This morning my Bible reading took me to Ephesians chapter 2. There are verses in this chapter that changed my life.

I had grown up in church. My German name, Loeffelbein may give a hint to which denomination we belonged to, Lutheran. Lutherans are very Bible focused. The Liturgy is filled with quotes from the Bible so I don’t know how I missed the very center of Lutheran theology, that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by works, not by piling up good deeds. But I missed it somehow. I was convinced that God was mad at me for my sins and I had to earn my way back into his favor by doing good deeds and avoid his wrath and anger by not doing bad deeds. I was wrong. This chapter in Ephesians slays that thought process, completely undoing a salvation by works mentality.

“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.” Eph 2:8-10.

Jesus death on the cross paid for my sins. Completely totally wiped away my debt. Some say it like this. Jesus + nothing = salvation.

I am completely saved by my faith in Jesus, what he accomplished on the cross. His last words were, “it is finished“.
Then he gave up his spirit. 3 days later he rose from the dead and is alive forever.

Where are you on your spiritual journey? Are you where I was, trying to earn your way into God’s favor and pleading for mercy, doubting you will ever measure up?

Later in chapter 2 of Ephesians there is more encouragement for us.

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

Jesus said it was finished, he meant for all humans drawing breath, our debt for the sins we have committed has been paid and we now have access to God our father. We are accepted into God’s family through Jesus death and given new life through his resurrection.

My hope is that this gives you hope. That you will accept God’s gift to you of the sacrifice of his son to pay for all of your sins, our sins.

We are saved by grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor, a favor we do not, we cannot deserve. It is a gift. Will you receive God’s gift of forgiveness and adoption today?

I hope so.

A warning or an encouragement?

“There is either a warning or an encouragement here for every one of us. If you are a nice person- if virtue comes easily to you- beware! Much is expected from those to whom much is given. If you mistake for your own merits what are really God’s gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous. The devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above a chimpanzee.

But if you are a poor creature-poisoned by a wretched upbringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels- saddled, by no choice of your own, with some loathsome sexual perversion- nagged day in and day out by an inferiority complex that makes you snap at your best friends- do not despair. He knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom he has blessed. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can. One day (perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that)He will fling it on the scrap heap and give you a new one. And then you may astonish us all-not least yourself: for you have learned your driving in a hard school. (Some of the last will be fist and some of the first will be last).”

C.S.Lewis. Mere Christianity

How did Professor Lewis know me and my family so well? In a recent conversation with my older brother, he reminded me of a fight my parents had behind closed doors. It was the swinging 60s. We don’t know what happened but my mom used words that we never heard her say before or since. At some point she left us for weeks. That house, that home, that atmosphere of perversion and anger, it colors me still. And God knows. He knows my innocence was stolen. He knows the wreck of a life I was given to drive. Someday I will be free of it all, but in the meantime I am helped and I am understood. I am forgiven and am loved. So I keep on and I do what I can.

I hope this helps someone today.

“3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3-10 – NIV

I’m still on my journey of reading through the New Testament in a year. It only requires reading one chapter a day, 5 days a week. Right now I’m reading through Paul’s letter to the Romans. I read chapter 8. It holds one of my life verses.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 NIV

I am surrounded by beautiful people. My wife is a beautiful person inside and out. We created 4 beautiful children. Those children have given us 11 beautiful amazing grandchildren. I have an amazing job and work with some brilliant people. I go to church and serve with some of the most gracious and loving friends.

It’s like I have been plopped down into the most beautiful, amazing, fragrant, gorgeous garden, all around me and even from me is beauty. But this shouldn’t ought to be. I don’t fit. I don’t fit into my own life. My life was radically altered at age 8 when my face was burnt off and I was left permanently scarred and disfigured. How is this so? How can a man be disfigured and scarred and yet be surrounded by beauty?

God. Only God could do something like this. I should’ve been destroyed and/or remained an outcast but God has turned my literal ashes into beauty, not me, I’m not beautiful, but all around me? Beauty.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

God is good. He does good things. When we submit our lives to him He takes the worst parts and builds them back into who we are and makes them a blessing. At least that’s been my experience.

What can he do in your life? There’s no limit to his power, creativity, and love for us.

