(Winter is loooong. Life can be cold and hard and messy. I hope this helps. God is in the beautification business, it may not show on the outside because he always starts in our hearts).

I was listening to a radio pastor yesterday and heard something new or at least fresh. A fresh thought.

As I get closer to Jesus , the light he brings into my life continues to expose more and more of the mess in my life.

Like if I were with Jesus in a dark room. He asks me if the room is clean. Hmm, the room is dark, nothing under my feet, I say yes. He then lights a match and we see just a little way around us. There are dirty dishes, litter, a pair of underwear that didn’t make it to the hamper. Then he turns on a flashlight and we see deeper into the room, more mess, then he flips on a light and we see clearly, smudged walls, mildew and mold.

The longer I hang out with Jesus the more stuff he exposes. Sometimes the pain and shame of a life exposed is too much and I want to push Jesus back out of my life and shut the door and please oh please, kill the light. The mess doesn’t go away when Jesus leaves and the light goes out, but if we don’t have to see the mess of our lives, we can pretend it isn’t there, and the pain and shame fall and fade.

Meeting Jesus and inviting him into my life will not make my life a blissful rose garden. Well not just the flowery part. Jesus will begin to clean up and the fascinating thing he will do is to use the poop of my life to grow beauty. The bible says the he will give us beauty for ashes. Ashes are the waste product of the end of something, something gone and useless. God has the ability to turn that part of life, and poop is a useless waste end of life product too, the poop and ashes and reuse them to bring us beauty, like roses.

This will only happen if we allow him into our lives and trust him enough to expose the mess behind the door. Denying a mess doesn’t make it go away. Admitting to a mess doesn’t make It go away either but it can start the process of cleansing.

Isaiah 61:1-6 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. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.”

Today will you let Jesus into your life to help you declutter your your heart and soul? He will turn it around for you. Beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for despair. He loves us and just wants to help.

In the fall of my 5th grade year I got the mumps. Mom and dad both worked full time so I stayed home alone for a week. I had a children’s bible that had been given to me by my God parents, Mr & Mrs H. H. Rieky. (I’m probably spelling that wrong). I read it. I read the entire Old Testament and the gospels and acts. I tried reading the Epistles but got bogged down when there was more words than pictures.

At the back of the Bible was a sinners prayer, a place to confess your sin and receive forgiveness, accept Jesus as Lord and savior. I did that. And waited. Nothing changed. My dads stack of Playboys didn’t go away, mom and dad still fought, my dad still drank and got angry.

I thought my Prayer didn’t work. I expected my world to change but it was my heart that changed. A transaction had occurred but I wouldn’t realize it for 11 years, when I finally understood that salvation comes by grace.

Matthew 9 talks about how you can’t add new things to old. They don’t go together.

“14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

16 “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”’

Christianity is a new way of life. It’s not Judaism. It’s not animal sacrifices and rituals. Christianity is about Jesus, what he did for us. He forgave, once for all and all eternity, our sin. He paid for it, covered it over. It is no longer animal sacrifice. It is a human sacrifice, one human man died to redeem all of mankind.

The transaction is simple.

“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.” Romans 10:9,10

It’s a new life in the same world. The sin and sadness and anger and all of the yuck will all be there, but now we can shine on it.

Darkness does not overcome light, light overcomes darkness.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Titus 2

I love the Andy Griffith Show. I long for life in Mayberry. Living life, doing what’s right, fishing, (what? I’ve fished before), talking with folks, living in a black and white world.

The instructions that Paul gives for the folks on Crete sounds like a life from a bygone era but it’s the life of a christian. The way we live today may seem antiquated to the world and culture around us and that’s ok.

“Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”

This lifestyle won’t sell more beer, or guns or pickup trucks. It’s not what our culture wants but it is what our culture needs. We are Not to impose this on anyone but to live this way in front of everyone.

Ladies, your turn.

“3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Busy at home and subject to our husbands? Be pure? Think pure? 50 shades of white?

Yes.

Young men what can your lives look like?

“Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”

Next are the Slaves, not many of those this century but there are a lot of employees. If we have someone to answer to at our job this week lets try and live like this:

“Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

Why? Why this self control and good behavior?

“11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

Jesus died to save sinners. Not all the sinners have heard that yet. Let’s Tell somebody about Jesus today.

The winter.

It means short days.

Short days means that when my work day is over at 5 pm it’s already dark outside.

We have two small dogs, Piper and Cooper. They use our backyard for all of their bathroom needs. When it’s dark outside I can’t go and pick up their stinky deposits so they accumulate.

