Jesus knew how and when and what was coming to him and for him in Jerusalem and yet he went there willingly.
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.
Quitting time. My favorite time of day. Packing up my gear, putting away the tools. Cleaning up and setting up for tomorrow. It’s a great time of day. What if you walked onto the job at quitting time and still got paid for the whole day?
Bonus!
That’s what happened in Jesus’ story in Matthew 20.
“20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”’
Some of us are reaching quitting time, not just of a job or a career but of life. It is the eleventh hour. The sun is setting. What does God want from us? What will God do for us?
Jesus died to pay for our sins. All of them. Whether it’s the grocery sack full of the at age 16 or 26 or a cargo ship full at 56 or 66 or 76. The age doesn’t matter and the amount doesn’t matter. Jesus died to pay for our sins. You only have to ask. Forgiveness is for all at any age, even at the eleventh hour.
God wants his kids to come home. Will you accept his gift of salvation today?
I got goofed up on my bible reading. I read John 15 earlier this week. Today I got realigned and read it again.
The key to be a fruitful follower of Jesus is found here. That key is to stay connected to our vine, Jesus. He is the vine, we are the branches.
There is a promise tucked into this section of verses that seems too good to be true, but Jesus reiterates the promise so he must’ve meant it.
He says he will answer our prayers. To catch it all we have to read several verses.
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.” John 15:5-17 – NLT
He says it twice, that he will give us what we ask for. There are some conditions that Jesus lays down. We have to be connected to him. His words must be in us. We must be obeying his commands, his command stated here is that we are loving each other up to and including laying our life down for each other. And we must ask in his name.
I am not a bible scholar, I am a bible student. My understanding of these verses is limited to my study of them and my knowledge of the character of God and my experience of life as a follower of Jesus. It seems like this could be a blank check, Jesus signed it and said, “whatever you want…” but that isn’t what I think this is. This promise is set into a section of verses about us us being fruitful. I think what Jesus may be saying here is, “whatever you need to be more fruitful, ask for it and you will get it…”
Sometimes I find myself feeling angry and hurt by God because he hasn’t provided a perceived need. I will pout, fuss, sometimes throw a tantrum about how God doesn’t really care about me or that he isn’t keeping his word to me, but then I will hear the gentle voice of God the Holy Spirit ask me, “did you pray about this? I don’t remember you asking me about this…” To which I will have to sheepishly reply, “no, Father, I guess I forgot to ask…”
This doesn’t solve all of the requests that I do make and don’t seem to get an answer to. But Just like with dealing with my own kids, I am Gods kid so when I ask God for something and don’t receive it right away sometimes it is because he says no and sometimes he says wait. My role in this part of my relationship is to stay connected to him, have his words in my heart, be following his commands and to be asking for what I need. The purpose of my life as a follower of Jesus should be different than it was before I followed him. Before I followed him my life was about me, making me happy, making me feel good, giving me pleasure and honor and success. Now as a follower of Jesus my focus should be switched to pleasing God, bringing him honor and pleasure, to expanding his name, making disciples for him who follow him. I can easily get off this track and train of thought when I let a want or desire become a need or necessity.
As I write this I have a struggle going on because I let my focus drop to my desires, which then became a need from my perspective and a a cargo van sized block of prayers from me flooded heaven. A toddler Christian tantrum right there in our Father God’s throne room. Forgive me Father and help me get back to the real reason for me being here, being fruitful for you.
The prophet Isaiah foretold the coming of Jesus with the analogy of a stump coming back to life.
Earlier this spring I shared pictures of our honeysuckles and used their overgrown dead branches entwined on our metal obelisk as a picture of sin.
Now I want use the same bushes as a picture of Jesus. I hope that double use isn’t confusing. Please read on.
I cut the honeysuckle back to the stump and it looked dead. We planted four vines originally. One vine for each side of the obelisk. It’s been weeks since I did the pruning. All that was left of any of the four vines was a woody stump.The stumps were dry and bark was peeling off. I thought that I had killed all four honeysuckle plants.