Romans chapter 8 ends with some of the most encouraging words ever written.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The love of God is transformative. Look at me. Look at my life. Look at what beauty God has brought about through the very ugliness that could’ve, maybe should’ve destroyed me. Will you reach out to him today and invite him into your life?

Isaiah 61 has more words of encouragement.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.”

Did you catch that one phrase that describes my life? Beauty for ashes. Literally my nose was a crusty cinder. Now I am surrounded by beauty.
How?!
God!
Why?!
Love.

Where are you on your spiritual journey today? Will you invite God into the middle of it. Even if it is messy he will transform it. That’s what he does. If you need an example just look at my life.

He’s talking about us.

In Matthew 22 Jesus was talking to the religious leaders of his day about you and me.

“22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

“‘So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’”

We are invited to the wedding! God has invited us to the party. In days gone by it wasn’t so easy to become part of God’s family and to be invited in but now through Jesus all we have to do is confess and believe to become part of his family and to be invited to the party.

Paul explains it in his letter to the Romans:

“21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Then later in his letter he says this:
“But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 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. 10 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. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”’

Come today, come to the party, God’s invitation is open to any and all. Welcome.

On our last night in Italy we stayed at a hotel that had a wonderful restaurant. As we entered the restaurant the owner stood at the door with his arms stretched out and said “hello! My name name Guido and this is my restaurant, come in and enjoy!”

That’s how I see God right now waiting for anyone who will hear his voice.

Listen! He’s calling us! Today, Right now, today.

Will you enter? Today?

The stone of heart

On my wandering through Pinterest I saw a craft that I thought was cute. Someone had encircled the base of a tree with heart shaped rocks and they were all painted with various colors and designs. I decided this could be an entry level craft that I could do with all my grandkids so on my daily walks I started looking for heart shaped rocks. While walking one day I started mulling over the phrase heart of stone. I remembered the verses about God wanting to remove our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

I thought about that for awhile Then I flipped the phrase to stone of heart. I thought you know, that’s who Jesus is. He is the cornerstone, the rock of salvation yet he is loving and kind and gracious. He is a stone made of heart (love).

In the meantime I have been reading through the Gospel of Matthew and a couple of words have stuck out, Every and All.

Whenever Jesus encounters crowds of people, the sick and infirm and lame and blind and demon possessed are brought to him and he heals them, heals them all.

I first noticed it in Matthew 4. Everyone was healed of every sickness disease and demon possession. I note Matthew 4 but the theme holds true throughout the book. He healed everyone, he healed them all.

attendant this writing I am up to chapter 21. Jesus has just entered Jerusalem and the first thing he did was to “cleanse the temple”. He didn’t grab a mop and a broom and start washing the floors. He stopped people from doing evil. He stopped merchants from fleecing the people who came to worship God.

He overturned the money changers tables and those selling doves.

A little background might help those who are unfamiliar with this section of the story. Everyone who came to the temple had to bring an animal sacrifice. The only way to appease God and have sins forgiven was through the shedding of blood. Sheep, goats, bulls, oxen, there were times for each of these to be the required sacrifice but if you were poor, or if you traveled a long way to get to the temple, the entry level sacrifice was a dove. Normally you wouldn’t travel with the dove, A dove needed to be purchased At the temple, an overpriced dove. That was fleecing operation one. overcharge for the required dove sacrifice. fleecing operation two: overcharge for a currency exchange. You needed to buy a sacrifice to make yourself right with God, However, you couldn’t buy it with regular currency. Roman coinage was no good at the temple you had to use temple money which could be exchanged from Roman coinage, but there was a handling fee, exorbitant handling fees. The merchants had turned worship into a money making scheme. And the priests and Pharisees were okay with this. It had become a business.

Jesus disrupted this whole scheme, undid the scam. He overturned the tables and chased away the money grubbing merchants. The ruling authorities were ticked off. They asked Jesus “who do you think you are?!”

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.”

We know from this side of the story that Jesus is the chief corner stone.

He is the stone that the builders rejected.

Matthew 21:42 quoting Psalm 118:22-23.

“Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Jesus is the cornerstone of our belief in God. When building a building you You start with the cornerstone. The stone is made level and plumb it is made Straight because everything else is built off of the cornerstone. We are built on him. Jesus is the only human to ever be “level and plumb”. He was and is perfect. We can use him to base our lives on.

