Tag Archives: salvation

Christmas 365 Days A Year

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Ha! We had our family Christmas last night. My sisters and their families, including five children under the age of 5, and two dogs, made for a rocking’ evening. A niece flew across the country to be with us. Colorful presents everywhere and a bunch of little kids eager to dig in. I think the entire house was shaking with excitement.

Then came the opening of gifts. Boxes, paper, singing dolls, foam swords, Legos, and race cars were everywhere. Confusion? Just a little.

But it was so fun. The gifts that were given and received were done so in love. There was something personal and special about each one. And there were lots of hugs. It really was a great evening.

But I’d be ok not to do that again until next year!

This morning, I was reading the three short letters John wrote. They are found toward the end of the Bible, and I thought it was fitting that John’s theme seems to be, love. Love is what Christmas is all about, isn’t it?

John points to Jesus as our example of love and reminds us that we are to love like Jesus loves. God is love, John says. And those who know him, who have him living in us, must love each other.

So what does that look like? Is it a warm, gushy feeling? Is it the reaction to a kindness shown us? (I just love the earrings you gave me)

Jesus, by example demonstrated love for us in that while we were still sinners, he died for us. He didn’t sit back and feel love. He showed it. Love is something you do.

Love is not even close to what modern society tells us: that we can’t help who we love, or that we “fall” in love like it’s out of our control. Those ideas are lies from Satan to cheapen true love, the love of God in us that propels us into action. Love is a choice to set aside ourselves and concern ourselves with the welfare of others, both in this life and for the life to come.

Jesus gave up a throne to become a baby in human flesh. Jesus gave up comfort to go into the world and tell everyone he saw about the way to the Father. Jesus gave up his life to buy my forgiveness, and yours.

That’s love. Jesus said people will know we are his if we love one another.

My prayer is that we all will choose to demonstrate Christ’s love as we look forward to another year. May we go out of our way to befriend an unsaved neighbor, to reach out to a hurting coworker, to pick up the phone and reconnect with that person we’ve neglected far too long. May we actively demonstrate the same kind of love Jesus showed when he was born in that manger 2000 years ago.

In other words, may we live Christmas 365 days a year.

Get Out There And Get To Work

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God is in no hurry to come again. Peter tells us in his second letter that God’s patience gives people time to be saved. (verse 15) Time, as we know it, doesn’t exist for God. A day is like a thousand years to him and he’s willing to wait a few more days if it means another soul will accept his grace.

We Christians are commanded to go into the world and preach the Gospel in order for people to hear about and accept this grace. I hope you aren’t content, believing people should come to church to be saved. It’s just not the way God intended it. If you’re concerned about “branding” your church to attract non-believers, you’re concerned about the wrong thing. The Bible clearly teaches our concern should be our neighbor, our co-worker, our family. We Christians need to hit the streets and get to know unsaved people in order to love them to the Savior.

Recently, a church in our area took a benevolent offering on a Sunday morning. The preacher and a deacon took the money that was collected, went out into their community, and started talking to people. They learned the story of a hard working, needy neighbor and handed over the $200 in Jesus’ name. The next Sunday, the pastor shared the story with the congregation, and they took up another collection. This time they collected $430. There is a waitress in town who, after sharing her story with the pastor and deacon, got the biggest tip of her life. And that waitress knows she received  that financial help because Jesus loves her.

A Sunday School teacher in the church gave each of her students $1 and challenged them to pass it on to someone in need. Some of the kids gave their dollar away, some added their own allowances and money from their piggy banks and gave a little more. One youngster was at Walmart. He bought a wool scarf and gave it to the old man ringing bells for the Salvation Army… in Jesus’ name.

So I’m asking all of us, how are we handling the Great Commission to go into our world and share Jesus? God wants us to walk with people, share their lives, demonstrate kindness, love, patience, support in Jesus’ name.

After all, isn’t that what God Himself did 2000 years ago? Wasn’t he born in a manger? Didn’t he put on human flesh and walk with us, sharing life with us, demonstrating kindness, love and patience? Didn’t he die so we might live?

This Christmas, as we celebrate the baby in the manger, my prayer is that we will recognize the significance of this act, God in human form. Why did he do that? There are so many wonderful reasons! But just maybe one of the reasons is that he wants us to follow his example, to get out there, and get to work.

May he find us faithful.

I’m praying that all who read this will have a blessed Christmas with family and friends. May we worship the Savior with fellow believers, and may we all be intentional about sharing the wonderful news of Jesus with the people around us.

Our God is a Devouring Fire

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Fire fascinated my dad. When we were little girls, our family would drop everything and jump in the car almost every time we heard the fire trucks’ sirens. We’d search the sky for smoke and rush to the scene to watch the brave firemen battle the dangerous blazes.

