Peter’s Posts

It was late at night or early in the morning. I was sitting in my 62 Mercury Comet station wagon outside my apartment. The dash lights were illuminating the inside of the car. The street light on the corner behind me dimly lit the outside.

I had blown it again. I knew the rules of Christian living. I’d spent the last 19 years in church at least once a week. I knew what the rules were. I just couldn’t keep them.

I was remorseful. I repented…again. It felt like it wasn’t just what I’d done that night. I was weighed down with what I had done on all the nights. All the nights and all the days. All the rules that I had broken. And now add one more to the pile of my sins. It felt like I was seeing it all at once. It also felt like God was sitting next to me staring at the huge pile of mess Then he asked me “what are we going to do with all of this?”

I was crying pretty hard at this point and I answered, “…I don’t know God…”

He said “Peter, someone has to pay for all of this. You know the rules, someone will have to die for all these sins…”

I said “ok” assuming he meant me.

I wiped away my tears and snot and went into my apartment and went to bed, expecting to wake up dead.

But life went on. I didn’t die, and life returned to normal.

In an animated version of my life, there would be a map of my spiritual journey and on that map would have a cartoon bubble that instead if saying, “you are here” it would say “for this someone must die”.

What did it mean that someone would have to die? How could God require a death?

Let’s look back to the beginning.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:15-17

Adam and Eve broke the only rule. They ate the forbidden fruit. They sinned and fell short of the glory of God.

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Genesis 3:6-10

There were consequences to Adam and Eves sin. Among them was being cast out the garden.

But God did two things. First, he made a promise to them (and so also to us) while speaking to the serpent , “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15

God promised a helper, a savior. Someone who would be bruised in the fight, but that would crush or destroy Their enemy (and so our enemy) the serpent.

Second, God provided a covering for their nakedness.

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”
Genesis 3:21

Adam and Eve were covered by the skin of animals after attempting to cover themselves with plants.

Unlike the cartoon world of Wile E. Coyote, where Wile E. can unzip his skin, in the real world of Adam and Eve, (the same world we live in), the animals died to provide their skins. This is the first recorded death in creation, and it took place in order that Adam and Eves nakedness would be covered.

Sin caused Blood to be shed.

Sin must be paid for. I guess that is not entirely true. Sin doesn’t have to be paid for. But if we want to undo the damage that sin does, and the worst of the damage is the separation between us and God, we can go on without the sin being covered. If we do that, we die separated from God. Our inclination tends to be to want to even out the score. Do good stuff so we can outweigh the bad. It doesn’t work like that. We can’t pay for it with good works. Our good works, our best possible behavior appears to God looking like filthy rags.

Sin causes death, it must be paid for with a sacrificial death, life for a life.

The pattern of sacrificial death to atone for sin is throughout the old testament. We see it in Abel’s good sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock. We see it in Abraham offering Isaac and God intervening and providing the lamb. We see it in the lamb that was sacrificed on the eve of the Exodus, and then God used animal sacrifice over and over throughout the tabernacle worship that was prescribed for his people in laying out how to worship.

But I was in modern times. Animal sacrifice had faded away. Besides, God had said to me not something, but someone. Someone would have to die to pay for my sins.

My spiritual journey continued. I was trying to pay for my sins with good works and Christian service. I planned on becoming a Lutheran Pastor. Those plans were waylaid, and I was left wondering how I would ever clean up my mess. Then early one Sunday morning, I was alone in the back room of my parent’s cafe, getting breakfast for myself and my very pregnant bride and God continued our conversation that he had started sitting next to me in my car about a year earlier. I had left school to take over the café so I could support our little family. It seemed like I would never finish school and become a pastor so how could I ever right the wrongs that I had piled up?

“Peter, Your sin problem, I took care of it”.

“How God? You said someone would have to die? I’m still alive, I’ve tried to pay for it by being good and doing good, but that’s not working either, I just keep failing…..”

“Peter, I sent Jesus for you. I sent Jesus to die for your sins, it’s my gift to you and for you”.

And then he reminded me of the verses in Ephesians 2;

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:8-10

I would later read and understand that over and over again God says in his word that he loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die in our place. From the garden and even before, he had a plan to redeem us, us his beloved fallen race.

Another of my favorite verses is in Romans chapter 5.

