Worn out in this World, But Welcome to Christ

"You have searched me and known me...

You are aware of all my ways." Ps. 139: 1,3

 

Our resident chickadee is small, but exerts a mighty influence on when we're allowed to sit on our back porch. He and his mate have a little nest in our birdbox. Just like that, they arrived one day in May and set up housekeeping.

Yesterday my husband was taking a break, relaxing on the back porch, and the chickadee let him know, in no uncertain terms, his presence was not welcome. He kept chirping and making his "dee-dee" sound until my husband took the hint and came inside.

A tiny and exquisite creation, yet he has great influence.  Eating on the backporch for us is off limits now when Mom and Dad Chickadee are bringing bugs to their babies.

 How small and insignificant we are in comparison to Almighty God. Yet He knows us better than we know ourselves. And Job says we decay, and are wearing out like moth eaten garment in Job 13:28.

I guess our self importance isn't so significant, if we are iwearing out. Wrinkles, gray hair, aches and pains are daily reality.  Don't forget old people aren't of much value in our society.  I am wearing out, just like Job, just like all of us.

 But what about what David said to God?

"When I observe your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You set in place, what is man that You remember him, the son of man, that you look after him? You made him a little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor." Ps. 8: 3-5

Wearing out, yet He crowned us with glory and honor, He made us in His image. He gave us dominion over this earth, though we have squandered it and ruined it. He sent His very own Son to take on humanity, to know the same frailties we experience. 

In the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses seven churches during human history, the last one being Laodecia. It's where  we find ourselves, without a doubt. Though Revelation 3:20 is used as a salvation verse, it is meant for the individual believer. In the church of Laodecia, Jesus is somehow locked out of the church, that is why He says to each individual member:

"Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and He with Me."

Jesus wants to have dinner with fallen, worn out people like you and me. He wants to be in all of our day, as we go about, walking, talking, cleaning or working. In every little detail, He wants to be there, taking our troubles and working them for the good in our lives. 

The days are overwhelming, bad news is everywhere. Yet God is here, waiting to be invited into our everyday life, shouldering the burdens we carry and the worries we have for tomorrow. I'm so glad I'm important to Him. He wants the same for you.

If you feel burdened, you can go to Him now. You can tell Him that you don't know what the world is coming to, but trust Him that He does. He has a good plan for His ones that trust Him. Things may look bad right now, but there is a new day coming, when He will reign upon this earth once again. All that is broken will be made right.

The God that made the tiniest bird in intricacy and finesse cares for us. I am changing, wearing down, but He is constant. He has his eye on the  sparrow,  the chickadee, and He has His eye on me.

"Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.
Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You." Ps. 39: 6-7

Did You RSVP?

There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.  Ps. 4:6-7


Did you ever see a big party going on and felt left out as you watched from afar? Maybe you felt you were missing out all the fun that others were having while life keeps passing you by?

I remember going to parties, back in the day when I was trying to find out who I was. These parties that left me empty, hung over, and depressed. A young man  (who came to check our furnace for the winter) today told me he was excited to party on his birthday tomorrow. I don't know why, but I felt prompted to share a gospel tract with him. He could have a second birthday, and really celebrate.

I watched  a video the other day, where it showed how differently we might treat people if they walked around wearing a little sign on them that told what all they had endured in their life. I wondered what that young man was up against in his own little world, what he might wear on his "sign?" No matter what trouble he has seen, there is One who loves him, beckons him.

When he finished checking the furnace and handed me the bill, I gave him a small  purple tract along with our payment. He rushed quickly to tell me he already went to a church, but I said it was about a relationship, one on one, with the One who made us. After he left I called my sister so we could both pray for him.

The Ultimate Party is almost here. I wonder, have you sent in your RSVP? It will be called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, the one party no one will want to miss. Outside the party there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus our Savior will share more happiness at that party then any party here on earth where even the rarest wine is flowing. All of us, His children, will  celebrate when this world has been cleansed from evil, and righteousness comes to reign on this earth. No more devil lying to us and tricking us.  It will be a constant joy to be with the One who loves us and gave Himself for us.

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in Thy presence if fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. Ps.16:11

Did you know you are invited to this party too? In fact, we all are. Some sadly will refuse, by their own stubbornness, to accept the invitation. It will be a "Come as you are" type of party. You don't have to pay to get in because that price has already been paid in full.

