Salvation

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GOD’S SOLUTION

Humans are at war all over the earth.  There is no peace on earth.  They kill each other and rob from each other.  Evil abounds!  The author of Psalm 82 laments the injustice on the earth.  He calls for God to intervene. We often hear cries for God to do something.  Why does he allow all this evil?

On the other hand there many acts of love and caring on the earth.  People sacrifice for the benefit of others.  They give their money and time to the needy.  Some have even given their lives for others.  Kindness and compassion do exist in the midst of daily life.

I recall that in the beginning we were created in the image of God himself.  Therefore, we are like God, beings of love.  I also remember that we chose to rebel against God and bring sin into the world.  Thus we have the by-polar existence of great goodness and great evil.  What can be done?

God in his infinite wisdom chose not to fix the symptoms but the cause.  His solution began with an infant born in a stable.  From this humble beginning, He brought about redemption from sin for all humans.  Yet, as in the beginning, He didn’t take away our right to choose.  He did give us the opportunity to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem.  We can choose to repent of our sinful life and accept Jesus as our savior or continue in the pursuit of evil. 

 Yes, peace on earth is a possibility, but it is held in the hands of each person who lives on the earth.  We can elect to return to God or remain in our sins.  Evil or good, we get to choose.  God has heard our cries, and He has intervened for us.

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TIS THE SEASON

Christmas is my favorite holiday.  I love the spirit of joy and giving that permeates our lives.  Bonnie and I start the season with our traditional selection of Christmas movies.  Here in the Central Valley of California we don’t have a white Christmas, but we always watch the movie.  It delights our hearts to see a “White Christmas” in Vermont.  We are always exhilarated when Jim Bailey recognizes that he has a wonderful life, and we are warmed by the miracle that happens on 34th street.  Even old Ebenezer Scrooge finally succumbs to the spirit of Christmas.

At our house decorating starts the weekend after Thanksgiving.  The tree goes up, and merriment appears all over the house.  In our sitting room the town of Bedford Falls appears.  In every corner there are angels, candles and lots of holly.  The outside also gets a trimming of lights and a special entryway setting that invites our guests to enjoy Christmas with us.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are always spent with our family.  Our children and their children are at the center of our hearts.  There is no greater way to celebrate than sharing love and good food with those most precious to us.  Gifts are exchanged, and the twinkle in the young ones eyes imprints deep joy in our hearts.

Each year, our church family is invited to our home for an evening of gingerbread house building.  We share soup and bread and a fun filled evening that results in many variations on the traditional gingerbread house.  Our home is filled with laughter and joy throughout the evening.  What a wonderful experience of celebration with our friends.

At the top of our outside entry decorations I have placed a sign.  It reads: “Emmanuel, God with us.”  The sign is a reminder that we are celebrating God’s advent, the arrival of the promised messiah.  All the celebration, laughter, and joy that fill our hearts are in response to the God designed intervention He arranged for us because He loves us.  He redeemed us and set us free from the reign of sin and death.  The Apostle John records it this way:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:16-17).

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PSALM 32 CONCEALED SIN

All humans have this in common, sin.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).  The question then is how do we deal with our sin?  In Psalm 32 David wrestles with sin.  He talks about the anguish of his hidden sin.  The weight of guilt is heavy upon him.  Have you ever experienced the torment of trying to keep a sin concealed?

David writes in Psalm 32:5, Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord” – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.  Confession is David’s answer.  It is amazingly freeing when we bring a hidden sin into the light and receive God’s forgiveness.  We can trust God.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Concealed sin separates us from God; confessed sin restores us to God.  The universal and eternally most important thing is to be restored to God.  The significance of Christmas is that Jesus came to earth so we might be restored to God.  God has made the way for us.  Don’t miss out!  Confess your sins and receive God’s great gift of forgiveness.

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FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT

The Bible tells us why we are here and how we came about.  God created us.  God is presented to us in the scriptures as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God with three aspects or parts.  God created the entire physical realm in which we exist.  He is all powerful, all knowing, and omnipresent.  We are the crown of His creation, given charge to take care of the earth.  Yet, how do we relate to this amazing being.  

As Father, God takes on the position of authority.  He is the head.  He is our provider and protector.  God the Father is who we look to for help in our time of need.  With love and mercy, He corrects us and turns us to the right path.  Sometimes, He allows the consequences of our choices to teach us.  He is the perfect father.  The scriptures point out that God is slow to anger and abounding in love.  I’m glad that my Father has these two attributes. 

