“Then He said to [them] all, ‘If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)
Just before Jesus said “if anyone wants to come with Me,” He warned them that He was going to suffer “many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.” The operative word here is “suffer.” There was not a promise of perpetual tranquility for those who wish to be Jesus’ disciple, but rather a prediction of suffering.
The idea behind “take up your cross” is one of suffering and burdens. This expression essentially means to bear your burdens. Jesus told them the burdens He was to bear so they would understand what to expect if they followed Him. Taking up His cross, so to speak, would lead Him to the cross.
To follow Jesus, we are thus called to lay aside our own willfulness in order to pursue God’s will and to bear whatever burdens must be borne in order to follow Him faithfully. Daily.
Discipleship is daily. We don’t have days off from discipleship. Each day is a new day for us as His disciples, a day of new opportunity to walk with God, to serve and love others, and – if necessary – suffer for His sake. Each new day, therefore, calls for its own intentionality of commitment.
Lord, As we consider today and the days ahead, help us to be fully aware of Your call for intentionality in our commitment to You, and may we each follow You faithfully, being aware of the cost and willing to pay it. Amen.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
What Is Good
“He has told you men what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: Only to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
“Good” is a word we spread around rather thinly. The Bible says that only God is good, and the God who is good has communicated to us what good He expects of us. Among other aspects of what is good, Micah points us toward three.
Good is acting justly. That means acting rightly and standing for what is right, and ensuring that justice is carried out. This is social goodness. The Lord is telling us through Micah that He wants us to be involved with social justice and goodness and rightness.
Good is loving faithfulness. Faithfulness is open-ended commitment. It is an absolute commitment that has no end-date, no expiration date. Loving this kind of a life, this kind of a commitment is something God sees as good. It is good because it builds up and sustains and does not hinder or hurt.
Good is walking humbly with our God. The more someone walks with God, the more he or she wants to walk with God. There is no life or lifestyle than can even come close to it in comparison. Walking with God is significance, meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Walking with God in humility means to walk with Him in a life of learning. To be humble is to be teachable. We walk with God, continually learning from Him. That is good.
Lord, May our lives demonstrate acting justly, loving faithfulness, and walking humbly with You. Amen.
“Good” is a word we spread around rather thinly. The Bible says that only God is good, and the God who is good has communicated to us what good He expects of us. Among other aspects of what is good, Micah points us toward three.
Good is acting justly. That means acting rightly and standing for what is right, and ensuring that justice is carried out. This is social goodness. The Lord is telling us through Micah that He wants us to be involved with social justice and goodness and rightness.
Good is loving faithfulness. Faithfulness is open-ended commitment. It is an absolute commitment that has no end-date, no expiration date. Loving this kind of a life, this kind of a commitment is something God sees as good. It is good because it builds up and sustains and does not hinder or hurt.
Good is walking humbly with our God. The more someone walks with God, the more he or she wants to walk with God. There is no life or lifestyle than can even come close to it in comparison. Walking with God is significance, meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Walking with God in humility means to walk with Him in a life of learning. To be humble is to be teachable. We walk with God, continually learning from Him. That is good.
Lord, May our lives demonstrate acting justly, loving faithfulness, and walking humbly with You. Amen.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Impressions
“The Lord values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love.” (Psalm 147:11)
People are impressionable. In fact, we are easily impressed by things that go “boom.” A fireworks display we find awesome. Bringing down an old building with a series of dynamite charges impresses us with immensity. The flight of a massive rocket, or the explosion of a nuclear device shouts “power” to us. Military power in general impresses us.
What impresses God? Answer: Not much, really.
We sometimes ascribe our thoughts to God, even though the Bible tells us His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. Still, we think that surely God is impressed with all the knowledge we have amassed. We know so much more now than we once did. No? Well, if not that, then surely God is impressed with our technology. Just look at what we can do with our computers. We can send people to the moon and bring them back safely. No? Well, how about our political systems? Surely God is impressed with our abilities to govern ourselves with democratic governments.
No, no, and no.