In the midst of the honeysuckle we also had 2 weed vines that were using the honeysuckle as cover to grow. It was very difficult to eradicate the weeds without harming the honeysuckle. When I chopped the honeysuckle back, I pulled it all out. Of the two weed vines, one was what I call Virginia creeper, it looks like a grape vine so it is easily distinguishable from the honeysuckle. The other is what I call potato vine. It has similar leaves to the honeysuckle. It distinguishes itself when it blooms, it has pretty little purple flowers that turn into tiny round black berries. The berries I have been told, are poisonous. Neither of the weed vines are a welcome visitor to the obelisk.
After chopping it back and pulling it down, everything was cleared away except the stumps. Then I waited. I wanted the honeysuckle back but I wasn’t sure how it would grow back, from the stumps or from the roots. Soon we had green vines sprouting up around the stumps but the stumps still looked dead. So we waited longer. Today I saw life springing out of the stumps of the honeysuckle.
That got me thinking about the root that grows out of the stump of Jesse that Isaiah talked about. Here I am doing yard work, trying to stay busy but avoid a tiny unseen enemy, COVID 19. I am kind of looking for an answer, a healer, a savior, a returning king. I am looking for Jesus to return.
(I mentioned the weed vines because the first green thing I saw growing was a vine growing up out of the ground. It sort of looked like the honeysuckle but it wasn’t coming up out of the stump. I was skeptical but I left it alone and waited. Eventually the real honeysuckle grew up out of the stump. The weeds had almost deceived me. Once I saw the real vine, I pulled up all of the weed impostors. There will be false messiahs who try to trick us and deceive us. They will say that they are the messiah. We need to be watchful and careful and know what the bible says about Jesus’ return so we don’t get fooled.)
Paul mentions the verse about the stump in his letter to the Romans.
“And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.”
Romans 15:12 – NIV, Paul uses this verse because Isaiah was referring to Jesus.
Isaiah talked about this new life springing up from the dead stump. God promised that David’s line would continue and yet the Davidic line had evaporated. Like following a path Into the forest and losing it as the path gets smaller and the deer and rabbit trails begin to spread out.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, David had many descendants but none were royalty. By the time Jesus was born There hadn’t been a Davidic king on the throne for hundreds of years.
This is what the prophet Isaiah had said:
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord — and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Isaiah 11:1-10 – NIV
At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had been waiting for a descendant of David to come and shake off the oppression of the Roman government. Some, maybe most, saw the coming messiah as a political King. Jesus came as a son of of David, but not to set a particular group of people free from a particular group of oppressors. Jesus came to set all people free from a slavery and oppression that we have all been under since Adam and Eve first rebelled against God in the garden. Since then all people have been slaves to sin, and oppressed by sins reward, death.
Back to the vine and the stump and 21st century and hiding from a virus that may may me a little sick or kill me dead. Covid 19 has shut the world down. I lived through Mt St Helen’s eruption and the aftermath of a literal mountain of ash and how it just shut down everything. That was weird and real but it was local. And it was short. This is a fear of a thing that is real but it is global, the whole world has shut down, mostly. We don’t know how our world and our bodies will do once we begin to open back up and turn the world back on.
All of this makes me look for Jesus’ return. When things happen on a global scale my spiritual ears are pricked and perked up and my eyes are wide open and scanning the headlines and the horizon for signs that my King might be returning soon. The branch of David may soon pop out of the dead stump. No, he already did that part. The stump was the royal line of David. Jesus human family had both sides descending from David. He was humanly a son of David. Spiritually he was the son of God. He was born of a virgin. No male seed caused Mary to become pregnant. Impossible? Humanly yes it is impossible. With God, nothing is impossible. But I digress.
We do have a stump sprouting back to life. Our honeysuckle. And we have a king who we have been waiting for for thousands of years, Jesus. Hundreds of generations have scanned the horizon and the headlines for a sign of his return.
