Unspeakable Joy

"... and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy." ( Psalm 19:5b ) 

Often when people hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ presented to them, they make the mistake of thinking that they will consider it to see if it "fits" them and their family. They will take into account how Christianity will help them achieve their goals and dreams; they might ask it they can still live in a particular lifestyle or ask if they have to give up this or that thing before they commit. 

Sometimes people will have kids and think that they need to raise them in church because they need to learn moral values, to make sure they build good character. I thought this. 

When I'm sharing my faith with someone who is closed off to Christianity I tell them that they need to at least investigate the claims of Jesus Christ because he was the most influential person to ever walk the face of the planet. No one man left greater and deeper footprints in all of human history in every facet of human life, and they owe it to themselves to check out those claims. There is too much at stake not to do that. 

Even though this knowledge alone will not save a person, I still stick by my plea. 

Why? Because looking into the evidence for Jesus has been known to lead skeptics to further study into the Scriptures ( sometimes attempting to disprove him )  and thus right into the saving grace, knowledge, and arms of Jesus Christ, not only as their Savior, but as the Lord of their lives. He has to be both. In their pursuit of denying him, they became passionate followers of him. I think of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and others.

We can't think of the Gospel as something we look into to see if it "agrees" with us. That's missing the entire point of the Christian faith. For one thing, it will never "agree" with us entirely. How will it change us? The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn't something we "take up" - rather, it's something that takes us up. The late Dr. Tim Keller continually stressed that point in his preaching.  

When you sense you are being called and overwhelmed by a power greater than yourself, it's starting to happen. God is drawing you. 

Believe.

Ezekiel 11:19: "And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh"

Ezekiel 36:26: "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." 

God draws us and that drawing looks different for all of us. 

However, our struggles, questions, and suffering do not cease when we are drawn by God into this kingdom. No, in many ways, they are just beginning. When we become disciples of Christ, we quickly learn that as Paul said in Romans 8:17: "If we are children of God, then we are fellow heirs with Christ, providing we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Paul goes on to say that he considers that the suffering we face in our lives is not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." ( verse 18 ) 

In this life, we are to "look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ( Hebrews 12:2 )  

The Christian life is joy and suffering. 

That's the cost of discipleship. 

We tend to lean in one direction or the other, but the Scriptures clearly point out that it's both. 

You can't have one without the other. 

It's the crucifixion and the resurrection. 

We must face the afflictions so they can prepare for us the promised eternal weight of glory. ( 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ) 

However, here's what I was thinking this week as the dogs and I walked through the sheep fields: One day our suffering, for all of its agony and unanswered interrogations, will be banished from our lives, and I'm sure our questions along with it.  ( Revelation 21 )  

Suffering will one day end, but joy will not. Isn't that the most beautiful truth? That's our hope, and we must determine that we will hold onto it like a life raft through every hurricane with our eyes fixed on Jesus seated above the flood, by the Father's right hand. And one day we will stand before them perfect without spot or blemish because Jesus endured the suffering for us. Praise God.  

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." ( Psalms 30:5 ) 

In fact, joy will not only not end, but our joy will increase. 

That's the hope I hold in my hand as I walk through this life in all of my shortcomings, failures, and sins, through a world of suffering. That's the hope I must hold onto this Christmas. You can too when you see the beauty of Jesus and he becomes both the Savior and Lord of your life. 💜

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." ( Psalm 16:11 ) 

"So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." ( John 16:22 ) 

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come

Let Earth receive her King

Let every heart prepare Him room

And Heaven and nature sing"

Merry Christmas 

The Prince of Peace

"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them....For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord... 

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.'" ( Luke 2:8, 9, 11,13, 14 ) 

A year or so ago my oldest man child called me because he said that he had an epiphany while grocery shopping at Walmart. "This ought to be interesting," I said. He went on to say that almost every time he's in the store John Mayer's "I'm just waiting on the world to change" is playing over the sound system. 