Only one thing impresses God. God values those who fear Him, those who find in Him their true sense of the awesome, those who put their hope in His faithful love. To fear the Lord is to stand in awe of Him, to be impressed with Him over everything else. Putting our hope in His faithful love is counting on Him to fulfill His word, counting on Him to fulfill His purposes for our lives, and trusting Him regardless. That impresses God.
Father, Help us to look beyond the shallow superficialities of what impresses our human minds and recognize our need to find genuine impression in Your awesomeness. Amen.
People are impressionable. In fact, we are easily impressed by things that go “boom.” A fireworks display we find awesome. Bringing down an old building with a series of dynamite charges impresses us with immensity. The flight of a massive rocket, or the explosion of a nuclear device shouts “power” to us. Military power in general impresses us.
What impresses God? Answer: Not much, really.
We sometimes ascribe our thoughts to God, even though the Bible tells us His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. Still, we think that surely God is impressed with all the knowledge we have amassed. We know so much more now than we once did. No? Well, if not that, then surely God is impressed with our technology. Just look at what we can do with our computers. We can send people to the moon and bring them back safely. No? Well, how about our political systems? Surely God is impressed with our abilities to govern ourselves with democratic governments.
No, no, and no.
Only one thing impresses God. God values those who fear Him, those who find in Him their true sense of the awesome, those who put their hope in His faithful love. To fear the Lord is to stand in awe of Him, to be impressed with Him over everything else. Putting our hope in His faithful love is counting on Him to fulfill His word, counting on Him to fulfill His purposes for our lives, and trusting Him regardless. That impresses God.
Father, Help us to look beyond the shallow superficialities of what impresses our human minds and recognize our need to find genuine impression in Your awesomeness. Amen.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Calm Faith
“Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’” (Luke 8:24b-25)
After the disciples shoved the boat out from the shore an exhausted Jesus laid down under the stern’s platform and slept. Not long after, a sudden storm arose on Lake Galilee. The boat was being swamped with water, along with the hopes of the disciples. They saw themselves going down. When they got a quick second they woke Jesus up and “upbraided” Him for sleeping on the job and for not caring. He got up and shut the wind down and smoothed out the waves, all with a word. Then He had a word for them. “Where is your faith?” They were stunned by His awesome display of power. But they had no answer for His question.
Do we?
Their very real experience on the water sometimes reminds us of the events of life that can come our way. Some of them are very much like a raging storm that can threaten our very existence.
Where does this calm faith Jesus pointed His disciples toward come from? It comes from trusting in the sovereign purposes of God. That is what Jesus did. He knew that His life’s destination was not yet reached, and that He would continue on until He reached that skull-shaped hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem. That was the Father’s purpose for His life. So He put His entire confidence in the sovereign purposes of the Father.
We cannot understand the storms of life. We cannot understand why God allows them. But we believe that the Scripture teaches us to trust ourselves into the sovereign purposes of God. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in chapter 11 that this is what the faithful servants of God through the ages were commended for.
God calls us to trust His sovereign purposes, and when we do so, that yields a calm faith.
Lord, We recognize this is not easy for us to do, but help us to genuinely trust Your sovereign purposes for our lives through every life encounter we have. Amen.
After the disciples shoved the boat out from the shore an exhausted Jesus laid down under the stern’s platform and slept. Not long after, a sudden storm arose on Lake Galilee. The boat was being swamped with water, along with the hopes of the disciples. They saw themselves going down. When they got a quick second they woke Jesus up and “upbraided” Him for sleeping on the job and for not caring. He got up and shut the wind down and smoothed out the waves, all with a word. Then He had a word for them. “Where is your faith?” They were stunned by His awesome display of power. But they had no answer for His question.
Do we?
Their very real experience on the water sometimes reminds us of the events of life that can come our way. Some of them are very much like a raging storm that can threaten our very existence.
Where does this calm faith Jesus pointed His disciples toward come from? It comes from trusting in the sovereign purposes of God. That is what Jesus did. He knew that His life’s destination was not yet reached, and that He would continue on until He reached that skull-shaped hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem. That was the Father’s purpose for His life. So He put His entire confidence in the sovereign purposes of the Father.
We cannot understand the storms of life. We cannot understand why God allows them. But we believe that the Scripture teaches us to trust ourselves into the sovereign purposes of God. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in chapter 11 that this is what the faithful servants of God through the ages were commended for.