My dad and I had a strained relationship. He was a hard headed person and he was hard to live with. One quality he had that I admire was that he kept his promises. If he made a promise, he would die trying to keep it.
God is a promise keeping father. He made a promise to have a king spring up, grow out of the dead stump of king David’s lineage, he also made a promise to the woman Eve, that her seed would crush the serpents head. Jesus made a promise to come back.
The stump, the remnant, the hope for life to spring up out of death. That is what I am longing for and looking for. In Isaiah 6 the prophet has been watching his home land be laid to waste as Israel’s enemies slowly scoop up the people and either kill them or deport them.
“And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
Isaiah 6:13 – NIV
God had a plan to keep his plan moving forward. Jesus would be born from a daughter of King David. He was indeed born, lived, died, rose again and then he ascended into heaven and sent his Holy Spirit to lead, empower and guide his followers. And now we wait for his return.
In John’s Gospel, chapter 14 he records what Jesus said about all of this on the night he was betrayed and arrested.
“Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me. I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.”
John 14:23-31 – NLT
Readers if you’re still reading, thank you for hanging on through this long post. I rambled.
Jesus is the root of Jesse that God promised. He came. He lived and died and rose again and ascended and will return. Are you ready? Are your friends and family ready? How will we tell more people about this amazing God who keeps promises and saves and redeems and sets people free? Can we each just tell one person this week? I am not very good at it but maybe I can get better. Maybe we can get better. Today we are a day closer to his return. No pressure, but can we be looking for opportunities to serve others and once we have helped and served, then watch for a time to tell them about our amazing God?
Our honeysuckle is coming back, so is Jesus. It could be soon.
How are you doing? Has the COVID-19 isolation gotten to you yet? Have you become detached and desensitized by the restrictions and closures?
Are you a follower of Jesus? I am. But I must say that the longer the isolation wears on that I am weary and spiritually sleepy and sluggish and dry and thirsty.
This morning my bible reading guide had me read Matthew chapter 7. I highly recommend if you are feeling like I do that you read the entire chapter. It’s only 29 verses. The chapter is the last part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. It highlights and yet encapsulates what following Jesus is all about.
I will give an overview.
Don’t Judge. Be aware of your own sinful condition. We will be judged as we have been judging others.
Pray. Don’t quit praying. Keep on seeking keep on asking, keep on knocking.
The golden rule has nothing to do with gold. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
The narrow gate. The way into Gods kingdom is narrow. It’s Jesus. The way to destruction in broad. It is everything thing else. Jesus is the only way into Gods kingdom.
Be aware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. You can tell what a tree is by its fruit. In same way, the actions of a person will reveal their heart.
Not everyone who calls out to Jesus superficially will be saved. Read verses 21 through 23 for more about that.
A house is only as firm as its foundation. What have I built my life on? Jesus is the only firm foundation. Jesus is the rock.
Read the verses and be refreshed and renewed.
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you. “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. Matthew 7:1-29 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Matthew%207:1-29&version=NLT
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 heart mind and 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.
And he did. I have been accepted into his family and he has forgiven my “kitchen mess” and has promised to help me clean up my “kitchen”, my heart and mind and soul. Will you allow him to help you too?
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?
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?
Life is a mud-puddle and we are the players in it.
Divorce is that painful institution that I haven’t experienced and don’t feel qualified to talk about. I can see that it hurts. I’m sorry for those who are forced to go through it.
Jesus talks about in Matthew 19. Let’s see what he said.
“19 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”’
I heard it said that being married is like putting two pieces of tape together sticky side in. “The two will become one flesh.” Divorce is a process of pulling those pieces of tape apart. No body wins. Parts are damaged. Abilities to be joined together again are diminished.
May God keep our hearts soft and keep those of us that are together, together and May God bless, heal and restore those of us who have gone through the process of tearing apart.