Dogs are weird. They like to stink. Sometimes they will roll in and on stinky stuff to make themselves smell “good”. Smelling good to them is smelling bad to us. We won’t let them share the couch if they stink. Their behavior has separated us.

Another thing that happens is that between groomer visits the hair in all areas of their body gets long, even on their backside so sometimes they collect an unsavory berry, what we call dingle berries. This also adds to their unpleasant odor.

Their smell, in part brought on by their behavior and in part brought on just being dogs has separated us.

I was already thinking about how my relationship to our dogs is similar to my relationship with God, how he feeds me and cares for me and cleans up my messes. But then bathtime came for our dogs. We had to take action, do something to make them clean again so we could both enjoy a snuggle on the couch.

God has taken action to make me clean. He couldn’t stand the stench of my sin so he sent Jesus to die for my sins, so I can be made clean again. Why would he do that? Because he enjoys snuggling with me. Or at least the God/human equivalent of a snuggle, we call it fellowship, but that word doesn’t really convey the sweetness of a couch snuggle with a puppy.

This idea started with me reading Matthew 14, Jesus heard about John the Baptist being beheaded and he got into a boat and sailed off to be alone and mourn but when he came ashore there were a bunch of needy people waiting for him.

“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
Matthew 14:13-14 – NIV

God has had compassion on me, on us. He wants a couch snuggle but we stink, from our behavior yes but from our very humanness. He sent Jesus to provide a way to wash away our stench and make us clean.

“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

It’s winter and it’s cold outside and I long to snuggle with my dogs. Is God feeling a similar thing about me? About us? Are we clean enough to approach his couch? We can be through Jesus. Need a bath so you can snuggle? I did. How about you?

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 man who were being tormented by a demonic legion. No one could contain theses guys. Not only were they busting ropes, they were breaking chains. If they couldn’t be contained then they also couldn’t be helped. 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 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?

Quarantined

In the first century a person with leprosy was made to isolate themselves from everyone, they were were required to stay a certain distance away from everyone, even their own family. They were not allowed to enter the temple. They were alive but dying slowly. The disease was highly contagious. They were not allowed to touch anyone and no one could touch them. In public places They had to shout “unclean! Unclean!”

Here and now during the COVID-19 pandemic we understand the quarantine, we understand the fear of contagion. My wife and I have been isolating ourselves for months so that we could provide and clean and safe place for her mom to recover from heart surgery. We haven’t allowed anyone to visit and we have been staying home, working from home, worshiping from home. We understand a tiny bit, the loneliness and isolation of quarantine.

In Matthew 8 Jesus met a man with leprosy. He did the unthinkable. Then he did the impossible. Then he told the man to do the traditional.

“When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Matthew 8:1-4 – NIV

The unthinkable was touching an unclean, untouchable person.

The impossible was healing an incurable disease.

The traditional was showing himself to the priest. The first century equivalent to passing a COVID-19 Test and completing a 14 day quarantine.

Here’s my take away. I was spiritually unclean when Jesus came into my life, I was a sinner and Jesus is a Holy God and yet he was willing then to reach out and grab me and hold me and heal me and wash me clean. Now he asks me to “show myself” to declare that I am changed.

He will do it for you too reader.

Jesus says today to us all, “I am willing!”

2 Thessalonians 2

The thrill of a good carnival ride is when we get taken right to edge of danger… And then we are yanked back to safety. The thrill is seeing the danger and then not going past it.

Our world economy is like a carnival ride right now taking us right to the edge….but this carnival ride is not built of welded steel, it’s made from a stack of playing cards. How strong can it be?

Are we scared yet?

We are waiting for Jesus. We have been waiting for 2000 years. When will he come? What is he waiting for?

“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”

We have never been closer to Jesus return than we are right now. The stage of the world, the political unrest, the fragile economy, it could be the his return is immanent, or maybe it’s just one more twist and turn of the carnival ride.

He will return. It could be today.

“So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings[c] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

I say this to myself, fear not little one. Your God is able to save you. From the next chapter, “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. “

There may be a catastrophic global economic collapse. If there is Jesus will be our strength. If the economy recovers Jesus will be our strength. Jesus is our strength. Living for him and telling other people about him, what he has done in our lives does not change. Our master and our mission remain the same no matter where the ride of life takes us.

“The answer is Jesus, now what’s the question?”

Sometimes I can sound like that.

How true is it?

