"How Can I Ever Thank You Enough?"

I was enjoying our family night together last night, and something came to me. It's something that I have spoken on before, and actually, we covered a very similar point just last week while going through I John 5.

My schedule is packed during the entire week, so Thursday nights are a precious bastions of peace and family time. We take turns each week going through each member of the family choosing an activity and a dinner meal. Last night it was Cutter's turn and so the evening had Tony's pizza and the Wizard of Oz on the schedule. Both the Tony's and the Oz are big favorites of mine and so we settled in for a comfortable traditional pizza and a movie scenario with the fireplace tickling us with its radiant heat.

Discussion during any family movie is always interesting, and this one was no different. We each have favorite parts and we still debate whether or not the flying monkey scene is really that scary. Of course the older you get the less scary they seem, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Seems to be an indicator of innocence lost perhaps, but that's a topic for another day.

In any case the movie roll son, and we near the end. We get to the scene shortly after the melting of the wicked witch, and all the characters are gathered in the court of the wizard. All of the sudden the deception of the wizard is exposed by the meddling dog Toto, and the wizard has to confess he has no power. But, as we all know, to make up for his lack or real power the wizard gifts each member of the party with something special. In the case of the scarecrow, he gives him an honorary diploma. He therefore carries with him a Doctorate of 'Thinkology' that apparently makes him an expert in geometry.

As the scene carries on, the scarecrow looks at the wizard and says, "How can I ever thank you enough?" The wizard replies with, "Well you can't." If we have a heart to see and hear God, we might find him anywhere. Even in this scene in the classic Wizard of Oz.

The metaphor I want to use here has to stop at comparing God to the Wizard of Oz. God has real power, and the Wizard did not. However, they both have a benevolent heart, and the Wizard, like our Father in Heaven wants us to do exceedingly well.

The Wizard gave the scarecrow what he needed to succeed. He did not physically give the scarecrow a brain, but he did give him the desire to make use of the tools he had already been given. The Wizard was the inspiration behind the scarecrow's motivation.

In a similar fashion, God works in our lives. He has the power to instantly give us whatever we might want or need, before we even know we need it, or have the desire for it. But, He wants us to seek Him, have communion with Him, and make our requests known to Him. He desires that He is the inspiration behind our motivation and that because our hearts are renewed daily by Him, that we desire to become more Christ like.

For this reason alone we need to be seeking god in all things, all the time. What made me think of the Lord in this case is that I do have a debt I cannot repay. I, in spite of a sinful life as a fallen human being, in spite of outwardly and inwardly rejecting Jesus for years in my life, in spite of treating people poorly and making a mockery of God and His love for me, He willingly died for me, and simply waited patiently for me to come to Him. Jesus sacrificed Himself in such a horrible way just so that if I did come, He could say He loved me and that ALL was forgiven.

If Jesus stood before me right now, and I were to say, "How can I ever thank You enough?" He could rightly say, "Well you can't." How can you ever thank someone for such a showing of Grace? How can you ever thank someone for giving up all they have, just to give you a chance at a priceless gift? How can you ever rightly thank someone from taking you out of the depths of misery and into position to become the son of the King? Well you can't... sort of.

You cannot thank enough for such a gift. I life cannot be paid for with money or thanks. But you sure can try to live what life you have left in such a way that everything you do brings glory and honor to the gift-giver. That's how we say thanks.

Thank you Jesus for doing what you have done. And I thank you for being in all things, and that when we have a heart for you we can find you just about everywhere. I am most thankful that you are here with me, now, right here, and that I can whisper 'thank you' in a small voice back to you any time or any place and know that you hear.

Credit Where Credit is Due

It is amazing sometimes how much credit we give to the devil on some occasions, and how little we give him on others. While we surely do NOT owe this father of lies and bringer of death any honor, we do need to respect his powers.

Let me share with you what I mean. Some people will leave home so late for church that there is really no way they can get there in time anyway, and yet they will blame the devil for their tardiness. They will tell you how they hit 3 out of 4 red lights along the way, and the Starbucks drive-through had 4 cars in line when normally that time of day it usually only has 2, and somehow this is the devils fault. In this case the only thing the devil should get credit for is causing you to lie to yourself.