He said that in exasperation he lifted his head up toward the ceiling and said out loud, "Hey John, you're going to be waiting forever because the world is never going to change." 

"It isn't, Mom, I finally see that. No social or educational program, no government agenda or system, no new generation, no self-help advice is going to save the planet. The world is never going to get better, and there is never going to be world peace." 

It was intriguing because he wasn't having a bipolar episode; he wasn't depressed. He just at long last saw the truth, and he was embracing it. 

But isn't that what Jesus came to bring us? World peace? Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Isn't that the message that was announced to the shepherds that First Noel while they kept watch over their flock? 

Jesus said it wasn't. 

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you." ( John 14:27 ) 

So Jesus does give us peace, but not in the way that the world gives or expects. 

We know this peace Jesus gives is not an end to war because in Matthew 24 when his disciples ask him what will be the sign of his coming back and the end of the age and Jesus replies that you will hear of wars and rumors of wars and nation will rise against nation. So Jesus wasn't promising world peace. 

He says in Matthew that he has come to set family members against one another. I found people who like to say that Jesus always talked of love and lovely things have never actually read what Jesus said. I was like that too, and became shocked at many of his statements. "Do you think that I have come to bring peace. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." ( Matthew 10:34 )

This isn't a literal sword. When Peter drew a sword and swiped off the high priest servant's ear in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus rebuked him, told him to put the sword away, and he healed the man's ear. ( John 18:10, Matthew 56:21, Mark 14:47, Luke 22:50 ) 

Although Jesus made it clear that violence wasn't the way into his kingdom, we do see that this peace isn't that everyone's going to get along either, happily singing campfire songs together. This text reveals that even within a family there will be tension and disagreement because of the gospel.  

To be clear, there is a peace that we experience in this life as Christians, but it is a temporary peace. Sometimes I feel it, and sometimes I don't. I certainly don't feel this peace when I listen to the news. It's a subjective peace. The Bible tells us that its like a river and a part of the fruit of the Spirit. I have a peace that floods my heart at times, but there are times when I'm anxious and afraid. One day this peace will be complete but for now it isn't as we continue to live in this "already but not now" kingdom.

As we wait for Jesus's return and the Kingdom of God to be fully established, we are commanded in Scripture to be peacemakers, to work for human flourishing and to carry out the great commission. That's how Jesus wants to find his Bride when he returns for her.  

So if that peace isn't the peace the angels rejoiced over above the shepherds that Christmas night, then what is it exactly? Look what Luke 1:76-79 says:

This is Zechariah, John the Baptist's dad speaking: 

"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." 

This is the peace that is imparted to us at salvation because of the mercy of God for the forgiveness of our sins. 

But why do we need this peace? 

Because we are at war with God. 

When we read the account of the angels appearing to the shepherds that glorious night, it's actually the middle of the Christmas story. It's hard to understand what's going on in a movie if you come into it halfway through. It's like opening a novel and starting in the middle - it makes no sense. 

We have to go back to Genesis in the Garden of Eden where God created man and woman to live in a perfect, life-giving environment. When our first parents sinned by disobeying God and eating the fruit their sin was imputed into the entire human race. We aren't enemies of God because we sin, but because we are born sinners. It's the nature of our heart. We no longer live for God, but for ourselves, just like Adam and Eve. 

When I look around our world, this makes perfect sense to me. 

"None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one....the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." ( Romans 3:11,12, 17, 18 ) 

When we believe in Jesus, this peace is given to us as a gift in salvation. 

"There since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." ( Romans 5:1 ) 

Paul goes on to say in next verses that this grace in which we now stand causes us to rejoice - just like the angels that night above the shepherds.  

We stand in it. 

The peace that Jesus came into the world to give to those who believe in him - "those in whom he is pleased" - is not a comfortable, tranquil, feeling that fluctuates. No, it is a new and permanent standing with God. No circumstance or person can take this peace from us. Jesus has reconciled sinners back to God through himself. We are no longer enemies of God, but in Christ, we are now dearly beloved children. 