To gain entrance, you must simply believe that this Person, Jesus the Christ, came down to this earth. He was God but He took on our humanity and lived a perfect life, never once breaking any of God's laws or sinning even one time. He was crucified on a Roman cross where He bore every sin of every man so that we could live with Him forever. He physically died, and His Father was so pleased with His sacrifice that He caused Jesus to rise from the dead three days later. Then He was seen by many others before going back to heaven. But before He ascended, He promised that He would come back and take all who believe in Him to live with Him forever.

He told us things would be chaotic before He came back. (Have you noticed?) His appearuing will be sudden, a great surprise and shock to the rest of the world. But you can RSVP now by simply believing in His name.

"Verily, verily, I say unto, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24

Choosing His Road to Love and Life

There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Prov. 14: 12

I hate the feeling of anger rising up inside me. Hate it, hate it, don't know what to do with it most of the time. How about you?

Tonight that opportunity presented itself to me, and in my own estimation it seemed "right" to me to be angry with someone who hurt my feelings. In a moment of haste, I put on my tennis shoes and since it was a nice evening, hoped to work off my angry feelings while I took a brisk walk.

Somewhat like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, my blessed Lord somehow spoke to my spirit, reasoning with a poor fool like me as I walked along...

(Come, let us reason together, saith the LORD...) Isaiah 1:18

I really didn't want to feel anger the whole time I walked and so I tried to think of the Lord and His goodness, how He bore my sins on the cross and also the sins of the one who hurt me. Then I realized if I did that I couldn't stay mad at the same time. Still the temptation of retaliate was there and I didn't know quite what to do with it. For a minute or two I actually believed that giving in to the anger would be more satisfying than obeying God.

In my heart I cried, "Lord, You said I was dead to sin, but it sure doesn't feel like it,"  In the smallest way, however, I took a tiny step of faith and believed what God said He'd done to that old person that wanted to retaliate and get even. Some wonderful truths from Romans came to mind.

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Rom. 6:1-2

From this teaching I remembered that: "There is NO advantage to sin." I can sin but there is no advantage to it. Ever.  Screaming, getting the last word in, "venting": all they really do is lead to carnal death. If I'm a believer, it will only bring a huge harvest of corruption. It will never bring peace or satisfaction.

"We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. " Rom. 6:6

In my flesh, when I've been hurt I want the offending party to know they've hurt  me and not just bear it silently. I think I might explode inside if I don't let them know how they've hurt me.  How "right" that seems! Someone hurts you, you hurt them back. All this talk about being dead to sin seems ridiculous in the heat of the moment...

But then another verse came in,  Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"  I concluded that God's love for me is greater than all the hurts ever done to me. 

Suddenly, it was OK. God loves me, and will never stop loving me. This might not seem like such a big revelation, but it freed me tonight from sin's tyranny.

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ... II Cor. 2:14a

Faith Plus or Faith Alone?

For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  Gal. 5:3-5

Maybe I am opening a can of worms here, so be it. Today someone posted on social media that the gift of salvation was faith plus repentance. And in one of the comments to this post, someone said they felt like a disgrace for still needing nicotine gum. I told that person if they had believed in Christ then they were not a disgrace, whether they needed nicotine gum or not. 

How are we saved? Are we saved by walking an aisle, stop smoking and drinking, pledging to do better, turning over a new leaf? I'm afraid that that is what some are teaching today, and it is so subtle, it sounds so right. It is taught in so many churches. It is called "faith plus."

The Bible tells us to have "faith alone in Christ alone" to receive the free gift of salvation. It is good news, a message of hope.  Jesus knew in eternity past that we could not be good enough, no matter how hard we tried, and so pledged Himself to be the spotless Lamb that would take away the sins of the world. 

 If salvation comes by my faith plus works, then why did Christ die on the cross? In every other religion of the world, man is somehow trying to make himself acceptable before God. Think about making pilgrimages to Mecca or bathing in the Ganges River in the Muslim and Hindu faiths, fasting or even whipping yourself on the back like the monks did in Martin Luther's time. These are all attempts to placate God somehow, as if the cross, and the cross alone, is not enough for our salvation. But even in the Christian camp we hear that subtle message of "faith plus." It is adding something to the work of Christ, and says His work was not enough.

This makes Christianity into a religion and not based on faith. Religion means to bind, in one of the definitions. In making a promise to God, are we not binding ourselves to our own efforts to please Him rather than putting full stock in what He did that day on the cross for us?

