God's Ultimate YES

 

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice—first on my way to Macedonia and again when I returned from Macedonia.  Then you could send me on my way to Judea.  You may be asking why I changed my plan.  Do you think I make my plans carelessly?  Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”?  As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.”  For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.”  He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says.                         2 Corinthians 2:15-19

It doesn’t take long for a misunderstanding to change the way you say things, or the way you do things.  The higher the stakes the more careful one must be in communicating with people; especially people with whom you share a mission, or goal.  The mission can become “toast” in a hurry when hurt feelings get in the way.

The apostle, Paul, was committed to the young church at Corinth.  They’d been idol worshippers, and hedonistic, simply party-people with no sense of direction.  Paul founded a church there, and God’s Holy Spirit blessed them with a great outpouring of love and giftedness.  Paul was proud of them.  However, in Paul’s absence, they reverted to some of their pagan ways.  They were in danger of becoming a stain on Jesus’ name, the One they’d committed to serve.

In Paul’s first letter to them he named names and the sins that were threatening to blow that church apart.  This second letter was more than just damage control, he was putting cement around the foundation of their relationship, assuring them that his actions, words, and intentions were always going to be unwavering, uncalculating, and from the heart.  That’s good advice for any pastor and people…get it straight, with humility, and trust.

To put an exclamation point at the end of his letter, Paul points to the One Whom God gave as the ultimate YES, Jesus.  That was not a bad simile for speaking plainly, forcefully, and with little chance of obscuring the target.  Certainly the clear message of Christ’s gift of his life on the cross was unmistakeable; that was God’s communication of love for all humanity.

For You Today

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  We get caught up in gifts of chocolate, special gifts from the jewelry shops, and the Hallmark moments.  All of the well-intentioned communication of joy and devotion to our “loved ones” is good and right.  But, in all of your celebrating, remember Who started it all!  It was the Lord Jesus Christ who gave us the meaning for Valentine’s Day:

“For this is how God loved the world:  He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

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

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

My Heart Belongs to You

 

Valentine’s Day, Monday, February 14, 2022

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13:13

Roughly 72-million adults will combine to spend a couple billion dollars on gifts for their loved ones today.  In America, pet dogs come in higher on the Valentine’s Day gift list than cats (53% to 47%[1]).  The reason may be because dogs wag their tails as a sign they’re glad to see you, while a cat’s wagging tail is a veiled warning your kitty is getting ready to shred your arm.  Teachers receive more Valentines than anyone else.  It may certainly be a sense of admiration from their little students, but I’ve long-suspected it might be a way to a better report card.  All this may well be revealed at the Great White Throne judgment, but, until that time, it’s fun to wonder why lovers do what they do.

Of course I’m always prepared for Valentine’s Day.  I’ve got an advantage; two days prior is the anniversary of the day Elizabeth and I got married.  That advantage is February 12, 1967 which was the best day of my life. With all the TV advertising the month before the great card, flower, and choclate-exchange, it’s impossible for me to forget the way she looked walking down the aisle.

This year that thanksgiving for my blessings takes on a new memory.  I am thankful for the love shown me by the nurses and staff at Lexington Hospital’s cardio rehabilitation unit.  It is impossible to miss the sense of dedication and purpose surrounding that great team of mercy. 

I spent the mornings of 36 days (over 5 months) being guided through exercises and health education with Cynthia, Kathy, Elizabeth, and Teresa.  They are a great team that exudes energy, positive direction, and encouragement.  Of course the silent partner of the team is Tin Man, who was always on the job.  I found out that a previous patient made that fellow as a thanks-gift for the staff.  I can identify…he’s the Tin Man in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, who lamented to Dorothy, I don’t have a heart.  Tin Man found his heart by the end of the movie, and I sat under his likeness all those mornings, trying to encourage mine to behave itself.

This Valentine’s Day I will be basking in the glow of having spent 55 years with my bride, my best friend.  I will also be thankful for new friends who helped me develop an attitude of recovery.  I’m also going to take with me the image of Tin Man’s sincere joy and loyalty, as a reminder that love comes in many shades, colors, sizes, touches, and selfless deeds.

It is my calling in this life to serve He who is the source of joy, Jesus Christ.  I serve the One who gave the ultimate gift of love, His life in exchange for my need of forgiveness.  And each time I am reminded of that, because someone exercised kindness, helpfulness, or unselfishness to bless me, like the Tin Man, I find a little more of what my heart was designed to be.      

For You Today

You’ve got a heart!  You were designed with one that can love or hate.  When you dwell on the good and lovely things in this life, like people who’ve been a blessing to you, and the God who loves you, you’re likely to use the energy and breath God gave you to pass-along joy and hope to others.  In a world so challenged with hatred, violence, and sadness, there is a great need for the heart inside you and me that will say:  I love you.

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

[1] Title:  Russell Brownworth (own work)    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

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When the Darkness Comes

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Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Sound the trumpet in Jerusalem!  Raise the alarm on my holy mountain!  Let everyone tremble in fear because the day of the Lord is upon us.  It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of thick clouds and deep blackness.  Suddenly, like dawn spreading across the mountains, a great and mighty army appears.  Nothing like it has been seen before or will ever be seen again.

