Tag Archives: Jesus

I Know Whom I’ve Believed

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I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He has made known. Nor why, when I was so unworthy, Christ, in love, redeemed me for His own. “But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.”

If you went to church before the “contemporary” movement decided the old hymns are irrelevant, I bet you have a tune running through your head about now. I find myself singing Daniel W. Whittle’s hymn every time I read 2 Timothy 1:12. If you get a chance I hope you take the time to read all five verses. It is a wonderful hymn of complete confidence in God.

That’s what Paul was talking about to Timothy in his second letter to the young preacher. Paul was in jail, had suffered quite a bit for Jesus’ sake, and he was encouraging Timothy to see Jesus ONLY in every circumstance of life. Paul says, I’ve had a tough time sharing the Gospel, but I’m not ashamed of any of it.

The Apostle wanted Timothy – and me – to have the same attitude. Don’t ever be ashamed of standing up for the Truth of Scripture, of wearing the name Christian according to God’s Word. It might not be a popular or comfortable stand, but knowing Jesus makes everything else dim in comparison.

And God promises to stand with us until we see Him face to face in our eternal home.

I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair. Or if I walk the vale with Him or meet Him in the air. But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day!

My Heart

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Earlier this year a friend of mine posted a picture on FaceBook of her twenty-something son, standing on the beach, a beautiful sunset behind him, looking lovingly into the eyes of another young man. Below the picture she had written, “Comments welcomed.”

My heart broke as I remembered her son who had been a student of mine in middle school. A quiet, shy, nice boy. A really good boy from a good family.

One of the comments I read said, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” And it made me think of Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things.

There is nothing in our hearts that want to obey God’s Law until that heart is given to God. Without a repentant heart we are self serving, ego driven, self centered people looking out for number one. Like Muslims who obey Allah so they’ll be surrounded by virgins when they die, or Christians who go to church for a worship experience.

A true believer obeys God for Jesus’ sake. They go to church, resist sin, share the Gospel, not for what they gain, but because they just love Jesus so much they can’t help themselves. They don’t go to church to be entertained or to avoid hell. They go to church to give God the worship due Him.

Scripture tells me to guard my heart. And the best way I know how to do that is to give it to God. Take myself, my control, my desires, out of the picture. I want to love Him like He deserves to be loved, serve Him like He demands, fellowship with him through prayer and reading His Word like he longs for me to do, and share Him with those who don’t know Him because he died for them.

Here’s my heart Lord. Guard it. Use it. Take it. Keep it beating or don’t. It’s Yours. For Jesus’ sake.

How Do You Know What is True?

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Satan has been twisting God’s Truth since the garden when he told Eve God didn’t really mean what he said. “You won’t really die,” was the lie that changed everything.

Jeremiah, in chapter 14, asked God not to be mad at the people, saying the prophets were telling them they were ok. God said – “my prophets aren’t telling them that. The people are believing a lie.”

No different than today.

The Truth of Scripture is being twisted, and edited, and denied. So how do you even know what’s true any more?

Well, are you reading and studying God’s written Word? Do you pray over it, think about it, talk about it? Are you familiar with the things God inspired men to write for your benefit? God isn’t going to let you believe a lie if you include him in your search for Truth.

You might not like what you read in the Bible. It’s not politically correct. You might recognize yourself as a sinner damned to hell. But you don’t have to be.

The Truth is Jesus died to forgive your sins. He went to the cross so you don’t have to pay the debt you’ve accumulated. He is eager to mark that debt “paid”, if you’d only ask Him to.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, and no one, not even you, will go to God without Him. There is no other name – not Mohammed, or Buddha, or some positive energy – that can save.

No other name!

Please read the Bible. It’s God’s word to you. But don’t just read the parts that don’t offend you, or those that make you feel good. Read it all. It’s the only way to be able to recognize when Satan is twisting the Truth.

Don’t miss out on what God wants to say to you today.

Hands in the Air!

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I was raised in the era of Green Stamps. If you are a Baby Boomer, you probably remember those stamp books, too. Kids, they were like those points you rack up by shopping at the grocery, or like frequent flier miles. You earned them when you spent money. Then, and this was fun, you poured through their catalog and picked out things you could “buy” when you redeemed your stamps.

