I love family gatherings like Thanksgiving or Christmas. These gatherings are even more special when all four of our children and their families are with us. However, even when we don’t have the joy of having all of them here, I love to be an observer. I am not much of a conversationalist, but I love to watch and listen to my children and their spouses conversing about all kinds of things. I don’t recall any gathering which was ruined by interpersonal discord (this could be selective memory, but I’ll call it a blessing!). Sure, there were disagreements and hurt feelings on occasion, but there was reconciliation in the end.
By far, my favorite observations are watching my grandchildren play with each other, or even by themselves. From the mesmerizing observation of a sleeping baby to the action-filled competition of a Rubik’s Cube race… from the leadership and follower-ship of a multi-age swimming pool game to something as simple as a hike in the woods… it is so satisfying and absolutely enjoyable to watch my grandchildren relate to each other, smile and laugh and talk together, solve problems together, design new games together, and just encounter – and tackle – the things that life has thrown in front of them while they are hanging out together! I just sit there in the background and watch. Depending on the activity, I participate, but always, my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude as I observe even one of them for a while. I pray for them as I realize that they are a gift of God to their parents and a crown for me. Initially, my prayers are for their salvation; following a decision to personally trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for their salvation and eternal life, I pray that they grow into faithful followers of their Lord in utilizing their gifts and being an effective witness for Him.
Did you know that your Heavenly Father looks down on you with similar thoughts? King David recorded these words in Psalm 139:17-18, “How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” Doesn’t that blow your mind? I mean, if I, a human being, have joyful thoughts of my children and grandchildren, how much more significant is it that the infinite, transcendent, all powerful, all knowing, ever present, holy, righteous, just, gracious, wrathful, good, faithful, solitary, eternal Creator would have thoughts for me? David describes them as ‘precious’. These thoughts are so numerous that they are beyond our ability to count. Even when we are sleeping, He is thinking precious thoughts about us. I can understand that from my own observation of a sleeping baby. Don’t you just love holding a sleeping baby? They are so innocent and the little sounds they make bring tears to your eyes. They are so dependent on the one who is holding them and so vulnerable. A loving parent or grandparent is watching over them and that is what our Heavenly Father relates to us.
But what about the times when children are not so compliant and demonstrate their relation to Adam and Eve (i.e., original sin)? Do we still have precious thoughts about them? Deep down inside we do, even though they may bring disappointment or evoke anger in our response because of their disobedience. After dealing with the wrong, we can look at them with eyes of love. So, when you and I sin against our Heavenly Father, there is a barrier which we place between Him and us. He is displeased with us because we are not acting like someone who is born of God. Instead we are acting out of our old character. Our Father still has precious thoughts for us yet He will not leave us and will never cast us out of His presence. We can be confident in saying, “I am still with You”, as David says in verse 18. Because He is a loving Heavenly Father, He disciplines us but He never leaves us. He has precious thoughts toward us, because we are His adopted children and we were purchased with the infinite price of Jesus’ life.
So, meditate on how precious God’s thoughts are for you; not only when you are pleasing Him in obedience, but also when He is disciplining you. “How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” The writer of Hebrews recorded these words, “It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom [his] father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He [disciplines us] for [our] good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness ” (Heb. 12:7-11). Our Father’s thoughts are all encompassing and they bring Him delight, just as we delight in observing our children and grandchildren. Just think about this. Even as God is keeping all the universe in perfect harmony, He has time to think about you. That’s how precious His thoughts are for you!
Sometimes we just go through the motions. Some seasons are spent just trudging through the routine. Doing what we’ve always done. And then occasionally something happens that snaps us out of it. Something that wakes us up and tells us that we have been sleepwalking through life; through a relationship, a job, or even a religion. Sometimes our rituals get exposed.
Acts 19 tells the story of the seven sons of Sceva. They were going through the motions of religious ritual. They were even doing something that seemed super spiritual. They were casting out evil spirits. But they were doing this through ritual incantations and chants. They were receiving prestige and payment for this but they did not have access to true life-changing power. They did not know Jesus.
In Matthew 7 Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me”
Eventually Sceva’s sons got exposed. Really exposed. Actually naked! They tried casting out an evil spirit who realized they were going through the motions. They claimed the name of Jesus without actually knowing Jesus and his power. Acts 19:16 says, “And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded!” This incident exposed how weak these guys really were. Everybody knew they were faking it.
