Why Jesus Came

Please enjoy this devotional message on the purpose of Christmas.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them,

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:8-14



Yet another Christmas has come into our midst. Although our culture celebrates this first Noel, I'm sure there are many who do not understand the true meaning behind Christmas. Why was Jesus born and why do we celebrate it?

The first thing I want to clarify is that the Bible teaches that Jesus pre-existed his human birth in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. It says that "He was with God in the beginning" (John 1:1-2). Before Jesus left this earth, his disciples heard him pray to God His Father, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." (John 17:4-5). Jesus testified many times that He came from heaven: "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." (John 6:38).

When Christians celebrate Christmas, we celebrate what is called the incarnation. It means that the divine Son of God who had lived forever with God in the glory of heaven, took on humanity and became a man:

John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning...14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Philippians 2:5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

As to why the Son of God came down from heaven to be born into the human family, the angels said to the shepherds that He came as Savior in order to establish peace between God and us. The famous Christmas carol says it this way:

Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Glory to the Newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.

Jesus was sent from heaven by His Father on a rescue mission--to save us from our sins.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." (John 3:16-17)

He came to bear our sins and to obtain for us eternal life. That is truly the reason to celebrate!

Why We Celebrate Christmas

John 1:9-13 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent,nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

O Come let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

The Shroud of Turin: Is it Real?

The Shroud of Turin is an ancient burial cloth imprinted with an image of a crucified man claimed by many to be Jesus Christ. The image on the cloth is anatomically correct and shows both the front and back of the man. The cloth is kept in a church in Turin, Italy.

Although I have been a Christian for many years, I had always been skeptical of the Shroud of Turin. I vaguely remember seeing a documentary on TV earlier in my Christian walk. It most likely gave enough of the skeptical perspective that I figured it was probably not real even though I never really investigated in any detail the evidences for and against.

My skepticism has changed recently, however. A few weeks ago I watched a documentary called Jesus: The Great Debate. A good portion of dvd was devoted to the Shroud of Turin. I was so intrigued after watching it that I rented a second dvd documentary titled "Jesus and the Shroud of Turin". After being presented with the evidence for the authenticity of the Shroud in these documentaries, I have now become convinced it is most likely the image of Christ and a artifact that supports the historic account of the resurrection of Christ!

The historic accounts of Jesus in the Bible hold that he was crucified, buried and on the third day risen from the dead. The accounts of his burial describe a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin council, wrapping Jesus in a clean linen cloth (Matthew 27:59, Mark 15:46, Luke 23:53) and laying him in a tomb. Is this piece of fine linen described in the Bible and the Shroud of Turin one in the same?

Analysis of the image on the cloth shows not only a man crucified but also severly beaten. Crucified criminals were not brutually beaten before being crucified, but Jesus was. The wounds on the back image match that of the Roman flagram with which Jesus was flogged. The image also shows a puncture wound to the side and no broken bones, uncharacteristic of a typical crucifixion but corroborating the crucifixion account of Christ. It also shows the man with a crown of thorns on top of his head, unique to Jesus' crucifixion.

How did the image get on there in the first place? This is where I was totally fascinated. On the skeptical side of the controversy, it is a midieval hoax that is actually a painting. However, when a photographer in the late 1800's was allowed by the church to photograph the shroud for the first time ever, a shocking discovery was made. A positive image appeared when he produced the negatives. In other words, the image on the shroud is a negative, as if it were photographed. The scientific community on both sides of the controversy are unanimous in that the shroud is at least 700 years old. Photography had not yet been invented and artists had no concept of painting negative images. Why would a forger in the 1300's paint a negative to attempt to trick the masses? This discovery was a pivotal point in the history of the shroud a it sparked a century of scientific investigation making the shroud the most studied artifact in human history.

It gets even more fascinating. In the 1970's, the scientific community was allowed to analyze the shroud. Thousands and thousands of hours have been spent analyzing the data they acquired and they are still baffled as to the cause of the image. One piece of equipment that was used to analyze the shroud was a VP8 image analyzer used by NASA to process photos of space. Two dimensional photos and painting appear distorted (the dvd demonstrated this) whereas the image appears to be a perfectly three dimensional which would be impossible for a painter to achieve. The conclusion is that the image on the shroud was formed while draped over a three dimensional object!