How do we get this peace? By laying down our "weapons" - our pride, our lofty arguments against God, our own self-righteousness, our selfishness. By seeing our sins and our neediness and coming to him because we realize that we can't save ourselves. If we don't see ourselves as we truly are - helpless sinners in need of God's mercy and grace, we will never repent and come to him to be rescued. 

If we don't see that the Christian faith isn't me just trying to live a bit better, behave, or turn over a new leaf, but a desperately needed, radical heart change found only in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will never understand what Jesus came to give us that glorious night. 

He came to give us a changed heart. 

A heart that is reconciled back to God through his life and death. A heart that can love God. And all of these changed hearts, will work to change the world. Not by creating a government system or military force that will usher in world peace, but by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ until he comes again to establish his kingdom as he will wipe away every tear, set all things right, and make all things new. 

This promise of peace truly is the greatest announcement in the history of mankind. 

In fact, this peace changes more than the world. It changes everything. 

May we treasure this reconciliatory peace in our hearts more than ever this Christmas season and everyday of our lives. May we seek to continually worship and understand at a deeper level God's indescribable gift to us in his Son. 

May we never stop sharing the Good News with the world as the Lord and his angels did that night! 💜

"Hark! The herald angels sing,
'Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!'" 

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." ( Isaiah 9:6 ) 

Aslan and Shasta watching over the flock

Glance back; but don't stare

"I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." ( Philippians 1:6 CSB ) 

This morning in my "God Time" I was reminded that in spite of what I may feel about my seemingly slow, bumbling growth in the sanctification process, God is in deed working and will complete the good work he began in me. God is not a quitter. He will complete the work he commands of us. 

I've learned not to stress too much over that paradox and my intellectual anxiety, but to rest my head and heart in the soft feather bed of God's greatness, grace and mystery. He began the work, so he'll finish it. But I believe all throughout the New Testament we are taught to live as if we could lose it at any moment. Is that how precious our salvation is to us? Are we guarding our hearts with that kind of tenacity? Do we take it that serious? 

I think this may offer us a test: 

Sometimes through the struggle in our good fight of faith, (1 Timothy 6:12 ) because it is a battle, we may fail to see how much we really are growing. Here's some encouraging words in my devotional from the great preacher Charles Spurgeon: 

"The Lord knows how to educate you up to such a point that you can endure in years to come what you could not endure today; just as today He may make you to stand firm under such a burden, which ten years ago, would have crushed you into the dust." 

I find this helpful, but also humbling. I cringe at words I wrote as short as five years ago, things I thought and said and did. Even a year ago. 

I've experienced this humility and come to understand that it is a part of the growth process; if we are consistently being humbled with these growing pains, we are actually on the right track - Scripture refers to it as "the path of life." ( Psalm 16:11, Matthew 7:13-14 ) 

The good news is that we can see the fruit of our growth not only in our deeper understanding of the Bible and devotion to Jesus, but in our ability to handle with more poise, strength, and wisdom the increasing intensity of the fiery trials that come our way. ( 1 Peter 4:12-19 ) 

So be encouraged today. Yes, we may look back and shudder, but we all start out as infants after we are born again. We drink milk and fall a lot before we are able to stand and eat meat. 

This knowledge should motivate us and reassure us at the same time, and also increase our grace for one another. 

Happy Thursday. 💜

Happy 57th birthday, Kathy - It's hard to believe almost twenty years have passed. I'm running the best I can. I still miss you terribly and look forward to the day we worship at the throne together. 💕

Aslan looks out over his kingdom 

Silent Purposes

"For God alone my soul waits in silence," Psalm 62:1 

A couple of weeks ago I shared thoughts from my journal on the divine hiddenness of God and argued how this silence is actually not God avoiding us or proof that God doesn't exist, but is in fact the very way that God chooses to pursue us. The same lovingly way a groom woos his future bride. 

There is divine purpose in the hiddenness of God. 