Who am I going to call? When Life is overwhelming and doom is looming. Who do I call? I call a carpenter. I call Jesus. That’s what the disciples did in Matthew 8.

“23 Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”’

One thing that I saw in this story is the humanness of Jesus contrasted with his divinity.

Jesus was exhausted. I don’t want to be glib or irreverent but God was tired. The needs of the people had exhausted Jesus. He understands my human need for rest.

The disciples woke him up. What did they think he was going to do? He wasn’t a sailor. He was a carpenter by trade and a pastor/teacher/healer by practice. They were surprised when he calmed the storm. They wanted help in the storm but from their response it seems they didn’t expect the storm itself to go away.

Jesus shows us his divinity in his authority over the wind and the waves.

Mary and I joke about scary situations and will usually say, “so this is how we die”. Somehow those words can take away the terror. There is in us an innate fear of death. This last hospital stay for Mary I don’t remember saying those words. I was trying to keep Mary from thinking that way. It was another brush with death. We didn’t say “so this is how we die”. Instead we prayed fervently that it wouldn’t be her death.

The answers to life’s questions, why am I here, what is my purpose, what is my value? Those can be answered in Jesus.

I was created, created for a relationship with God, and when that relationship was separated by sin, God made a way for us to be together again through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

What is death? Why are we so afraid?

The answer is Jesus?

Jesus died and rose again.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Sometimes the questions we are asking boil down to , who cares, who can help, where can I go?

Jesus.

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 and thought at least a fool but more likely, a villain.

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. We aren’t here to condemn, but to offer forgiveness in Jesus.

“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

“You are my favorite!” Said God….to everyone.

On the eve of the invasion, not d-day, Jericho day, Joshua had a visitor.

“13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[e] have for his servant?”’

The Fighting was about to start and every man woman and child in side the walls of Jericho would be dead within a week (with the exception of Rahab and her family).

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Still God had not taken sides. All people are Gods creation. All of us are his kids. Even in this situation on the eve of destruction God had not taken sides.

Another example of this is found in the book of Jonah.

Jonah had tried to escape going to Nineveh. Ninevites were an enemy of the nation of Israel. The were horribly cruel. I can’t substantiate this here but I have heard that Ninevites would skin their prisoners alive and disembowel pregnant women. They were wicked and evil yet God sent Jonah to warn them of his coming Judgement.

He walked through the city and proclaimed Gods coming judgement and the city repented so God did not judge them. This made Jonah angry.

“4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”’

The last example is from the Gospel of John. A familiar verse. I will add a few on the end to give it more context.

“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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 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. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 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.”

God does play favorites but we are all his favorites. We can choose to accept this or reject but the offer is extended to every person who draws a breath.

If you don’t Him, he loves you and has a plan fir your life. What will you decide today? Will you receive him as your your savior and king?

If you do know him, have you adopted His heart for the world? About 69% of the world’s population does not know about Jesus. What will you do to help them know him?

God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save the world through him. How should that influence us to treat others? As enemies or as future family?

CS Lewis

From Mere Christianity on being good.

“Even the best Christian that ever lived is not acting on his own steam – he is only nourishing or protecting a life he could never acquire by his own efforts. And that has practical consequences. As long as the natural life is in your body, it will do a lot towards repairing that body. Cut it and up to a point it will heal, as a dead body would not. A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that to some extent repair itself. In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ himself carried out.

That is why the Christian is in a different position than other people who are trying to be good, to please God if there is one; or – if they think there is not- at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.“

In my early adulthood, I was on a quest to earn God’s favor and his love, I was enrolled in college taking a pre-ministry course. My plan was to become a pastor so God would have to love me and accept me. That plan was flawed. I could not earn Gods love by being good. And As they say life happens, literally a life happened, my wife was pregnant with our first child, our son Aaron, so I left school and took over my parents Cafe. It was in the back room of the cafe, standing next to the dishwasher when I heard God speak to me the words of Ephesians 2:8-9.

“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 – NIV

I realized that I didn’t need to become a pastor for God to love me, I didn’t need to do anything, God already loved me, and he completed my salvation through his Son Jesus and he was (is) willing ready and able to by his grace share his salvation, pour his salvation on me, over me, to cleanse me and envelope me and include me in His family.

That same grace is extended to every breathing soul on this earth. God loves us, loves you my reader. Will you accept his gift of love today? If you already have accepted his gift, will you share the good news of God’s love with one person today?

May God bless you and wrap you up in his love today.