Fire takes on a life of its own as it devours its prey. I remember watching a garage burn a block away from our home. A big department store and a lumber company both burned while we watched from safe distances. I can almost hear the snap crackle of the burning wood, smell the acrid odor of smoking embers, feel the heat from dancing flames.

Hebrews 11 lists men and women of faith, people who believed God, and looked to him in spite of circumstances. Then Hebrews 12 begins with the word, “Therefore” and challenges us to have the same kind of faith as those listed in chapter 11, because God has proven himself to be faithful. The writer points us to God’s spiritual kingdom, as sure and real as the physical city of Jerusalem. But now God promises that one day, we who know him will live with him, while the rest of creation will be removed.

Hebrews 12:28 says, “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.” It’s followed by verse 29, a verse that jumped out at me as I read this morning: “For our God is a devouring fire.” (NLT)

Fire is welcome at a campsite, melting marshmallows for s’mores, heating hotdogs, warming fingers and toes. But campers know to enjoy the fire with fear and awe, knowing fire can also unleash its destructive power.

Those of us who know Jesus as our Savior can enjoy God like a camper by a fire pit. We benefit from God’s very being, we enjoy his fellowship, we are safe in his presence. But we must not take his power too lightly, or misuse his blessings. We must not forget that he is that devouring fire. That’s where worshiping him with holy fear and awe comes into play.

My prayer is that all who read this blog will know the warmth, the peace, the safety God provides to those who call on the name of Jesus. The alternative is frightening. Those who reject the Savior will only know the devouring fire of his wrath, his anger and punishment, and be separated from him forever.

May we worship God with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.

Why Christmas?

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Christmas is next week. I doubt that bit of information comes as much of a surprise to anyone. The whole world celebrates Jesus’ birth whether they want to admit it or not, whether or not they believe that baby in the manger was God in the flesh. Carols fill the airwaves weeks in advance. Colorful lights sparkle from rooftops and streetlights. Everybody and their brother has a Christmas special on TV. Presents are bought and wrapped, plans for family gatherings, office parties, even ugly Christmas sweater parties are in full swing leading up to the day. Even business are closed on December 25.

Many people will attend a church service, even if they haven’t been to church since last Christmas.

On December 25 we celebrate the most important birth – ever. The writer of Hebrews tells us why this event is so important. He spells out who Jesus is and why he was born that day in Bethlehem. God planned, before he created the universe, to join his creation in flesh and blood, to walk where we walk, experience life like we experience life, and to go to the cross so that he could bridge the gap between us and him.

We have forgiveness because this baby grew to be a man who went to the cross to pay the penalty we deserve for every sin we commit. We can have fellowship with him, we can enter his rest, we are co-heirs of the promise, and we have the assurance of heaven because that baby whose birth we celebrate, God with us, lived and died to give us the ultimate present. Himself!

Many of you have spent a lot of time and thought, picking out the perfect gift for that special person in you life. You bought it, brought it home, probably looked at it a thousand times and imagined your loved one opening it. You wrap it carefully in the best paper you can find and put that finishing touch on the package, a bow and a card that says, To…, From… As the day approaches, your level of excitement grows with the knowledge that your loved one is going to love this gift!

So the day comes. You hide the gift behind your back and approach your loved one. With a smile on your face, you bring the package around and offer it to that one who means so much to you. You can’t wait to see their reaction.

What happens next is life changing. Imagine if your loved one refuses the gift. Imagine he or she holding the wrapped package, then putting it aside and walking away. That gift is their’s for the taking. What if they don’t take it? It’s bought and paid for. Their name is right there on the package. They just need to accept it.

But imagine your loved one accepting that gift, opening the package and holding it close to their heart. Imagine them wearing the gift, using it as it is intended. Imagine them protecting it, showing it off to their friends, cherishing it for a life time. Isn’t that what you, as the giver of the gift, planned for all along?

That’s, “Why Christmas.” You have the most important gift you’ll ever receive right in front of you. It’s forgiveness. It’s cleansing and freedom and fellowship with Jesus, the baby whose birth we are celebrating. God’s grace is the best, most wonderful possession you will ever have. And it’s yours for the taking.

I pray you will cherish that gift like no other. God has forgiven you. The price for your soul has been paid. Will you accept it?

Precious Jesus, I pray that everyone reading this blog knows you as their Savior. That’s why you were born that day 2,000 years ago. But for those who have yet to accept your gift, I pray they will talk to you today, that they will ask you to forgive them, that they will turn from sin and toward you who has bought the most wonderful gift they could ever receive. May this Christmas have real meaning for each of us as we consider why you were born. Thank you for the baby in the manger, for the man who lived and died so that each of us can know you. Thank you for Christmas.

Why Evil?

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Last Sunday, the pastor posed a question in Sunday School: Why is there evil and has it always existed?