This Psalm in my reading today is my responds back to God:

"For God alone my soul waits in silence, from him comes my salvation." 

In the silence, I will wait in silence. As I wait in the silence, I will remember the goodness of God in my life. 

How he saved me. How he sought me when I didn't or couldn't seek for him. How he rescued me by his grace just the way I was, uniting me to his Son, and then how he began to carefully clean me up and change me into the image of Jesus. 

How he's always been working toward that end goal. 

How he's never left me nor forsaken me. How he pours out his mercy every morning in the rising of the sun in my backyard until it sets behind the blue mountains in front of my home and afterward as the stars begin to take shape and twinkle over all the hairs of my head. Because he knows those too. 

How no matter what happens, he is only, always working for my good, to make me like Christ. 

I remember his creation that surrounds me every day and how soothing it is when I'm suffering to have dogs lick my face and stay close beside me during chores. How healing it is to feed chickens and ducks and geese and marvel at their brilliant design, to bury my nose in the warm, musky smell of a sheep's fleece and remember that I'm the one Jesus left the flock to go find. 

I remember how he has answered my prayers throughout the years, not in what I asked for in my limited knowledge, but in His, often perplexingly painful, perfect ways that have ended extravagantly in treasures I could have never known to seek. 

The dynamics of such an interwoven web beyond all knowledge baffle my mind and cause tears to spill forth. Tears God bottles for future use. 

As I remember all of his goodness, my tears of joy turn to tears of repentance because I have taken so much for granted. 

I go through my life and remember his faithfulness to me in every season. 

Something supernatural happens while we wait in silence. 

We strengthen.  

Maybe that's what God wants us to do. 

Maybe that's another divine purpose in the hiddenness. 

Maybe he's waiting on us too. 💜

"For God alone my soul waits in silence, from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken." Psalm 62:1-2 

These masterpieces grace our fence line. 

Jesus Our Emmanuel

"By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God," ( 1 John 4:2 ) 

What makes Christianity different from every other religion in the world is the resurrection. Our leader does have a tomb like the other founders, only his is empty. 

Sadly in the past century many churches in America's mainline Christian denominations have rejected belief in the supernatural in order to become more culturally friendly to "enlightened" modern minds. In doing so they have cut the very heart out of the Christian faith. I'm not sure what is left, but it's not Christianity. And a faith emptied of its power will never satisfy the longings of the empty human soul nor can it wash away its sin, guilt, and shame without an empty tomb. It becomes little more than self-help. 

However, thankfully, ours is a supernatural faith from start to finish. There's no getting around it. 

"And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." ( 1 Corinthians 15:14 ) 

"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." ( 1 Corinthians 15:17 ) 

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead." ( 1 Corinthians 15:20 ) 

 Our redeemer lives. The Good News of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has resurrected from the dead.  

But we first must have a baby. 

A God baby. One who is mysteriously to us fully man and at the same time fully God. 

Born of a virgin. 

He comes as one of us, sleeping in a manger. Little did man know this is how the greater comes into the filth and sin of the lesser, surrounded by manure and smelly, ruminant cattle breath. I love cows, but their breath is gross if you've ever smelled it. His initial visitors were keepers of sheep from the poorest ranks of society while the wealthiest and most powerful were left to travel miles and wonder much or plot his murder. 

Jesus couldn't just show up as a 33 year old God man if he was to be our propitiation, voluntarily sacrificing himself in our place. He must start as a humble, helpless infant, growing from a toddler into an adolescent and into a man, experiencing everything we experience, even our temptations, living the perfect, obedient life as he suffered and struggled in our messy world before he ever got to the horrific execution that we deserved  

Some religions and individuals say that they just can't believe in the doctrine of the incarnation - Jesus becoming flesh - because God is so great that he would never lower himself like that. But don't you see? This is what makes the incarnation so believable and so great.  

The Greater has come down to the lesser. 