“6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
God has brought us reconciliation, he has restored the relationship between us and him through Jesus.
That night, the night of tears, it was so hard and yet it was a stepping stone on the pathway back to my God.
Jesus didn’t just die for me. He died for everyone. His one death covers all of our sins. He is waiting and wanting for all of us to return, through his gift of love, his gift of sacrifice, his gift of his own blood to cover our nakedness.
What will you do today about this gift? Will you receive it?
Jesus did not stay dead. Once his work was accomplished by his death, 3 days later he rose again and now he is busy preparing a place for us and also interceding for us. Going to his Father and now our Father and reminding him, that we are covered by his blood. Our sins are now forgiven.
There is room for all of us in his house. Will join Jesus and me in our Fathers house and in his family?

It is said of Clarence the angel in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, he has the IQ of a rabbit, but he has the faith of a child.

In Matthew 11 we find these verses.

“25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”’

Who is Jesus?

If we don’t use the word “my” in our answer then he isn’t all he can be to us yet.

I must’ve been 15. I was terribly snarky at that age. We were all in the 67 Ford Galaxy and it was a sunny spring Sunday. We were leaving church heading back home, my sisters Judi and Shari, My new friend Mary, my cousin Kathy, mom and dad, dad was driving. Out of the blue and probably because of my youthful Snarkiness my dad asked me, “Pete, who is Jesus?”

The car got quiet as I thought about an answer, but I said the safest thing that came to mind, “Jesus is my Lord and savior”.

The rest of the conversation is blurry but dad said something like, “you have answered well…” and “I wish someone had asked me that question at your age”.

I don’t know why my dad asked me that, but I’m glad he did. He pushed and popped a truth pimple out of me that I didn’t even know was down there.

It would be several years and many mistakes and blunders later when that confession of my mouth and the understanding in my head and the longing and belief in my heart would all come together and I would be “born again”. My dad helped me that day.

Jesus wants us to know his dad. Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven and our relationship with our Heavenly Father can be restored.

So I ask again, who is Jesus? May this question nudge you closer to a God is waiting with open arms to welcome you home.

I just finished reading The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

I didn’t understand all of it but I did like this, taken from the chapter on charity (or gift love)

“Again natural Gift-love is always directed to objects which the lover finds in some way intrinsically lovable-objects to which Affection or Eros or a shared point of view attracts him, or, failing that, to the grateful and deserving, or perhaps to those whose helplessness is of winning and appealing kind. But Devine Gift-love in the man enables him to love what is not naturally lovable; lepers, criminals, enemies, morons, the sulky, the superior, and the sneering. Finally, by a high paradox, God enables men to have a Gift-love towards Himself. There is of course a sense in which no one can give to God anything which is not already His; and if it is already His, what have you given? But since it is only too obvious that we can withhold ourselves, our wills and our hearts, from God, we can In that sense, also give them. What is His by right and would not exist for a moment if it ceased to be His (as the song is the singers), He has nevertheless made ours in such a way that we can freely offer it back to Him. ‘Our wills are ours to make them thine.’ And as all Christians know there is another way of giving to God; every stranger whom we feed or clothe is Christ. And this apparently is Gift-love to God whether we know it or not. Love Himself can work in those who know nothing of Him. The ‘sheep’ in the parable had no idea either of God hidden in the prisoner whom they visited or of the God hidden in themselves when they made the visit.”

John 5

Not the gentle Jesus

“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

This is radical. A man claiming to be equal to God. He is either crazy or he is who he says he is. If he is crazy we should ignore his words and go back to our lives seeking what pleasures and comforts that we can find until we die.

If he is Gods son? What should we do then?

“Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”

Jesus said he has the power to give life to whom he pleased to give it and that all judgement has been given to him. And that we can’t honor His father if we don’t honor Him.

These are stern hard sayings. I’m squirming a little just writing them. I’m squirming because Jesus is not talking about rainbows and flowers and sunshine, he’s talking about life and death and heaven and hell, and our role in choosing where we will end up. We choose. Choosing to follow Jesus is choosing life and eternity in heaven. Choosing not to follow Jesus is actually choosing hell.

Let’s move on.

““Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”‘

Death is coming for everyone of us. Sobering truth. Jesus said that if we hear his words and believe God who sent him we don’t have to fear death. We have crossed over from death to life.

So much of our culture we pick and choose from life like we are at a supermarket or in a buffet line. I don’t think we get to pick and choose when it comes to Jesus. You take him all or you take nothing. If you take him you have crossed over from death to life. If you don’t chose him…..? Well just choose him and we don’t have to discuss the other option.

John 5

Rules rule (not)

“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.”