I could call myself a Seattle Seahawks fan but you would be hard pressed to find evidence of it in my life. I am a fan in the loosest terms. I watched more Seahawks football than any other team in the NFL. Unless you count the other team that was also playing the day I turned on the game and saw 2 or 3 plays. But I was rooting for the Hawks. Go Hawks!

Too little – too late?

Almost done reading through Matthew 7.

There are some people who call themselves Christians but there is no evidence to that fact in their lives. Calling Jesus Lord and living as Jesus being Lord (Lord means master or boss or the one who can give direction to us and we follow without question or hesitation) are two different things.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Prophesying, driving out demons, performing miracles, that all sounds like evidence of Jesus being Lord but those are all very public, very showey activities. God looks at our heart and our motives, not at our actions.

Later on in Matthew, chapter 25 Jesus will talk about behavior that proves a heart change. A heart ruled by Jesus will have evidence.

“31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”’

Does my life show a concern for the physical needs of others. Do I care about and for those around me? Does Jesus have control of this heart of mine? I am I a show-er or a go-er?

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.

“You need to act quickly the offer won’t last for long. Operators are standing by. Don’t delay, Call now”

A sales pitch to create a sense of urgency.

Jesus makes a declaration in Matthew 7.

Not all of these words bring comfort. All of these words are true.

““Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Jesus doesn’t say it here, but he does say in other places that he is the only way to our heavenly Father.

In John 10 Jesus uses the example of a sheep pen where shepherds put their sheep to keep them safe. He says that he is the gate to the sheep pen. The only way in is through him.

Jesus said in John 14, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This is some news that isn’t bad, it’s just restrictive.There is only one way to God and it is Jesus. The good news is that he has come and died for us all. Not everyone will believe that. There is more good news and that is that he rose from the dead and now lives forever. Not everyone will believe that. These truths are true for everyone. No one is excluded from the promise of forgiveness of sin and eternal life in heaven but not everyone will believe it and receive it.

Every person will make their own decision. I have decided to believe in Jesus and be welcomed into the family of God.

We have a limited time to respond. We have today, well, we have now. Not all of us will make it through this day. God is always standing by waiting for us to respond to his offer.

Don’t delay, call now.

I’m reading an anthology of George MacDonald collected and published by CS Lewis. There are 365 selected quotes and life and following Jesus. One for every day of the year. I have read 22 so far and each one I think “I should share this” but I’m reading them late at night and I am a tired and lazy man.

Tonight’s reading is about how our hearts are affected by our treasures how they become like our treasures.

I have seen folks that are storing up earthly treasures and they seem on the surface to be successfully gathering, all the while winning favor with everyone and basically having it all. Feeding their flesh and their fantasies and all the while carrying the respect and admiration of all around them. As I watch and if i watch long enough, most every one of these people implode, or explode, or in some other fashion self destruct. It seems like something eats them from the inside out and no matter how many coats of sweet sugary varnish they apply over their life, eventually it all crumbles to the ground.

George MacDonald must’ve seen this in his day too. (1824-1905) Here is what he said :

“What is with a treasure must fare as the treasure…the heart which haunts the treasure house where the moth and rust corrupt, will be exposed to the same ravages as the treasure… Many a man, many a woman, fair and flourishing to see, is going about with a rusty moth-eaten heart within that form of strength or beauty. “But this is only a figure.” True. But is the reality intended, less or more than the figure?”

What eats our treasure will eat us.

19 ‘“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 – NIV

Where is your treasure? That’s where you will find your heart as well. Jesus can renew and replace our rusty moth-eaten hearts if we ask him to.

How is your heart today?

I also must ask myself, how is my heart today?

Matthew 7 has some verses that keep me going. Here are a few.

“7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

Continuing to pray for the impossible. Sometimes I’ve had to that. But the thing behind the praying is kind of like the beginning of the the Lord’s Prayer.

“Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”

When we are praying, we need stop and think, Who is it that we are praying to?

We are praying to the God who said “let there be light” and suddenly, even though light had never before existed and without a source for the light, there was light. This is the God we are praying to. Powerful, creative, unlimited. Everything we see and know has limits. God does not. What if what we need doesn’t exist now? How can we ask God for something that doesn’t exist? We can Because he is limitless and creative and powerful.

Before we start to pray let’s remember who we are praying to and before we give up and stop praying let’s remember who we are praying to.