The Greater has lowered himself for us, coming as a servant, stepping inside of vulnerable human flesh. We can not reach God. The lower does not remotely possess the ability to go up, but the Greater can come down. And he did. Jesus became a man whose flesh we can touch. ( Romans 3:10-18, Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3 ) 

Yes, Jesus Christ is arguably the most influential person to ever live, in fact, touching every single facet of human existence, from art to literature to music to human rights to healthcare to education to missions of mercy to family life to work ethics to science to the dignity of women and children even to holidays, and the list continues. It's astounding. The evidence surrounding the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ is overwhelming and everyone owes it to themselves to investigate his claims. Please. It would be foolish not to with all that is at stake. 

Not only did he touch every generation and culture in the history of mankind, but he touched our pain and sorrows with his flesh. He carried our guilt, shame, and sins in his flesh. Unless Jesus comes in the flesh there is no resurrection, no remission of sins.

Nothing for the angels to announce or rejoice about; no peace with God on earth, goodwill toward men.  No Christmas. 

"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, " ( 1 Corinthians 15:20 ) The Apostle Paul goes on to tell us that one day the end will come, and so will Christ. Again. For us. For God's children. This time not as a baby, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And we too will be resurrected from the dead, given imperishable bodies because Jesus's body was resurrected, and he is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 

John, the disciple and apostle, writes possibly some of the most glorious words in the Scriptures in the Revelation of Jesus Christ: "for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." ( 5:10 ) 

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold I am making all things new.... these words are trustyworthy and true.'" ( 21:4-6 )

But first we must have a baby. 💜

"Christ, by highest Heaven adored; 

Christ the everlasting Lord:

Late in time, behold Him come,

Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

Hail the incarnate Deity,

Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
'Glory to the newborn King!'” 

Charles Wesley 

Cranberry bread from my sister in law 

Divine Silence

"Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior." ( Isaiah 45:15 ) 

In the past few decades, after debating with Christians over the famous cosmological and teleological arguments, atheists and skeptics seem to have moved away a bit from the arena of natural theology now launching into a more philosophical argumentation against the existence of God: the divine hiddenness.  

The truth is that believers in God have been struggling themselves with this one since ancient times. 

"Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?" ( Job 13:24 ) 

And Psalm 88. 

The only Psalm that starts in silence and ends in silence. Many Bible commentators say that Psalm 88 proves the Bible because if you were trying to convince someone to join your religion why in the world would you include this hopeless lament in your holy book? 

I think we forget that in the beginning God created man to live in a perfect garden environment while enjoying a close personal relationship with him. We are the ones that didn't trust God's divine order, falling into sin because we thought we knew better than the God of the Universe. 

After the fall, we were the ones hiding, not God. 

Some will say, "Why doesn't God just write across the sky 'I am God - here I am!' Or why doesn't he come down and do a bunch of miracles and prove himself to us? Why doesn't he just make himself known plainly?" For one thing, the Bible is clear that seeing is not always believing. ( Luke 16:19-21, Matthew 28:16-20 ) 

Some atheists insist that if a perfectly all-loving God exists then he would make himself plainly known to his creatures, especially to "nonresistant nonbelievers." I'm skeptical about this term. I'm still thinking about it. The debate doesn't take into account any of the other attributes of God. They argue under the assumption that a sentimental love from an obvious God is the best way for him to pursue a loving relationship with his creatures.

Is it? 

What if his divine hiddenness IS how God is showing himself to us? 

Since the Bible so often portrays our relationship to God as a marriage, maybe this is how God knows to best pursue us. Maybe, just maybe, God chooses to reveal himself this way because through the angst and the struggle, a true, beautiful, trusting relationship is formed. Not just crashing into our lives with a lot of noisy fanfare and pollution, but slowly drawing us to himself like a loving groom woos his future bride.

Maybe we've become so fixated on finding him in such a big way that we've missed the whispers and the wooing. When we ask for him to please make himself known to us, maybe he is. Maybe we're the ones missing it. Our lives reflect an adventure or a romance; I'm back to the fairytale. It makes sense God would pursue us in ways that cause us to look inside of our own hearts and wrestle with them. 