How could they miss the miracle? It astounds me. Whenever I am astounded by someone else’s mistakes I try to pause and look at my own life. Where am I missing a miracle? I know I can be judgmental and prudish, excusing myself from the same scrutiny I give others.

But 38 years of torment erased by a single command of Jesus!? It says that Jesus found out how Long he had been there, I think Jesus may have enquired, “who has been here the longest?” and picked that guy out of the “great number” of people there to heal.

I don’t want to miss the miraculous by tripping over the mundane. The religious leaders of the day had written volumes of rules to live by, very specific rules that were like application for the 10 commandments. Somehow these rules were given as much or more importance than the original word of God. Jesus exposed the ridiculousness by telling this man to break the rules. God said rest on the sabbath, do no work. man said well this is what work is. Carrying a weight, the mat.

I don’t want to miss the miracle by explaining the background. Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years.

“Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

I really wish Jesus hadn’t said this or that John forgot to write it down. “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you”.

Is there a cause and affect relationship between my behavior and the consequences of my life? I don’t have the answer for that here yet.

There’s a difference between following rules made by man and following rules made by God. Breaking the rules have different consequences too. Jesus saves us from our broken rule records by paying for all those blunders with his life, dying in our place on the cross. Following rules doesn’t get us closer to God, following Jesus does.

I have accepted Jesus’ death as payment for my sins. Will you too?

Mary and I have been binge watching Leverage. It’s an action series and on almost every episode there is a rescue. Audiences love to watch a Rescue.

If the Jesus story were rewritten for a modern audience Matthew 11 might be very different. John the Baptist was in prison. He had endorsed Jesus as the messiah, Jesus was showing himself to be powerful in word and deed but John was still languishing in prison.

“11 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.[a]

2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’[c]
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence,[d] and violent people have been raiding it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

I think what John was asking in a roundabout way is, “when may I expect my release?”

The verses that Jesus quoted declared that the messiah would set prisoners free. “

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The release doesn’t come. John will be beheaded while in prison.

Jesus answer to Johns disciples was to affirm that he is the messiah and God’s plan is moving ahead. It may not look like what John was expecting. No daring prison break. No overthrow of the Roman Empire.

Sometimes the center of God’s will is to be unjustly imprisoned. It may even to be unjustly killed.

Does God know? Yes.
Does he care? Yes.

Now a question for us, can we still trust and believe in God if life is not going the way we want?

What if there is no rescue? Can God really be God if there is no rescue?

Yes.

But there is a rescue for each of us. A freeing us from a prison that each one of us is in, The prison of sin.

Jesus came to set us free, free from sin. No one else can do that and without it no other freedom matters. We will all face death. Without Jesus our sin will forever separate us from God. With Jesus even the physically imprisoned can be spiritually free.

God is good. Life is sometimes hard. God is always good.

Mary and I have been binge watching Leverage. It’s an action series and on almost every episode there is a rescue. Audiences love to watch a Rescue.

If the Jesus story were rewritten for a modern audience Matthew 11 might be very different. John the Baptist was in prison. He had endorsed Jesus as the messiah, Jesus was showing himself to be powerful in word and deed but John was still languishing in prison.

“11 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.[a]

2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’[c]
11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence,[d] and violent people have been raiding it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

I think what John was asking in a roundabout way is, “when may I expect my release?”

The release doesn’t come. John will be beheaded while in prison.

Jesus answer to Johns disciples was to affirm that he is the messiah and God’s plan is moving ahead. It may not look like what John was expecting. No daring prison break. No overthrow of the Roman Empire.

Sometimes the center of God’s will is to be unjustly imprisoned. It may even to be unjustly killed.

Does God know? Yes.
Does he care? Yes.

Now a question for us, can we still trust and believe in God if life is not going the way we want?

What if there is no rescue? Can God really be God if there is no rescue?

Yes.

But there is a rescue for each of us. A freeing us from a prison that each one of us is in, The prison of sin.

Jesus came to set us free, free from sin. No one else can do that and without it no other freedom matters. We will all face death. Without Jesus our sin will forever separate us from God. With Jesus even the physically imprisoned can be spiritually free.

God is good. Life is sometimes hard. God is always good.

(A memory from several years ago. I didn’t update the math. If you’re a math whiz post the updated hours in the comments.)

The final hour.

Which is harder to wait for? The last hour of Monday’s work day or the final hour of Friday?

Waiting is hard to do. It causes anxiety. For me the best remedy for waiting anxiety is to stay busy. To distract myself with activity.