One of the impossible things God has done is to make a way for sinful man like me to be with him, a Holy God, for eternity. He did this by sending his only son Jesus to die in my place. Jesus death has paid for all my mistakes, those done in ignorance and those willful deliberate disobediences. All my sin, all of our sins, forgiven. Impossible yet true.

God can and does do the impossible. That’s part of who he is.

(Some of those who know me expected me to bring up my truck Rusty. I didn’t. Or did I?)

When I was 5 I told a cousin that they were going to hell for something they were doing. I think it had to do with a bicycle or a cookie, both very important things to a 5 year old.

“7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

In the years since then I have changed my position. I hope that they don’t go to hell. In fact I hope they ask Jesus to forgive them and they go to heaven.

I cannot, in the few minutes I spent researching to write this, find proof of this but I believe that was Jesus was saying in this passage is do not condemn to hell another person. Do not condemn.

Later in this chapter we see the the golden rule. The one rule that if we follow it we will also be following all the other rules.

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

I don’t want to be condemned to hell. I will not condemn my cousin, or anyone else to hell. There are people that make me crazy but I must treat them not as they deserve but as I want to treated. This is hard stuff.

Not doing so well with this this morning.

I am today just as I was when I was 5 in need of my own forgiveness.

Father forgive my sin. Help me forgive others.

Was it my fear of the dark that eventually led me to become an electrician? It could just be a coincidence. It still thrills me to go through the process of wiring and conduit and termination of devices, to get to the reveal-drumroll- -click- then let there be light!

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:5-7

Electricians participate in what God started at the beginning of creation. He said “let there be light” and there was light. Since God is light, does that mean he just entered the void where nothing was and just him being there brought light? Or did he create light that would be part of creation?

I don’t know and I suppose it doesn’t matter. What matters is that God is light, his character is light. That’s one of the scary things about him. We can’t hide in the shadows, we can’t cover or shade ourselves AND be in his presence. He is light, exposing us his exposure is not intended to shame us, (shame not being the impetus for repentance) but to make us aware of our own condition, our own direction, so we can repent and get set right and get cleaned up.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:5-7

I get dressed in our basement in the morning. I dress in one room then turn off the light as I leave and head for the stairs up and out. Many times the darkness disorients me, I can’t find the stairs or the switch for the lights and I have walked into the walls and or tripped. What if once I found the switch and could see the way up and out, I refused the updated information and continued on my misguided path? that would be silly. So it is when we meet with God and refuse the information that his light of revelation brings us.

Jesus, being God also has character of light.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12

This quote comes directly after Jesus defended a woman caught in adultery. His light exposed her sin but did not condemn her for it, instead he forgave her.

Someday this light will light the earth , until that day…? What will we do with the light we have experienced that did not condemn but forgave, forgives us? Will we share it? Will we use it? Will we spread it as we share the good news of what Jesus has done in us and can do for anyone else who will confess and believe?

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
Revelation 21:22-24

Godislight #1john1

Jesus has an exclusive. It is Jesus plus nothing, and Jesus or nothing.

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.
1 John 1:1-4

There is no one else who can truthfully claim to be the Word of life.

Jesus said in John’s Gospel “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

Our culture wants to downgrade Jesus, to make him one of many ways to God, but that is not what he said. He said we can’t get to the Father without going through him. Can Jesus lie and still be perfect? Can he exaggerate and still be sinless? Can he be mistaken and still be trustworthy? It looks like I have a choice to make, he can’t be one of many if he said he is THE way, THE truth and THE life. I choose to believe what he said about himself.

John also said this about Jesus in his Gospel “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:1-5

I can’t imagine how cool it would be to hang out with Jesus. John, the writer of this Book was a close friend, maybe the closest friend of Jesus. “We heard him, seen him, touched him…” He’ll say it again, “seen and heard”. John was an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry. He was one of 3 who got to see him transfigured on the the mountain top.

“Make our joy complete. “ John’s joy was to see people believing in Jesus and being saved. Our family, my dads side, us four siblings, any cousins and aunts and uncles we can gather will be meeting again this year. Loeffelbein’s are descendants of German immigrants. Our family has a history of being hard working industrious people. We know how to work. We don’t know as well how to play, how to relax. We are learning. We do enjoy getting together. There is sweet fellowship. There is family love.

Fellowship with God will be like this except beyond it, way way beyond it. Love that knows no boundaries or limits. Love that knows us completely, faults and fears, failures and foibles and still loves us completely. Engulfed in love, like the security of a warm newborn swaddle and the freedom of a moonlight skinny dip, blended together in perfection. I believe that I cannot fully comprehend what fellowship with God will be but I think it will be like the garden of Eden, fully exposed and unashamed. We receive Jesus not only to escape hell and avoid its tortures but to gain fellowship, with each other, the family of God, and with God our Father.