Then there are people who, being surely tormented by the devil (in whatever that situation might be), who would rather blame themselves for 'not having enough faith', or for their 'past', or because they watched a PG-13 movie last week, or because they watched 'The Who' half-time show during the Superbowl, or just generally beat themselves up with condemnation. In other words, when the enemy is wreaking havoc in one's life, we need to identify that, respect the power behind it, and bring the real power of God into our lives to overcome it.

More clearly, when it IS the devils behind something, blame him for bringing the temptation into your life, and then repent and deal with it through the Spirit. When it is NOT the enemy's temptation behind it, take responsibility for your state of affairs, own your sin, admit that you have given into the flesh, and work to make yourself right before God.

I use this as an introduction to my point. We are humans, fallen humans; and we live in a world surrounded by sin. By being human, it is totally natural for you to look at the things that go wrong in our lives, and then start playing the 'blame game'. There is always enough blame to go around, or so we like to tell ourselves.

I'm to blame: So we play the martyr, and mire ourselves in self-pity rather than taking grasp of God promises and move on cleansed by His blood of forgiveness.

He or she is to blame: So we play the role or relationship spoiler, and rather than bowing ourselves before a God and King that has promised to be faithful to forgive us, we will ruin a relationship and along with it any chance we may have had at being a good witness for Jesus.

The devil made me do it: So the blame game gives credit to someone who takes joy in ruining your life (the devil himself) in spite of the fact that it is not his fault.

Or lastly, we blame God: Sadly this is too often the case, and as we might see, we are blaming God more often than we think.

God told Adam and Eve to trust Him. God told Abraham to trust Him. God told David to trust Him. God has told you and me to trust Him. What is beautiful about this is that God did not just say 'trust Me', and then walk away. He said, "trust Me', and then gave us a promise. The promise is that He would send a deliverer, a savior for you and me so that no matter what happens in this life, we have forgiveness and salvation waiting for us.

The way I look at it, and the way I see it in so many cases of people I have been in contact with (believers and otherwise), two things top the list for the reasons we play the blame game as we looked at above.

1. Pride
2. Short Term Memory Loss

Pride is a deal killer for God. He made promises to you for so much, and yet we lack so much because we become impatient, and our pride causes us to act on our own behalf instead of waiting on the Lord and His timing. Abraham made this mistake for sure. God made a promise that he would have descendants that outnumbered the stars in the sky. But late in his life, 90 some years of age, he was still childless. He took matters into his own hand, and his wife's handmaiden into his own bedroom and proceeded to make the biggest mistake since the fruit eating contest in the Garden of Eden. So when we make the same mistake, it is not a first. The sin of pride has taken place many times before, and it will take place again. Pride causes us to choose ourselves, and our will, over God and His will.

On the other hand, our minds and hearts get so busy and full with the things of the world, that the things of God get put on the back burner. We forget that God loves us, and we forget that God has made promises to care for us. The trappings of life and of the world block our clear thinking, and cause us to look for solutions outside of God's will and God's timing. The things of God are His and in His timing, but we want the things we want and in our time. Why? Because we forget God's promises.

What is the effect of forgetting God's promises in our lives? Sin. Ask Abraham. And when we give God 'enough time' to work in our lives, when we have identified that it was sin in our lives and repented, and when we are done blaming Satan and all of our friends for the problems in our lives we are left with only blaming God. When we feel like we are not feeling the fruits of His work in a manner that we expect, we begin to blame God. Check yourself. This has probably happened more than you know. Blaming God is a foolish, foolish mistake if a milk-drinking Christian that desperately needs to be in His Word.

Many people have written about the volumes of God's promises. I do not want to do that here. What I simply want to do is tell you that if you have given your life to Him, FULLY give it to Him, and trust in His promise to bring you home to Him in His time. Trust enough to know that everything in between is in His hands.

Who’s Really Holding Back?

I recently went to a men's conference and was blessed to have been taught by both Jon Courson and Greg Laurie. I'm still trying to figure out which message ministered to me more, and am not sure if I'll ever know. [note: The messages can be downloaded HERE.]