We are waiting for Jesus to return and according to 1 John, we are in the last hour. This last hour hasn’t just seemed to take forever, it has actually been 2000 years (ish).

In hours? If I did the math right it’s been 17,520,000 hours (ish) since John wrote this.

“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
1 John 2:18-23

We have two primary jobs to do while we wait: 1. hang onto our faith. Do not walk away. and 2. Share our faith.

David, who wrote the psalms, had some experience with waiting for the Lord.

“I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

Every winter my soul starts to despair because of the short days. It seems like it’s always dark. Dark when I get up, dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home. But if I just wait a little longer, late February, the days get longer again, and there is a glimmer of light on the horizon at both ends of my workday.

Could the world be at that same spot now? Is it late February on God’s timetable? Are we seeing the glimmer of light on the horizon of time? Not because the world is improving but because the world is getting worse. We know from reading through the book that it will. It will continue to get worse.

Even if Jesus’ return is not imminent i have a job to do. I should be sharing my story about Jesus with the people I meet and see every day. Who will I share with today? Who will you share your story with? Who will you serve and help and love on because Jesus loved us first?

31%

I wish I could come up with a better way to say this but I don’t know that there is one. Living the life of a Christian is simple, but it is not easy.

Matthew 10 continues with more real life.

“32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c]
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

The life of a Jesus follower will include sacrifice. It will require devotion to Him in times of opposition. We believe in a God we cannot see, who sent a son who lived and died and rose again, who ascended into the clouds saying he would be back. 2000 years have gone by. We are still waiting.

The joke goes, what is it when a bus load of __ goes over a cliff?

The punch line is – a good start.

In some parts of the world the blank is filled in with the word Christian.

The best answer is, what is it when a bus load of anyone goes over a cliff? a tragedy. Christians make up 31% of the worlds population. What do you have when 31% of the world knows Jesus as their savior?

A good start.

We also have 69% of the world in a bus going over a cliff without knowing that they have savior who loves them. This a tragedy. We have a good start with 31% but their is much to do and who knows how much time is left? Who knows? No one. How do we get people off the bus? Maybe that’s not the best analogy, getting them off the bus. We need to tell everyone on the bus about Jesus because the truth of the matter is that we are all going to die. We are all on the bus. Let’s get busy sharing our story of how Jesus has forgiven our sin and made part of his family.

31%. Good start. Let’s make that number rise.

The next few verses in Matthew 10 are harsh but still true. They are not verses that you find on a recruitment poster.

“21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 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. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

God is not taken by surprise when bad stuff happens. It will happen. Even in families.

My great grandfather helped build the Lutheran church and parsonage in Cashmere. My dad was confirmed there and mom and dad were married there, I was sprinkled there in christening. I left that denomination and became a member of a radical Pentecostal denomination that was started by a woman. (The international church of the 4-square Gospel) I am still there. Forty years later, Mary and I are still there.

My father was deeply wounded when I took my family away. Now my kids are finding their own way in the world. They are all still believers but are finding places that can fit in and that fits them. A few years back my daughter and her husband left the church she was raised in and attended a church nearby that more aligned with her and her husband’s beliefs about church life and leadership. It was then that I learned what my father felt back in the day when I left the Lutheran church.

We are not fighting each other, not betraying unto death but there is some shifting and moving and it hurts and it’s scary but God knows. God loves my kids more than I do, more than their mom does.

My hair is numbered, I am worth more than sparrows and my Father God is not taken by surprise by changes in my life. He knows, he cares. Darker days are coming but these days are not those days.

God loves us. He has a plan for us. He wants us to spread out and spread the word, spread the good news of forgiveness and love and salvation and healing and light to a sick and dying lonely world full of pain and fear and darkness. Sometimes that will mean we are parted from from one another for a season. But some day we will all be home together again with all of those we have added to our family through sharing the good news.

The first mission of the apostles in Matthew 10 (apostle means one who is sent) is to the lost sheep of Israel, to the Jews, the lost Jewish people. Later on Jesus will broaden the scope to include all people.

“5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Shepherds of that time had it rough. There weren’t fences for pastures. Sheep would stray. Sheep who stray are easier targets for wolves to kill and destroy.

We have an enemy. He is actively seeking out those who stray. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

In the wild it’s the weak and the straying that get picked off. This entire world is wild.

Message to the sheep in the flock: Huddle up sheep. Huddle and and cuddle and stay close to the shepherd. Protect each other and follow the shepherd.