The analysis showed the wounds on the shroud were actually blood of type AB that was soaked into the cloth. The image, however, was a different story. The image only affected the surface of the cloth and is not soaked into the fibers as would be the case if it were painted. The image is not uniformally spread over every fiber of the linen at a microscopic level. One fiber would be affected while an adjacent fiber would not be--something an artist could not achieve. The dvd shows a visual of this that is difficult to describe. UV photography showed that the image was not scorched on. So how did it get on there? The scientists are mystified.

One of the scientists said that the image appears to be projected as a radiation phenomenom like an x-ray. Skeletal features and internal structure such as skeletal teeth and bones in the hand are visible on the cloth. The source of the radiation needed to produce the image is unknown to the scientific community. It is a mystery. Of course, this could be explained if this were the burial cloth of Christ and the resurrection really occured. As Jesus lie in a state of death, a burst of radiated power emitting as light from every pore as life energized his body could have produced such an image.

There is more but I don't want to make this positing too long. Stay tuned for part 2. I would recommend the dvd's.

John

Is Christianity an exclusive religion?

One reason that people object to the claim that Christianity is the one path to God is that it makes it so exclusive. What about the many Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and non-religious? Is it only Christians that have a right to God? Today, more than ever, this objection is greatly amplified in intensity because our culuture so highly values diversity and inclusion.


The first thing to address is what Christians and Christianity is not claiming. First, it is not claiming that Christianity is the one path to God because Christians are inherently better than others. Christians do not make the claim out of a self-inflated image of superiority. Sometimes the perception of Christians by those outside the faith is that of a high school clique where our way is best because we say it is, so that the exclusive claim of the Christian faith is one of overgrown ego. Not to say that Christians, and some more than others, are not subject to the sin of egotism like everyone else.

In the big scope of the Church across ages and culture, the claim is based of Jesus' claim that he is the only way to God and those who come to God must come through him. And Jesus claimed to speak on behalf of God His Father. So that merely moves the pointing of the finger from Christians to God Himself. So is God being exlcusive?

When we think of the basis on which exclusive groups discriminate, things that come to are money, position, fame, gender, age, culture. For the most part, these are features that we have little or no influence over. One's beliefs, on the other hand, is something the person decides to adopt. God says that eternal life is offered open-handed to anyone who will believe on Jesus Christ as the Son of God. The offer is regardless of race, culture, language, gender, age, position, economic status.

But why does not God accept people of other faiths if they believe in him?

The answer is simply that non-biblical religions present a false view of reality--of man, of the world, of right/wrong and most importantly, God. The claim of the Bible is that they distort the dignity of God, teaching what is non-pleasing to him. But it goes beyond this. The claim is that mankind created other religions as a replacement for true religion. They did this because they rejected the true religion that God has revealed. In rejecting God's truth, they are rejecting the true God himself and replacing him with a false god. This breaks the greatest commandments that God has given to man: to love Him, the true God, with all our heart and soul and mind, to have no other god before him, and to not create an idol of worship.

A very common world view of our day is pluralism. It is the view that the various religions are a smorgusboard. They are all basically valid and pretty much teach the same thing. That is why the exclusive claims of Christianity are offensive. This world view presupposes that God has not supernaturally revealed true religion. So mankind is left to himself to come up with various ways to worship through various religions. To hold to pluralism, one must positively deny the history of God revealing himself to man from Abraham, through Moses and the prophets and culminating with the coming of Jesus Christ.

The claim of Christian Scripture is that mankind is in rebellion against God, refusing to honor him as God, avoiding him at all costs, supressing the truth and exchanging it for a lie.

But it gets worse! Humanity's rejection of God comes even in response to his great blessing and goodness upon us. God, being sovereign, is the source of all and everything that is good in our lives. Our ability to make a living, our health, friends, family, abundance, happiness--it all is given by God. Evil is propagated not by God but by man and fallen angelic beings. So God loves us and cares for us and in return we hate, reject and accuse Him of all the evil we are responsible for.