The Finished Work of Christ is just that. It is a finished, completed work, done by Another. Nothing can be added to what He did for us in order to receive salvation. Over thirty years ago, thinking I had to add something to complete my salvation nearly drove me to being done with Christianity once and for all, because deep down, I knew I wasn't capable. I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown,  hearing how I must really be sorry, or promising to never sin again.  How sorry is enough?

In that moment of desperation, the word of God's pure grace came to me and I embraced it. Christ did the hard work of paying the sin debt for me and He is then pleased by my faith in what He alone has accomplished. 

But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 3:3

It is so simple we stumble over it. But God gave Abraham, the father of our faith, righteousness at the moment that he believed what God said.

He (God) took him (Abram) outside and said, "Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then He said to him, "Your offspring will be that numerous." 

Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:5-6

Paul repeats this account in Romans in one of my favorite passages in the Bible, in Romans 4. 

What can we say that Abraham, our physical ancestor, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about---but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?

 Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness.

Now to him who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness.    Romans 4: 1-5

Verse 3 says Abraham believed. In the Greek language, the word believed is in the aorist active 3rd person singular tense, which means that he believed at a point in time, and at that point God declared that he was righteous. After his faith, even though he failed later in life, God saw him only and always as righteous.

And if we are Abraham's children through faith, that is the way God sees us too. He does not see our failures, but He sees us as righteous because of Who has come to live in us, by our simple faith at a point in time. 


     

 

In Him, No Need

Hebrews 13:5 NKJV 

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."




What a precious promise from the Lord. Imagine if we really believed it, how much happier we would be.

How often lately I have caught myself coveting, wishing I had a little more money, for instance. It makes me sick to even say it. Compared with the rest of the world, I have so much, how could I ever want something someone else has in order to be happy? The fact is that if I got that thing, like a fancier house for instance, I still wouldn't be happy. If that made people happy, then why are the rich and famous committing suicide? The real fact is, this whole business of coveting is a big lie from the enemy, telling us that God is not enough.

Not only coveting material things, I find it easy to covet when I hear about other people's vacationing all over the world, as if seeing the world would take away the dissatisfaction in my soul. I remember hearing once from my old pastor, "Wherever YOU go, you have to take YOU with you." So even if I jet-setted over all the place, I would still have to contend with the person I see in the mirror every morning.

It has taken me a long time to realize this is just plain sin, and to be able to overcome it by realizing how very rich I am to be one of God's children, to be a part of His church and His very own body, even. It is not about what I see all around me, but being part of an invisible Kingdom. And that is enough to cause satisfaction that the world and all its tantalizing temptations cannot ever take away.

The whole world seems to scream at us to get more, want more, promising us happiness but never, ever delivering.  "Grab the gusto," the world hollers. But still we yearn for more.

Maybe that is part of the reason why people are giving up. They realize it is all just a big lie but they don't know what the answer is.

Just one verse from Psalm 23 is enough to quell this anxious stirring to have what others have, to do what others do.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1

The most commonly quoted verse from the Bible tells us the answer if we just took the time in our busy lives to stop and think about it. We could spend the rest of our lives contemplating what that single verse promises to the child of God. We don't have to covet even one thing if we have the Lord. Not wanting means I will always have what I need, not necessarily what I want, but what I need.

 The plain and simple fact is that we live for the promises of the next life, not this life. So we really can agree with Paul when he told Timothy in I Timothy:

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.          I Tim. 6:6-8

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" Lamentations 3:8

There is an Answer...

Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. John 14:1   

And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  Matt. 28:20

Oh what a time to be alive. I see a headline in the Tribune Review online today. The rate of suicide in Pennsylvania has gone up by 34%.http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/13739159-74/suicides-increase-by-more-than-third-over-17-year-period-in-pennsylvania  Also today, I open to another a major news story online, a famous chef has followed a famous fashion designer in ending his life. These two in just the last week. Suicide seemed to be their only answer...but was it really the answer? Where did they go, once their heart beat for that final time? Did they find relief, or just another nightmare, one without an end?

Many people are running out of other options to the hopelessness and despair that they feel. Where is their relief? It is not in a bottle, it is not in a pill, it is not in food, it is not in money, it is not fulfilling the greatest dream of one's life. Those people tried those things, and they did not work. Still, deep down inside the emptiness remained and options ran out.

 Most of my generation would agree that the Beatles Let it Be is a powerful song. Seems perfect for this age we live in, They sang that there would be an answer.  But as much sway as that song held over me when it came on the radio, I found myself changing the words slightly as I sang along. Instead, I sang to myself, "JESUS is the answer..."