Time doesn’t heal all wounds, time just makes you older. Jesus is our healer, when he and time get together amazing things can happen. He will require that forgiveness be brought into the mix, forgiveness must be distributed liberally, all around. With that combination healing and restoration can take place.
I started out talking about life as a mud-puddle. Marriage should not be part of that dirtiness.
“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
Prevention, forgiveness, restoration, healing, all available in Jesus. I just want to pray quickly here.
Jesus, please protect and bless those of us who are married. May our marriages be rich with your blessings. For those of us who are hurting now, for those in a rocky painful place, heal restore and renew joy and bring new life to stagnant places. For those who are recovering from divorce bring healing and hope and restoration. Allow forgiveness to blanket them.
My truck Rusty with my granddaughter in the back advertising for the the library reading program.
I was at the parade in our little town last night. There were many police, city and county sheriffs there to aid and to display. I saw one female officer who was wearing some type of body armor under her uniform. Body armor for a children’s parade? You never know.
As a Christian I am in an active war 24/7. A war for the hearts minds and souls of the people of our town, myself included.
Am I dressed for the conflict?
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
The battle is real and so are our defenses. Truth, righteousness, the Gospel of peace, faith and the helmet, salvation are what we wear.
The word of God is our weapon, and prayer. We need to be dressed for battle, even at a children’s parade.
And remember, we are fighting for people, not against them, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Fighting for people, not against people.
God’s love, his forgiveness, his mercy, his grace they flow out from a boundless reservoir but as they flow into our life they must also flow out of our life. We cannot get it but then not give it.
Matthew 18 explains this.
“21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”’
Remember Newman from the Seinfeld show? A nemesis. An arch enemy. As a Christian I do get to have one and only one. I do have one. You get one too. In fact it is the same one.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
But let’s not talk about him.
Let’s talk about this amazing love and forgiveness we get to be bathed in. We just need to remember to give it away as freely as we received it or we won’t receive it anymore.
Maybe it’s like a water pipe. The only way a water pipe gets fresh water in, is to have the water it has now pass through it. It has to give away what it has so it can get more.
When a person accepts Jesus’ forgiveness Jesus actually comes into our lives, into our hearts and starts living in us. Immediately he begins to remodel. His designs always include the aforementioned qualities.
Our lives change. Our behaviors change. Our interactions with other people change.
In Matthew 18 Jesus tells us how to properly go about confrontation in a way that is private, honors both parties, and is solution and relationship focused.
“15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[f] loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”’
The Christian life is a life that is lived differently than the lives of people who don’t know Jesus. Why?
Love.
Jesus’ love for us.
Our love for the world of people, humans like us, fallen, bent and broken humans.
I don’t get this right all the time. But Jesus still Loves me. Even me. Even you.
In Matthew 18 Jesus tells how our Heavenly Father feels about us.
“10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11] [a]
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”
God watches over us and seeks us out. I was just thinking about the characters in a show I’ve been watching, none of them are seeking God. In the 11 episodes I’ve watched the only mention of God was in a swearing fit. No one seeks God.
Those are fictional people but in real life, me and people like me, we don’t seek God either. But it’s ok for one reason. He is seeking us.
In Jesus God prepared a way for us to to be gathered back into the safety of His flock.
It’s not about following rules or laws, it’s about coming to Jesus and being forgiven. It’s about then following Jesus, our good shepherd.
In Romans Paul says this: “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.”
God is actively seeking everyone of us. Not for punishment but for forgiveness, love and protection. Join us and we will all celebrate.
In John’s Gospel we find more proof.
“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
He doesn’t want to squish us or scold us or scald our butts, he wants to bring us back to safety within a relationship with him. He is a good father, he is the great shepherd e see eking his lost sheep. Will you let him bring you back home today?
I am trying my hand at gardening. I have grown flowers before but they are pretty easy. I have the most success with flowers that reseed themselves. Once you get them started just add water and stand back.
