god

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ALONE WITH GOD

(Mark 1:32-37) That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed.  The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.  He also drove out many demons, but he would not let them speak because they knew who he was.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus ministered all day; and then in the evening, the whole town showed up requiring more from him.  He must have been exhausted.  How did he refresh?  Well, he probably laid down and went to sleep, but before daybreak he got up and went to find a place of solitude to meet with his Father in prayer.

I always knew about my need for sleep.  In my youth, I thought I could skate by with little sleep, but it frequently caught up with me.  The need for prayer and time with the Lord wasn’t so obvious. It took a while before I recognized this need.  Over the years, the awareness of my need for prayer and time with the Lord has greatly increased.  

It is often hard to find time to refresh, yet even Jesus needed sleep and a time of prayer.  I know from experience that skipping sleep and prayer might seem to be the way to get things done.  I found out that without sleep and time with the Lord my effectiveness was seriously hindered.   When I was teaching, I found myself shortchanging my student because I needed sleep.  I also found myself grouchy and unloving.  I needed sleep; but most of all, I needed time alone with the Father to refresh my soul.

You may be living a hectic life.  Jesus did.  How do we refresh to be able to handle the next day?  Jesus showed us the way.  Sleep helps to refresh the physical body; the soul is refreshed when we spend time alone with our God.

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ORDINARY PEOPLE CHOSEN BY GOD

Genesis 28:20&21 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God.

These verses are Jacob’s response to what God spoke to him in a dream.  In the dream God promised to watch over him, protect him and provide for him.  God also restated the blessings he gave to Abraham over Jacob.  Note that Jacob starts his response with the word “if”.  A clear indication that he has yet to put his trust in God.  He also says, “then the Lord will be my God.”   Again, he makes it clear that he has not yet sold out to the Lord being his God.

Jacob grew up in a Godly home with his father Issac who was Abraham’s son.  Issac was the son of the promise, the one to carry the Abrahamic blessing.  Jacob had not taken on the faith of his father and grandfather.  He had managed however to learn how to lie and deceive.  You can read about his deception and lying in Genesis chapters 26 and 27.

Jacob sounds like an ordinary person like me.  I know I lied to my parents, and I carried out other sinful misbehaviors in my youth.  I also took quite a while to come to faith and a true relation with God.  God never forsook me in my years of rebellion.  In his kindness, mercy, and patience he waited for me to come around.

God chose Jacob to be the one to carry on his plan.  It just took Jacob a while to get in line with the program.   All of us ordinary people who have received Jesus as our savior are participants in God’s plan.  He foreknows us and when we will surrender to his love. Our hesitation doesn’t disrupt his plan; God will bring about his plan right on time just as he did with Jacob. 

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IS LIFE MEANINGLESS?

(Ecclesiastes 12:13) Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.

(Matthew 22:37-40) 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.  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.    

In The Book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon called all that he saw and experienced in this life meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  As I read through the book of Ecclesiastes, I can see his point.  Yet, the most compelling part of Ecclesiastes is the conclusion, “fear God and keep his commandments.”

Fearing God can be more broadly explained as showing reverence and respect for the one who created us and by receiving the love he displayed by dying to save us.  Appropriate fear then would be to recognize that God has complete ownership, power and control over the entire universe.  He is worthy of our humble praise and worship.

Jesus summed up what it means to keep God’s commandments, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  …Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Learning to love God has been an ongoing experience for me.  I grew closer to God as I recognized how he guided my life.  I have experienced his blessing and his discipline.  All his kindness and love for me drew me ever closer to him.  There was a time when I wasn’t sure I could say I love God, but that has changed.  Now, I can express my abiding love for him.

It would be quite easy to write a book about loving your neighbor as yourself.  First, you need to explore whether you indeed love yourself.  I don’t think you can love your neighbor if you don’t love yourself.  Loving yourself involves the natural self-preservation that is a part of our makeup, but learning to appreciate and accept the person God has made us to be brings about an inner confidence that leads to loving who we are.  Then, we can share ourselves with others.

So how do you transfer self-love to your neighbor?  I find that giving my time and talents to help my neighbors is a way of loving them.  It is the kind of love that Jesus gives to us.  I think that loving our neighbors actually helps us to love ourselves.  It’s seated in that wonderful feeling when you know you have blessed your neighbor.

