Category: Uncategorized

For May 18, 2019
In the Beginning, God created our ancestors, Adam and Eve, to be perfect human beings who represented the pinnacle of His perfect creation. God placed them in the Garden of Eden where they experienced complete fulfillment in unbroken, loving fellowship with God.

They lived in eternal bliss as long as they obeyed one command: do not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Unfortunately, they ate the fruit, and spiritual death and physical death happened just as God warned.

Physical death came over time, but spiritual death (or the Fall of humanity) came instantly, as the entire world became sin-contaminated.¹

Sin is like a wedge that separates us from God. It restricts our ability to experience a sustained fellowship with our holy God, since He did not fall from perfection; we did, and our inherited sinful nature, which taints our thoughts, words, and actions, is highly offensive to Him.

Thus, we are sinners not because of the sin we commit. We are sinners because of the sin-tainted nature within us that is constantly at work inside us.

Trying to regain our perfection and reestablish fellowship with God is humanly impossible. Many try to earn a righteous moral position to secure God’s good graces by performing enough “good” works to convince God that we deserve to be with Him in Heaven.

Here, I would spend my entire life trying to perform one more good deed because I could never be sure if the next one would be the one that got me in. I’d be tortured to live life worried if I’ve helped enough little old ladies across a busy intersection, or offered enough people my seat on the bus or subway, or yielded my right of way to enough cars while driving through town, or gave enough money to charity, or assisted enough people in need.

As sinners, we can never do enough “good” to earn passage into Heaven. Even on our best day, God disqualifies us as unclean and our noble acts as filthy rags according to Isaiah 64:6.

We need a perfect Savior; someone who is sinless yet suitable to bear our sin. Again, Isaiah makes an astute observation: He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus Christ is our perfect Savior whose death at Calvary (in conjunction with His resurrection three days later) paid sins price completely. Our faith in His redemptive work transforms us on the inside and allows God to declare us as righteous.

In other words, we are no longer judged or condemned by sin, as God exchanges Jesus’ righteousness for our unrighteousness. Now when He looks at us, He views us as He views His Son, Jesus Christ, and He sees us as perfect, having satisfied all of His righteous requirements.

Through Jesus Christ alone, we have God’s forgiveness and His eternal fellowship. He died on our behalf at Calvary, because He loves us more than we could ever comprehend and more than we can love ourselves. It is not our works, but our faith in His works that secures our eternal fellowship with God.

We were once separated from God, but how now we are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. We were once enemies, but now we are at peace with Him.

In Christ, we have a new spiritual identity and a new moral position. This is God’s grace, and it is truly amazing. What a wonderful Savior!

For May 13, 2019
Through faith in Christ, we can obtain a new spiritual identity from our Heavenly Father that is diametrically opposed to the old physical identity we acquired from our parents at birth. The difference between the two identities is that one is sin-dominated while the other is not.

Only God can eliminate our old sin nature, and He does so through the Born Again experience Jesus says is as mysterious as the wind, yet is essential for true, lasting fellowship with God:

I tell you the truth, unless you are born again you cannot see the Kingdom of God…Don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.  John 3:3-7 (NLT)

Then the Lord continues:

As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:14–17 (NLT)

Here, the Lord is teaching just as dying people lived because they trusted the efficacy of Moses’ brass snake. We too can live—eternally with God—when we trust the efficacy of Jesus’ redemptive work on Calvary’s Cross.

Through faith in Christ, His Holy Spirit inhabits us. Now we are no longer spiritually dead and sin-tarnished. Instead, we are spiritually alive with a new disposition. Much like light obliterating darkness, God’s penetrating glory obliterates our old sin nature…upon our invitation.

In other words, we must invite the Lord Jesus Christ to take full possession of our hearts and lives. Then as His Spirit comes to live inside us, He immediately changes our nature and worldview.

Now as a result, we no longer pursue a life of sin and self-gratification because we are “new creatures” in Christ, and pleasing Him becomes our new chief concern.

Some associate the New Birth² with materialism and claim it helps us to gain recognition and amass wealth and power. However, this is not the case since God is no respecter of persons and His Kingdom is spiritual, not material. (Earthly supremacy is what we sinful and proud humans want, while transforming hearts is what our holy and loving God wants. He knows once He possesses our hearts, everything else we have becomes His property—exclusively!)