Message to the shepherds: Gather the strays. If we see a stray, so does our enemy. He wants to destroy them. Who will get there first?

Jesus is THE good shepherd. He is calling for us to come to him and be safe.

“11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”’

Jesus is the good shepherd who has laid down his life for us his sheep. I want to learn to follow his voice and stay close.

Jesus please don’t let me stray.

But that’s not the entire message of this section is it? We, Jesus’ followers, are to go out and serve the world. We are To teach, to heal the sick, to free from the devil, cleanse lepers, to raise the dead. We are the shepherds of the sheep. We are to protect. Will we run from the wolves and lions or will we protect the flock Jesus has put under our care?

We have been given the mission, the authority and the tools. Will we do the job we’ve been given?

I do worry about what to say to others about Jesus and about following him. Jesus to not do that, to not worry because the Holy Spirit will be speaking through us. I have been encouraged by others to just tell my story. Tell others how Jesus has been working in my life. I am. I will. I do. I fail but I try again.

Shall we all just do it together? Let’s go tell the world about our Jesus and how much he loves us and loves them.

We love our stuff. Americans, we love our teams, our beers our coffee, our political parties, our birthday parties, our jeans, our sneakers, our car brands (or truck brands). We love our stuff. I love my stuff.

I love watermelon and I love pepperoni pizza and i love sitcoms and crime dramas and tools and toys. I love cars and trucks, some more than others (wink-wink Rusty!) I love my wife and kids and my grandkids. (This is not a prioritized list).

To not love stuff, well it’s downright unamerican. Who doesn’t love stuff? Who shouldn’t love stuff?

As it turns out… me. I shouldn’t love stuff.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
1 John 2:15-17

Everything in the world is good, God declared it so at the end of creation but it has in it an enticement that can lead me away from my love of God. My little human heart has only a certain amount of love. How will that be divided?

Jesus said the two most important laws are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and and all of our strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.​

If I love God first and foremost it opens the chambers of my life to more love. Like when I see my wife from across the room my pupils dilate. They open up as if to get more of her visage and likeness into my head and heart. When I love God first, my heart is opened up to allow more love for people. When I understand that God is creator of all things then things take on a different level of respect and admiration. I see things as part of a creators creation and I start to see people differently. I start to see Each one as a person created to spend eternity in fellowship with God but just now separated from him by sin.

Unless.

Unless we meet Jesus and accept his gift of reconciliation.

This is how that reconciliation happens: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile —the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:9-13

Say out loud “Jesus you are now my Lord, (master-boss-king-ruler-leader) and I believe that you rose from the dead. “

Can it really be that simple?

Yes, but try it and see.

What changes? Down here? Not much. In heaven? There’s a party, in your heart? Sin is forgiven. And the driver seat of your heart is now occupied by the Holy Spirit.

Buckle up. You are beginning a new adventure.

This is the anniversary of the day that I died.

The date was February 18, the year was 1972.

There were 5 of us in the old crewcab truck. My foster brother Rodney was driving, my sister Judi was sitting in the middle of the front seat, my sister Kitti and her boy friend Steve were in the back seat and I was riding shotgun. The truck was a Forrest service surplus. Seating for 6 and under the hood each passenger was represented by one cylinder, the long way to say it had a small 6 cylinder engine. It was not fast.

The night was foggy and cold. It was February fog, thick and sticky. We were driving from Milton-Freewater to Pendleton. The Loeffelbein’s had started a great adventure in leasing Curl’s Drive in in Milton-Freewater but were having trouble selling the house in Pendleton. The trip was supposed to be a chance for us kids to see our friends and help pack up the house. We didn’t make it very far.

Just outside of town there is a long steep grade that at that time had only two lanes. (I believe it’s 3 lanes now). I don’t know the ladies name in the slow car that was in front of us, I think she was driving a Rambler. Rodney thought it would be safe to pass. We were slightly ahead of her car when we saw the lights of the on coming car, they weren’t headlights, just park lights but it was a car in the lane in front of us. Rodney tried swerve back into our lane, there just wasn’t enough time.

I’m not sure which car hit us first but both cars did. I’ve heard that by the time it was all over there were 17 cars involved. The impact tore the cab we were in free of the truck frame.

When my dad who was at work in Pendleton heard about the accident from the state patrol all he knew was that his kids were in an accident and that there had been a fatality.

When he and my brother arrived on the scene our crewcab was in pieces strewn around the hi-way. The cab was upside down just off the road.

