Cheer Up Someone

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up.” (Proverbs 12:25)

            Every human being on this planet who is beyond childhood innocence knows experientially what anxiety is.  Anxiety is an emotional response to stress that causes us to feel a burden, and it comes from multiple sources:  financial stress, relational stress, personal insecurity, future uncertainty, health instability.  Its impact is cumulative.  Some anxieties resolve themselves, but much of it lingers like floodwaters.  Anxiety that comes to rest in the heart weighs it down.  It hurts, and it hampers.

            A good word, spoken to one whose heart is weighed down with anxiety, however, can cheer up that person.  It helps them feel less alone, less weak, because they know that someone else knows and understands.  It’s like they are carrying a heavy load they’re about to drop, and someone comes along and adds his or her strength by helping to carry it.

            Today, maybe you can be the person who gives someone with a heavy heart a good word.  It may be a verse you quote from Scripture. It may be a word of personal encouragement.  Look for an opportunity to give someone a good word today.  Ask God to show you the opportunities, and then cheer someone up.

Lord, Help each of us today to be a source for encouragement and cheer, and help us not to add to anyone’s anxiety today.  Amen.

A Book and Its Cover

“Others said, ‘This is the Messiah!’  But some said, ‘Surely, the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does He?  Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David once lived?’… ‘You aren’t from Galilee, too, are you?’ they replied. ‘Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.’” (John 4:41-42, 52)

            Have you ever come to a conclusion about someone based on incomplete or inaccurate information?  Has someone ever come to a conclusion about you (and you found out about it later) based on incomplete or inaccurate information?  Most of us can answer yes to both questions.  It seems to be a common human experience to reach a conclusion about people because we are convinced we have complete information, while in truth we may not, and it seems that pride is the fuel that drives this.

            The folks who heard Jesus, who saw Him, who interacted with Him knew Him as a Galilean.  He dressed like a Galilean.  He spoke with a Galilean accent.  Some thus concluded that He could not possibly be the Messiah, because in their understanding of prophecy no prophet could come from Galilee.  But their information was incomplete and inaccurate.  Jesus only grew up in Galilee.  They did not know the Christmas story, that He was born in Bethlehem, David’s home town, and that both Joseph and Mary were direct descendants of David.  Proverbially, they were “judging a book by its cover.”

            The next time you find yourself reaching a conclusion about someone because of some surface feature of their lives, stop a moment and remember this story about Jesus, and then hold up on your conclusion until some greater clarity comes.  Following this approach might just help you discover an unexpected blessing.

Lord, We recognize that we do not always understand the full picture the way You do, so we ask You to help us approach others with open minds and hearts, so that Your Spirit may lead us in ministering to them.  Amen.

Free

“So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:11)

            When Paul wrote, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires,” he means that you don’t have to let sin reign in your life.  You can choose NOT to obey sin’s desires or claims on your life.  At one time you could not do this because sin claimed you as its own.

            Sin can lay several legal claims against people: 1) you can never meet God’s legal expectations of you, and you are therefore bound by those legal structures like a fly in a spider web, so that you are not free to do what you know is right, 2) you do not have it in your heart to do consistently what is right, and you therefore live under the dominion of sin, 3) since sin is the ruler over your life dominion, you have no real choice but to obey its desires, and 4) since you will fail at right living consistently because sin is the dominant force in your life, you have no choices and you are not as free as you think you are.  These are the “legal” claims of sin against people.  Downright depressing, isn’t it?

            That’s the bad news.  Here’s the good news:  Jesus Christ did something for us that made it possible to free us from the dominion of sin, to cancel all of sin’s “legal” claims against us.  He accepted the full penalty of our sins, and all of our sins died with Him on the cross.  He was then raised from the dead, but sin was not.  It stayed dead.  All legal claims are now dismissed.  Grace rules.  We are acquitted.  Now, He offers us this life in the free world of grace, and we need only accept it by faith.

            When we accept this offer by faith, our old sin life dies, and He raises us up spiritually to a new life that is free.  We died to sin, and sin therefore has no more claim on us.  Now, we are alive to God and therefore free to live and to choose.  So, choose to live.

Lord, We have made our choice in faith, and You have now ushered us into life through forgiveness and out of the death that came from sin.  Thank You for leading us to this life.  Help us to share it with others today.  Amen.