This year I am venturing into growing vegetables. I did a few last year, in a raised bed. this year I added another raised bed and widened a flower bed. I planted various seeds of this and that. What I am hoping will come up is a bacon bush. I love bacon. If I hope and dream and wish hard enough, maybe this fall I will be harvesting bacon.
Okay, I’m being silly. Bacon doesn’t grow from plants. It is silly and childish to think that a seed from one plant will grow into anything other than the parent plant. I can’t plant zucchini seed and expect anything other than a zucchini plant to grow up from that seed.
The apostle Paul tells followers of Jesus that our behavior is like planting seeds. It is foolish to behave badly and expect good to come of it. It is like planting zucchini seed and expecting bacon to grow.
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” Galatians 6:7-10 – NLT
I think that last part should become my life motto, “whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.”
Do good to everyone. It doesn’t seem to have any qualifications for who or whom(?) I am to do good to. Everyone is very broad and inclusive. Could this verse be useful during these days we are living in? Only if I actually apply them and live by them.
Today I will live by these verses. I will remember that my behavior is like planting seed. I can’t plant bad things and expect a good harvest, and there will be harvest. I will endeavor to do good to everyone I meet. Who knows what can happen if I start this today and do this all the rest of my days?
Deuteronomy 6:4 says “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”
Jesus quoted this verse when asked what was the most important commandment was.
And yet he says this here; “15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.”
Our God is one God. Our God is 3 persons. Our God is the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. One God. Three persons. One God.
This idea that Jesus states here was as radical a thought then as it is hard to understand now. God pre-existed creation, he became a man, not BOOM here I am a man, but like labor and delivery, smack smack “wah”, “it’s a boy!”, became a man. Lived life, had a job, ate, drank, went to weddings and funerals man, (while at the wedding turning water into wine, while at the funeral, raising the dead). He was a man a special God in flesh kind of man, who lived, he then died. But he didn’t stay dead! He rose from the grave! He hung around for 7 weeks and then went back to heaven to work on our home so he can take us there to be with him. While he is away he sent himself, as God in Spirit form, like the wind, we can’t see it but we feel it. We can’t see Him but we feel Him.
The Lord our God is one. To quote Mr Waturri from Joe versus the Volcano, “I’m not arguing that with you”. However, The Lord our God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is one.
I am bummed that I don’t get to hang out with Jesus in the flesh…..yet. But I do get to be filled with His Holy Spirit, have Him, God in Spirit live in me. I know that I have yet to fully understand or appreciate or take full advantage of this amazing truth. But it there for me, for us. He is there, for me for us.
Have you invited him in? Will you invite him in? I did.
This is Paul’s account of his first encounter with the risen Jesus.
“On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen — that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:12-23 – NIV
Not all of us will encounter Jesus in this dramatic of a way. Knocked to the ground and blinded by a light and hearing an audible voice of Jesus himself.
I was in the kitchen of a small cafe, next to the dishwasher when the Gospel broke through and I heard and understood grace.
Readers, for the last year my life has been capsized, no not flipped over, capsized is too big, I’ve been hit and wounded, like a battle ship with a gaping hole in its side, and I have been limping towards port, yet still not released from battle duties. Maybe everyone is in this condition to varying degrees. I am listing, tilting toward the right and very slow and everything and every function has been adjusted to accommodate my wounded condition. Like when a finger gets burned, the body adjusts and uses other appendages to get things done. I haven’t been writing as much and posting new material even less because what I’ve written either feels false or insignificant.
I watched a western once where the good guys had a secret weapon, the Gatling gun. It was an early form of machine gun that could fire multiple rounds of ammunition very quickly. Sadly even this new weapon couldn’t overcome the overwhelming force and numbers of the enemy, but even in death the man firing the gun held the trigger so the gun continued to fire. But it was useless because he was not able to aim at the oncoming enemy. I may be like that man behind the gun. I am grieving loss, and wounded deeply and I’m slumped over my weapon firing randomly. No longer able to aim.