He is a stone. Solid. Unmovable. And he is love.

Luke 19:10 says “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

John 3:16-17 says “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.”

The letter of 1 John says this about God’s love, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Later on in the same letter John continues about God’s love for us, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

God loves us, he sent Jesus to die for us, Jesus loves us, he willingly gave up his life for us to pay for our sins. Jesus after ascending into heaven sent us the Holy Spirit as our comforter, guide, companion, and advocate. What a loving series of actions.

If this is all true then Jesus is as my aimless mental wondering declared the stone of heart.

Jesus knows.

He knows stuff. He knows the future and he knows the past. In Matthew 21 Jesus predicts not only what would happen within days but then what would happen in about 37 years.

“33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[h]?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”[i]

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.”

It all came true. They will arrest him. They will try and convict him. They will beat him. They will force him out of the city. They will kill him. And then God will boot them (the religious leaders) out of the city, destroy the temple and the city in 70 a.d.

Jesus knows stuff. Not just general events kind of stuff but heart and mind stuff. He knows my heart. Even when my heart wants something bad, something wrong, or when it will not forgive, or when it hates. He knows that stuff about me, about us. And yet…

And yet he died for me, for us. He died the death we deserve. And then…

And then he rose from the grave! Jesus is alive! Today, right now, he is alive and well and is waiting for us to choose to accept his deal, the deal of all of eternity, we confess we need him, and he forgives all of our bad and we become part of his family!

He knows stuff. He knows stuff about us. And he still loves us.

Today is a good day to accept his offer.

Change. Jesus brought it with him. He could change people physically and change them spiritually. He changed water into wine. He changed blind and lame and deaf and mute people into seeing and walking and hearing people. He changed dead people into living people. When he entered the temple he changed it from a market back into a house of prayer.

I can change my house, we’ve done a lot of changing it. I have the authority to do so because I own it. (I will own it after 456 more payments).

In Matthew 21 the religious leaders of the day questioned Jesus’ authority to make the changes that he did.

“23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”‘

Does the owner of a thing have to show his deed to the place at the hardware store? I never have. There are times when I should have. Maybe not questioned my authority but my ability.

Jesus has both, authority and ability. He has a master plan for each one of us. He is standing on the front porch of our lives with blueprints and tools and supplies patiently knocking on the door. He is the owner, we are only tenants.

Paul says this in his letter to the Philippians, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy I thank my God every time I remember you. 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 1:4-6 NIV

Remodeling is a lengthy and messy business. God is committed to completing what he started in each one of us. Last night I just finished painting over the spackle that I used to fill in holes that I made by mistake. It was a project that I started almost a year ago. There is dust and junk and unexpected detours. But God has a plan. He actually knows how best to change us to make us into what he needs to expand his kingdom. That is the goal, kingdom expansion. God wants his flag flown over every home.

Will we let Jesus into our lives so he can change us?

Today is a great day to get started.

I’m on a quest to read through the New Testament in a year. Today I read Romans chapter two.

At the same time at our church we are studying with The Man in the Mirror studies which promotes the concept that Christianity is not a set of rules set up for behavior modification but it is rather a relationship with Jesus where he transforms us from the inside out through his grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to change us.

Chapter 2 talks about behavior. It has confused me.

“He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.”
Rom.2:6-8 NLT

This sounds like it is all up to us. That we earn what we get.

But later in the same chapter as Paul speaks to his fellow Jewish believers we read this:
“ No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.”
Rom 2:29 NLT

Later on in chapter 3 Paul will show us that we all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God both Jews and non-Jews (gentiles).

“But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.”
Rom 3:21-28 NLT

We enter into a relationship, into a family, it’s like we are born anew or born again into a relationship with Jesus when we believe in his death and resurrection washing us clean of all of our sins and mistakes.

Christianity is not a mold we form ourselves into my lobbing off the behaviors that don’t fit the mold. It is being born into a new family where we are guided by the very spirit of the God we have fallen down to worship and adore. We now grow into the new thing God is creating in us.

We grow into a new person like when a baby is born. We aren’t forcing a new life over an old life. We are starting a fresh new life.

