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WWJD

The WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) movement was to encourage Christian to look to Jesus in our decision making.  I always felt that since Jesus is God, I was going to fall very short of what he would do.   In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus gives his disciples clear directions as to what they should do.  It is quite a challenge for us mere mortals.

Let’s take a look at verse 25, “If you decide for God, living a life of God worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether clothes in your closet are in fashion.  There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body (The Message).”  I find this quite challenging.  Living in materialistic America, these words cut to the quick.   The quick being where life happens.  But this is not a concern just for Americans.  Evidently, those in ancient Israel needed to hear these words.

In this whole section, from verse 19-24, Jesus is giving his disciples a new view of their life.  He wants them to refocus.  As followers of Jesus, we need to look at life differently; step outside of the social norms, and focus on what God is doing.  Jesus doesn’t want us to worry about the things of this world; he wants us to trust our Father in Heaven with them.  Jesus came to set us free.  This refocusing is a part of that freedom.

This sounds great doesn’t it?  So how are you doing with this?  I’m struggling.  My struggle is within and against my sinful nature.  That’s why WWJD bothered me.  I knew I couldn’t do what Jesus would do.  The Apostle Paul gives quite a dissertation on this struggle in Romans 7:14-25.

I am battling to refocus my life, but I am always relying on God’s grace and mercy.  Grace is not an excuse for sin, but it is God’s answer to our failings.  Jesus is in the battle with us every day.  He is our strength in times of weakness.  We are not alone in our struggles.

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WHO IS GOD?

When reading Psalm 19 the other day it struck me that David had a special awareness of who God is.  He writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).  David looked at creation, and he saw God. 

Astronomers have discovered that space goes on forever, with millions of galaxies and an incalculable number of stars.  Our modern understanding of the universe should cause us to declare with greater exaltation God’s glory.    

It is my nature to always ask why.  In this case why did God need to create such a vast universe?  David makes the answer quite clear, to show us his glory.  Again I ask why?  I answer myself, so we have plain evidence of the awesomeness of God, and so we can understand that his ability is beyond our comprehension. 

I can build a table and figure out how to fix some things.  God created a vast universe that works to precise laws that our best minds over thousands of years have partially figured out.  Those “best minds” were also created by him.  How glorious is our God!

As I read through the rest of Psalm 19, I realized that David understood God’s glory very well.  He speaks of the laws God made for us, and how these laws are good for our souls.  From a vast universe that runs to perfection, to laws that help us walk through our daily life, David understood that God has provided for us, and he has shown himself to us. 

David ends his Psalm with a humble and worshipful declaration, “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

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Random Ramblings: January 17, 2017

This is well said!

Don Merritt's avatarLife Project Blog

Readers’ Advisory: This post is political, no holds barred and plainly written. If you don’t want to read such things, or if you are faint of heart, please discontinue now, and I’ll see you next time!

OK, let’s get this out of the way right now: I totally forgot to write this column last Saturday. There were no reasons, and there are no excuses, I simply forgot. Was this a “senior moment” on my part? Ha! A young kid like me? Perish the thought!

Very early this morning I was writing my normal posts on Luke for tomorrow, and the text was Luke 6:27 ff. on loving your enemies. As I was writing these posts, I couldn’t help but think of all of the noise we keep hearing from all of the Trump-haters out there. I had just been listening to the news on the radio, and they were reporting…

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Hunger and Plenty

I like these truths!

Don Merritt's avatarLife Project Blog

Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied. (Luke 6:21)

Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry. (Luke 6:25)

Jesus continues His theme here as His remarks to his followers continued. In these two verses He makes a contrast between hunger and plenty. Note that He isn’t saying that it’s a good thing to be starving or to lack the necessities of life, but rather that it would be better for a person to lack and have an eternal relationship with God, then to have plenty in this life and perish for eternity. Again, that doesn’t mean that we should all starve ourselves as a sort of spiritual stunt, to see if God will step in.