I don’t know that my writing is really a weapon though, I hope it’s a clarion call to the lost and alone, to the others wounded and seeking restoration, the hurt and hurting to come to Jesus for help. Using the weapon analogy may be exposing something I don’t want to be true, that I am fighting against sin and not doing what I should be doing, loving the lost.
Whatever the case I took a shot to the midsection and know I can’t seem to regain my balance.
I’m sorry that so much of what I have posted in the last year are just reposts. It’s all been biblical and accurate to the best of my ability but Hasn’t been fresh, like the the manna in the wilderness, the word is best if it’s fresh. I may have to take a break posting just to breath and heal. My faith in Jesus Christ has not wavered but life is much harder right now and I feel like I have nothing new to say or helpful to add.
So I will continue as I have been for a while, waiting to hear from God about next steps. Thank you readers for reading my blogs. Your comments and likes and shares have encouraged me.
May God bless you and lead you and guide you into fruitfulness. May you be a source of refreshment and healing as God leads you to share the good news of salvation in Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus yet, may his Holy Spirit lead you into the Truth of his life, death, resurrection,ascension and his return, all done to act on his profound love for you and for me.
Have ever been to SeaTac airport? While the company I work was building facilities in China, I was part of the construction crew and we flew many times from SeaTac. You start out at the main terminal and then take a subterranean train to S gate. When you exit the train you can’t see the terminals or anything else, just a big lobby with escalators on the opposite walls. Because of the shape of the room and height of the gate platform you can’t see the top of the escalator. It seems to go up into nothing. The first time I saw this set of escalators I was more than a little intimidated. What was at the top?
What if the escalator was going down but my goal was to get to the top? How difficult would that be to get me and my luggage up to the top when the ground or steps beneath me kept carrying me down?
I struggle with a deeply seated feeling that I have to earn my way into Gods favor. The image I struggle with is like God is at the top of a very long escalator. The escalator is going down. I must climb up if I am going to get to God. My good works and perfect life are what help me climb up but all the while sin and temptation and my flesh are taking me down. I dare not rest, no I cannot rest because the escalator keeps chugging downward.
It isn’t true. If God is my Heavenly Father then I am his child and my relationship with him was established when I was born anew or born again into his kingdom. I do not have to fight and struggle to be loved by him. I am loved because I am his.
One night Jesus met with a high ranking leader of the Jews. The meeting was secret. Jesus explained this concept of new birth to Nicodemus and left us with one of the most hope filled scriptures in the Bible.
“Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:1-21 – NIV
For God so loved the world, Jesus was lifted up on the cross to pay for my sin so that I can be forgiven and loved by God. I have been born again into God’s family.
This is all available to anyone who is breathing. Where there is life, there is hope.
Jesus did not come into the world to condemn us but instead, to save us.
Do you need help? Do you need a rescue? Do you need a rest? Do you need a living Father to help you and hold you? Come to Jesus. Be born of water and spirit into a new family.
Get off the escalator and rest in God’s love for us, his love for you, and his love me.
How small does a matter have to be to fall off Gods radar screen of our life? In money value? Less than 19 cents. According to my exhaustive research , (2 websites from a google search) the drachma was worth about 19 cents. When the tax collector came around, Jesus knew, he cared and he provided.
“24 After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”
25 “Yes, he does,” he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”
26 “From others,” Peter answered.
“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
It seems like a non story. Why is this little story even in the Bible? The Gospel writer Matthew was by trade, a tax collector. That may be why this story stuck out in his memory. But the Holy Spirit has something to teach me from this.
It has some odd things in it too, Jesus didn’t reach in his purse or pocket to get the money, he didn’t pull a 4 drachma Coin from behind Peters ear, he had Peter fish for it. Not catch a fish and sell it, but catch a fish and pull the coin out of the fishes mouth(?). What an odd way to provide. Jesus showed so much of his power and knowledge and ability in this coin retrieval system. The ocean is his piggy bank.