Is life meaningless?  It is not meaningless if we are in a loving relationship with our creator, loving who God has created us to be, and sharing all that we are with our neighbors.  This results in a meaningful life.

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BODY SOUL AND SPIRIT

(Matthew 10:28) Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

(Hebrews 4:12) For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

We are made up of these three parts, a body, a soul, and a spirit.  Our first scripture from Matthew points out that here in the physical world only our body can be killed,but in the spiritual world we can lose our souls in hell, and God alone has power over our souls.

 I think that these words from Jesus are given to help us understand the difference in the temporal world verses the eternal world.  Think of it.  The short time we spend here compared to the never ending of eternity.  God has placed the choose of what will happen to our souls in our hands.  Jesus’ words expose the reality of Just living our lives here and forgetting the eternity to come.  Placing all our hopes in these few years here on earth can lead to our eternal demise. 

Our body is confined to the physical world.  Our soul and spirit live on after our body dies. The second scripture from Hebrews uses the word “even” with the idea of dividing soul and spirit.  I surmise that soul and spirit are closely connected because they would be difficult to separate.  From this point on I don’t have much understanding about the difference between soul and spirit.  I do know that the soul contains the essence of who we are, and Jesus died to save our souls from hell.  As to our spirit, the Bible refers to the spirit of man but doesn’t seem to give details.  

What will it be like in eternity and what we will be like when we get there? Leaving the body and still existing, this is a great mystery.  God loves us.  All we need to do is to put our body, soul and spirit in his hands.

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WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD

(1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV) Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

In Old Testament times, the temple of God was the place where God’s Spirit dwelt.  His people went to the temple to be in his presence.  When Jesus finished his work of redemption, he returned to the Father.  A new era then began.  God’s Spirit now dwells in all believers.

These words of Scripture that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians caused me to think about what they could mean for us today.  For instance, when we go out to coffee with a few of our Christian friends, isn’t it true that right there in that coffee shop we represent a temple of God?  Someone could find the presence of God because we are there.

Scripture provides an unending source of inspiration.  New thoughts and challenges have flooded my mind since I revisited this familiar scripture.  What does it mean to be the temple of God, and how should it alter my perception of my daily walk as a Christian?

I would love to hear from you on this subject.  Please take time to share your thoughts.

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THE LOVE OF GOD OR THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD?

I’ve been teaching from the book of Genesis for the last 6 months, and I’ve had some interesting insights into the way God interacts with his created beings.  His interactions seem to be based on a choice he has given us.  That choice is to live in his love and enjoy the delight of a relationship with him or go our own way and eventually encounter his judgement.  This is the ultimate decision for all of mankind, the love of God or the judgement of God.  Let’s look at how that played out in the beginning.

Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s warning about the tree of good and evil and ate from its fruit.  The result was that death and evil entered creation.  Because evil and death cannot exist in the presence of God, Adam and Eve wound up separated from God and suffered the consequence of his judgement.

Most of the rest of humankind also chose not to follow in obedience to God, but they went their own way.  Evil and death reined unchecked for a thousand years or more.

Genesis 6:5-8 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  The lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created – and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground – for I regret that I have made them.”  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

God’s judgement came upon his creation, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”  Noah sought relationship with God and saved himself and his family.  Noah made the right choice; apparently no one else did.  All of mankind perished except Noah and his family. 

These are the first two stories of God’s judgement on his created ones. I will continue this topic next week.  I would like to share a few more stories of God’s judgement.

Because making the right choice is ultimately important, we can choose the Love of God or the Judgement of God.  No other choice we make in this life bears the weight of this decision.

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PATIENCE

(Isaiah 40:31) But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.

The key word in this very familiar verse is “wait”.  When we cross a busy street, we wait.  What are we waiting for?  We are waiting for it to be safe to cross.  When we wait on the Lord, we are waiting for his timing.  We are not going to rush out into traffic, and we should not rush ahead of God’s timing.  There are signs that tell us when it’s time to cross the street, and God lets us know when it’s time to proceed with his plan for us.  Patience is required in our walk with God.

Waiting takes patience.  Here is an interesting thought, Jesus tells us to love one another.  Paul lists patience as the first word to define love.  “Love is patient,” (1Corinthians 13:4). Loving each other requires patience.  We can show our love to others by being patient with them. Patience is also part of loving God.   We show our love for God by waiting on him.