In this new life we have in Christ, we may not experience significant external changes, like having our names listed in Who’s Who, or having others speak well of us, or even obtaining wealth, power, prestige or property. Nevertheless, we will experience a dynamic, complete spiritual overhaul on the inside that makes us acceptable to God forever.

Inviting the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts, and allowing His Spirit to rule our lives by reverent, sincere faith, and through daily obedience and submission to Him, we are certain to accomplish the will of God, secure His eternal favor, and become His beloved children forever.

Truly, we have a new spiritual identity.

 

For April 28, 2019
One day, there was a person who was quite nervous and agitated. Anyone could readily see that they were deeply troubled about something, and while they explained their quandary, tears were welling in both eyes.

Then came the words many of us have expressed at some point in life: “I pray to the Lord, and nothing happens! Is the Lord really at work in my life?”

I suppose this was how the lame man felt before he encountered the Lord at the Pool of Bethesda on that fateful Sabbath Day (Saturday). Although nothing is said about how long he had been coming to the pool looking for a miracle, according to John Chapter 5, the man had been lame 38 years.

For according to legend, an angel of the Lord would stir up the water, and the first person into the churning pool would be healed of whatever disease he or she had. The man wanted to be healed, but was never fast enough to reach the water first.

Weary and discouraged, the man explained his affliction to the Lord, who simply instructed him stand up and walk—taking his mat (for sitting and reclining) with him, and the man was healed instantly.

The crowd condemned Jesus, the Great Physician for healing the man on the Sabbath, to which the Lord replied: “My Father is always working, and so am I!” (John 5:17 NLT) More than six-thousand years of human history reveal the Lord’s marvelous work.

I can imagine how hopeless Adam and Eve must have felt when they buried  Abel, their murdered son who practiced a greater level of faith in God than did his elder brother and murderer, Cain.

However, it is through Seth, the Lord reminds us He is with us in adversity, and that His plans are infallible. Eve soon gives birth to Seth, whom the Lord uses as a replacement for the noble Abel, and shortly after the birth of Enos, Seth’s son, the Bible tells us that people begin to “call on the name of the Lord.” (Genesis 4:26)

Twenty-five years passes, and Abram and Sarai have not received their promised heir. Yet their abiding trust in the Lord is rewarded, according to Romans 4:18-21 (NIV):

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Joseph suffered thirteen years of wrongful injustice and imprisonment before he saw the fulfillment of the series of dreams from the Lord concerning his destiny, and that of his family. Full of faith, Joseph confessed to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 (NLT): “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”

Isaiah 40:27 poses a rhetorical question: “Why do you say my way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?” While King David exclaims in Psalm 27:13-14 (KJV): “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

At the impending doom of Jerusalem, God chosen city, and with the first wave of exiles departing the city under Chaldean escort, Habakkuk seems perplexed by God’s method of chastening His Chosen People. Ultimately, he comes to understand the just shall live by faith³ just before he concludes with this exclamation:

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV)

Because the Lord is infinite and almighty, and we are finite and frail, it is normal for us to experience feelings of intense doubt and fear when life’s circumstances seem to overwhelm us. There are times in my life when answers are not clear, and the Lord seems absent. Yet in retrospect, in every situation, the Lord continues to be faithful…in every possible way.

Our Christian life is a “faith-walk” that will not be understood completely until we meet our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ either at death or upon His return. Until that glorious day, we can have the assurance that He is at work in us; with a promise that He will never leave nor forsake us. What a wonderful Savior!

 

For April 23, 2019
The family had no alternative but to leave their dwelling. But where? With limited financial resources, and no friends or family in the surrounding area, living accommodations for the immediate future looked bleak and the situation impossible. Yet God, who is rich in mercy, provided the assistance they needed to sustain them.

The family turned to the Lord for assistance. After fasting and prayer, the Lord provided their breakthrough and told them: “(I got this; don’t worry. I will perform a miracle that will arrange accommodations for you this very evening. Be at peace and) Enjoy your evening!”

In Psalm 23 (NIV), we read of God’s providence as our Shepherd:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In 2 Kings 18 and 19, we read how the Assyrian king Sennacherib, after having conquered the Northern Kingdom, Israel threatened to conquer the Southern Kingdom, Judah. In his insulting letter to King Hezekiah, he ridiculed God’s Chosen People for their faith in the Covenant God (Yahweh).