Hang on. There’s a point to this.

Time might be one of God’s special blessings. Yet I know I am guilty of squandering it away. I sit in front of the TV, or curled up with a book, or surf the net. None of these are sins necessarily. Unless it is time I could be spending with an unsaved friend talking about my Savior.

Paul tells us, in Colossians 4 to redeem the time. Cash it in. Use it by walking “in wisdom toward those who are outside.”

Time is precious. But it is also fleeting. I might die today. Or I could live a few more decades. The reality is, no matter how many years I spend in this skin, it is a blip in eternity. Whether you believe the earth is thousands or billions of years old, that too, is a blip in eternity.

I like watching cooking and baking competitions on TV. Chefs and bakers can create amazing dishes in a short period of time. And I notice that during the last few seconds of their allotted time the pace quickens, the hands shake, the focus is laser sharp until the host says, “Hands in the air.”

I’ve never seen a competitor surf the net during those last few important seconds.

Dear one, the clock is ticking. We, unlike the TV participants don’t see the clock or hear God counting down the seconds. But rest assured, He is counting. Time will end. We have now to make the best of it, to finish strong, to redeem the time.

Let’s cash in our Green Stamps for the prize set before us. Let’s redeem the time we have today by reaching out to a lost soul in Jesus’ name and for His sake.

Father, may your children be excited about sharing you today. May we use every second you give us in ways that please and honor You. And may a heart be drawn to You because we didn’t waste an opportunity to talk about You, the One who loved us, who gave Himself for us, and who longs to forgive that person you’ve laid on our hearts.

What’s The Loving Thing To Do?

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Paul begins the fifth chapter of Ephesians with a challenge for us to imitate God as dear children. Walk in love, he says. And some would like it better if he had just stopped with that thought.

But he didn’t. In verse three he starts talking about sin: fornication, foolish talk, coarse joking, jealousy, idolatry. He warns us against participating in any of it.

Walk as children of light, he says. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful work of darkness, he says. Then  he adds: but rather expose them. (Eph 5:11)

Is it possible to walk in love AND expose sin as sin? Friend, that’s the only loving thing to do. Tolerance is not love. It’s not love to turn a blind eye to or accept a sin that will usher someone into hell.

Paul compares light to darkness. You do know, don’t you, that darkness can never win over light? When you turn on the light switch there is never a struggle as to whether the darkness will disappear. When light is present, darkness can’t be.

So if we walk in the Light which is God in us, sin will be exposed. The only way we don’t expose sin is by hiding the Light, keeping it to ourselves. Satan loves it when we do that.

So here’s how much I love you: Homosexuality is sin. Abortion is sin. Lying is sin. Looking at porn or watching ungodly TV shows are sin. Having sex outside of marriage is sin. Laughing at dirty jokes is sin. Hatred, unforgiveness, jealousy, greed, drunkenness, gluttony, are all sin.

And if you are guilty of sin you need the Savior. You need to ask God to forgive you and change you so that you don’t repeat the sin. You need to surrender to God, plain and simple.

My prayer is that we will all imitate God in our walk today. May we love our family members, our neighbors, our friends with the same kind of love God loves. May we lovingly identify sin and introduce them to the One who loves them and gave Himself for them so that they can walk in the Light here and in eternity.

That’s the loving thing to do.

Be Ye Kind

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My dad loved to tell the story about a time I, as a young child, disobeyed him. (I know, hard to believe) The story goes that as he was taking off his belt to swat my behind, I began to sing a little chorus I had learned in Sunday School. It goes like this:

Be ye kind, be ye kind, be ye kind to one another.

Dad said he couldn’t help but laugh, and put his belt back on.

Paul tells us to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, “even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Kindness isn’t something we do to get out of trouble. Tenderheartedness isn’t something we do to get attention. And forgiving someone isn’t always easy.

Kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness aren’t only things we do, but rather things we are in Christ. I didn’t say tolerant. I didn’t say to ignore sin or allow yourself to be abused. But kindness should be evident in our dealings with others regardless of the situation. Our tender hearts should recognize pain, or grief, or anxiousness in others and encourage us to reach out to them. And certainly our lives should be lived in an attitude of forgiveness, knowing how much God has forgiven us.