I was hoping for a clever finish but this the best I can come up with. I hope this makes sense. If you are a man looking for a place to learn more about Jesus and how best to follow him, Desert Men – Kingdom Builders meet every Thursday, 7 pm, at Desert Church in Ephrata. Come and join us.

Do you need something big?

Maybe it’s so big that it seems impossible?

Ask my God for it. I serve the God of the impossible. Even if you don’t know him very well yet, you can still ask him. He hears our prayers. I know it’s another thing that seems impossible, one being hearing all of our prayers, but he isn’t like us, only infinitely better, he is completely different, completely separate from us.

The apostle Paul has this to say about him “now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen“

He isn’t a genie, we can’t demand anything from him, but we can ask him for everything. He will answer and his answers are always perfect, they yes, no and not yet, or wait, I have something even better than what you’re asking for.

We have not, because we ask not.

In 4th grade I was having a bully problem. I asked for something that would level the playing field, literally level the ground and/or the school building, I asked for a bazooka, a powerful weapon. I didn’t get it. Not because God couldn’t provide a bazooka, but becauseGod in his wisdom knew I didn’t need a bazooka, I needed conflict resolution skills, courage and forgiveness. He gave me what I needed, not what I asked for.

So again, I say to my friends who read my posts, do you have an impossible need? Ask my God and what he will do for you.

He sent us his very best gift already. He sent us his only son Jesus to suffer and die on the cross to pay for all of our sins. Then he conquered death by raising to life again 3 days later.

You can read more about that in Romans chapter 5:6-11.

Ask for the impossible and see what my God can do.

Can people really change? Does meeting Jesus and having him become our master really have any affect on us?

(Col 4)

Once upon a time there was a slave who lived in Colosse. He was a young man born into slavery. He stole some money from his master and ran away to the big city of Rome. He was hoping to lose himself in the crowds. In stead he met a man named Paul who introduced him to a God/man/savior named Jesus. This slaves name was Onesimus. Paul had this to say about the character of this guy; “He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.”

And this “Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus,[b] who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.”

The second quote is from the book of Philemon. Philemon was Onesimus’ owner. How strange to own another human yet he did and it was within his rights to do anything to his slave. Paul asked for mercy and forgiveness.

The name Onesimus means useful.

Jesus can change people from useless to useful. He can set the the heart of one enslaved free, even if his body is still owned.

There are many modern slaveries that we get sold into. Jesus can set us free by washing away sin and breaking chains, spiritual chains the keep us locked into patterns and behaviors.

Can people change? Hmmm. Can Jesus change people? Yes.

(As a kid, every Saturday morning was filled with the Bugs Bunny cartoon show. One of his cartoons was set in the Wild West where he sang a song:

🎶“I can’t get a long little doggy, I can’t even get one that’s small, I can’t get a long little doggy, I can’t get a doggy at all..”🎶

That’s what I was thinking about when I read these verses. Getting a long. Getting along)

Get a long little doggy?

No, get along little doggy.

Colossians 3 (and a tiny part of 4)

The next bit of bible I’m going to quote is how to get along with people. How to live in community. The very next sentence is a very controversial, counter cultural bit of advice. The way our society recoils at it you would think it said that God hates puppies. God doesn’t hate puppies. He loves puppies. You know what he loves more than puppies? Us. People. Men and women. And he wants us to live in the best possible way. Since he created us he probably (probably?) knows how we can best live. He gives us the manufacturers recommended way to use this thing called life.

Here it is:

” 18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers,[c] do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.
4 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.”

Jesus loves us and has died to pay for all of our sin and now he lives forever and we can too, with him.

If we fail….when we fail at the above list of interpersonal relationships we have forgiveness in Jesus.

I recently read this in this very same book;
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Get along little people.

(It’s funny that this popped up today because I was just thinking about someone I know who has a lot of bitterness and unforgiveness weighing them down. I hope that they can find freedom. I did. I confessed my sins to the person in this post and was forgiven. I am free and forgiven, forgiven by my victim and forgiven by God. It’s good to be free of all that baggage.)

A memory from a few years back.

We’re all travelers, my advice? pack light.