God the son came to earth and became one of us.  He walked through this life as we do.  He taught us many lessons to show us how we should live.  He lived as we live and suffered as we suffer.  The Son was given the name Jesus meaning God saves, and He did just that.  He gave his life to redeem us.  Through his death and resurrection, he purchased for us eternal life.  Jesus is our oldest brother, and He loves us. He is now in heaven interceding for us.

The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, indwells those of us who have believed in Jesus and accepted his redemption.  The Holy Spirit lives within us and counsels us, teaches us, and leads us in righteousness.  The fact that the Holy Spirit lives in us amazes me.  No other relationship is more personal.

I believe God has shown us exactly how He wants us to relate to Him Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I think God is more complex than the three aspects he shares with us, but these aspects present the most personal interaction we can understand.  He takes care of us as our Father, loves us as our Brother, and through the Holy Spirit connects with us on a deep spiritual level.  God created us to love us.   His underlying characteristic is love (1 John 4:16).

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HOW CAN I REPAY THE LORD

Psalm 116:8-11 reads:  For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 

When I was young I learned about the Lord in Sunday school.  I even went to church.  However, my daily life was on me, and I didn’t think much about the Lord during the week.  Then divorce came into my life.  On my own, I tried to fix the emotional distress of this tragedy.   I floundered in a cavern of unsuccessfulness.  Finally, I came to the end of myself and called on the name of the Lord.  He was right there to help.

Jesus delivered my soul from anguish, my eyes from tears, and he gave me direction for my life.  Jesus gave my life purpose, and I stopped randomly stumbling through life.  Overnight, life completely changed.  I felt alive again as I started my new life walking with him.  In his mercy and grace, Jesus was very good to me.

“How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?” asked the Psalmist in verse 12.  He shared his answer in verses 13 and 14.  “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.  I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of his people.”  To me this means I will praise the Lord for the salvation he purchased for me.  And, as I have vowed, I will continue to serve the Lord for the rest of my life.  This I will do in the presence of his people.  Gratitude and faithfulness will be the hallmark of my existence.

If you haven’t found the mercy and grace of Jesus just call on the name of the Lord.  He will answer you.

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THE LORD HAS BEEN GOOD TO YOU

Regardless of your circumstances, the Lord has been good to you.  The fact that he died on the cross for you should be enough to count him good.  As I say this to myself, I reach for the place where I embrace this truth and find comfort.  When times are tough it is a reach.  I want to be rescued by circumstances not just intellectual truth.  I want things to be better!

For those who have walked with the Lord for some time you probably recognize this struggle as the growth of patience and trust that comes from waiting on the Lord.  However, I’ve come to a place of frustration and discouragement in this process.  I can’t see ahead to that door which will open to a new direction providing an answer to my dilemma.  What can I do?  I have often answered this question, “Nothing, you just have to wait and trust in the Lord.”  I find no relief in this answer.  There must be something else.

What a blessing the Psalms provide when we reach difficult times.  This time I found comfort in Psalm 116.  In this Psalm King David retraces his life’s relationship with the Lord.  He reflects on how the Lord saved him, listened and responded to his cry for help, and treated him with compassion.  He finds solace in praising God for what he has done.  Ah, an answer to my question of what can I do.  So I’m doing this, and I’m finding that God has indeed saved me, listened and responded to my cry for help, and treated me with compassion.  I am praising God for what he has done in my life, and I’m looking forward to that moment when I reach this resolution, “Be at rest once more, oh my soul, for the Lord has been good to you (Psalm 116:7).

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HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY MARRIAGE

My wife and I have a perfect marriage.  Okay, I’m lying.  We do have a great marriage though.  For 35 years, we have managed to love and like each other.  We’ve worked side by side for many of those years always with a single goal.  That goal was to seek the Lord and his will for us.  We have always sought his guidance and trusted him for the outcome.  Well, maybe always is a little exaggerated, but we’ve done our best to trust him.

I really believe that our success in marriage stems from our commitment.  The commitment I’m talking about came from before we met.  In August of 1980, we both surrendered our lives to the Lord and committed to serve him.  Bonnie sat down on a piano bench, and I sat on a rock.  We both asked the Lord to take over our lives.  Speaking for myself, I’d made such a mess of things I realized that I couldn’t do life without Him.  On the last day of November in 1980, we met.  From that day, it was a whirlwind of events that led to our marriage in April of 1981.