Jesus knew that sweet fellowship before he left heaven. He left that to come here to earth, to to live and love and serve, and in completion of that service, to suffer and die for our sins, for my sins, then raise to life again and go to back to heaven to intercede for me and make ready a place for me to spend eternity.

Today the Word of life is reaching out to each one of us. What will we do with his offer of forgiveness of sin and eternal fellowship with a God who loves us more and better than we can know or deserve?

Anthropomorphism. I do it all the time. It means to give human characteristics to non-human things. I do voices for our dogs to explain their facial expressions or their behavior. I do it for my truck Rusty, ascribing to him traits he doesn’t really have, or feelings or even masculinity. ( trucks are in fact gender neutral, but don’t tell Rusty).

When I looked up the word to make sure I was getting it right it said anthropomorphism is something we do to non-human things, especially deity, gods.

That’s strange for me to write deity, like there are a multitude of gods. I believe there is only one God and he exists in 3 persons but that’s not what I want to write about.

Matthew 6 has the prayer in it that we call the Lord’s Prayer.

I’ll quote it here in context but I really only want to look at the first line of the prayer.

“5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

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.”

Hallowed be your name. Why would Jesus recommend we start our prayers like that? Hallowed. It isn’t a word we use often. It means revered or holy. Holy is a word that grasps the meaning for me. Holy means separate or special or “other”.

All we see around us, all we can know or experience, is all part of the things God created but God himself is not part of his creation. He is holy, he is other, he is not from around here, he is different. Jesus knew our propensity to anthropomorphize things around us to help us understand them, but we cannot treat God that way. We cannot understand God better by attributing to him human characteristics. He made us in his image, it doesn’t work to return the favor and recreate him in our image. One reason for that is that that puts limits on God and God is limitless. When we sit down to pray and we start out by stating, “God, you are not from around here, you are not limited like I am, you are not a created being, instead, you are the creator, you are separate from us and yet you love us and joined yourself to us in Jesus, you became God in the flesh, you are to be hallowed, you are so awesome and great and fantastic that it makes me want to worship you”.

Once I have established that mind set, then I can get on with my prayer. I can pray for his kingdom to advance in our world because I believe only he knows what is best and can do what is best. I can ask for my needs to be met, I can ask to be forgiven, I can ask for guidance and protection because I am talking to my God, the creator of the universe.

Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

The good news / bad news of Matthew 5.

Matthew 5 starts out with the beatitudes.

“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.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

I like what I hear until I get to verse 10. I’m challenged by 10-12. I guess I kind of want to think about persecution as a surprise and not an expected upcoming event. You can’t surprise God. And he doesn’t want us surprised by negative push back. Persecution will come.

Who can reject the gospel message? Who would ? I mean the very word gospel means good news. Who doesn’t want good news? Well unfortunately along with the good news there is bad news. The good news is that God loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us. The bad news is that before we can receive Gods gift of forgiveness, we have to confess that we need to be forgiven. Everyone wants the forgiveness but not everyone wants to admit that they need forgiveness. Some people who have been hurt refuse the message of forgiveness because if they can be forgiven then so can the ones that hurt them. Everyone is invited to be forgiven. Not everyone will take God up on his offer. Some will rather damage or destroy the good news bearer than to hear and receive the message.

We are all in the same race. The human race. It’s a race that we all lose. We all lose to death. There was one who died and then came back from death. Jesus. If the race was to live life without sinning then there was the same one, Jesus, who lived his life as a man without sin. He is offering us to share in victories both over death and over sin.

There are many challenges in chapter 5. If we think our life is free if the “big sins”, he tells us that if we hated someone then we have killed that person in our hearts. If we have never touched another person sexually, but we thought about it, we committed the deed in our heart. It’s in the heart where sin is born and if our hands are clean but our hearts are dirty then we are dirty.

2 more challenges.

“43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Love our enemies and pray for the very person who is persecuting us? That is a challenge.

The last verse is the topper. Being perfect. How can I be perfect? My heart goes places my hands will never go and God sees that. How can I be perfect?

I’ve heard it said that you do not have to be Good to get into heaven. You do not have to be good……you have to be perfect.

How can a sinner like me be perfect?

Jesus.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

The bad news is we all need be forgiven. The good news is that God has already done that in Jesus