(Col 2, Matt 6)

Mary and I were talking last night as we sat out under the stars and watched the planes fly over. Seeing the planes makes us think of our adventures in Italy last year. We want to go back but we would change one thing. We would pack lighter. Images of the two of us taking busses, trains and boats with 3 suit cases pops into our heads. It was comical.

Have you ever been lugging around baggage (or is is bagging around luggage?). Carrying more than is comfortable? It’s so hard. Pulling around a huge box of stuff that seemed so very important at the time. It was meant to be an asset but in actuality becomes a liability.

I went to a family gathering this last weekend. One thing that happened there is that it reminded me of baggage that I carry of things done in my past. Things done Not to me, but by me.

Colossians 2 says this about our sins:

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

I know Jesus has forgiven me, but I haven’t done the next step and and confessed and repented to the offended. With every year it seems more difficult to do. Soon. I’m really tired of carrying this luggage or lugging this baggage.

I don’t hold any grudges, not with my family anyway but that’s another set of bags that we can drag around with us.

There is a warning at the bottom of the Lord’s Prayer, one that states Our own forgiveness hinges on whether or not we forgive others.

“9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Forgiving others is like having your luggage sent ahead, like checking it at the gate. Something I wish Mary and I could’ve done on our leg of the trip that took us to Venice so we both could enjoy all that we were experiencing.

We are all travelers. How much luggage or baggage are we carrying unnecessarily? My goal is to lose as much as I can so I can be free to enjoy the journey. All of the “Venice’s” of this life are much easier to enjoy without baggage.

The Christian way.

The words to the song are, “I surrender all….” But as we sing it, are we secretly listing the the things we don’t want God to touch? Would it be more honest to sing “I surrender some…” or “I surrender a bit…” or on a good day, “I surrender most…”

“The Christian way is different: harder and easier. Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time, and so much of your money, and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it or to stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked- the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will will become yours.’”

From C.S. Lewis “Mere Christianity”

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 – NIV

This new way of life is hard. But it is good. Surrendering the rags I lived in as a slave to sin to gain the pure and spotless robes of Christ’s righteousness. He wants me. All of me. Total surrender is difficult to maintain.

Jesus works on whatever I give up of myself. He takes it and makes it better. But some parts are harder to surrender than others. Like a child with a favorite blankie on wash day, unwilling to let go of the filthy thing I am clinging to, so Jesus can wash it and make it clean again.

Lord Jesus take me from where I am now, the “I surrender most” mentality to a heart and mind that truly says “I surrender all”.

The short answer to that question is no. God will never say shut up.

Let’s take a look at a story in Matthew.

Has anyone ever told you to shut up?

How about while publicly praying?

“Shut up, God is busy! Leave him alone!”

Basically that’s what happens in Matthew 20.

“29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

31 The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.”

In Mark 10 one of these guys is named, Bartimaeus. Luke also records the story with one guy. (Mentioning one guy doesn’t say that there wasn’t two guys).

Keep quiet and don’t bother God.

Who would say something like that? Would they be a friend or an enemy?

Mary and I were praying together last night and I got so distracted by a disturbing thought that I stopped praying mid sentence.

It wasn’t “shut up! Stop bothering God!” But it did stop me.

God will never say “shut up”. He will never say “stop bothering me with this”.

He will say, “what do you want me to do for you?”

Would these guys have been healed if they weren’t persistent?

In Luke 18 Jesus gives us a parable.

“18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”’

We should not let anyone or anything silence our prayers. We will Pray, keep on praying for healing and for salvation for our friends and family and for protection and for provision and for guidance.

I will not be shut up.

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me……

“Following the leader, the leader, the leader, we’re following the leader wherever he may go”🎼.

As I was typing this I could hear the tune in my head. I can’t remember what it’s from. Peter Pan?

Jesus actually said something like this in Matthew 20.

“20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

21 “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”’

Where is our leader? Right now? He is in heaven, preparing a place for us. What else is he doing? He is interceding for us. What was he doing before that? Before that the greatest man that ever lived was dying for our sins.

Philippians 2 Paul stated this principle in a more practical way.

“2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”

Christians, those of us who follow Jesus, should be the servants of all
And as I was typing this I was imagining a CEO leaving a boardroom to unstop a toilet, a nasty toilet, filled to rim.