But it gets worse! Give all our injustice toward the true God, instead of destroying us and being done with it, He sent his eternal Son, born of a virgin, into the world to reconcile us to God. And God even allowed Him to give his life as the payment for all our evil and injustice toward Him. Given all that He has forbeared, then humanity still holds a grudge against God for only having one way to him!

Yet he still hold out the offer of forgiveness and eternal life to any who will come to Him through Christ that He may show His great patience and goodness. Each person is given one life to receive this gift. After that comes the judgment for what we end up doing--accepting it or rejecting it.

John

The Audacity of One Way

If you are not a Christian, what do you think of the claim that Christianity is the only true path to God? Maybe it makes you angry. Perhaps it seems arrogant. But do you understand why Christians make this allegation? Even if you disagree, can you see our rationale?

We hold this view because of our high view of Jesus. The apostle John in his account of Jesus' life includes this quote of Jesus: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He said this at the last supper before he was crucified. He was celebrating the passover feast with his twelve apostles. You've probably seen this portrayed in Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting. After Jesus had got up during the meal and washed his disciples feet as an example of how they are to love and serve others, he told them that one of them was going to betray him and that He was returning to the Father where he had originally come from. One of his disciples wanted to know how they could follow him to the Father. This is when Jesus claimed that it was only through him.

What did Jesus mean when he said this? Throughout his time on earth, he always claimed a unique relationship with God the Father. First, he claimed that he was with the Father before the world began. He claimed the He was one with the Father. He claimed he was set apart and was sent into the world by the Father. He claimed that the Father had given him alone all things and that he had the authority to give eternal life, forgive sins, raise the dead, judge all creation. In short he claimed to be God's own eternal Son. He claimed that his whole mission in coming to earth was to give his life as a sin offering, perfectly holy and unblemished, for the sins of the world and that no one who believed and trusted him would ever be condemned. The numerous miracles that he performed, including rising from the dead, was his proof that he spoke the truth.

So, if Jesus is indeed telling the truth, then it is easy to understand why he is the one way. If he was indeed sent into the world with the purpose of reconciling the world, then God must have meant that this was the way to enter into eternal life. After all, there is no one else who has come close to comparing with the amazing Christ--No religious person, no spiritual leader, no earthly ruler. Who can compare to him? Who made the claims he made? Who performed the multitude of miracles he did? Who was ever born of a virgin? Who ever overcame death? Whoever had the pure moral character he did?

We believe Jesus is the one way to God, because we believe Jesus. We believe what he said. We believe what he did. We believe he spoke the truth. We believe he was not dishonest or confused or derragned. The life he lived doesn't even hint at this. We believe the testimony of Christ handed down to us. History confirms it. How could he not be the only way?

Strangely Identified

In the parable of the prodigal son, the young man who sought out a life independent of his loving noble father found himself living the life of a pig instead of a prince. The parable gives us some good lessons. One of the less noticable elements of the parable was the concept of identity. Looking at the the young man, it would be easy to conclude that his identity were pigsty dweller. Yet in reality his identity was son of a noble man. When he came to his senses and went to his father's house, his father embraced him and called him son though he smelled like a pig pen.

A couple sundays ago at church, the sermon being presented gave me a renewed realization of a wonderful truth from the gospel message. And that truth is that when we come to faith in Christ, we are given a new identity. That alone is only part of the story though. What makes this so wonderful to me is that the identity given to me is not one that identifies what I am present like, but who I will be. The promise of Christ calls me a child of God though I know I don't fully honor God as Father as he is worthy. In the gospel, I am declared a righteous saint, though at times it would be hard to recognize it by my actions and attitude.

One of the principles that I see throughout the Bible is that God bestows upon chosen ones titles that describe not who they are at the time they receive it, but who God will one day make them to be. Take Abram for example. God chose him, called him out of his land and brought him to a new land. Then he gave him a new name, Abraham, which meant "father of nations". At that time, Abram had no children. He was aging and his wife was barren. But the new name signified God's promise concerning his future. And God fulfilled his promise!