People living in Judah around the capital city of Jerusalem heard the translators’ condemning tone: “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?” 2 Kings 18:32-33 (NIV)

The Bible says that King Hezekiah read the blasphemous letter. Then he took it to Solomon’s Temple where he “spread it before the Lord” and prayed. (2 Kings 18:14-15ff)

After the Lord intervened—that same evening, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers lay dead, and Sennacherib retreated to Nineveh in disgrace.

In John 10, Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd who loves and cares for His sheep, even to the point of giving His life for them (at Calvary’s cross). Isn’t it wonderful to know that the Lord cares for us, and that He wants the best for us in every situation we face?

Once we accept His gift of grace (or the forgiveness of sin and the gift of eternal life) by directing our faith away from our human efforts to please God though “good works,” and direct our faith towards the perfect works He performed through His vicarious death and resurrection, we become His children—forever!

It is amazing how it is so difficult for us to trust the Lord completely when He proves Himself faithful repeatedly. Instead of trusting Him, we tend to rely on those things that will invariably fail us, just as Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NLT) teaches:

This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”

The Lord is our Good Shepherd who supplies all our needs, and as the Psalmist declares, we lack nothing. Thus, our life on earth from this day forward can be described as one filled with God’s goodness and mercy as we “enjoy the evening.” What a wonderful Savior!

For March 28, 2019
To the astonishment of the masses, the sick were healed of infirmaries no physician could cure. More importantly, people were introduced to wonderful, revolutionary, irrefutable teachings of an itinerant preacher, Jesus Christ, who spoke to each of them as though He knew them personally.

Jesus of Nazareth understood and empathized with the people who languished under the weight of the religious intolerance and Roman colonialism during the First Century in Palestine. His audience desired a lasting, meaningful, and personal relationship with God, which their corrupt religious leaders and the government could not provide for them. With sensitive hearts they embraced our Lord’s gripping words:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 7:19-21 (KJV)

For them it was validation at long last. Someone important—who knew God and spoke for God as though He was God—expressed their innermost desires and longings without laying a “guilt trip” on them.

They were no longer obligated to broadcast their religious fervor as did the corrupt religious zealots because He taught that God preferred our modesty and humility. In addition, fasting, sacrificial giving, moral purity, spiritual zeal, showing love to the unlovable, and rendering unselfish service towards others were now deemed as profitable since these (and other) ascetic practices allowed them to “lay up treasures in Heaven” from the heart.

Today we can find inspiration in this passage; or by the lyrics of a song that contains similar words; or when a Christian serves, shows love, or sacrificially gives to others without the thought of receiving recognition or repayment. Here, the heart is in the right place.

Unfortunately, the warning contained in this passage is also true. When people live their lives in a manner that implies their life’s purpose is “to get paid” as if acquiring material things is the key to eternal fulfillment; here, the heart is in the wrong place.

These people fail to see this earth is not our final destination. As the Bible tells us, we are pilgrims and strangers traveling through it. For some, the journey may be thirty years or less while others may exceed the seventy-year benchmark given in Psalm 90:10. Whatever time we have, Job 14:5 tells us the Lord has determined the exact day and time of our living and dying.

But while we await our departure (and/or His return), the Lord has promised everlasting communion with both He, and the Father through the Spirit. Before going to the cross, He offers us comfort with His promise to return:

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. John 14:1-3 (NLT)

Then just before the Ascension, Jesus reassures us He would be with us forever in Matthew 28:20. His is an intimate, communion that lasts forever. For in Christ, we have the Comforter (Holy Spirit) who gently comforts, helps, guides, teaches, and secures us until we inhabit our eternal home according to John 16:7-15.

We can find true fulfillment in a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ who instructs us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him daily. Because if we try to save our lives, we will lose them, but if we loose our lives for His sake and the Gospel’s, we will find them. Yet, He still asks us today: What is the benefit to gain the whole world, and to lose our souls? (Matthew 16:24-26)

The condition of our heart will always determine whether we will have true intimacy with God. It will also determine where and how we will spend eternity. Some say rightly that the distance between Heaven and Hell is approximately twelve to eighteen inches—the distance between the head and the heart. In other words, there is a vast difference between knowing facts about the Lord (religion) and knowing the Lord personally (relationship).

The Lord knows the intent of our hearts, and He sees all things and will rightly judge or reward us accordingly. Very soon indeed, the Lord will return and receive those of us whose hearts and treasures are not on this earth but in Heaven. Amen!