target.  A rule of forever is not consistent with the term-limits of human life spans.  Exact justice is not found anywhere on the planet, except in the minds of the naïve or evil.  So how could David, a wise and (relatively) good king, pray for something no human can hope to attain?  Was he just setting-up his son, Solomon for failure?  Or is there something else in that prayer we’re not seeing?  Perhaps both. 

The spring rain on a field of grass is prosperity for a season; dry spells will return, as assuredly they did in Israel, not long after Solomon’s reign ended.  There were plenty of evil rulers to follow.  David knew this, but still prayed for the son’s wisdom, power, and success.  But, behind the king’s wishes for his earthly son of the next generation, David was pointing to the Son of Advent, of his lineage, nearly a thousand years later, born in a manger. 

If you use Psalm 72 as a template, placing it over the completeness of Scripture’s prophecies concerning the rule of Christ, you will see no inconsistency.  The line between justice and mercy is held high.  Judgment is righteous and fair.  Rule is with godliness.  And the godly flourish.  David’s prayer, written under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, was hopefulness for Solomon’s reign as king for a season, but it was prophetic for the certainty of Christ’s reign truly forever.

For You Today  

There’s a reason we place our faith in God and not in earthly rulers, or institutions.  Earthly kings and presidents are subject to the transitory and imperfect results of being human, with all the character cracks of our nature; God, in Christ, is eternal and without failure.  That’s a permanent refreshing rain!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       One Nation UNDER God   and   Praying for a President

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Decide

 

Friday, July 29, 2022

With the Lord’s authority I say this:  Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused.  Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.  They have no sense of shame.  They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.  But that isn’t what you learned about Christ.  Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.  Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.  Ephesians 4:17-24

Choice is the most powerful and consequential freedom and responsibility any human being possesses.  In theological discussion we call it free will.  God endowed each of us with a moral compass within pointing us in God’s direction.  The purpose of this to bless our ways, and yet God still allows us to choose our pathway.  It is never easy.  I recall hearing sometime after the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, that during his parade walk to the White House he told wife, Hillary:  This is really happening; we won.  What do we do now?[1] 

                                                                      (image in public domain)

The answer to Bill’s question is begged every day of our lives.  Our circumstances may be quite different than feeling the weight of being elected president of a country with 300 million constituents, but, for each human soul, the possibilities are nonetheless vital.  Deciding which next step we will take is not an option; choosing the direction of that step is monumental.

The Apostle Paul’s advice to the first-century believers at Ephesus (and 21^st century believers as well) is to throw off the old sinful nature.  That is, says Paul, to put aside our sinful inclinations, which ignore the direction of God’s moral compass within.  This means putting the moral compass on the front-burner, allowing God’s direction to continually alert us to the best path of thoughts and attitudes.  This is the place where God’s Spirit will speak to us and walk with us.

In the real world, with voices clamoring to turn this way, do that thing, buy this, try that, go here, forget that…the choices can paralyze.  God’s Spirit wants to release us to the joy of abundant life, free from distracting, demoralizing, and sinful influences. 

For You Today

As with other choices, there is a time when the rubber of how you will live your life meets the road of decision.  Following God’s moral, eternal compass will not happen by chance; it is a defining moment in any human soul’s existence to surrender to the culture, or surrender to Christ. 

It is that simple.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts in the Rocky Road Devotions library. 

To dig deeper on today’s topic read:  Bedrock Convictions  Part 1   and  Part 2  and  Part 3

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1]I do not know if this is a true account or merely an apocryphal tale; it is used to make a point about being overwhelmed by life’s circumstances.