I don’t know the sequence of events except from my experience so that’s what I’ll tell you. When I woke up I was laying on the ceiling of our truck. People were all around, there were flashlights and people were asking me questions. I tried to talk but the lower half of my face felt like jello. I would find out later that my jaw was broken in 5 places. Somehow all 5 of us stayed in the cab. None of us were using seat belts (seat belts?).
Rodney had been pushing so hard on the brake that his foot had gone through the floor. His femur was shattered. Judi broke her wrist. Kitti broke her ankle. Steve was the worst of us. He had a skull fracture. At that point we were busted up but alive. The driver of the oncoming car had died on impact. My condolences to his family.

Somehow they got me out of the truck and into an ambulance. As I lay there on the gurney I started to panic but I heard a voice in my head that said “Jesus will take care of you”. I relaxed and either passed out or fell asleep or died. I don’t know. I just know that I’ve never known rest like that before or since. It was blissful.

At the hospital things were a little hectic. My gurney was in the hallway and when my mom arrived the doctors in triage were working on me. When My mom arrived she saw the doctors walking away from me she asked if she could talk to me, one doctor answered, “well it doesn’t matter now “. She started gently rubbing my leg and I started to cough. The doctors spun around and started working on me with renewed vigor.

I remember this scene but I remember it from a view above my body. As the gurney was wheeled into a room I remember sort of sqooshing back into myself.

All of this kind of got shoved aside as the crisis of all of us was being taken care of.

My jaw was set with a plate. They were going to wire it shut but my burn scars were too tough to cut through so they went with the plate. At a follow up orthodontic appointment the doctor who had been at the hospital when I arrived told my mom that I was clinically dead when I arrived. She almost fainted. After we got home we talked about all the details. I remembered the weird way that I recalled the event, from above my body.

I’m not sure how to close this. I’ve given the facts but it doesn’t seem complete. Dying and coming back to life. It happened. It changed me I’m sure but since I was so young (11) I don’t know how different things would be without the experience . One thing that happened because I had the plate in my jaw. Mary and I broke up
My senior year. I was trying to get out of town so I signed up to join the air force. I was going to leave early, before graduation. I had scored pretty high on my ASVAB so they were excited to get me. Everything was a go until during the medical questionnaire they asked me if I had any pins or plates. I told them
About my jaw and everything came to a screeching halt. Due to the plate I would not be joining any of our armed services. I stayed in soap lake. I graduated in June of 1979 and eventually (August of 1979) Mary and I went to a movie and before the sun rose the next day, we were not only back together, but engaged. The rest of the story is our marriage and family.

I died, I don’t know how long I was gone. I have no other memories from that experience. I don’t know why it happened. I do know this, God works all thing together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. I do love him and he has brought good to me even though life, at times was very rough.

Titus 3

“3 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.”

On Crete the people were like, “One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”[a] 13 This saying is true. “

Then Jesus got ahold of them.

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

I was a broken, messed up, misguided, self centered pleasure seeker before Jesus got ahold of me. All of that still bangs on the door of my soul demanding to come back into my life and take over again. Jesus has forgiven me my past and empowers me in my present. He stays with me through each blunder and each success.

The only difference between me and those lost people around me is that I met Jesus. Can I help someone find Jesus today?

We need to try not to get tangled in arguments.

“But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.”

Grace, the unmerited favor of God be with us all.

Titus 3

“3 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone.”

On Crete the people were like, “One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”[a] 13 This saying is true. “

Then Jesus got ahold of them.

“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”

I was a broken, messed up, misguided, self centered pleasure seeker before Jesus got ahold of me. All of that still bangs on the door of my soul demanding to come back into my life and take over again. Jesus has forgiven me my past and empowers me in my present. He stays with me through each blunder and each success.

The only difference between me and those lost people around me is that I met Jesus. Can I help someone find Jesus today?

We need to try not to get tangled in arguments.

“But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. 11 You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.”

Grace, the unmerited favor of God be with us all.

Long term or short term solutions? Why not both?

Matthew 9 starts out with the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man. There is more details about the story in Mark 2 and Luke 5. The mans friends were so determined to get their sick buddy to Jesus that they hauled him up to the roof, made a hole, rigged some ropes, and lowered their buddy down from the ceiling. Kind of like a reverse jewel heist.

“Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. 2 Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”’

(Matthews version is underwhelming in suspense and drama. )

I wonder what his friends thought about going through all the trouble to get their buddy to Jesus, only for Jesus to forgive his sin. But the story continues.