Our world lacks kindness, as we witness in the news every day. Many people are too self centered to have tender hearts toward another. And too many times people allow unforgiveness to fester and grow into rage.

Let’s us, as God’s children, be the change we need in our world by allowing God’s kindness, God’s tenderheartedness, and His forgiveness to be evident in us, in Jesus’ name.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:30-32)

Jesus

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Jesus.  Name above all names. Beautiful Savior, Glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us. Blessed Redeemer. Living Word. (Naida Hearn)

My year long Bible reading plan had me reading several passages this morning as usual, and today they were all about Jesus. Isaiah’s words, in chapter 53 of his book, are written as though they had already happened. They paint an accurate picture of Jesus’ work on the cross. It was a done deal thousands of years before Jesus took on human form. You’ve got to read this chapter. It’s amazing. It’ll make you love Jesus even more. “… the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”. I can’t help but praise Him!

Psalm 113 tells us to do just that. Praise Him. He deserves to be praised.

Then I turned to the third chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The apostle reveals the mystery hidden in ages past, and that is that salvation through Jesus isn’t only for Jews. Believers of every nationality are fellow heirs, of the same body, partakers of God’s promise! More reasons to praise Him!

And Paul encourages us to know the love of God through Jesus, that Christ might dwell in our hearts through faith. “That (we), being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19) My praise continues!

Jesus. Name above all names. Beautiful Savior. Glorious Lord. Emmanuel, God is with us. Blessed Redeemer. Living Word.

The Sin of Prayer

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I was reading Psalm 109 this morning and was struck by something in verse 7:

When he is judged, let him be found guilty, and let his prayer become sin. (NKJV)

The NIV translates it like this: …and may his prayer condemn him.

Can a prayer be a sin? Can whispering a prayer condemn us? It must be so or it wouldn’t be written here in this psalm.

David is talking about being treated unfairly. Remember, Saul wanted to kill David. And Saul’s followers pursued David relentlessly. David asks God to be their judge. Then he said what he did about prayer.

That got me to thinking. How can a prayer be sin? Certainly in these days after the cross, when Jesus told us to love one another, including our enemies, praying that harm might come to someone is probably a sin. I can see how praying for a selfish gain would be considered a sin. Praying that God would honor or ignore or, worse, bless a sin in my life is most assuredly a sin.

Maybe God is saying through David that praying in order to tell God what His will is is a sin. Saul’s men probably thought they were obeying God by trying to protect King Saul from David’s overthrow of the kingdom. Maybe they even prayed to God to help them kill David. Praying to Allah, or a higher power, or some dear departed loved one, isn’t a prayer that honors God. And what doesn’t honor God is sin.

Then the thought came to mind that a person who rejects God’s grace and lives in opposition to God’s demands, yet prays a quick prayer when their car slips on ice, or a family member receives a frightening diagnosis sins. A person who leaves God out of their life, yet prays to win the lottery, or get a promotion at work also sins.

Prayer is a privilege. But it’s serious business to go barging into the throne room. In the Old Testament we read where a king could only be approached by invitation. Going otherwise to talk to the king resulted in death. Unless the king granted audience, you died.

We who have accepted Jesus as our Savior are invited to come boldly before the throne of grace. (Heb 4:16) We have that ongoing invitation to talk to the King any time of the day or night. But it seems to me from what I read in the Bible, if you haven’t come to God through His Son, you have no business in the throne room.

And, if I go barging into the throne room with unconfessed sin in my heart, my prayer just might condemn me. This morning I am impressed with the importance of prayer. And the seriousness of having audience with a God who is Holy, Holy, Holy. I don’t want to take this privilege for granted. And I don’t want to sin in my prayer.

Holy God, Please forgive me for sin in my life. Help me to recognize those sins and be quick to confess them. Thank you for inviting me into your throne room where I can talk to you about the things on my heart. May I never take this privilege for granted. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my Lord and my Savior.

