A quick look at Proverbs 4:23-27
May 29, 2020
May 28, 2020
May 27, 2020
May 26, 2020
May 25, 2020
April 10, 2020
A Good Friday?
When is a day not as it seems? When is an ordinary day not so ordinary? When is a bad day actually good?
As I sit here and listen to the wind howl up against the window and reflect on how spring has been inching closer, yet today, winter seems to be back, I cannot help but think how that Friday must have gone.
Maybe there was a beautiful sunrise with a warming breeze as usual with people starting the normal hustle and bustle of going about their daily tasks. Yet behind the scenes, maybe unknown to most of them, the leadership of Israel has made a decision to put Jesus to death (Matthew 27:1).
The night before, Jesus had been arrested after being betrayed by Judas, one of his own, in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had been brought before the Sanhedrin with the high priest Caiaphas presiding. Their intent was to present false evidence allowing them to condemn him to death - but they did not find any (Matthew 26:59-60) and story after story contradicted each other (Mark 14:55-56). They deliberated throughout the night with Jesus standing silently by. Then, as a new morning neared, Caiaphas, in front of the whole gathering, asked Jesus, “Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63). Jesus’ answer was, “Yes, it is as you say” (Matthew 26:64). This sent the whole group into a frenzy as they accused Jesus of blasphemy and death.
On that Friday morning they quickly moved Jesus on to Pilate, the Roman governor. After hearing the case, he attempts to free Jesus by releasing a prisoner. But the chief priests and elders of Israel incite the crowd gathered to release Barabbas instead and to have Jesus crucified (Matthew 27:20).
Jesus is then taken to be stripped, beaten and mocked by the soldiers. They finally force him to Golgotha, making him carry his own cross. There he is crucified between two thieves. As Jesus hangs there, the normal sun-filled sky grows dark in midday and the air chills. People begin to wonder what is happening. Finally, Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and willingly gives up his spirit in death (Matthew 27:46, 50). The earth shakes, rocks split, graves are opened and the curtain in the Temple is torn in two, from the top down. All creation is announcing the news of salvation! Many people miss this, but the guards do not, they exclaim, “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:51-54).
This all seems like the makings of a bad day, but in retrospect it was actually a good day - a great day in fact. For through the events Jesus endured on this day we see the heights from which He would descend to draw near to us, the lengths He would go to rescue us, the depths He would plunge to save us and the width of His love for us (see Ephesians 3:18).
After a Friday that was Good, there was a Saturday that was Silent and then came the Sunday that was Victorious! Remember - a great price has been paid for your sin and my sin. Reflect - a God Who loves us deeply has rescued us - be in awe of Him. Rejoice - soon we will celebrate that death and the grave have no power over us because, “He is risen, He is risen indeed!”
December 29, 2014
Contentment
As the end of 2014 approaches and we move into 2015, I wonder if we will be grateful. I also wonder if we will be content. You see, these two, gratefulness and contentment, are connected. Contentment flows out of gratefulness.
We have forgotten that the archenemy of gratefulness is discontentment. Remember the quote from a couple of weeks ago:
"Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we are not satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other." - Ann Voskamp, "One Thousand Gifts"
Our discontentment grows when we allow two specific attitudes to be a part of our thinking. They are: COMPARISON and ENTITLEMENT. I could expound on this point, but my wife, Angela, has done a wonderful job handling this in one of her recent blog posts (you can read it here). She summed it up by stating:
"When we compare with others, we give room for entitlement to grow in our hearts, which then gives birth to discontentment which will eventually take up every inch of space leaving no room for gratitude." - Angela Burtis, "For Love Of Words", November 18, 2014
Notice with me these Biblical reminders:
"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world and we will take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with may griefs." 1 Timothy 6:6-10
"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because the Lord has said, ' Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" - Hebrews 13:5-6
"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength." - Philippians 4:11-13
It is interesting that contentment is NOT natural, rather it is learned. The Apostle Paul told us that this was something that he had to learn. Throughout his journey, with all of his experiences, he learned the secret of contentment.
And just like him, we need to learn that we begin with nothing and we end with nothing. Through our times of need and in our times of plenty we will learn about contentment. We need to learn that God is always with us, He is always helping us and that He always meets our needs. And ultimately we need to learn to keep our desires in check.
I pray that the year ahead will be one of gratefulness and contentment!
December 19, 2014
Acts of Gratefulness
Read this verse with me:
"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." Hebrews 13:15-16
Notice that both are mentioned here - "the fruit of lips" (words of gratefulness) and "do good and share with others" (acts of gratefulness). It begins with thoughts, moves to words and then to actions!
This whole idea of acts of gratefulness made me think of the account that is recorded in Luke 19:1-10. You remember, the short man named Zacchaeus. Probably most of us can sing that old Sunday School song - "Zacchaeus was a wee little man..." But what is the reason for this account? I hope that its simply not that short people should learn to climb trees to see Jesus! I really think that it is more than that.
Do you see what happens? Zacchaeus is interested in seeing Jesus even though he is one of the outcasts in that area. He was wealthy because he served as a chief tax collector and was considered a "sinner". Yet he goes to great heights to make sure that he sees this Jesus and then, Jesus calls him by name and invites himself over!
After some time with Jesus in his home, this is his response that is recorded for us:
"But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times that amount.'" Luke 19:8
The response from Zacchaeus after being with Jesus is to act! God does a work in his life and out of his gratefulness, he acts. God's work is a work of rescue and restoration. Zacchaeus is an outcast, a sinner, yet Jesus came to rescue him and restore him. Rescue him from his sin and restore him to a right relationship with God.
Zacchaeus responds in a like manner. His actions are to rescue and restore. He gave half of his possessions to rescue those who were in poverty. They had no other way out of their poor circumstances, but he did. He used his wealth, giving out of his abundance to those who had nothing. And then he turned to those whom he had cheated and restored what he had taken from them. The law required that he return what he had taken plus 20%...but he does even more. He pays them back four times what they had lost. That means the $100 he may have taken from them became $400 instead of the $120 he should have repaid. What an incredible demonstration of gratefulness!
May we follow the example of Zacchaeus and allow our acts of gratefulness to be a result of the work that God has done in our own life.
"Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)