And then there was David. God sent the prophet Samuel to the home of Jesse who had 8 sons, the youngest and least significant being David. His older brothers were fighting men of war, and David merely tended his father's sheep. Yet the Lord told Samuel to annoint David as King. Years later, God fulfilled his promise and the formerly unlikely young boy became king!

These are stories that reinforce the promise to all who come to faith in Christ:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
-2 Corinthians 5:17

Our heavenly Father gives us this new identity. He credits to us now what he will one make make us. Even when significant changes mark ones conversion, old ways still shadow attitudes, words and actions. The shortcomming of these sins often squelch joy and confidence, leaving doubts and lack of assurance. The new identity we are given in Christ should remind us that what we are in part now, will be brought to completion one day! And our faith and hope should be in that!

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears,we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure." -1 John 3:2-3

"being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" -Philippians 1:6

"For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." -Romans 8:29

Understanding and Overcoming My Unbelief

If the gospel offers such amazing hope and it is true, then why do not more people believe? The title of a book that I have in my bookshelf says it plainly: "If there is a God, why are there atheists?" If a hundred different people were asked, we might get 100 different answers. I believe that once you peel away all the layers, you will find a common denominator: shame.

I remember as a young adult before I came to believe, how uncomfortable I was around anyone who spoke about the Christian faith. It was something I couldn't explain. In fact it was a mystery to me. All that I know is that I became embarrassed and wanted to stay as far away as possible. In retrospect, I realize it was a subconscious shame that I unknowingly had buried.

I've seen and heard this over and over. Some people describe it as feeling like they are being judged. Others just describe being uncomfortable about discussing religion. Still others strongly object to religious talk as it is a personal matter. The short of it is that people are just uncomfortable around the Christian faith. Where does this come from? Here is what Jesus taught:

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."
- Jesus quoted in John 3:19-20

I know this sounds a harsh, but I hope I can clarify it. God, in his holy character, is the essense and source of all that is good: love, mercy, grace, kindness, compassionate. More than that, His love has been directed toward mankind. From the book of Psalms, it says:

The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. -Psalm 145:8-9

Here is the basis for our shame and what the Bible calls evil. God has created us with an innate knowledge of his goodness and love. Yet we have no natural appreciation nor affection for God. We have ignored him and live for ourselves. Our shame comes out when our lack of love for God is exposed. That is why we are uncomfortable around others who do seem to love Him.

In the story of Adam and Eve, when they acted evil toward God, they responded to their shame by hiding from God and trying to figuratively cover it with fig leaves. Likewise, the are various ways people try to cover or hide their shame. One way could be to use labels: "Oh, you are a religious person. I'm just not a religious person." Another way is to take up a position of unbelief. If I can rationalize God away, then my shame is not real and I can ignore it. Some people make a life effort out of dissecting the Bible to provide excuses to reject it veracity. Others respond in anger and lash out toward those who believe actively trying to descredit, villify or even persecute those who love Jesus.

I have been guilty of most of these! So, how does a person move from shame and unbelief to faith and acceptance? The answer is the gospel message that our sin is taken away, removed and forgiven in Christ. All of us have guilt and shame. But God wants to clothe us in His righteousness, not ours. You can love him because he first loved you! He has promised to give His Holy Spirit to you and I-- The Spirit of God, who will dwell in all who believe and teach us to love God. The Spirit is the one who opens our eyes to God's love in Christ:

Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

He promises to give His Holy Spirit to whoever will ask him:

Jesus said, "...If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:13)

This is the Christian experience of what we call being born again or what theologians call "regeneration". It is that life changing event when the love of God becomes a reality in the soul, and the weight of guilt gives way to a joyful sense of forgiveness and cleansing. The heart is turned away from shame toward love for the Lord. This was my experience and the many other whom "God is reconciling to himself in Christ, not counting their sins against them".

This is the promise of old that God gave that if we seek him, we will find him. So, if you are reading this and you know that your are uncomfortable and ashamed with the Christian faith, heed God's promise that you will find him if you seek him. You will receive His Spirit if you ask and you will enter into that glorious freedom of the children of God!

