Category: Faith

Posted on

Be Of Good Cheer!

For January 5, 2020
I’ve often wondered what the Eleven Disciples must have been thinking while watching the Lord Jesus Christ ascend into Heaven forty days after His resurrection. Here, a few weeks earlier, the Mount of Olives was the location where Jesus made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey as the gathering throngs of people surrounding Him exclaim:

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest Heaven!    Matthew 21:8b (NIV)

Also from this location, the Lord taught them in graphic detail about the Destruction of Jerusalem, (70 AD), the Signs of His Coming, and about The End of the Age shortly before His crucifixion. 1

Now the mount served as a point of departure (and subsequent return) for their Beloved Savior and Redeemer. But before departing, the Lord would give them words of comfort that apply to us today:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  Acts 1:8 (NLT) 

While watching the Lord Jesus Christ ascend into Heaven, two men in white apparel encouraged them (and us) with these words:

Men of Galilee…why are you standing here staring into Heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into Heaven, but someday he will return from Heaven in the same way you saw him go!   Acts 1:11 (NLT)

Amen! Jesus is coming again…and  very soon!

The Disciples returned to Jerusalem, and waited for the promise of the Holy Spirit, which would happen in ten days, on the Day of Pentecost. At that time,  the course of their lives, and the lives of others would be forever changed by their faith in Jesus Christ and the redeeming work He accomplished for them and us at Calvary.

The Eleven had been fearful and were in hiding.2 Some doubted as did Thomas.3 Even Peter tried to resume his lucrative fishing career. However, this failed as he finally realized that feeding the Lord’s Sheep was his new profession exclusively.4

After Pentecost, the Disciples would no longer cower in fear, doubt, or seek personal interests. Instead, they would change the course of human history through their preaching, teaching and faithful, diligent service.

In essence, these men, along with those of us who would follow them became the “salt and light” Jesus foretold of in Matthew 5:13-16 (NLT):

You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

In this life, we are certain to experience trials and suffering. However, in John 16:33, the Lord Jesus Christ promises us His rich, abiding peace, which we will never find anywhere else on earth.

But best of all, because He overcame the world triumphantly, and because He now lives within us, in the person of the Holy Spirit, we can be of good cheer because we know that we will overcome triumphantly as well. What a Wonderful Savior!  

 

Posted on

Happy Birthday Jesus!

For December 25, 2019
We desire to be with loved ones on special occasions. This is especially true during the Holiday Season as reflected in a recent Transportation Security Administration (or TSA) report of record numbers of travelers during this past Thanksgiving Holiday. For instance, on December 1, 2019, more than 2.8 million travelers were screened at TSA checkpoints nationwide, marking its busiest day on record.5

Our Loving, Holy and Eternal God, who created the Heavens and the Earth, was deeply motivated by a yearning to restore the fellowship He Had with a fallen humanity—like He shared with Adam and Eve, our ancestors in the beginning.

We will never know the size of our universe since the more we explore the more galaxies we yet discover. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA reports that beyond our own galaxy lies billions of galaxies.6

Nevertheless, in the fullness of time, our Living God easily bridged this vast expanse so that He could demonstrate His matchless love for us in an unmistakable way about two thousand years ago. Luke 2:8-14 (NKJV) describes this event:

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Jesus’ birth facilitated a new human relationship paradigm between God and humanity based on His peace and goodwill. Here, all God’s promises concerning the forgiveness of sin, reconciliation, peace, and forgiveness that were directed towards His Chosen People (vis-à-vis the Jews) exclusively, as conveyed through the prophets, priests, the Holy Scriptures, and through sacred family traditions and customs were now available to all of us—men, women, boys, and girls everywhere—by faith.

In other words, all of us now have the opportunity to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and as Savior in order to receive the promise of abundant life in this world leading to eternal life with Him in the next as Philippians 2:5-11(NLT) attests:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Either in this life or in the next, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father. There is a far better outcome for us if it happens in this life out of our free will motivated by our love for Him. Then the result is eternal, loving fellowship. In the next life, the outcome is far more severe since it is by compulsion as we succumb to His omnipotence and invincibility before being relegated to spending eternity in a tormenting Hell.

Yes! We can celebrate the birth of this wonderful Baby Boy, Jesus Christ, on Christmas Day realizing His physical life began privately in a Bethlehem manger, but it will end publically on Calvary’s Cross.

Yet, when He rose from the dead, as our Redeemer, He won us back to God so that we could have fellowship with Him forever. What a Wonderful Savior!

 

Top