While at the event, I spent $20.00 and purchased a book written by Greg Laurie titled, "The Greatest Stories Ever Told – Old Testament Vols. I-III". I did not have to go too far before God laid something before me that inspired me to expand on those thoughts here. I give Greg Laurie total credit for the inspiration behind this devotional… and he did not even hug me like Jon did!

People have lived and died; civilizations have thrived and then been lost to history because they seek something "more". What that 'more' is, they do not know. That's why they seek it. This makes perfect sense, in a dog chasing his tail, or an insane man running circles around the inside of a rubber-walled room after having been told to go sit in the corner ~ kind of way. They seek the more based in a complete lack of satisfaction of where they are in life. or better yet, how they feel. OR, that they feel very simply, that in spite of the fact that everything is going quite well in their lives, that there must surely be something more or better.
As a human being, thriving to do something more or better is an admirable quality. Necessity is the mother of invention. Where I came from they called that Yankee Ingenuity. Some would argue that it is not necessity that inspires us to do more or better, but rather laziness. A good friend of mine likes to live his life by 'tag lines'. One he often uses is 'if it doesn't stink, stir it!", and has earned a suitable reputation for the same. Another tag line he uses is this: "It's a thin line between hobby and obsession (or mental illness)." The latter line is more apropos for our discussion, and he's absolutely right.

It is not that we seek to know more or to find what is 'missing' in our lives. God has designed us human beings with an innate desire to know Him, in spite of the fact that He seems so 'mysterious' to so many. It is quite more the WHY we seek the more or the missing in our lives that will eventually define us all.

I can tell you that there has never been a society in recorded history that has not had religion, or a god. Every culture known to man has worshipped or sought to please a god or a supreme being or a creator, whatever you they may have chosen to call him/it. And for some cultures it drove them to self destruction. The Mayans may be the finest example of this that we know of. Their cities were huge. Their science was advanced, their technology, mathematics and architecture were way beyond their years. And yet they were obsessed with pleasing a god they did not know, and because they did not know him, they could not reach him spiritually. They were dissatisfied. The grumbled against god and eventually themselves.

Why was this? To me it seems simple. They knew there had to be a 'god'. Someone ultimately powerful had to be the creating force behind the world that they knew. And remember, what they know of it was very small. They know that 'god' had to have created the heavens, and the animals. But because they were not feeling a "connection with god", they felt something that so many other people still feel today. If God is this good, and God is this powerful, and God can do anything He wants, and my life still stinks this bad, than he MUST be holding something back from me.

That mind-set will not only kill you. It has already killed nations.

Don't take my word for it. Take the word of scripture as proof. God is not holding anything back that would prevent you from running into His loving arms right this very minute. We are told that "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." No good thing. God is not holding back in any way, the things if righteousness and salvation from you.

The 'more' or better that you are looking for is a natural thing. God created us perfect, meaning complete. When sin entered in because Eve was deceived and believed a lie, and Adam decided just simply to go for it, in spite of the fact that he knew better, our intimate relationship with God was broken. Because of that every man, woman and child since have been trying to fill that void in their lives with something. Some choose drugs, alcohol or lust. Others choose religion or faith, but are lost in the incredibly thick jungle of false teachers and religions. And when that peace that surpasses all understanding does not come, they simply give up and curse God. But it is not God's fault.

The 'more' and 'better' that we are looking for is a restored relationship with our Creator. He is holding nothing back. Why would He hold back a secret now, after He gave His Son to die in our place? Think about that one for a while you seekers of 'more' and 'better'. Oh, what tangled webs we weave as we pretend to seek God, and loose our souls in the labyrinth of our own excuses and weaknesses.

Shed your human nature that seeks thrills and acceptance, and die to self so that God might live in you. God held nothing back to prevent you from coming to Him. What are you holding on to that's preventing you from going?

Exclusive/Absolute = Prejudice/Intolerance?

In a devotional last week I used the 'polarizing' to introduce some topics that seemingly had nothing in common. What they did have in common however was the fact that when brought to conversation, they almost immediately divide people into camps of opposite extremes. Some topics just seem to have no middle ground, or what little middle ground there is seems to be a minefield! With Christianity and our love for Jesus, this too seems to be one on that list of polarizing topics.