Have the events of 2020 exposed a weakness in your spiritual life? Some Christians have realized that they were going through the motions of religion and church attendance without having a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus. Others have realized that they did not have a relationship with God at all and it took a break in their routine to help them see that. Still others have seen their faith grow as they have learned to depend more fully on Jesus in uncertain times. How about you?
Let me encourage you to take five minutes right now to pray and ask God to search your heart. Pray what King David prayed when he got exposed: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! [Psalm 139]
If you are brave enough, let me know what God revealed to you in this prayer time. Email me a couple of sentences that lets me know how I can pray for you. I want to see you come out on the other side of 2020 with a stronger walk with Jesus.
Did you know that before you placed your trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and the gift of eternal life, you were a slave of sin? You were under the power of the evil one, Satan, and you had no choice but to yield to his bidding. You were born a slave of sin. But when you made the decision to trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, you were born again and became a child of God. You were redeemed by the blood of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
The word, redeemed, is packed with meaning for us as believers. The Old Testament book of Hosea records the tragic, yet gracious, story of a prophet who married a harlot named Gomer. She was an unfaithful wife, who had children through her harlotry. Hosea and Gomer eventually separated and she became a slave. Hosea saw her in the slave market and the Lord God commanded Hosea to love her and purchase her back with the pledge that she would not return to her lovers. The picture of this tragic marriage is the marriage of God and Israel. Israel was an unfaithful wife who served idols instead of the God who had redeemed her when Moses led Israel out of Egypt.
One of the New Testament words for redemption, exagoradzo, means “to purchase out of the slave market, never to return again”. The other word is loutromai, which means “a ransom”. We were all slaves of sin and we were without any hope until God sent His Son to die in our place. His blood paid the ransom. His blood purchased us out of the slave market of sin. Now that we are redeemed, we have a choice to sin or not to sin. Paul addresses that in Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone [as] slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” Some believers take advantage of God’s grace and continue to obey their previous master, sin. Paul reminds the Roman believers, and us, “having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (v. 18). Then he exhorts us with these words, “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in [further] lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (vvs.19-23).
Let me ask you a question, “Does it make sense to you, that having been a slave of sin, then redeemed, to go back to be a slave of sin?” It is like a dog going back to its vomit! Yet that is what we do when we choose to put ourselves under the slavery of sin. It is the nature of swine to grovel in mud. You can hose them down, but if you let them back in the ‘pigpen’ they will go right on grovelling in the mud. It is their nature. Before we were born again, it was our nature to grovel in sin. Now that we are redeemed, we are slaves of righteousness and we do not have to go back to grovelling in sin.
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the freedom to choose the object of our obedience. We can be slaves of sin, which results in death, or we can be slaves of righteousness, resulting in sanctification. We become more holy. We become more like Jesus.
This is a no brainer! Choose today, who your master will be. Will it be sin and Satan, or will it be righteousness and the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who redeemed you? If you have been serving sin, confess it right now. Receive His forgiveness. Thank Him that He redeemed you. Tell Him that you choose to serve Him in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Evelyn and I lived in the “Garden State” of New Jersey for 32 years. While we lived in Cherry Hill, my daily commute involved a lengthy drive through the Central Jersey farmlands, abundant with hectares of corn and soybeans. I specifically recall observing the dedicated farmers as they plowed their fields, applied fertilizer, watered seed, and finally reaped their crops. It was a pleasant sight during that 45 minute commute.
To put things into perspective — during Jesus’ day, farming was much more common than it is today and it was accomplished without all the high-tech machines that we are accustomed to seeing. Jesus uses the illustration of a sower spreading seed on the ground in order to produce a crop. He frequently spoke in parables — fictitious stories used to teach those who had a desire to hear Truth. Every parable has a main point, only understood by those who have the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
The parable of the sower, or soils, is recorded in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-9 and Luke 8:4-8. Jesus interpreted this parable in Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-20 and Luke 8:11-15. The farmer, or sower, first prepared the field with a plow, then he walked out on the land with a bag of seeds fastened around his waist to scatter the seed onto the soil. There were four kinds of soil upon which the seeds were thrown. There was the road, the rocky places, the thorns and the good soil. The seed which fell on the road were eaten by birds. The seeds which fell on the rocky places began to grow but were scorched by the sun having no deep roots and they withered away. The seed which fell among the thorns where choked by the thorns. However, the seeds which fell on the good soil yielded a bountiful harvest.