Blessings,

John

The One Thing

If Christianity could be summarized in one message, what would it be? If you were not too familiar with the Christian faith, it would be the one answer to the question of what this faith essentially is. Can it be really be whittled down into such a simple form? The original apostles of Christ believed it could. They believed there was one central message. This one message was called by different names, but the most prominent was the gospel.

The gospel message, which means good news, was considered to be divinely given by God, foretold by the prophets of old, announced and fulfilled by Christ, and brought to the world as the mission of his followers. To the early church, it was the message of life, the message of truth, the message of the cross, the message of grace and the message of hope. It was the message that was life-transforming and that came with the power of God's Spirit. Listen to how the apostle Paul spoke of it:

"I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."
-Act 20:24

The message of the gospel was so sacred, valuable and precious that Paul counted his life as meaningless unless it could be dedicated to sharing this good news. Take note that it is called the good news. The power of the message is just that...it is good. That good message has changed me. My life was forever changed when I grasped it. Like Paul, I have a desire to see others understand that message. I just wish my convictions were a 10th as strong as his!

I know there are many who are opposed, indifferent or turned off to the Christian faith. I believe such individuals probably don't understand or grasp that at its core, it is offering something good--very, very good! If you are such a person, then you are the reason I want to explain the gospel. I want you to find what I have.

The message of the gospel is proclaimed in different ways throughout the Bible. For me, I think the following passage expresses it very succinctly:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
-2 Corinthians 5:17-21

There is a lot packed into this passage. In brief, the gospel is the message of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. This means that Christ is the path through which a person receives the gift of the fullness of God's love, favor and acceptance. The meaning of reconciliation is that God no longer counts ones sins against him. He looks upon the reconciled one as a dear beloved child rather than a condemned, guilty sinner. And the soul looks upon God as a loving, heavenly Father rather than an angry judge. This is what it is talking about when it says that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

What happened to our guilt then? The gospel is not saying that we did something so great so as to make up for our guilt. It is saying that Christ took our guilt upon himself and when he was crucified, God counted that as the punishment of our sins and shortcommings, past, present and future. That took away our guilt, leaving us innoncent and righteous.

When the gospel says that we have become righteous, it is not saying that we have become such great people that God can not help but overlook any present sins and shortcommings. It is saying that God has counted us as righteous because we are associated with His Son, Jesus by faith. God chooses to see us as if we really were pure and blameless, even though we are not really. The new creation is the person God sees through Christ. The old creation is who we really are but whom God no longer sees us as. That is why it is called the gospel of grace!

Lessons from the Story of Joseph

I recently read the story of Joseph in the Bible. It is found in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. As I was finishing it, I realized there were some valuable analogies and lessons to be learned.

Joseph was one of the youngest of 12 sons of the partriach Jacob--who later became known as Israel (after which the nation is named). When Joseph was in his late teens, he started having visions in which he would one day rule over his brothers. His brothers became indignant:

His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

-Genesis 37:8

One day when his brothers were in the field and Joseph came to check up on them, they seized him and sold him into slavery where he ended up in Egypt. Through an amazing set of circumstances, God brought Joseph from prison to second in command over Egypt under Pharoah years later.

At that time a great famine had spread throughout the land. The only food available was in Egypt under Joseph's command. His brothers came to Egypt to plead for food. They came and bowed before Joseph in fulfillment of the visions that Joseph had years before. When they realized it was Joseph they were speechless and terrified. The story culminates in Joseph's good will statement to his brothers:

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said. But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

-Genesis 50:18-21

Joseph's brothers did not realize that his rise to power had been ordained and planned by God in order to bring goodness and life. It was for their own well-being and deliverance that it was foretold that Joseph would rule over them. Yet they responded with anger and jealously not wanting to have someone like Joseph reign over them.

I believe this is an analogy and lesson for us all. We all know that God is the supreme ruler of all creation. The great message handed down to us is that God has made Jesus Christ Lord of all. He took him from a lowly manger and raised him up to rule over his brothers, you and I. He delivered him from the lowest prison of death and raised him from the dead as King of kings, sitting him at his right hand in glory. The Bible says that it is for our good that Jesus has been exalted to the highest place. It was so that Jesus would become the mediator between us and God. It was so that his death would be a substitutionary payment for our sin; to take away our guilt and shame and give us a place in God's family forever as beloved children.