God calls us to trust His sovereign purposes, and when we do so, that yields a calm faith.
Lord, We recognize this is not easy for us to do, but help us to genuinely trust Your sovereign purposes for our lives through every life encounter we have. Amen.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Hear Do
“But He replied to them, ‘My mother and My brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.” (Luke 8:21)
Jesus’ mother and brothers went to see Him, but they could not get to Him because of the crowd. So, the passed on the word to Him through the crowd one by one until it finally reached His ears. “Your mother and brothers are here and want to see You.” That is when Jesus remarked that His mother and brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, was there as well with their mother. At that moment, James did not believe in Him as Messiah and Lord. He was more of the opinion then that Jesus had “flipped out,” so to speak. Later, after the resurrection, when James did believe and served as the leader of the Jerusalem church, he wrote, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Interestingly, that sounds very much like what Jesus said to the crowd that day. Hearing the word of the Lord is great, but just hearing it has no life-impact. We need to do the word, that is, live what it teaches. That is what distinguishes us as the family of Jesus.
Genuine faith always expresses itself through action. We believe it. We live it. That’s part of the way the world then gets it. During this Christmas season, let's do everything possible to be sure the world "gets it," insofar as it depends on us.
Lord, Help us daily to hear Your word and then live it. Amen.
Jesus’ mother and brothers went to see Him, but they could not get to Him because of the crowd. So, the passed on the word to Him through the crowd one by one until it finally reached His ears. “Your mother and brothers are here and want to see You.” That is when Jesus remarked that His mother and brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, was there as well with their mother. At that moment, James did not believe in Him as Messiah and Lord. He was more of the opinion then that Jesus had “flipped out,” so to speak. Later, after the resurrection, when James did believe and served as the leader of the Jerusalem church, he wrote, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Interestingly, that sounds very much like what Jesus said to the crowd that day. Hearing the word of the Lord is great, but just hearing it has no life-impact. We need to do the word, that is, live what it teaches. That is what distinguishes us as the family of Jesus.
Genuine faith always expresses itself through action. We believe it. We live it. That’s part of the way the world then gets it. During this Christmas season, let's do everything possible to be sure the world "gets it," insofar as it depends on us.
Lord, Help us daily to hear Your word and then live it. Amen.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Pavement
“Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” (Jonah 2:10)
Jesus was the only baby born to die. He was born to become the sacrificial Passover Lamb. His birth in Bethlehem set in motion events that spanned about 33 years that, by the plan of God, would reach their climax at a place called Golgotha, or Calvary.
Along His journey, a day came when some of the religious leaders challenged His authenticity and demanded that He given them a sign if He was the Messiah. Jesus commented first about their generation and then responded, “No sign will be given to it [this generation] except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” (Matthew 12:39-40)
Jonah 2:5-6 reads, “The waters engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever! But You raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God.” Then came verse 10, “Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
The sign of Jonah was death and resurrection. So Jesus was saying to these religious leaders that His death and resurrection would be the only sign of authenticity they would be given. Since they were not to be in that group that would actually see the resurrected Jesus, Jesus was telling them they would have to make a faith decision. Thus, the sign of Jesus’ Messiahship can only be received on the basis of faith. Jesus was calling for repentance and faith, and He pointed them toward prophecy and its fulfillment as at least part of the basis for a faith response.
Jesus was the only baby born to die. Thus, Christmas paved the way for Easter.
Lord, Your thoughts are so far beyond ours. You planned Christmas and Easter before the foundations of the earth we laid. And now You have called us to walk with You on the road You paved for us. So we thank You. Amen.
Jesus was the only baby born to die. He was born to become the sacrificial Passover Lamb. His birth in Bethlehem set in motion events that spanned about 33 years that, by the plan of God, would reach their climax at a place called Golgotha, or Calvary.