Personally, I know full well God pursued me in my waywardness; although at first I couldn't see him. There was darkness and a silence that chased after me and tormented my soul day and night for months until I broke and surrendered to God for help. I realized later, to my astonishment, that God allowed the darkness and the silence to pursue me continually, for my good, to bring me to the end of myself and into his arms for all that I needed. He knew in the midst of those circumstances, I would cry out to him in utter humility. God was in the storm. The deafening thunder was his voice not the enemy's. 

It is never going to be what we expect.

How can it be? God is a infinite, transcendent, holy Being. And we are finite and small with little understanding. And in addition to all this, for now, we see dimly Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians. Why do we think that God is on our level? If I'm being honest, I have no interest in serving a God who is my size and would take directions from me. That's scary. 

This Holy God of ours created the entire universe and set its order and established his purposes within it, and we think we know how things ought to go better than him? How pompous and prideful. 

That doesn't sound like a "nonresistant" attitude; it sounds more like animosity. The Scriptures are clear that those who are humble are the ones who God doesn't resist. "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." ( 1 Peter 5:5-6, James 4:6-7 ) We have to admit we need him if we ever expect to find him. God is under no obligation to show himself to prideful creatures. Or even humble creatures for that matter. But his mercy says he does. 

I've come to believe that divine hiddenness is an important aspect of our faith and of our worship. Some atheists ( and Christians ) think they know how God should best respond to his creatures. This thought displays a misunderstanding of the love of God and takes great liberties in thinking one can figure out God's purposes and procedures in dealing with his 'beloved' children. God alone knows best how to cultivate a relationship with his offspring; He's a perfect Father. 

God may seem hidden to us, but we are never hidden to him nor our pain or brokenness. 

"O LORD all my longing is before you: my sighing is not hidden from you." ( Psalm 38:9 ) 

"Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?" ( Read Psalm 139 )  

God has not only seen all of our sighing, but our sins and our flaws, and he sent Jesus into fallen humanity, as perfect humanity, to live and die for us. 

God did not hide his most beloved treasure from us - His Son. Jesus willingly stepped inside of human baby flesh, hung on a cross and then raised from the dead because he said that he came to do the Father's will. But we must have eyes to see and ears to hear. We can't harden our hearts toward him. 

I've found that the strongest believers in the faith, not the weakest, are those who have wrestled with divine hiddenness. I've found them to be the most devoted disciples of Christ with the most beautiful and trusting relationships with him. I'm drawn to those saints. They have a relationship with Jesus that I long for, and one that I am determined to pursue. 

I've found as I continue to draw near to God in my quiet time with him each day, not allowing anything else to monopolize that space, that he is drawing near to me, revealing himself slowly. This philosophical truth won't convince any nonresistant nonbelievers, but I hope it will inspire them to keep searching and asking questions and to consider praying if they have not already. 

Jesus said: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." ( Matthew 7:7 ) If you are truly seeking God, I believe you will eventually find him. Don't give up. 

This week as the dogs and I made our way to the barn through the frozen cow field, the grass had drooped and was curled over facing the hard soil, their blades burdened underneath a heavy frost. It reminded me that the winter season is once again at hand, relentless in its icy pursuit to find us and crimp us beneath its callous wings.  

A few moments later as the sun began to rise over the beautiful blue ridges, her beams stretched out across the frozen field reflecting a million shimmering diamonds in the frozen ground. It was breath-taking. Silence was given a voice. Darkness had come to light. This is God. 

There is a divine purpose in the hard, hidden tundra of life, in the stillness and the suffering. It is difficult to imagine, but at just the right moment, when divine hiddenness has had its perfect way, God will reveal our glorious sparkles. 