Jesus was speaking to two groups of people: 1) those who simply heard the story and took an agricultural lesson from it, and 2) those who were listening and realized that Jesus was pointing to a deeper, spiritual meaning through the story. The seed was the Word of God being spread by His disciples. The soil was the hearts of those who were hearing the Word of God. The response to the Word is illustrated by what happened to the seed. The seed falling on the road was immediately prevented from germinating by the interference of Satan. There was no effect on that person, because there was no faith in the first place. They were not children of God. The seed falling on the rocky soil is represented by a hearer who was shallow in his faith, excited at first but who could not endure any kind of affliction, persecution, hardship or conflict as a result of their initial believing. These are those who did not have assurance of their salvation and the understanding of the cost of being a disciple. They were saved but lived as though they weren’t, thus bearing no spiritual fruit. The seed falling on the thorny soil, are those who have a crowded life, wanting the best of two worlds. They focused on pleasures, worries, riches and were unresponsive to heavenly things. They too, although saved, were unfruitful. Fortunately, the seeds which fell on the good soil produced spiritual fruit which was bountiful and brought satisfaction to the Sower, because they had accomplished His will.
So, examine your heart. Are you faithful and fruitful? Do you keep your heart refreshed by the Word of God, prayer, fellowshipping with fellow believers, serving the Lord in the power and infilling of the Holy Spirit? Continue to do that. Are you worried and worldly? Are you pursuing wealth and material things, or the preservation of comforts, luxuries and privileged positions? Where is your priority of the Lordship of Christ in your life? Are you keeping company with the world and walking the fence when it comes to moral decisions? Are you shallow and shaky in your faith, holding on to your eternal life insurance policy but not realizing that to be a disciple of Christ involves digging deeper into the riches of God’s Word. Maybe you are content with your shallow Christian life and enjoy the fleeting comfort of the world. Are you faithless and stubborn and totally reject the Truth, having never received it by faith, thinking that this faith is just not for me?
The Lord Jesus Christ is looking for those who will not just hear what He says, but will listen and obey through faith. This decision of the heart will produce spiritual fruit now and eternal rewards later when Jesus returns. What kind of soil are you?
We’re not good at resting. And we really need some good, life-giving rest these days. Too many times we look for relaxation and down-time in the things of this world. Things that just distract us but don’t actually rejuvenate. We are spiritual beings and our souls need to drink deeply from the Living Water. We need the reminder and refreshment of His grace to fill us up. The things of this world cannot and will not quench that thirst. Drinking from the things of this world is like drinking saltwater. It only leaves us drier than before.
Here’s the next part of the trap. Following Jesus, while drinking from the wrong well, can turn our relationship with Him into religion. Turn it into a routine. Turn it into morality and rule-following. Turn it into keeping the Law. But our relationship with Jesus is not based on us keeping rules and checking boxes. It is based upon his mind-blowing, self-sacrificing grace which He has lavishly poured out on us.
At the Jerusalem Council, the Apostle Peter reminded the Jewish leaders in attendance that because of the gospel of grace, God had poured his Spirit out upon the Gentiles. They were saved by grace, not works, and they would follow Jesus through the Spirit and not by the Law. He reminded them that for generations the Law had been a heavy yoke upon the neck of Israel; a yoke that none of them had been able to bear. [Acts 15:8-11]
Peter could probably remember right where he was when he first heard these words from Jesus: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Matt. 11:25-30] The Law was an impossible yoke to bear. Trying to earn God’s favor, or anybody’s approval, for that matter, will leave you tired, anxious, and fatigued.
Find rest for your soul this week by turning off the faucet to the things of this world. Find rest for your soul this week by setting down the yoke of religion and moralism. Find rest for your soul by drawing close to Jesus and learning from him. He will remind you that He loves you and that following Him is joy and peace. He will remind you that time sitting at His feet is never wasted time. He will show you that the world deals in death but He gives life in the Spirit!