Along His journey, a day came when some of the religious leaders challenged His authenticity and demanded that He given them a sign if He was the Messiah. Jesus commented first about their generation and then responded, “No sign will be given to it [this generation] except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.” (Matthew 12:39-40)
Jonah 2:5-6 reads, “The waters engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever! But You raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God.” Then came verse 10, “Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
The sign of Jonah was death and resurrection. So Jesus was saying to these religious leaders that His death and resurrection would be the only sign of authenticity they would be given. Since they were not to be in that group that would actually see the resurrected Jesus, Jesus was telling them they would have to make a faith decision. Thus, the sign of Jesus’ Messiahship can only be received on the basis of faith. Jesus was calling for repentance and faith, and He pointed them toward prophecy and its fulfillment as at least part of the basis for a faith response.
Jesus was the only baby born to die. Thus, Christmas paved the way for Easter.
Lord, Your thoughts are so far beyond ours. You planned Christmas and Easter before the foundations of the earth we laid. And now You have called us to walk with You on the road You paved for us. So we thank You. Amen.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Suffering
“Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will have tribulation for 10 days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)
Jesus said those words in His message to the church at Smyrna. The church there was poverty-stricken and had been faithful to God throughout their history.
This raises a question or two doesn’t it? To some, it’s the question that’s been around for a long time: Why do good people suffer? The more cynical folks phrase it rather differently: How could a good God let His people suffer? Their question masks an underlying belief that either God is not good, or God is not sovereign, or there is no God. But among those who are faithful, the question is an honest one, especially when they undergo intense suffering. Why does God allow this?
The stock answer, and the only real answer to the question, is: We don’t know. But the question does deserve some elaboration.
The fact of our suffering does not negate the sovereignty of God. Nor does it elevate the power of the Devil. Satan can only do what he is allowed to do by God. God’s sovereignty is at work in our suffering, at least in some manner. God allows our suffering to test (strengthen) our faith, much in the same way as He did with Job.
Also, our suffering does not mean that God does not love us. Just the opposite, it proves that He does. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that if a father loves his son, he will discipline (teach) him because he wants his son to grow strong. A father who does not discipline his son does not love him.
We should further remember that suffering is only a temporary situation. It may not seem that way sometimes, but all situations do change. The suffering of the church at Smyrna was for “10 days,” which simply means, “for a brief time.” Their faithfulness through their suffering would in turn produce a positive witness about their love for God and their dedication to Him regardless of what comes their way, and that in turn would draw others to a faith like that.
Though this elaboration still does not fully answer the question, it does help point us to the reality that Paul understood. “And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Let your suffering lead you to rejoicing.
Father, There is so much we do not understand, but we recognize that we do not always have to understand. Help us to simply be faithful and to rejoice for the ways You are going to use our difficulties to make us stronger. Amen.
Jesus said those words in His message to the church at Smyrna. The church there was poverty-stricken and had been faithful to God throughout their history.
This raises a question or two doesn’t it? To some, it’s the question that’s been around for a long time: Why do good people suffer? The more cynical folks phrase it rather differently: How could a good God let His people suffer? Their question masks an underlying belief that either God is not good, or God is not sovereign, or there is no God. But among those who are faithful, the question is an honest one, especially when they undergo intense suffering. Why does God allow this?
The stock answer, and the only real answer to the question, is: We don’t know. But the question does deserve some elaboration.
The fact of our suffering does not negate the sovereignty of God. Nor does it elevate the power of the Devil. Satan can only do what he is allowed to do by God. God’s sovereignty is at work in our suffering, at least in some manner. God allows our suffering to test (strengthen) our faith, much in the same way as He did with Job.
Also, our suffering does not mean that God does not love us. Just the opposite, it proves that He does. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that if a father loves his son, he will discipline (teach) him because he wants his son to grow strong. A father who does not discipline his son does not love him.
We should further remember that suffering is only a temporary situation. It may not seem that way sometimes, but all situations do change. The suffering of the church at Smyrna was for “10 days,” which simply means, “for a brief time.” Their faithfulness through their suffering would in turn produce a positive witness about their love for God and their dedication to Him regardless of what comes their way, and that in turn would draw others to a faith like that.
Though this elaboration still does not fully answer the question, it does help point us to the reality that Paul understood. “And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
Let your suffering lead you to rejoicing.
Father, There is so much we do not understand, but we recognize that we do not always have to understand. Help us to simply be faithful and to rejoice for the ways You are going to use our difficulties to make us stronger. Amen.
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