How many of us have rules that at family gatherings that we do not discuss politics and religion? I personally do not have such a rule (IMHO no Christian should), but I do know of one man who does make this his rule, in spite of the fact that he is a sitting board member of his local church that he has been attending for 60 plus years.

This is unfortunate. This being past the 'age of enlightenment', one would think that being able to discuss any topic, regardless of its polarization factor, would be a staple of our society. The search for the real truth, regardless of your theories or points of view should be paramount to the discussion. This is what science and debate are founded on; present a theses or point of view, discuss the pros, cons, and dissenting opinions, put them to the test and see if they hold up to reason, logic or repeatable fact, and walk away knowing more than when the discussion started. But above all, be able to do it all peaceably. Agree to disagree is what we say. If we are loving people, if we disagree, this is how it must end.

Jesus is polarizing. Mentioning that you are a follower can immediately bring out the best or the worst in people. Be it personal conviction, or personal rejection, responses are very often quick and ugly. One of the issues that we as Christians face in the discussion of our faith is the fact that 'we are elitists'. We are elitists because we bask in our own acceptance by God, that we feel 'special', that will go to heaven, and all those who do not believe what we believe are not accepted by God, and that they will not go to heaven. I humbly confess that all this is true. Joy in the Lord, in the fact that we are forgiven, is often times looked upon as pride. It is not. It is simple thanks that we are forgiven, and this should bring joy. Another point that we need to make clear is that exclusivity does not equal prejudice.

Jesus said, "I am the Way the Truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father except through me". Anyone who has ever taken Logic 101 can see that this statement is exclusive. Jesus is saying He is the One and only way to get to heaven. If this is true, and all Christians must believe this, that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven (…this leaves Oprah et al out…). The problem is that the media and those who argue against Jesus will refer to this as elitist exclusivity. But they are looking at it from the point of view of being outside the group, as if they can never be IN the group. For those who passed their logic 101 class, to understand this statement as exclusive, is to walk away beaten and refuse to investigate the case.
Exclusive as used by those who tell the world that Christians are intolerant because they are exclusive are using the word as a verb. In its verb form exclusive means,

1. not admitting of something else; incompatible: mutually exclusive plans of action.
2. omitting from consideration or account (often fol. by of): a profit of ten percent, exclusive of taxes.
3. limited to the object or objects designated: exclusive attention to business.
4. shutting out all others from a part or share: an exclusive right to film the novel.

But Christians use the term as a noun:

1. as in Journalism. a piece of news, or the reporting of a piece of news, obtained by a newspaper or other news organization, along with the privilege of using it first.
2. an exclusive right or privilege: to have an exclusive on providing fuel oil to the area.

Yes, Christianity has an exclusive on how to get to heaven, but neither Jesus or Christianity is blocking anyone from getting there! The only thing that does block the way, is the heart of the man that rejects Him. Anti-Christian buzz-words like exclusivity or dogma, absolutism, or elitism do not hold the weight of their own definitions when compared to the scripture that Christians profess. Exclusivity is NOT intolerance or prejudice and is an offense to Christianity itself to say so. The God that stated He is (IS not was…) the Way the Truth and the Life, and that no man gets to the Father except through Him, is the same who:
2 Peter 3:9, "… is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
Meaning this message is addressed to sinners…
2 Corinthians 5:15 "…died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."
"All" is an indication that this message is for ALL people, just like it says. No exclusivity or prejudice here.
Romans 5:6 "…died for the ungodly."
The ungodly are those who have rejected God and are living in opposition to Him, yet, He dies for them as well.
Romans 5:8 "… while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Again, Jesus died for sinners, not just believers.
Romans 6:10 "…died to sin once for all"
What does "ALL" not include? Is there any exclusivity in 'All'?
1 Corinthians 15:3 "…died for our sins according to the Scriptures"
It's no secret, Jesus died for all sinners, and the door is still open.
And finally, John 3:16-17:
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

As so many before me have more eloquently stated, Jesus did not die for a select few. Calvinists, sorry, but Jesus did not die just for His elect, or for those who chose Him, or any group over another. He does for ALL. He dies for the WORLD. Mohammad did not die as an atoning sacrifice for your sins, and neither did Buddha or Confucius, or Tsun-Tzu, or Joseph Smith, or Peter Piper or Peter Pan. Jesus did, and because He did He earned that place of exclusivity in spite of the fact that this was a designed plan all along.