As a Christian, There should be no job beneath our dignity. “What do you need? How can I help? Child care? Diaper duty? Dog doody duty? Teaching in Sunday school? Janitorial? Visiting shut ins? Visiting the hospital? Visiting the jail? Cleaning? Gardening? Cooking?

As I’m writing this it feels very flannel graph ish. Disconnected from life and pretend. The main truth, that no job is beneath me is there but my approach and how I’m saying falls short of honesty.

The reality, Jesus served us, following him we must strive to serve. Humility for the sake of humanity, to care about other people and care for other people. To do what needs to be done.

As Christians, how are we doing? Does being a follower of Jesus change how we act? Change what we do and how we do it? Does it change why we do it? Does Love compel us to serve?

Jesus make me more gooder at being good and doing good and serving and loving.

Where can I use my hands to help redeem some part of this world I live in for Jesus? Where can I start to build the kingdom for my king? Remember the line in the Lord’s Prayer? “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” How and when and where can we start, who will we help? We know one thing, why? I mean we know the answer to why we will do this, because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We have experienced this love. We have been forgiven to now extend forgiveness and love.

Where? Who? How? What? When? Today. We will start today.

When I was growing up My dad would say “grab your ankles” when he was about to spank us kids. He knew that bending over put tension on our backside and any pain he would inflict would be intensified through our posture. The picture I have attached is a drawing of Jesus at the whipping post. Before Jesus was crucified, he was flogged, stretched over a post so as to expose his back and backside and put tension on it to intensify the effectiveness of the whipping he was about to endure. Jesus never committed a single sin. Yet he was about to be punished. When my dad would punish me, it was because I was guilty of something rebellious and wrong. I had sinned and deserved punishment. Jesus was sinless. Yet he submitted himself to torture and death. Why? He knew what was coming and and he did it anyway. Why?

He was innocent and he did it anyway. Why?

Jesus knew how and when and what was coming to him and for him in Jerusalem and yet he went there willingly. Why?

Matthew 20.

“17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”’

Why? What prompted him to continue on into Jerusalem knowing he was about to die in the cruelest, most painful way that mankind had ever invented?

Obligation?

Duty?

Compulsion?

No.

It was love.

In Isaiah we read this:

“4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus knew we needed him to die in our place so he suffered the death we deserved. Then he was raised to life that we can live forever with him, this man who willingly walked into Jerusalem, knowing it would kill him.

He did it for us.

He did it for me.

He did it for you.

Today, what will we do about this?

“ 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.
John.3:16-17 NIV

Today. How will we respond to this great love?

It’s Father’s Day. My father, My dad, always believed in Jesus. He didn’t always live like he should. But he never stopped believing in the God of the Bible and in his grace and mercy. I want to follow his example of believing no matter what. This picture is of my mom and dad when they eloped. They ran away from Oroville where my mom was from and got married in this Lutheran Church in Cashmere Washington that my dad’s dad and granddad helped build. (I don’t know if those details matter in what I am talking about here. I just thought that you, my reader might be curious.)

I sometimes go astray. I falter. I feel like such a failure and it makes me want to hide from God.

I read this in Psalm 25 today.

“The Lord is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands. For the honor of your name, O Lord, forgive my many, many sins. Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose.
Psalm 25:8-12 – NLT

There is mention of obedience here but i don’t want to miss 3 things.

1. he shows the proper path to those who go astray.
2. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way
3. The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.

Number 1&2 are great but number 3 seems like a problem. I don’t obey all his demands. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so we are all in the boat.

But Jesus did obey all his demands, and his obedience is transferable. I sin and fall short. But Jesus is pure and unstained by sin. He died to pay for my sins so I can be forgiven.

I need to act humbly, confess my sin to God and receive forgiveness and cleansing. Then I can be lead by Him in doing right.

It’s a continual process. Like the shampoo bottle says rinse, lather and repeat.

Trip up, get up, confess, be forgiven, be shown where God is leading and get back on “the proper path”.

God wants to forgive us and get us back on the proper path. ❤️

It’s about the heart. Or the kitchen.

Our external actions don’t always expose where our heart, our beliefs and motives and longings our true feelings are. We can mask where we really are, what we really are.

Jesus exposes one mans heart in a very gentle and loving way in Matthew 19.