Yet many of Jesus' brothers act like Joseph's brothers did and respond with disdain and unbelief toward Jesus' rule. Like Joseph's brothers they ask, "Will he actually rule us?" and reject the idea right out. Many of us, who acted this way, have realized the error of our ways and have come to the One in command of the life-giving food, bowing before him and pleading for mercy. And like Joseph to his brothers, he has spoken kindly to us, giving us food and telling us that it was for our good, to save our lives, that God raised him up.

Someday a great famine will come, figuratively speaking. The great question is: who will continue to disregard the gift of Christ's lordship? Those who did so in Joseph's day perished because there was no food in the land except under Joseph's control. And who will realize that there is no other place to find eternal life and escape punishment of sin:

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." -John 6:67-69

"Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." -Revelation 1:17-18

I Don't Want To Waste My Life

Today at church, we watched a video taped interview of 4 members in our church who were making a positive difference in people's lives with their lives. First of all, I was inspired and touched by their examples. They were giving of themselves. Their lives were bearing fruit. Secondly, I realized how much I want to follow in their footsteps and the footsteps of many other followers of Christ. Then I imagined my life consisting of just going through the motions and not thinking about ministering Christ's love and compassion to others. I became very sorrowful at the thought of a life that could have been lived for the good of others yet had not. What a waste that would be! We only have one life to live.

What a shame to keep ones life to oneself. What a tragedy to come to the end of life not having made a positive difference in the lives of others--Love that was never shared; compassion that was never shown; comfort that was never given. To stand before the Lord who asks, "what did you do with the talents I gave you" and have no other answer but "nothing" is unbearable.

We must continually remind ourselves that we were put here with a purpose--not to live for ourselves, but for Jesus, and to serve others. And in doing so, to lay up for ourselves a foundation for the life to come.

Do something good

How should I be different?

How should Christians be different in this world? I read this over the weekend in Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 5:5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. 7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

When I read this, I said to myself, "that's pretty simple: faith, love and hope." If I envision a person who is ruled by these three, I see a peaceful, content person, one who radiates a quiet, humble joy, whose words are pleasant and full of grace. Such a life is not complicated to imagine. Yet it is so different from the typical life lived apart from Christ. It seems the "way of the world" is filled with striving, discontentment, bitterness, hardness, skepticism, self-centeredness and meaninglessness. I know as a follower of Jesus, I'm am called out of this type of life to the life ruled by faith, love and hope.

I must always remind myself of this and return to these basics of Christian life when I stray into the "way of the world." I can not get caught up in the worries and desires of this life such that it chokes out the way of peace. I must be different. My heart tells me that. It is what it means to be holy. I must not waste my life living like those who have no hope. I feel ashamed when I do. Reminder to myself: I do not belong to the darkness but the light. I am created and have been redeemed to live eternally in God's presence. Why act otherwise?

His grace is sufficient in our weakness. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice!

Dealing with Unanswered Prayer

Here are the thoughts that came to me this morning as I was thinking about my previous posting: There are a lot of "words of wisdom" that can be given during a time of grief and unanswered prayer. One can find intellectual explanations and theological reasons to answer the questions of why. However, during this time, that doesn't really seem to work. All the answers just sound "pat". No matter how true or valid they are, it is just too hard for the hurting soul to wrap his spiritual arms around them. And the grieving heart that cries out "why" will find it difficult to hear the answer. The pain muffles the hearing of the response.

There is a time for the such discussion. However, it seems to me that the time of grief needs to be lived more at an emotional level rather than an intellectual one. The need for emotional comfort calls out to be met first and then the need for answers. When a person is physically injured, there are answers as to the nature of the injury that can be described in great physiological and biological detail, but the immediate need is for healing over scientific explanation.

I believe there is purpose and meaning in our suffering, but trying to explain or understand that in the midst of it all is baffling. There is the danger of thinking of God as one who doles out pain and grief in an unattached and uncaring manner. Instead, God needs to be seen and experienced during this time as one who is "close to the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3). One who "does not willingly bring grief" (Lamentations 3:33) and "in all their distress he too was distressed" (Isaiah 63:9). For he truly is "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles" (2 Corinthianss 1:3-4).