I guess to truly understand all the details of the answer to that question, you would have to have the mind of God. Our understanding is limited to what he inspired men to write in Scripture.

Like I Corinthians 15:56. Paul tells us the law gives sin its power. We wouldn’t know what sin was if God hadn’t spelled it out in the law.

We wouldn’t know what light was if it wasn’t for the darkness.

And we wouldn’t know what good was except for evil.

If there was no law, sin would have no power because sin, by definition, is the breaking of the law. But if there was no law, no sin, we wouldn’t know forgiveness, would we? There would be no choice. We would be puppets, robots.

It was important to God that his creation choose him.

Why?

I don’t know, except to say the love someone chooses to demonstrate toward me is precious, personal, more meaningful than if that someone feels obligated or forced. Being made in God’s image, I can only imagine he feels the same.

Dearest Heavenly Father, you are good. You are holy. And I thank you that you have made it possible to choose you. It’s hard to thank you for sin. It’s hard to thank you for sickness, wars, evil. But if it weren’t for those things, I wouldn’t understand what it is that you offer through your Son, Jesus. I wouldn’t appreciate grace. So, Father, I want you to know that I choose you today. I love you because I can. I resist temptation because I can. I deny Satan because I can. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Thank you!

Pilate and Me

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We celebrated the Lord’s Supper yesterday at church. In my devotional time during the past several days I have been reading about Jesus’ last moments in a human body, and it made me appreciate the bread and wine even more. Jesus is not just some character in a book, or some guy who lived a good life thousands of years ago. He’s as real as he was the day Judas betrayed him. And our response to him is as important as Pilate’s response to him was.

Read Mark 15, Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 19. See how Pilate, a powerful ruler of the people, washed his hands of the whole thing when he chose not to defy popular opinion. He knew Jesus wasn’t guilty of anything. But the crowd shouting for Jesus’ death was loud and strong. Pilate figured there was nothing he could do, so he just sat back and allowed Jesus to be mocked, beaten, and eventually killed.

Hold on before you get too critical of old Pilate. Is Jesus any less mocked, beaten up, obliterated from our society than he was in Pilate’s day? Isn’t popular opinion today just as loud and strong against God’s Truth as the people shouting, “Crucify Him” were back then?

Is Jesus the Way, the Truth, the Life, and the only way to the Father or not? Does sin, as spelled out clearly in Scripture, anger and disgust him? Are the wages of sin death? What is our response when popular opinion says we should be tolerant of all beliefs, that there are multiple ways to God, that evolution is a science, that homosexuality is not a choice and should be honored, that drunkenness is a party, that abortion is not murder, that Christians who speak against sin are haters?

I could go on. And so could you. God is asking me what my response will be. Will I, like Pilate, wash my hands and say, “Oh well, there’s nothing I can do”?

If I do – if we do – I believe Jesus will be obliterated from our society and we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves. I was reminded at church yesterday, and again this morning as I spent time in God’s Word, that Jesus endured a lonely and painful death because he loves me. What is my response to so great a love, so great a salvation?

Pilate let popular opinion prevent him from taking a stand. Will I?

Father, I pray for your people. May we each spend time in your Word and in prayer, asking you what you would have us do in response to popular opinion that dishonors you. May Christians stand in love and in Truth against Satan’s lies. And may those who are holding this popular opinion be drawn to the Savior because your people didn’t wash our hands of the whole thing. God, you are powerful. May your power be seen in your obedient servants.

Jesus’ Counsel For A Healthy Life

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Our society has gotten so far away from what Jesus said when he was here on earth. Where in Scripture does it say, “You’ve got to take care of yourself,” or “If you want to be healthy you have to come first”? These are lies straight from Satan’s lips. That’s the lie that got him thrown out of heaven.

Mental illness is a rampant plague, and I believe one reason is that even some Christians, have fallen for the infectious disease of “self”. People try so hard to feel good about themselves, to pull themselves up, to convince themselves they are worthy, when Scripture tells us we need to let go of “self”, admit we are filthy, helpless, needy people. Dear ones, admitting that is so freeing! The reality is we can’t be good in and of ourselves. And trying to be is making people crazy.

Jesus tells us not to exalt ourselves, not to think more highly of ourselves than we should, to come to him like a child, give up everything to follow him.

The Pharisee loudly prayed, “Boy, God. I’m glad I’m not like that guy over there. I tithe, I pray, I go to church, I don’t cheat on my wife, and people think I’m pretty awesome.”

Jesus said, “One day you’ll wish you were like that guy over there. He recognizes his sin. He’s bowed before me and repented. He’s wearing my righteousness, and what you are wearing is nothing but filthy rags.”