I had asked God for a wife, and I knew that Bonnie was his answer to that prayer.  And she was sure that I was the man God had sent to her.  This assurance, combined with our faith, has carried us through the years.  One of our early discoveries was that we both believed God had called us to love and care for children.  He has guided us to do just that.  What an amazing life he has given us.  There is no greater existence on the earth than a life with purpose fulfilled.  We have shared that life.

This is what I’ve learned.  Marriage is a partnership of strength.  It is a central point from which to radiate outward for the good of others.  In the process the relationship is strengthened and both partners become more of who they were created to be.  We are happy people in a happy marriage because we allowed God to lead us.

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LOVE OR TOLERANCE

I only found the word tolerance used once in the Bible.  In Romans 2:4 Paul talks about God’s kindness and tolerance toward us, but God’s tolerance is rooted in his love for us.  Can we therefore have tolerance toward others if we don’t first love them?  I don’t believe so.  I believe loving one another produces a much broader connection with our fellow man that will naturally include tolerance.  If I don’t care about you, I will have a difficult time tolerating you.

Our society has rejected the foundation of God’s word, and we have decided to use man’s wisdom to solve our relational difficulties.  This doesn’t seem to be working.  We are told to have tolerance for one another. Tolerance is simply a bandage over the wounds produced by our bigotry and prejudice.   All we have really produced is hate.  God’s way, to love one another, has a deeper power because his Spirit is there to empower us. Man says to tolerate but offers only the power of the will of man.  Our sinful nature is constantly battling against our will.  Without God’s help, our ability to tolerate is at best a draw.

Jesus told us to love our neighbor as our self, to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-44).  Jesus lived out those words. In Romans 5:8 we read, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  He loved us and gave himself for us even when we were against him.  This kind of love is powerful and proactive.  It involves giving ourselves to others.  Before we are capable of giving love to others, we first need to receive God’s love.  Knowing that we are loved empowers us to give love.

We’ve been teaching tolerance to our children for years without much success.  Perhaps we should take a different tack.  Let’s start teaching them about God’s way of love.  You know it might just make a difference.

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Hopelessly Flawed?

I am hopelessly flawed.  I want to be good and have good motives, but I find my heart to be full of selfish motives, unloving and unkind.  I try not to act on these ugly inner thoughts, for I want to be good.  I try to put on the good.  People think of me as good.  Alas, I am not.  I am hopelessly flawed.  I sometimes get depressed over this lack of good in me.  I want to be nice to people.  I want to treat them like a good Christian should.  I want God to like me.

Do you identify with this inner conflict?  Paul did.  In Romans chapter 7 he expresses this same inner conflict.

21. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  22. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23. But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  24. What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  25. Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Thank you Father for your word, and thank you Paul for expressing this inner conflict so I know that I’m not alone.  Once again I am reminded that it is my FAITH that pleases God, not my puny attempts to make myself good.  In Jesus he fixed the problem that I can’t fix.  Yes, I am indeed flawed, but not hopelessly as I sometimes get lured into thinking.  There is hope not in what I can do, but in what he has done.  So, I take comfort in these words: “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Amen!

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Relating to God

When thinking of how to relate to God, I believe he has shown us through his Son.  Jesus in teaching about prayer gave us what is known as the Lord’s Prayer (see Matthew 6:9-13).   The prayer begins with “Our Father in heaven”.  I believe that in this expression God makes it clear that he wants us to know him as Father.  Throughout the words of Jesus he refers to God as his father and our father.  There are many telling expressions that Jesus shared giving us insight into the nature of the relationship God offers us as our Father, but the one I like and personally understand the most is the parable of the lost son.

In the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32) Jesus tells the story of a son who takes his share of his father’s wealth,  leaves home, and goes to squander his money in wild living.  When the money is all gone, he finds himself destitute and working as a servant feeding pigs.  Obviously his predicament is the result of his own choices.  He chose this path against the wishes and wisdom of his father.  Not only did he go against his father’s wishes, but what he did, according to Hebrew society of the time, was to bring shame to his father.  Yet, when the son recognizes what he has done he decides to return and put himself at the mercy of his father.  I guess we can all imagine the reception he might receive from a human father.  But, the father in this story represents the heart of our Heavenly Father, and I believe it gives us an example of what to expect when relating to God as our father.

In Jesus’ parable the son is received with open arms, and the father puts on a big party to welcome him home.  This is forgiveness in its truest sense.  John reminds us in his first letter     (1 John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  I love this parable because it describes the reception I received when I returned to God.  He didn’t condemn me, but he welcomed me back with complete forgiveness.  He is a loving and forgiving father.