That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.”  Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.  Who knows? Perhaps he will give you a reprieve, sending you a blessing instead of this curse.  Perhaps you will be able to offer grain and wine to the Lord your God as before.  Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem!  Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting.  Gather all the people—the elders, the children, and even the babies.  Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room.  Let the priests, who minister in the Lord’s presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar.  Let them pray, “Spare your people, Lord!  Don’t let your special possession become an object of mockery.  Don’t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, ‘Has the God of Israel left them?’”  Joel 2:1-2, 12:17^(NLT)

Ash Wednesday, along with Good Friday, are among my least favorite days of the year.  Let’s face it, this is an invitation to go to church with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  On the whole, I’d rather be in the dentist’s chair when he says, root canal!

Now, putting my personal preferences aside (which is certainly a big part of becoming a Christian in the first place…you remember, denying self and taking up the cross daily). Well, laying to the side my preference for the celebration days of Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, and all the other happy times, it is this day I NEED more than any celebration.

Ash Wednesday is:

·       the day of my personal mourning and repentance for my own sins

·       a time for clearing-out the cobwebs of conveniently-forgotten promises to God

·       a moment to confront those failed attempts to get back on track with living the faith life of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, this Ash Wednesday coincides with Valentine’s Day, and, consistent with all the other sentimentality which creates the Hallmark syndrome throughout the year, too many of us will opt for chocolate over confession; we want a celebration, not a solemn meeting.  After all, wouldn’t we rather be happy  instead of going to a somber service, singing Just As I Am, and When I Survey the Wondrous Cross? 

Actually, I may have just stumbled across the point…how can you actually BE happy WITHOUT this day of confession?  How can you survive eternity without that wondrous blood-stained cross and the marvelous grace that says you can come to Christ just as you are, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me?

Which would you rather have?

·       Celebrating “love” in a sentimental gush of emotions, fueled by flowers, chocolate, four-star dinner, and maybe a few diamonds, making the owners of that every Kiss begins with K™ slogan deleriously happy (not to mention rich), knowing you’ll have to top that next year…or…

·       Connecting with the author and finisher of all faith in a way that experiences the cleansing power of mercy and grace…and sensing a renewal of that child within, cleansed, forgiven, re-purposed and strong?

This isn’t a harangue against St. Valentine, Hallmark, or even celebrating the day by thinking of your loved ones; it’s just a reminder that there is a better target that is being held in a whole different place.  Don’t miss that target…go for the ashes!

For You Today

Celebrate the cross…that’s the REAL DEAL when it comes to love!

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

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

The Great Divide of AND SO - Part 3

Friday, February 14, 2014

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son….           Romans 8:28 – 29a (NLT)

Let’s face it – our resistance to this world’s customs and behaviors can only “hold-out” just so long.  The temptations of our culture are relentless:  television, social media, peer pressure, and materialism.

But the power to resist was never intended to be just what you can muster-up; there is power to live that flows from Jesus Christ to the believer who trusts Him enough to give up being lord over his own life, and let God have His way.

In the church we call it transformation.  Paul said that God can transform you into a new person.  That person is the image of Christ; we are being conformed or changed – better, transformed into Christ’s image when we allow God free control over our lives. 

That is what Paul meant by encouraging us to live a life of sacrifice – to freely and constantly submit to whatever God wants to make of us.  That’s the metaphor of the cup we celebrate together – Christ’s life was poured-out in the name of the Father in heaven for us; we follow his example and pour-out our life for others – in His name.

This transformation begins and continues in the heart and renewal of your mind:

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)

Our hearts – that’s a place where others cannot see; only God knows what’s happening there.  But the results of that transformation (or the lack of it) will be seen! 

Metamorphosis is transformation; it is what happens in a cocoon.  Cradled in a nest the nature of a caterpillar begins to change.  Finally it breaks out, looking very little like it looked before.  What was once an ugly little squirming worm is transformed into the very essence of delightful beauty!  It was once conformed to the slinking image of a dust-eater; now it soars with color and majesty – some are even called Monarch!

In a human being follower of Jesus Christ our cocoon is grace.  Surrendering control of our lives to God’s grace allows God’s transforming power to change us.  We emerge with wings, to escape temptation and live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God.  We can live a life of purpose and dignity, leaving the dust-eating worm-life behind. 

Christian non-conformists resist this World’s Culture and rest their whole being in Christ.

And So….for YOU, Today

Just like a caterpillar must crawl up on the branch of some tree and enter a cocoon to begin the transformation process, a Christian believer (insert YOUR name here) must attach himself to the “grace-branch” of Jesus’ cross. 

The Christian’s grace cocoon is vitally worked-out in a myriad of ways (discipleship, prayer, fellowship with other believers, worship, stewardship and helping others); it is a constant surrender to the presence of Christ, Who changes, transforms us, entirely. 

Today is Valentine’s Day.  It’s a day we naturally turn our thoughts to love and the most significant relationships in our lives.  What an awesome day to turn our hearts to the Author of grace, transformed, walking on the other side of the Great AND SO Divide !

Title Photo:  http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/30018/the_great_divide6.jpg