💖

Living Deserts

"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness." ( Isaiah 35:7-8 ) 

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living waters.'" ( John 7:38 )

..."whoever drinks of the water I give them, will never be thirsty again." ( John 4:14 ) 

After walking through an unusually dry season here at the farm, it was such a pleasant surprise to wake up yesterday morning to the sound of refreshing raindrops tap dancing on the tin roof of our little cabin. 

As we drove and worked and coughed through the clouds of thick dust surrounding our daily chore routines, I knew eventually, as the sun faithfully rises each day in the east, the rains too would return. They did. And we were better for it. 

When we first come to faith in Christ, we experience such an euphoria of spiritual awakenings and joy in our salvation that we can't possible imagine God ever allowing us to walk through a dry season. We feel now all of life will be these breath-taking, mountain summit views. No desert wildernesses, no dry bone valleys. 

And yet journeys through the parched, sun-baked terrains of life are ironically the exact thing God uses to grow us into lush orchard trees bearing healthy, ripe fruit. If we had never tasted from the streams of living water, how would we know we were dry? How would we know what we are missing?  

You see the simple fact that we have been united to Christ in the first place and tasted his goodness, walked by the Spirit, enjoyed sweet fellowship; the fact that we have experienced his love is proof that we are in him. And he will return us to those sweet waters. In this world we have troubles Jesus taught us, and sometimes it seems disciples of Jesus encounter more than most. 

God allows us to thirst. 

Why? 

One day my grandson Jonah asked for more juice in his cup at breakfast, and I told him that he could have water because Daddy said only one cup of juice is allowed. He is familiar with the family rules, but you know grandkids and grandparents. The two are forever bending parental stipulations into shimmering rainbows of fun. 

"I don't like water," he said. 

"I bet if you were very thirsty you would love water," I responded.  

I could tell he was thinking.

When we get thirsty we remember and long for those living waters, and we should be willing to dig through all sorts of mud and sediment to get back to them. These dry times of drilling through scorched soil can usher in some of our most meaningful conversations with our Father through tears and questions and waiting. 

They can also strengthen our orthodoxy as we press into the Scriptures with a new tenacity and determination to understand. They cause us to rely on our church family instead of carrying the burdens alone. Strong bonds begin to form out of our loneliness and within our local body. 

More than anything perhaps, dry seasons with God are meant to be growth seasons if we submit to him through the dust and the thorns and thistles instead of collapsing into despair or playing the blame game. 

Dry seasons prepare us for ministry. Like Elijah, we learn a deeper trust in God waiting on the ravens to bring our nourishment in the midst of the drought. 

If we lived out our entire lives in plenty, we would not learn to depend on God. The truth, the reality, that God is our sole provider, protector, and preparer, not just in the wilderness years, but in all our years, would never be found otherwise. 

So in the wilderness we find our humility. We realize that God is not just a bigger version of us. 

The dry earth we walk upon spiritually is Son-baked. This is the most crucial truth to remember in the dry seasons. Jesus has gone before us, so he understands every temptation and feeling of loneliness, rejection, and abandonment.  

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, choosing their way over God's, their sin was imputed to all mankind from that moment on, to every human. We are all born condemned. ( John 3:18 )  Jesus Christ, the perfect lamb of God, came from Heaven and imputed himself with our sin, the sin that resulted from the fall and kept us from the Holy God. 

He lived the perfect life we should have lived, and then dies the death we should have died, in our place, penal, substitutionary atonement. He takes our punishment, satisfying the wrath of God. He is raised from the dead, and all those who come to him, he imputes, by the power of the Holy Spirit, his perfect righteousness. 

Jesus takes our sin, and then in return gives us his perfect righteousness, known as the "glorious exchange." We will never truly thirst again. Why? 

On the cross, God allowed his son to thirst to death.  

"My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" ( Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34, Psalm 22:1 ) 

In the dry seasons, it only feels like God has abandoned us; when in fact, the living water has never left us. His Word promises that in deed he has not and never will. 

Why? 

He abandoned Jesus, so he wouldn't have to abandon us. 