Political correctness is working its way quickly towards being the death knell for Christianity in America. It is a politically incorrect to preach about Jesus in public, and outright illegal to preach against a homosexual lifestyle even from the pulpit. Now it is a hate crime to say that abortion doctors are murders and that men that have 'intimate relations' with other men is evil or dread to society. But as my close friend and confidant Duane Smith stated so eloquently, "…yet it is OK for a Muslim to say that all Infidels must die, but it's a crime for me to say that homosexuality is a sin". Sadly, the answer is yes.

So let me get this straight: Christians are horrible, hate-filled people, and Christianity in general a scurge on humanity because it says Jesus is the only way to heaven, and Islam is a religion of peace in spite of the unmistakable fact that they think getting to heaven is more easily accomplished by blowing yourself to bits as long as you take a few Jews or Christians (Infidels) with you?? Seems to me we've got things a little bit backwards…

Religion is polarizing. There really is just no other way to say it. And for those who brave into the forbidden realm of discussing religion in a public setting, beware, the road to recovery can be long and painful. But the results may be eternal.

The Boat is Sinking?

Gun control, health care, abortion, euthanasia; all topics that have little in common except their ability to almost immediately polarize and divide a crowd. In the same manner, Christianity is facing internal polarizing division as well. In the case of the Christian church, the division is not new. But with the ever increasing liberalization of the world, and the greater number of Christians who choose the liberality of the world over the biblically dogmatic moral absolutes, Christianity is facing some real issues, most especially in America.

Sean Hollen, Sr. Pastor of Harbor CC in Aberdeen/Hoquiam, WA. once shared this analogy with me. He said that the church is supposed to be like a boat. The sea of water that the boat floats on is the fallen, sinful world. The purpose of the boat is to float ON the water. By staying on the surface of the water, where she is designed to be (by her designer), she will fulfill her intended purpose. What a great analogy.

Digging into that of that analogy, we can draw more truth. As long as the passengers in the boat are alert, the boat can be guided where it needs to go. As long as the passengers in the boat are alert, leaks in the boat will be found immediately and repaired. As long as the passengers are alert, even when a strong wind comes against her, she can still be steered and ridden to the destination, or for that matter, can be allowed to simply be directed by the wind from shore to shore wherever she might be taken. As long as the passengers are alert, even if the sea rises up in a tumult against her, the passengers can bail water out of the boat, and it will continue to float fulfilling its designed purpose. Ultimately, the boat is supposed to be in the water, NOT the water in the boat.

• Ladies and gentlemen, I submit that the water is not only in the boat, but that many of the passengers are sleeping as the boat takes on water.
• Of those who are awake, few have noticed the leaks in the hull allowing the water to seep into the boat.
• Many of those who have noticed that their feet are getting wet, do not think it a big enough problem that they should begin to bail.
• For those few who look at the situation as seriously as the ought, they cannot bail fast enough ~ and the boat is sinking deeper and deeper into the sea. There are not enough alert passengers to work in order that the boat can continue to fulfill its intended purpose.

Bottom line; the boat is in serious danger of sinking and few people seem to care. But perhaps more importantly, the boat has lost the effectiveness of its designed purpose.
Pennsylvania native A. W. Tozer once wrote, "Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender." Tozer went home to be with the Lord in 1963. Forty seven years later, his words ring more true than ever, but something tells me he knew that would be true.