Clearly, there is an element to this that is counter-intuitive for many of us, oriented as we are in modern Western culture to placing a…

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RECEIVING HIS LOVE

Last week in my blog “The Greatest Force” I quoted this scripture from Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Can anybody do this?  I’m going to take the liberty of answering for all of us and say “no” because in verse 40 of this passage Jesus continues, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  The scriptures make it very clear that none of us have been able to keep the whole Law.

Houston, we have a problem!

Unfortunately, neither Houston nor I have the solution, but God does.  For God so loved …, that he sent Jesus (see John 3:16).  I believe that our ability to love God and others is rooted in our ability to receive God’s love.  Truly believing that we are loved changes us.  There is a peace that comes over us that counters our need to perform.  It takes away our need to earn love.  Living in the peace of God’s love supports us and opens the way for us to give love.

To genuinely receive God’s love is difficult.  We have to lay down our self-sufficiency.  “I can do it myself.”  Self-sufficiency is a part of our sinful nature.  Have you ever observed a toddler saying “I do it?”  It’s inherent.  God’s love given freely puts us in a humble place.  We don’t have to do anything to earn it.  God did it all.  It’s simply a matter of surrendering the pride of self-sufficiency.

Pride separates us from God, and allows us to do all kinds of unloving things.  Think of bigotry and abuse.  Aren’t these sourced in pride?  The pride that says I’m better than or more important than another.  Can a humble heart, that is truly receiving love from God, commit these acts against their neighbor?

I fall short in loving God and my neighbor every day.  Therefore, every day I have the potential to be ungodly.    I need to do something about this.  No, I need to humbly receive God’s love for me.  Loving God and others will flow from that.

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THE GREATEST FORCE

Love is the greatest force in the universe.  The Bible tells us that God, the creator, is love (1 John 4:16).   The world and all that is in it was created in love.  It was love demonstrated by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that brought us salvation.  The redemption of mankind was accomplished by His great act of love.  In love then there is sacrifice.  As Jesus exhibited, love requires the laying down of personal wants and desires for others, or maybe just redirecting our personal wants and desires to others.  Jesus told us in Matthew 22:37-39, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We obviously have the right to use love, and we are commanded to use it.  First we are to love our God, and second to love our neighbor.  Our neighbor being anyone we encounter.

We have access to the greatest power in the universe!  How amazing is that?  Why aren’t we using this great power?  Oh, it requires sacrificing our own wants and desires.  Bingo!  The whole world could be changed by this great force that we have access to, but it requires sacrifice.

Taking a broader look, I find that there is little use of this greatest force in our world.   I’m not seeing a wide use of love.  Knowing that God is love, we can say there’s a lot of ungodliness being exhibited.  For those who like to blame this on God, perhaps a look in the mirror might clear their perspective.  I’m looking in the mirror, and I find much room for improvement.

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GRACE

Grace – unmerited divine assistance given to man

This is a dictionary definition of grace.  I like this definition because of the word unmerited.  Grace is a gift of God that we did not merit.  Out of his love for us he gave us life giving assistance when we were dead in our sins.  I believe that grace is poorly understood by Christians because we are always talking about what we are doing for God, but our testimony should be about what God has done and is doing for us.  Our good works are inspired by the grace he has given us.

This passage from Ephesians 2:1-9 provides insight for us:

            As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.

I stop before sharing the last verse of this section because we need to stop.  The explanation of our salvation is finished.

 

Then we read about what happens in response to this salvation by grace.

            For we are God’s workmanship, created in Chris Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Now that our salvation is finished, God has works for us to do.  We don’t have to come up with these works.  He has already prepared them for us.  In humble gratitude, we seek his direction for what to do.  Remember: “…it is by grace you have been saved.”  “Have been” indicates that it has already happened, and it is ongoing.  Relax and enjoy the unmerited assistance that God has given you.

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CHRISTMAS GREETING

God’s amazing and undeniable love has been displayed for us in Jesus.  He came to us, walked with us, loved us, and gave himself for us.  He is still with us.  We will never again be alone.  This Christmas weekend we celebrate the eternal riches of Emmanuel, God with us.  May God’s love and compassion fill your heart and guide you through the New Year.

Love and blessings to you,

Al Vredenburg

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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).