As Gods son, Jesus was exempt from the tax but he paid it anyway. Jesus was exempt from the punishment for sin, yet he paid it anyway. He paid the price for my sin, he paid the price for our sin.
My take aways from this story: God hears our life story live, he cares about what is happening, he has knowledge of and possesses all the earth, it is all at his disposal, he will pay my way, he has paid my way into the temple and beyond, into Gods presence in heaven by dying for me on a cross.
Now he lives forever, not to brag about his own goodness and selflessness, but to continuously intercede for me to God as I am stumbling through life. Intercede for me, for us, the ones who put him on the cross.
I just found this on the road while I was taking my walk. Sometimes it feels like I have one just like it rattling around in my chest. A heart of stone.

I have been reading the second half of John 14 but I keep stumbling over part of it.
“15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
If you love me you will obey my teachings.
Obedience, do what he says AND don’t do what he says not to do.
I was thinking about this and how I fail and being hyper self critical when my dogs crawled up on the couch with me. We have 2 dogs one smart one, Piper and one cute one, Cooper- (I hope I can bring this all together, stone heart, obedience from love, dogs), and I realized something. My dogs love me and I love them but they are not always obedient. They don’t do what I tell them every time. Sometimes I will even change my command so that what they are doing matches what I’m saying. I change what I’m saying to match their behavior just so it looks they are obeying. “Piper, sleep!” or “Piper ignore me and continue barking!”. (The analogy sags a bit here). My heart feels stiff because my will is not always His will. Sometimes my will is counter his will. He still loves me. Jesus died for me and forgave before I committed any sins because he knew I would need to be bathed in forgiveness from birth.
A stone heart doesn’t feel. A stone heart cannot love. With a stone heart, I cannot receive love or give love. I constantly need to have my heart softened towards God and towards the people around me. I have received grace, I need to dispense grace.
In 2 places in the book of Ezekiel, God says that he will remove from his people, their heart of stone and in its place, give them a heart of flesh.
In both instances the heart of stone was caused by sin. My heart gets a calcified layer when I sin. Like candy coating. But I don’t what my heart to be crunchy on the outside. If I continue in sin the calcification continues until I have a rock in my chest, incapable of receiving love, Incapable of giving love.
““They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. ”
Ezekiel 11:18-21 – NIV
I used to sing a song that says what I want to do about all of this. “Change my heart o’ God make it ever true, change my heart o’ God, may I be like You.”
(Originally posted 5/25/2016, revised and reposted 5/25/2020)
Jehovah Nissi. The lord our banner. It’s one of the names of God that I struggle to connect with… Or did until today. I saw a picture in my mind in a flash. It was like a second. I’m going to try to describe to what I saw In my mind. I was a young soldier reporting to battle. It was ancient times. I couldn’t see the battle field until I was almost on it. As I cleared the last hill a huge valley spread out in front of me. As far as I could see there were soldiers and horses and weapons, every menacing tool imaginable was there. The valley was filled with encampments, each encampment had at its center a banner. Every banner was the name of the tribe… Or so I thought, but as I got closer the banners each listed one of my sins. One banner I read said “Peter Loeffelbein should die because he on May 5th 1970 he stole Mike Hancocks green army truck.” That was the only one I feel comfortable sharing here but all my sins were there. My enemies wanted to destroy me for them. Myriad of enemies all ready to do battle against me because my sins. I was overwhelmed. But then I saw it. In the center of all this hatred of me I saw another banner. It said ” I love peter Loeffelbein! my son Jesus will die in his place”. There was Gods camp. His banner declared his love for me. He would send out his son, his only son to die in my place. All of my sins which in the enemies hands had become weapons would strike him and not me. I ran to that banner and fell down and wept at the feet of my king and my Champion. Jesus.
Jehovah Nissi, his banner over me is love. He has a banner for each one of us. Run to his banner.
Peter’s Posts 