From the book of Genesis, we find Abraham and Sarah waiting twenty-five years for the son God had promised them.  Sarah was ninety years old when she delivered Isaac, and Abraham was one hundred. They waited on the Lord. Waiting for the Lord is always best in the long run.  Trying to make things happen on our schedule usually ends badly.

 Isaiah wrote the words of our scripture some twenty-five hundred years ago.  It is still wisdom to wait on the Lord.  Being patient is often a struggle, but in the end, it is worth the wait.

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THE ROCK

(Matthew 7:24-27) “Therefore who ever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall.”

On the central coast of California, there is a place where large outcroppings of rock face off against the mighty waves of the Pacific Ocean. I have a favorite place there where one of these outcroppings is accessible from the beach.  To reach this rock formation, I climb down to the beach from a small parking lot, jump across a small inlet stream, and then ascend to the top.  As I move around to face the waves, there is a perfect seat etched into the rock.  There I sit, surrounded by awesome power, completely protected by my rock fortress.   This provides space for a spiritual experience every time I visit there.

Only a rock can afford this kind of experience.  Sand is easily washed away providing no protection from the waves.  Jesus’ analogy comparing the rock and sand is quite succinct.  Listening to Jesus’ words and doing them provides us with a firm foundation upon which we can build our lives.  Choosing to not live according to Jesus’ words leaves us with no solid foundation.

Our scripture from Matthew chapter 7 comes from the end of Jesus’ “sermon on the mount”.  So, Jesus is saying that all the words he spoke, as recorded in Matthew chapters five through seven, are given to us that we might have a firm foundation on which to build our lives.  If we read the words and do them, we’re on solid ground – built on the Rock.

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HARMONY

(Genesis 1:31) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.  And there was evening, and there was morning-the sixth day.

Everything in God’s creation was very good.  All of creation was in harmony.  Harmony denotes a flowing togetherness that is continually in sync like a well-practiced choir.  Though the various members sing different notes, they mesh together to produce a beautiful melody.  If one person hits a wrong note, a trained hear will catch it. But what happens if everybody in the choir refuses to follow the sheet music and sings whatever note they want.  Harmony is gone and only noise and chaos persist.  It kind of sounds like our current world.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, all of creation was in harmony.  Man and woman were in harmony with each other and themselves.  They were in harmony with the multitude of animals and creatures God had created as well as with the earth itself.

I believe you would agree that the harmony that once existed has been greatly distorted. 

Jesus taught us to consider others more highly than ourselves, along with many other teachings that would help us promote harmony. Even we who have received the seal of his Holy Spirit find it impossible to maintain harmony.  Jesus came because we are incapable of restoring harmony on our own.    Restoring harmony to all of creation can only be done by our creator.  He’s working on it.  Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplished the most important step. He opened the door for us to be in harmony with our God.

Jesus is coming again, and he will restore harmony to all creation.  The Bible tells us that this will include the ushering in of a new heaven and earth.  God has made it so we can choose to be a part of this new harmonious world by confessing Jesus as Lord and receiving the forgiveness for which he gave his life.

I can’t even comprehend what this new harmonious world will be like, but I really want to be a part of it.

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HOPE

(Ephesians 1:18) I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.

Where I live the summers are very hot.  Often we have weeks where the temperature is more than a hundred degrees every day, and it barely cools off over night.  Occasionally we get a break when the day time highs are in the upper-nineties, and the overnight temperatures descend into the low sixties.  However, the heat returns, and we suffer through the hundred plus days until summer comes to an end.

Hope supports us through the summer months.  We know that cooler weather is coming.  It cooled down last year, so in hope we trust that the pattern will continue.  Meanwhile, we do our best to patiently wait for the heat to end.    

Isn’t life in Christ just like that?  We live in a world full of sin, and we personally deal with the sin within us.  Sometimes we have days full of love and peace.  Other times the battle is on, and we struggle through the hard times.  Yet we have great hope that the struggle will someday end, and we’ll be in the presence of the Lord forever.

Hope is the best way to navigate life.  Hope fills us with joy and gives us the strength to be patient in times of affliction.   Prayer keeps us in touch with our eternal Father so we can live our days anticipating our eternal future.  Our hope is in him who has promised us an eternal life basking in his love.  When we arrive at our final destination, hope will no longer be necessary. It will have fulfilled its purpose.  Till then, hope will be there to encourage us along life’s path.