Don’t try to find those quotes in the Bible. Those words are mine. But if you read Luke 18, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Here’s the truth. I am a sinner, and so are you. I am incapable of being anything other than a sinner, and so are you. I fail. I make mistakes. And when I measure myself up against a holy God, I can’t come close.

But Jesus tells me I don’t have to. He wants to be that for me. And all I need to do is admit my helpless position, recognize my sin, and ask him to forgive me. He’s already got that robe of righteousness waiting for me because he bought it with his blood. I don’t have to try to be good. He puts his own goodness on me. I don’t have to convince myself I am worthy, he makes me worthy because he is worthy.

I pray Christians will recognize Satan’s lies in counseling sessions, on TV, in the books they read, the sermons they hear, and the conversations they have with friends. I would challenge you to do a study on the word, “humble” in the Bible. Use a concordance and look up the verses that speak about humility, about humbling ourselves, and find out what God promises when we do.

“… and HE will lift you up.” (I Peter 5:6)

Who Is This Man?

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Who is this man, that even the wind and the waves obey him? (Matthew 8:27, Mark 4:41, Luke 8:25) Who is he indeed.

This is the same Jesus who just got done telling us how precious we are to him:

Like a treasure buried in a field. The finder sells everything he owns to buy the land to have the treasure. (Matthew 13:44)

Like a merchant who finds choice pearls and sells everything he has to buy them. (Matthew 13:45-46)

This same Jesus didn’t need to speak to the storm in order to calm it. He said the words for the benefit of his disciples… for me. He wanted us to know he is who he claims to be – God in the flesh.

And this same Jesus, seeing me as a precious treasure, a priceless pearl, gave up everything to come to earth to die. (Philippians 2:5-8) That was the price he was willing to pay for me.

Who is this man? He is my Savior, my Lord, my Advocate, my Friend, my High Priest, my God. I don’t know why he loves me so. But I am very glad he does.

I stand before him amazed and humbled, adoring him. He can calm a storm. He can even save the likes of me.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me, for dying for me, for buying my forgiveness with your blood. You. God. Did that for me. I’m sorry for sin in my life. I accept your grace, your cleansing. May this precious pearl live a life that shows you how much I love you, how much I appreciate what you sacrificed to make me one of your own.

As Long As It Takes

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If you read the book of Lamentations you will feel the anguish over the state of things in Israel due to their disobedience. In fact, throughout the Old Testament you will often hear the Jews crying out to God: How long will you continue to forget us?

And often you will hear God’s reply: As long as it takes.

God doesn’t delight in punishing his people. He created us to fellowship with him, to love and obey him. And because he created us with the ability to choose or reject him, he drew a line in the sand. We call the condensed version of this line The Ten Commandments. There needs to be no guessing concerning the requirements for having a blessed relationship with him:

Worship me only. Love me above all else, Obey my instructions how to treat people, how to conduct business, what to believe. And for we who live after the cross: accept my Son as your Savior.

Sure it’s a tough list of rules. In fact, an impossible list to achieve for us humans. Yet God’s requirements don’t change. Here’s the line in the sand. Cross it and enjoy a forgiven life under grace. Stay where you are and accept the consequence.

Be assured. God won’t just let you stay on that side without doing everything he can to get you to come over to his side. You may even find yourself asking, “Why, God? How long are you going to cause me pain?”

AS LONG AS IT TAKES.

A Good Heart

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How many times have you heard or said: He (she) has a good heart? How do you know? An adulterer who takes in stray animals, a thief who volunteers to mow a neighbor’s lawn, a liar who takes meals to shut-ins. Does kindness or thoughtfulness indicate a good heart?

In Jeremiah 17:9&10, we read that the human heart is “the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked.” Who can know what is truly in a heart, what really motivates a person to do anything?

Only God.

God is not fooled by acts of charity when the charitable person is harboring hatred or evil, and is rejecting him. I might be fooled into thinking a person has a good heart, even into thinking he or she walks with God. But unless that heart has been broken over sin, unless that person has repented and accepted God’s forgiveness, that person is actually carrying around a desperately wicked heart, and Jeremiah reminds us God judges the heart.

You can put pearls on a pig, but it’s still a pig. You can put frosting on manure, but that doesn’t make it a birthday cake any more than a kind act gives an unsaved person a good heart.

Can non-believers be nice people, kind, and considerate? Of course they can. Satan is the master at making sin look good. But let’s not be fooled into thinking they are ok the way they are. Because “good” isn’t good enough! And an unrepentant heart is not a good heart.

God, I pray that each of us will take a good look at our own heart because that’s the only heart we can know. Your word tells us that without you, our hearts are desperately wicked. It also tells us you don’t judge our actions without judging our hearts. May our hearts be broken in light of our sin, may we bow before you in repentance, and may you turn our wicked hearts into good hearts. May we determine to obey your word today, and may others recognize that any goodness in us comes from you.