In Tozer's day, the people were not bailing. The boat is still taking on water.
As Christians part of our role must be to bail the water from the boat. To do this, we must know what the water looks like, smells like, feels like, and yes, most of us know what it tastes like. Why? Because we have to identify what needs to be removed from the boat (uh, I mean the church), and get rid of it. You do not have to be an author to recognize a book. You do not have to be a steel worker to know what a piece of steel looks like. In the same light, one does not have to be a sinner to know what sin looks like. We know what God's word says by reading His word, and making ourselves familiar with it. Where scripture is silent, we too must be silent. Where scripture leaves room for interpretation, we too must leave room for interpretation. But where scripture is clear, we must be prepared not only to stand firm in that truth (2 Thessalonians 2:15), but point a loving, caring finger at those areas of the 'church' that are ignoring or turning their backs on God's word. 2 Timothy 3:16 states that, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…" All too often we forget this verse, and in the name of 'grace' allow ourselves to become enablers of sin because speaking out against the world seeping into the church is 'judgmental' or 'politically correct', or not 'loving enough'. Reproof is biblical, it is Godly, and has its place, and the place is here, and the time is now.
We have all heard of the old adage telling us how to cook a frog. You put it in a pot of water, and then turn up the temperature a little bit at a time, The frog will not notice, and the next thing you know he's cooked! Do you honestly think that Satan has never heard of that story? Of course he has, and he is using it to his advantage.

Our human nature is such that we are driven to be liked and successful. The trouble is our human nature is fueled by ego and pride and worldly things, whereas our Spirit is fueled by God's righteousness that scripture tell us wars against the flesh. We must take all thoughts captive, to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), and test all spirits against scripture (I John 4:1). It is time to do it now. Not just those things we here on TV or read on the internet. We must test ALL spirits, TV evangelists, your church, your pastors and teachers, and yes, even all those people and teachings that you have heard all your life and assumed to be biblical. Test even these devotionals against God's word, and if you ever find a conflict you follow God's word, and follow Matthew 18 to its end.

We must question if a freedom taught is not really water leaking into the boat. We must test a denominational doctrine against scripture and see if it is of the boat, or if we need to toss it overboard. We need to look at even the simplest things that feel so right, and see if they still feel right after we compare them to God's word and character.

Make no mistake; the world is in the church. We have gay bishops, denominations that support 'a woman's right to choose', which really means they support abortion. We have churches that call themselves 'Christian', and yet deny the Trinity and others that teach that Jesus' death on the cross only provides 'limited atonement'. We have other 'Christians' denominations that call themselves 'open and confirming' and support and practice same sex marriages in their churches in the name of God. I ache at the very thought, and at the same time have to wonder why no one seems to be bailing?
I did not live through the McCarthy era. I cringe at some of the things that went on in that time as a congressional witch hunt ruined the lives of many. But at the same time, there was more truth to the communist presence in America at that time than any would have guessed or admit today, even as more and more facts come out each year revealing how deeply communist infiltration really had taken place. I am not promoting a Christian 'McCarthyism' where we run out on rails anyone who doesn't think like we do. What I am proposing though is something every bit as radical.

I propose that we do not seek to change anyone else. I propose that we seek to change ourselves! Look into a spiritual mirror, and test the spirituality you see against scripture. Be a Berean and study the scriptures to test those teachings you hear. Look around you and see if perhaps there is a leak in your own boat. Perhaps your boat is leaking, and you do not even know it because you are asleep. Maybe there is a leak in the boat you are sailing in, and your socks are getting wet. YOU start bailing. Don't say a word, just pick up the bucket and quietly start bailing… see if others start to join in.

If we are going to change the church and conform it to Christ, and away from the world, it needs to start in our selves first. Then our families and homes, and then our churches, and then the nation, and then the world. This is how revivals start; by God working through ONE person. Ephesians 6:13 encourages us, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Let us each pray that it is us that stand firm.

Let Earth Receive Her King

Last Sunday for our time of worship in church, we sang Joy to the World. It has been spinning around my head ever since. Christmas time IS about the birth of Jesus, the Christ, the Savior of the world. Why should this not be the joyous season of the year? And why should all earth not receive her King? The answer, because receiving the King means we must give up ourselves. But in a world of instant internet gratification, and a population blinded by consumerism, it is easier to fool ourselves into rejecting what it true, so that we can live a life that is false, and yet, oh so gratifying.

It should come as no surprise that the King is rejected. Some reject simply as a matter of rejecting all things that represent authority. When the King not only wrote the laws from the foundation of the earth, knowing that they are all fulfilled by grace and love… AND, that only the King can rightly judge a man's heart – THAT my friend is authority. Some reject out of spite to the King, or to others who serve Him. Some reject Him because they think it can't be that easy, to simply believe by faith and be saved by grace. Still others other reject not because they do not believe that there is a God and Savior, but that they want it to be their own way, not His way.