Maybe that sounds too simplistic to most who read this? But I would be in the same boat with the fashion designer without my Rock, my Anchor, my answer in a world that is running out of answers, that actually ran out of them ages ago.

Jesus is the answer. Just try Him, really. Take Him at His word. He will not make all of your problems disappear. In fact, He promised our lives would be full of problems on this side of eternity.

"What's the use in trusting Him if I will still have problems?" I can hear someone thinking that even as I write the words. No, the hard things do not stop when we believe in Christ. In many ways, our human life gets harder because Jesus is not welcome on this planet. His enemy has temporary control. Temporary, remember that.

But the biggest problem of your life will be solved by your believing in Jesus. Now, instead of drifting in a world of uncertainty, you can be assured of an eternal home with the One who created you. You will not face separation from Him at the end of your time here. Your problems can be the very things God uses to bring you closer and closer in trusting Him, in advancing your faith. Give Him a chance, I beg you.

In a devotional I love, None but the Hungry Heart, by Miles Stanford, for the day of June 5, I read these words:

"Not a hair of the child of God can fall without God's permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do..."

If this were not true, how could any of us keep on trusting God in the light of everything we see around us? Last night I was lured into feeling sorry for myself for certain hardships I face in my life. Then it hit me, God allowed them. He knew beforehand the tragedies I would face. All I need do is to believe that He really does have this, He will bring good. And all the stirred up anger and frustration just melted away.

I now think of another song. This time, it is a Christian hymn, Only Trust Him by John Stockton. How simple the chorus is. So simple that the proud could pass it right by. But if any child of His will just believe, there is peace. Peace this world cannot ever give.

Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save you, He will save you now.

I can let my heart be troubled by all I see and hear around me. Or I can trust the One who is unseen, and have peace in the storm. Jesus told us to do it, so we really can choose to not let our hearts be troubled. I give Him my problems, and He gives me peace, what an exchange. You can have it too.

Then Peter began to speak: Now I really understand that God does not show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness (ie, believe in Him, my comment) is acceptable to Him. He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ-- He is Lord of all.  Acts 10: 34-37 

Sense in a Senseless World

If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.

John 7:17








Many years ago, I came across the promise from John 7:17 and it was a balm for my troubled soul. For I wrestled with the fact that God could be loving yet there was so much evil in the world. I thought God was random and arbitrary, but the verse of John 7:17, proved otherwise. We need only be willing and God will get the gospel to us. It is as easy as saying "yes" to God, I do believe that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be.

I have an old booklet containing the message of salvation in John's gospel, written by a James Ely in 1924. Mr. Ely has a note for John 7:17 which reads: "Since Jesus was what He claimed to be-- God incarnate-- then if you will fulfill the requirements set forth in 7:17, God will absolutely convince
you that the doctrine of Jesus Christ is true and He will do it in His own good time and way."

When I first read the words, "willing to do His will," I wondered what God was really asking. Was he asking something that really was too hard to do, something nebulous and ill defined? But I kept reading in John's gospel and found the answer to that question too in John 6: 28-29.

"Then they said unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."  John 6:28-29

The answer is simple, believe on Him whom He (God) has sent. Anyone can do that, it is so simple a child can do it.

This is the absolute beauty of our salvation. It is a free gift to us, because Jesus had to do the hard part. He had to take in His body the sins of all the world and provide Himself as the perfect sacrifice for them all.

It has taken me years and years, but I am just starting to realize that if it seems He asks us to do something and it seems hard, like saying no to yourself in order to be His disciple, it really is because He really does know what is best for us.

He doesn't ask us to deny ourselves for the gift of salvation, only that we believe in the name of the Son of God. But if we want to know Him more and more, then we must say no to ourselves. Through hard circumstances, He allows us to try out our own way in contrast to His, realize it is utter vanity, and then trust Him with each day and find out how wonderful He is, how loving, patient and kind He is with His wayward and rebellious children.

Both the beauty of a simple flower or the millions of galaxies attest to the fact that we are not here by some random accident. I heard a famous atheist give the explanation for denying God.His reason for being one  it was based on a total misunderstanding, that because there was evil there could not be a good God. 

We are here by some random chance then? 

But I would say to him, yes there is evil. It is only intensifying more and more with each passing day. But that does not mean that there is not a God who doesn't care. 

All we need do is to gaze on the bloody cross upon which He died to realize that God loves us and wants the best for every one of His creatures.

In a senseless world, the simple truth of the gospel is the only thing that makes sense.