No Compromise

“From that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him.” (John 6:66)

            Jesus had more than the 12 disciples.  He called the 12 disciples “apostles,” but there were many other disciples. Judging from the crowds that attended His teaching and healing events, the number of disciples was significant.  A significant number of these decided that they would no longer follow Him when they heard His statements about being the bread of life, superior to manna, and about eating His flesh and drinking His blood.  They obviously did not comprehend what He was talking about.  He also said that no one could come to Him unless granted by the Father.

            Here’s what we learn from this verse:  Jesus was unwilling to compromise the truth.  As much as He wanted to reach people and gain disciples, He absolutely refused to compromise truth.  He was even willing to let them go away rather than compromise the truth.

            Those who are committed to Jesus as His disciples definitely want to reach people with the gospel.  The eternity of the lost depends on it.  There is, however, a line of truth beyond which we must not go.  The practice of “accommodation” of the truth should not be followed.  Explanation, yes, and clarification, yes, but the practice of accommodation communicates that the truth is not that important, that it is just relative and not absolute.  We must by all means reach the lost with the gospel, but not by compromising truth.

Father, the truth is Yours, and You are the truth.  Help us to love others and share Your truth with others, and help us also not to compromise Your truth in the least.  Amen.

Passed

“I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

            When someone tells you that a loved one “passed,” they usually mean that the person died.  Some folks just don’t like to use the word “die,” so they use the word “passed” as a euphemism.  So, in this sense passed means passing from this life to death and beyond.

            Notice the way Jesus used the word “passed.”  He used it differently, in conjunction with faith to mean passing from death to life.  He says that anyone who hears His word and believes the One who sent Him has eternal life.  He has passed from death to life.  That suggests that being in this life apart from God is death.  Not knowing the Lord in a personal, faith relationship is death.  But knowing Him by faith ushers us from death into life.  We have passed.

            Today, if you know the Lord, you need to celebrate your passing – to life!

Father, We thank You for bringing us out of death and into the life of promise.  We thank You for our passing.  Amen.

Good Food

“’My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,’ Jesus told them.” (John 4:34)

            Food is a life necessity.  It sustains us by providing fuel for energy.  It is one of the main motivations and objectives for the work we do, and it’s a cycle.  We work for food, and we eat food so we can have the energy to work, though the ultimate objective is to sustain life.  We cannot live very long without food, and after prolonged periods without it we will do almost anything to get it.  The necessity of food nearly approaches something of a human passion.

            The disciples of Jesus went into a nearby Samaritan village to buy some food while Jesus, weary from the journey, hung back and sat down by a well.  But that was not the only reason He remained behind.  Someone would be coming to the well soon, and Jesus had a divine appointment with her, though she was not aware of it at the time.

            Sometime later the disciples returned to the well with food in hand and urged Jesus to eat something.  Soon He would, but He pointed out to them that there is more than one kind of food.  There is also a “spiritual” food that is every bit as necessary as physical food.  This food is missions related – “doing the will of Him who sent Me.”

            Missions is thus the spiritual food we need, a passion for reaching the lost, for bringing them to the Lord.  Like food, missions sustains and energizes us, so that we can carry out the work of missions, with life lived well and finished well as the ultimate objective.

Lord, We thank You for the physical food that sustains us daily and for the spiritual food that energizes us daily to share You with a world that does not know You.  Amen.”

Wisdom Source

“He said to mankind, ‘The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom.  And to turn from evil is understanding.’” (Job 35:28)

            The question in Job’s mind was:  Where does wisdom come from?  Where is understanding, and how can people find it?

            Job thought of a miner and the work a miner would do to find silver, gold, iron, copper, sapphire, and other treasures.  Given the details of Job’s description of the work of mining, we might wonder if he had done some mining himself at one time in his life.

            Then comes his question:  But what about wisdom?  How can someone get wisdom?  Is it like a mining operation where you search and dig and explore until ultimately you find what you’re looking for?  Does this wisdom thing have a location, or an address?  Can you find it on a map?

            Job concluded that wisdom and understanding are nothing at all like this.  You cannot mine for it.  You cannot reach out your hand and take hold of it.  Wisdom and understanding come only from one source.  Wisdom is produced only when people fear the Lord.  And understanding is found only when people turn from evil.  When people open their eyes spiritually and catch a vision of how awesome and holy God is, and when they respond by turning away from the destructiveness of sin, wisdom and understanding are then given birth in their hearts.

Lord, May it be so in our hearts.  Amen.