“16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 “Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”

20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Would we eat at a restaurant that stored poison next to food prep areas? If you didn’t know about it you might. The front of the restaurant may be clean and inviting, the service excellent, the prices good, the food very tasty but the buying public doesn’t see the kitchen.

God sees our kitchen. We may never kill anyone but we have a long list of people that we hate. We have already murdered them in our heart.

We may never commit adultery but we cherish our fantasies, we have done the deed in our heart.

The front of the restaurant doesn’t determine the safety of the food. It’s in the kitchen. The public part of our life, no matter how squeaky clean it is can still be hiding a very dirty and perverse and dangerously poisonous heart.

God sees into our “kitchen”. God sees our heart. AND he loves us anyway.

In Romans Paul tells us this about God’s heart for us:

“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.”

And later in Romans he says this:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus loves us. Even me. Have you seen my kitchen? Sometimes it’s a mess, (not my literal kitchen, it’s very clean) but the kitchen of my soul. Yet Jesus loves me. Jesus loves even me, even you.

Today will you ask him to forgive your mess and take you into his family? I did.

I just had a vision of heaven. It was just a flash. I will try to describe what I saw.

There was a glorious walled city. Gleaming white. There was only one way into the city. There were two lines of people approaching the city. One group was allowed into the city. The others were walked off into darkness.

The line of people that were let in were all wearing the same thing, a beautiful crimson red robe.

I recognized some in this line. They were notorious sinners. Then I looked at the other line line and saw some really good descent people. It confused me deeply.

I looked back to where the lines were forming. I could see that it was one line from deaths door, then it split. At the split I saw Jesus. As each person approached him he would gently ask them two questions, if they shook their heads no, he would sigh and point them towards the darkness. If they nodded their heads yes, he embraced them, kissed both cheeks, took off his robe and put it on their shoulders. Smiling he would say ” well done good and faithful servant, welcome home!” Then guide them towards heavens gate.

What were his questions?

Maybe it was Are good enough to be in heaven? That couldn’t be it, I saw some bad people in the line moving towards heaven. Was it how much did you give? That answer couldn’t be a yes or a no. Was it did you behave? Did you follow the rules? Did you keep the commandments?

I had to know so I went up closer to listen. Here is what he asked them.

“Do you know me?”
“Would you like my help?”

That was the vision.

Could it really be that simple? Is that all there is to getting into heaven?

The apostle Paul said this about that. “9 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. 10 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.”

Evidently it is that simple. It isn’t about the following the rules, but it’s about following a savior.

Do you know Jesus? Do you know this man who died on a cross and came back to life 3 days later? Have you heard that he loves you? Have you heard That he suffered and died so that our sins could be forgiven? Your mistakes and my mistakes? will you accept his help today?

We will all step through death’s door. What is on the other side? Will it be like the vision I had? Which line will you be in? It is your choice. Will you accept Jesus’ help then? How about starting today?

Childish or childlike?

When I was little my grandparents had an old bathtub buried in their garden. It was a garden for water lilies. My brother told me to be very careful around it, there was no bottom. I believed him. I walked a wide circle around that white rimmed hole to the center of the earth.

I was told another story as a child. I was told about this man who did miracles. That he healed sick people, even raising some from the dead. He was killed by being nailed to cross. He was put into a grave carved out of rock and three days later he came back to life. He stayed here for a few more days with his friends and then he was taken up in the clouds where he said that he would build a house for me, and he would come back some day.

Kids believe the stories that they are told. They have child like faith.

Jesus talked about that in Matthew 19.

“13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.”

I think I was there the day they pulled up the old bathtub in grandmas garden. There was a bottom after all. That story wasn’t true.

As for the other story? No one can disprove. Many have tried. I still believe the whole thing. Even the part about him coming back someday.

I heard more of the story as I got older. I found out why he died. He died to pay for my sin, to pay for our sin. The sin that keeps us separated from God. He died because he loves us so much he would rather suffer and die than to be kept apart from us.

It’s been a long time since he left. We don’t know when he will come back. One thing is for certain, his return is closer now than ever. He is waiting for the last one who will believe in him to hear the story I was told and to believe it.

Are we telling the story? Some one needs to hear the story today. Will we tell them the story of Jesus?

tellourjesusstory, #Matthew191315