“3 At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”

4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home. 8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.”

My long term problem is the sin that separates me from God. If it isn’t taken care by the time I die I will go to hell. My short term problems, health, wealth (or lack of), clothing, shelter, they are what I pray about, what I worry about, what consumes my focus and energy but the real problem of sin is much more serious.

As I’m writing this I’m listening to an icy wind howling outside. It’s 19 degrees with a 9 mph wind. According to my weather ap It feels like 8 degrees. It reminds me of the harshness of our world and how real our problems are. Life can seem long but it’s measured in years. Death and what comes after? We can’t measure because you can’t measure something that continues forever. Eternity is eternal.

Is it easier for Jesus to heal me or forgive me? Which is more important? Healing seems very important when I’m sick but Since healing will only last my lifetime how important is it? Forgiving my sin will change my life for now and forever.

I am so grateful that I can go to Jesus and be forgiven and ask for healing. I know I will be forgiven, I don’t know if I’ll be healed. I think I’m still getting what’s important.

But wait, there’s more…

How many times have we heard that line in a TV ad?

The next story in Matthew 8 is about Jesus healing 2 demon possessed men that lived in tombs.

When I read it through I was distracted by the fact that Matthew talks about two men but when Mark and Luke tell the story they only mention one.

I did some extra research and read what the experts had to say. While reading about that, one expert mentioned the fact that while Jesus was in the midst of a successful ministry time, crowds were gathering, he hopped in a boat and went to the very place where two men were being tormented by a demonic legion. No one could contain these guys. Not only were they busting ropes, they were breaking chains. If they couldn’t be contained then they also couldn’t be set free. Jesus dropped everything and crossed a lake in a storm to get to These men.

“28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.”

Jesus knows us, knows our troubles. He knows where we are and what we are going through and how to set us free and is able to set us free. No matter who or what or how many, Jesus can set us free. These men were not able to be held prisoners by anything but were in fact enslaved by evil. Jesus set them free with a word. He said to the legion, “go!” And they went.

I want add just a little from Luke’s telling of the story.

“34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”

Jesus can restore us. He can bring release from enslavement to evil, he can bring sanity back. Jesus sought these guys out. He then set them free when no one else could. They couldn’t be chained or freed.

Today, right now, Jesus is still seeking the lost hurt and damaged. How do I know? I am one. I am damaged on the inside and the outside yet, Jesus loves me.

He loves us. Will we allow Jesus into our lives and let him clean us, clothe us and set us right?

It was a chilly morning he could see his breath as he strapped on his worn and dusty work apron.

He walked to the wood stove, opened the door door then walked to his scrap pile of wood and picked up piece after piece. With each piece he raised his eyebrow and squinted down on the wood, as if to ask a question, will you or won’t you? Then he would pause as if waiting for the wood to respond to an unasked question. With some he would shake his head slowly and sadly and toss the piece of wood into the fire.

With some pieces he would purse his lips in a slight smile, eye brows raised in approval and nod and toss the wood onto his work table.

It seemed the wood was choosing its own fate; the work bench or wood stove.

Once the fire was roaring and the room was warm, the carpenter went to work.

The workshop seemed to be cluttered with pieces and parts of many different kinds of furniture. It seemed to have no rhyme or reason. There were spindles and chair back slats, chair seats, cupboard doors and dressers, and drawers, rockers without chairs and chairs without rockers, cabinets, and parts of stairs wells, Newell posts, and every other odd piece and part to make any and every kind of furniture. It may have seemed cluttered and a jumble but each piece and part was known by the carpenter. Each piece and part had a purpose and a plan to be fit into a larger piece. As needed the pieces would form a group that had a purpose. A chair or table or night stand or a pulpit, a bench, a stool, a set of stairs, a bed, all types and all kinds and all styles.

The carpenter never seemed to be in a hurry to finish a part. He would slowly shape and mold each piece, cutting, filing, rasping, chiseling, sanding and re-sanding, until each piece was ready. Occasionally a piece of wood would split or crack. Again the carpenter would look intently at the wood, holding it up to the light with one eyebrow raised and a slight tilt of the head,

His face asked “will you or won’t you?”

Then the pause, with an unspoken answer to an unspoken question the piece was repaired or was tossed into the fire. If repairs were the course taken, The glue applied and the clamps would be pressed on with incredible force and pressure, and then left to dry, to seal and repair the damage and make the piece stronger than it was to begin with.

The others, resistant to repair, refusing the glue and clamps would be taken to the fire. The carpenters face was always sad when the piece was tossed into the flames.