The Bottom Line

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Solomon, in chapter 12 of Ecclesiastes, gives us the conclusion of his active study of life, of wisdom, wealth, and happiness. He looked at nature in his quest for truth. He studied humanity. He looked at eternity. He spared no expense. And this is what he found to be true:

“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing whether good or evil.” (12:13-14)

The bottom line is this: God.

Period.

The most important thing in this life is one’s relationship with God. Fear of God. Absolute surrender to God.

Because in the end, every human who ever lived will stand before God in judgement. Every thought, every action, the good and the bad, the public and the private will require accountability.

When it’s my turn, I want God to look at me and see Jesus’ righteousness. I want him to attribute Jesus’ work to me. I certainly don’t want to stand before him on my own authority, on my own terms, based on my life. Just the thought of that scares me to death.

I am grateful to think that I can stand before God with confidence, because I have recognized that I am a sinner. I have asked God to forgive me, and I have accepted God’s grace: the forgiveness of my sin paid for by my Savior, God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

I want God to see me through Jesus’ blood. Then and only then, will I hear those precious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome home.”

Job’s Hell On Earth

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I am reading the book of Job this week as part of my year long plan. I’ve read Job several times, so as I read his words of anguish, I know his turmoil is temporary. Job’s hell on earth will not last forever.

Job is tormented by his thoughts, his memories, his questions, the “what-ifs”. He can find no comfort; not physically and not in his soul. His groans come from deep inside of him.

If you’ve been with me on this blogging journey for very long, you know that in 2012 we lost my 22 year old nephew in an auto accident. I have experienced death repeated times as we’ve buried grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents. But I had never experienced the level of grief that paralyzed me when I got the horrible news of Geoffrey’s death.

I remember sitting in silence in my parent’s family room. My sisters, their families, my dad. Tears flowed freely, but there were no words that could express what we were going through. There were, however, occasional groans.

I can still hear the sound of Geoff’s parents as that mournful sound escaped from their hearts. Our sister, Kathy, Geoff’s aunt, would groan in such a way you never thought could come from a human. I remember hearing a sorrowful groan, then realizing the sound had come from me. I finally understood the definition of “lament”.

That kind of grief cannot be described. It’s too painful, too personal. The sound of that kind of pain comes involuntarily. It’s like the whistle of a teapot. It just comes on its own as a result of the boiling turmoil deep inside. It’s the sound of true anguish.

Dear One, that’s a portrait of hell. Hell is not a giant bonfire. It is the absence of God, the absence of light, of love, of comfort, of peace, of joy. It’s living inside that teapot where thoughts and memories, the “what-ifs” torment. Forever. Where the only sound heard is that of painful, personal groaning.

Job’s anguish was temporary. Even though I still grieve the loss of my dear nephew, the intensity isn’t the same today as it was on June 24, 2012. But here is what God would say to us today: without  accepting the grace God offers to us sinners through the blood of his Son Jesus, eternity will be living with that grief, that agony, that helplessness FOREVER. No relief, no lessening of the pain, no hope that things will ever get better. And if I think my grief was hard to bear, if Job’s grief was devastating, the grief of those in hell, separated from God will be so much more intense.

I can’t imagine living an eternity of June 24, 2012. And hell will be so much more painful than even that day was.

Hell is nothing to joke about, nothing to take lightly. It’s personal, and painful, and devastating, and ugly, and separated from everything good with no chance of reprieve. The good news is, you can avoid that end.

Jesus died so you and I don’t have to ever experience hell. But you need to meet him on his terms. You need to confess your sins and accept his forgiveness. I promise you, he will be faithful to forgive you, to cleanse you, to live inside of you, and one day, to welcome you into his heavenly home where you will joyfully live…

Forever.

Dear God, Hell is scary. And not the sci-fi kind of scary. It’s real. It’s personal. It’s devastating. Thank you for Jesus, for his willingness to die so that I don’t have to spend one second in that awful place. Life on earth is hard enough, is sad enough. I’d much rather spend eternity in Your presence. I pray for each one who reads these words today. I pray that hearts will be drawn to you, that sins will be confessed, that Your grace will be accepted by anyone who doesn’t already know You. May each of us come to You on Your terms, then look forward to seeing You the day you call us home.