Applying this to myself concerning my previous posting, I need the reaffirming of God's love and presence in my own heart as I deal with unanswered prayers for others. Most importantly, I pray for the compassion and comfort of the Father upon those dear families who have lost precious little ones. May healing and love flow into their lives in abundance and may they, in time, find what answers can be found in this life.

John

Weariness

During the days of my son's illness, we were incredibly blessed to see God deliver little Brent from the point of death and bring him back to wholeness. It was an undeniable miracle. We also saw friends that we made there experience a miracle similar to ours when their son was about to lose his life. And we saw third family whom we befriended make it through a really bad situation with their son as well. We were all Christian believers who prayed for one another and had many others praying for us as well.

However, now, after those days, I have seemed to enter another era. Over the past year or two, I have gone from one case to another of praying for kids who have been in dire straits. I can count about 7 of these cases. Most of them were for kids I only knew indirectly through someone else. Nevertheless, I have had strong feelings of compassion for their situations and had earnestly prayed for miracles and deliverance daily over months. In each case, however, the kids did not survive.

This has been very difficult for me. Why did God bring them into my life and move me to pray and become emotionally caught up in the hope of their deliverance? And in each case, after months of praying, not see God answer my prayers nor the prayers of many others who were praying for them?

This has left me weary and grieving. Why would God not answer my earnst prayers? Now I feel as though I do not want to hear about any more bad news because it takes such a toll on my faith and trust in the Lord. If I had only seen one of those children saved I would be encouraged to continue to pray for others.

Perhaps, I should not have hope in earthly deliverance and just resign myself to the fact that many times, earthly healings are not going to happen. And just look to hope of the life to come in which God's full goodness will be fully manifested forever to the recipients of his salvation. Yet my heart aches for those parents who are dealing with immeasurable pain at the loss of their children. My prayer now is that they be greatly comforted by the presence of the Lord and that their pain will turn into the depth of beauty in their spirit.

I really need this exhortation from Scripture:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

I join the with Psalmist and pray:

"Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me." -Psalm 86:17

Bible Reading Plan

I believe that the "Christian life" transcends just "doing" the right things and not doing the wrong things. I am convinced that at its core it is a matter of the heart--a relationship with God in which I respond to his love and presence with faith, love, hope, charity, devotion and worship. There is a part of me that wants my faith to be spontaneous and not dependent upon rituals. So when I first consider going on a regimented bible reading plan, it seems artificial, fabricated, canned. I should just read as I am "moved by the Spirit". Instead of relying on a reading plan, my heart should spontaneously lead me to read.

Here is the reality, though. I've been through this a number of years and the truth is I flourish in my faith when I have a bible reading plan and languish when I do not. My ideals always give way to my shortcommings. The bible reading plan gets me into a routine and because of that routine I am reading God's Word regularly and that is impacting me. Without it, I get undisciplined and neglect it.

I tend to vascillate. One year I use a bible reading plan and end up reading through the Bible, then the next year I decide to do ad hoc reading and I don't end up reading regularly. In 2007, I used a plan and read through the Bible. 2008, I did not. So for 2009 I am back on the plan. Part of the fun of it is I come up with my own reading plan, type it in the computer, then check it off as I read. I've probably done this around a dozen times over the years and each time I like to taylor it a little differently.

This year, I organized my reading into 4 tracks: Old Testament history, Psalms and Proverbs, Old Testament prophets and New Testament. Each track is organized into sections of about 10 chapters, which is a couple days of reading. Once I read a section of one track, I write in the date I completed it on my log sheet. Then I go to the next track and do the same.

For instance, I first read Genesis 1-10 in the Old Testament history track. And I just finished Psalms 1-10 in the Psalms/Proverbs track. Next I read Isaiah 1-10, then Matthew 1-10. After that I go back to Genesis to read chapters 11-20. That way I regularly get exposed to different parts of the Bible.

So I guess I am resigned to the fact that I do need "rituals" and "routines" in my spiritual life to keep me disciplined in seeking the Lord. And I know that he promises that those who seek him will find him!