The unspoken question was to the piece of wood, will you or won’t you submit to my plans for you? The carpenter had plans, good plans, plans to incorporate and use every piece of wood in his work shop. Every piece and part would be as smooth as it needed to be, and take the shape required of it. Some pieces were put into a hot bath and the bent and pressed into a shape they never realized they could be. Some would be joined, pressed and glued to others that were different species and different colors and made more beautiful by their combined assemblage. Not one piece was left unchanged. The carpenter had a purpose and a place and s plan for any and all who would entrust themselves to his hands.f

For those who would not submit? Sadly, it was the fire.

Jeremiah 29:11-14a

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.

God has a perfect plan for each one of us. To prosper us. That word prosper doesn’t mean to make us rich, rather it means to allow us to live to our full potential, to fully and completely be used to the best of our ability. To serve in the sweet spot where our gifts and abilities fit the needs of those around us.

God is committed to finish what he has started in us. We don’t need to fear reprisals or condemnation from him. If we get sidetracked or sidelined by life he waits for us to rejoin his plan. He is the God of completion.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Phil 1:3-6

The image of God tossing someone into the flames- it’s not the warm fuzzy view of the permissive God who winks at sin and rebellion. God wants our obedience. We do have a choice. Our choice is not “submit and obey or die in the flames of hell!!!!”, no! our choice is, will we receive God’s gift of salvation and forgiveness and submit ourselves to his plan? If we want his forgiveness but bristle at submitting to his plan then we will not receive either forgiveness nor his plan to finish his work on and in us. He cannot be our savior if he is not also our Lord.

If we will not allow him control of our life, then we have chosen to be separated from him forever and that will be hell for us.

God is a skilled craftsman. There is no carpentry imagery in scripture that I am aware of. However The Bible shows us in Jeremiah God’s working with Israel as a potter works on clay. Same idea, different medium.

Jeremiah 18. The potter and the clay.

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear[a] my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.”

In the potters shed there is a wheel for forming, a shelf for drying and an oven for hardening. The process goes from one difficult thing to another but in the end the clay that was dirt beneath the potters feet becomes something useful and sometimes beautiful. It could be a bed pan for service or a vase for beautiful flowers or a cup or a bowl give drink to the thirsty or to feed the hungry. If the clay will surrender to the potter something good will become of it.

Jesus came to save us, not condemn us. We have to choose though.

“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. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” Jn 3:16-21

If the clay will surrender to potter’s hands, something good will come of it. If the wood will surrender to the carpenter, something good will come of it. If I will surrender to the God of creation and of salvation, something good will come of it. And what of you my reader? What will you choose today? Will you accept Gods forgiveness and submit your self to his plan? Something good will come it.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

God has paid the price to free us from sin through sacrificing his one and only son Jesus on the cross. The perfect man died in our place, took the punishment we deserve. He rose again from the dead, proving his victory over sin and death and opening the gate way to eternal life with God.

Today will you receive God’s forgiveness and submit yourself to his master plan for your life? If you already have done this, will you share? Will you tell someone else your story of redemption and renewal? Where are you on your spiritual journey today?

(This Is from several years ago but I think it has some value for us today )
Warning: broad generalizations ahead.

I have been thinking about how godlessness is so normal now. We have made a world where life without God is normal and a person who believes, loves and serves a god, especially the God of the bible is an oddity and to be held in suspicion and disgrace.

We binged on one of my favorite shows, Longmire and after several episodes where the good guy wins I began to wonder what it is that makes him good? There is no mention of God, the bible or any standard of morality, and yet, every episode is a moral conflict. I understand the conflict and what the moral choice should be but I have a standard to live by. The characters have nothing to base their decisions on.

Satan on the other hand is very popular this season. He is represented in several TV shows. According to our culture the devil is more normal than a christian. I haven’t watched it but there is a show called Lucifer. Maybe it’s about Cinderella’s cat. I don’t think so though.

Could it be that there is a plan to desensitize us to the person of Satan? To make him a fictional character, at the whim of some slick hollywood writers? to make him normal and to make God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit odd?

I am also seeing so many revisionist story lines where the character that we grew up believing is the bad guy suddenly becomes the much maligned and misunderstood good guy. Wicked the musical comes to mind as well as Maleficent.

Is this all part of some grand evil plot?

Yes. Yes it is.

“28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

Christians beware and be alert and be filled with the love of Jesus for this fallen and broken world that we live in.