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit coexisted as three eternal persons and in essence, one solitary God. Since He, by nature, is perfect, lacking nothing, needing nothing, He is never lonely. The three existed eternally in perfect harmony, enjoying the fellowship they had with each other. Out of that beautiful Oneness, God created angels and then He created Adam and Eve. There is no indication that He was lonely or that He was lacking relationship. He created angels and humanity because everything that He does brings glory to Himself, for He alone is worthy of all glory. God enjoys fellowship.
God can do anything He wants and He wanted to create angels and mankind. He enjoyed an intimate relationship with His creation until Lucifer, His most senior angel, rebelled. Lucifer, or Satan, was cast out of Heaven, God’s dwelling place, with hordes of angels loyal to Lucifer. Then Adam and Eve rebelled and were thrown out of the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had walked with God in the garden which had everything they needed as human beings and the most perfect intimate fellowship they could have had with their Creator. They threw all of that away on the day they rebelled against God and sin has separated mankind from an intimate relationship with the living God ever since.
It appeared that God had been defeated both in Heaven and on earth. Since He is the sovereign God who is Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent, His plan of having intimate relationship with His elect angels and His elect humanity can never be thwarted. God planned before time existed, that His Son, would become flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, would live a perfect life as a human being, would die a substitutionary death for all mankind, would rise up from the dead and would ascend into Heaven from where He came. Victory over death and sin was accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All who trust in His work will live eternally with Him in perfect fellowship. God’s plan in the beginning for intimate relationship with His mankind is available now on a spiritual plane. The Apostle John writes this in his gospel, “And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:3). That word “know” has the meaning of “intimate, experiential knowledge”. It means that once we have placed our trust in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are declared to be children of God and thereby begin a never ending relationship with our Creator and Father. The Apostle John writes about that fellowship, “our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3).
Although the beginning in Genesis was followed by a banishment from Paradise, Jesus told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them and that He would return and take all who are His children to live with Him for eternity. The Bible says that the present Heaven and earth will be replaced by a new Heaven and earth, which Jesus, the One Who created the original Heaven and earth, has been preparing since He ascended into Heaven almost two thousand years ago.
The first book of the Bible speaks about the first beginning and the last book of the Bible speaks about the new beginning. The garden of Eden was occupied by Adam and Eve, animals, birds, fish and crawling things. The serpent (Satan) was also there. God walked in the garden with His human creatures. The new heaven and earth will be occupied by God, countless numbers of people from every tribe, nation and tongue, who have been adopted as children of God because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This new heaven will be void of Satan and his angels, who will have been cast into the Lake of Fire for eternal punishment prior to the creation of the new Heaven and new earth. A unique aspect of this new creation is that the dwelling place of the Triune God, Heaven, will be on earth. The Apostle John wrote this as a result of the revelation He received from the Lord Jesus Christ, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be HIs people, and God Himself shall be among them.” (Revelation 21:3).
Before the first beginning, God existed alone as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Heaven. In the new beginning, God will continue to exist in fellowship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and also in delightful fellowship with all His redeemed children. Will you be there with Him?
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Those were the first words that Jesus used when he began
to preach. He went throughout Galilee, teaching and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom.
He said that the Kingdom of Heaven was for the poor in spirit, for the meek, for the pure in
heart, and for the persecuted. He said that the self-righteous could never enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. He told us that the thing we should be seeking first and foremost in this life is the
Kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we do that, he will take care of everything else. Let’s
abandon our anxious pursuit of the treasures of this earthly kingdom and instead live as citizens
of the Kingdom of God.
The word ‘Advent’ comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning ‘coming’ or ‘arrival.’ As
Christians, we use the four weeks leading up to Christmas to meditate on the incarnation of
Christ; his first coming when he was born in Bethlehem. We should also be anticipating his
Second Coming; the time when our mighty King will return and every knee on earth will bow to
him. Let’s use this Christmas season to become more aware of what we are bowing down to.
What we are worshiping. Let’s make sure that our total allegiance is to King Jesus.
Praise and thanksgiving do not come naturally to us in our fallen condition. What comes to our
hearts and our lips with ease is complaining about what we don’t have and making excuses for our shortcomings. This happens because we forget who God is and what he has done for us.