What greater joy can there be, than to receive Christ? What greater joy can there be than for the WORLD to receive her King? We know this, and for the most part we live in a state of heightened awareness and great expectation of when that day comes. But for the lost, the only expectation in their lives may be the expectation of their next failure or loss. Where there is no hope, there is little joy. We, by the power of the gospel, have the ability to bring hope and joy. Not because of anything we have done or can do, but because the earth WILL receive her King!

When Jesus was born to his earthly mother and father, there was great expectation. Both Mary and Joseph had been warned by God's messengers that their son was to be special. A miraculous birth first to Zacharias and Elizabeth to signal His coming, and then to Joseph and Mary the miraculous birth of Jesus. This birth was expected by many Jews. It was expected by the Magi, and it was hoped for by every Israelite living under the burden of the Romans and their own sin. The angels heralded the birth, and the shepherds were some of the first to see Him. The lowly, dirty, smelly shepherds. My goodness, to have been there to see it!

If you have not received Jesus yet, receive Him now. 'Tis the season as they say. If you know someone who needs to receive their King, let them know of the joy in your life, and the reality of Christ living in you via the Holy Spirit. This year, let us all will to do our part to help the earth receive her King!

Less Like Scars…

Seems that in my devotional time the Lord has given me a focus this week. Healing. Preparing for, living through, walking with God during – our trials. While God's promises are there (what we shared Monday), and while we may not have had the perfect earthly example of how to do this (something we talked about yesterday), we know that we have a heavenly Father whose promises are true and righteous. Still, it is often very hard to remember to lean on Him when we need to. We need to train ourselves to remember that we can always rest in, and lean on Him in our times of need. In doing so, I also feel that it is very important that we seek growth from our experience. God does not allow things to happen in our lives that cannot be used for good, despite how bad things look at the time.

A favorite Christian artist of mine is Sara Groves. She is sort of a mix of folk with biblical inspiration. There have been artists like this in almost every generation, but few that carry such a biblical emphasis even in the Christian genre. Popular artists like Bob Dylan and to some extent John Melencamp, Tom Petty and Tracy Chapman are more examples of this style in our era, but we can hardly say that any of them offer their talents with any sort of Christian slant. As I was listening to one of Sara Groves' songs today, the lyrics (pulled right out of scripture) remind us that going through our hard times brings healing, and that often the process of healing teaches us life lessons that God desires that we learn.

In her prose, sharing the heart of her life's own troubles, the song has a chorus that goes like this:

And I feel you here
And you're picking up the pieces
Forever faithful
It seemed out of my hands, a bad situation
But you are able
And in your hands the pain and hurt
Look less like scars and more like...
Character

Lest you begin to feel like this is a promo for a Christian musician and not devotional, let me say that while this is just a song, the principals and thoughts are God's own heart. His desire is that we take the troubled times that are dealt to us in this fallen and sinful world, and give them to Him, allowing Him to turn our worldly scars into Christian character. His desire is that as we simply do not GO through our hard times, it is that we GROW through our hard times.

Scars are cool when we are young men, but as we get older they can be more troublesome. Scars can make for tight, rough skin that is less elastic, less flexible and lacking in feeling. Internal scars are even worse. If any of you have ever has surgery, you may know this. Internal scars prevent proper movement of our parts, stiffness occurs and we have binding with things that we should not be bound too. Often when another spiritual trial or physical trial come up, previous scars prevent proper care of the new wound, and present even greater hurdles to our present recovery.

But... there are positive sides to scars, as well. They may be ugly, cause inflexibility and provide areas where we have lack of feeling, but they are reminders. The sign of the maturity of our faith is what we do when we look at those scars. Do they remind us of struggles, bringing sadness and or condemnation to us? Or do they represent steps we have taken in our walk? Scars should not be painful in a spiritual sense, they should bring the joy of victory over the attempts of the enemy to do us harm, that end up helping us grow closer to God. Giving all things to God, and seeking to allow Him to bring all things together for good is allowing scars to become character, and righteousness will go before you.

To watch the Sara Groves video, click HERE.
To read all of the lyrics, click HERE.