This Gospel truth received into our hearts is the strength that pushes us through the dry seasons and into the refreshing waters no matter what we are walking through. We grieve in the wilderness, but with a godly grief, a grief that always ends in hope. 

💜

"Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, would die for me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee."

Charles Wesley 

I love hymns.  

 

For the Love of People

 "The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor." ( Proverbs 22:9 ) 

"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." ( Jude 3 ) 

Jude's words ring as true today as they did to the first century church, as the young wheat became entangled with weeds and the sheep vulnerable to predatory wolves in wool wardrobes. Not outside the sanctuary, mind you, but sitting within the pews and even preaching to the flock. Jesus warned us before he left that this would happen. ( John 10 ) 

"Ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God," and "deny our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." Strong language from Saint Jude. 

There are many ways the grace of God can be perverted and the beauty of Jesus's atonement denied, and although the cultural problems have changed down through church history, it is the same enemy with the same battle tactics, fighting on the same fronts. Christianity is a fighting faith, not in the physical, but spiritual realm. And Jude reminds us that we must contend for the faith - the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

So I would like to continue contending for the faith this morning against one of the western church's worst enemies, the prosperity gospel, and share another November devotional from the late Dr. Keller. 

He brings clarity to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ concerning our money. It is important that folks investigating the claims of Jesus and looking into the Christian faith have the correct facts. I feel like most can see through the false teaching of the word of faith/prosperity gospel preachers we see on TV, whose books litter the bookstands of retail stores, but we can not assume they can. If Jesus told his sheep to be on guard against the wolves, then I believe all of us are susceptible to fall prey to their deception. 

One thing I've learned is that not all wolves know they are wolves. Many actually believe the slop they are spreading. I used to believe that hog wash also; although I look back at myself more of a naive sheep than a wolf. Whatever the case may have been, I ask God to forgive me and keep my wandering feet on the path of life. Anyway, here's Dr. Keller with some very wise counsel from the Scriptures for those looking at the Christian faith from the outside and lest we on the inside fall back into the pit again. 

"The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor." ( Proverbs 22:9 )

The Blessing of Generosity. The generous will themselves be blessed when they share their food with the poor. Of what does this blessing consists? Generosity that breaks the power of money over you may make you wiser in your financial dealings. 

But the blessing here is surely the increase in the true wealth of love. 

Even at the level of common sense, we feel the most rich when we most love and are loved. Radical generosity is an act of love toward God and toward others that exponentially increases love.

It moves us from seeing money as a currency of status and power to instead seeing it as a currency for loving God and others. We love God with our money when we treat it as his, not ours, and send it out to the things he loves. We love people with our money when we heal and repair lives with it. 

And in the Bible we are blessed the more like God we become. God originally gave us our own lives, then he gave us his Son's life. The more we give away, the more like our God we become. And that is blessed." 

God's Wisdom for Navigating Life ( 307 ) 

"We love people with our money when we heal and repair lives with it." 

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." ( Ephesians 5:1-2 ) 

I think that is a beautiful word for us this Monday morning. 

Gospel clarity. 

Contending for the faith. 

"Keep yourselves in the love of God." ( Jude 21 ) 

Give radically. 

Happy Monday! 🌍

Of Providence and Prayer

"And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowl full of incense which are the prayers of the saints." ( Revelation 5:8 ) 

Recently I had a revelation that came to me when I was searching the Scriptures attempting to better understand how God's providence and our responsibility work together, how the tension of Philippians 2:12 "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" and "for it is God who works in you both to will and work for his good pleasure," becomes the glorious ebb and flow of our Christian lives. 

And the epiphany was quite simple really, but it just seemed to reach the bottom of my heart that day where I had not grasped it before.

It's like when I tell the Farmer something and he says to me, "You told me that three times already!" And I say, "That's because the first time it went in one ear and out the other. The second time it landed on the surface. By the third time it finally started to make some headway." 

This is just how the human brain works, especially in our current culture with so many things clamoring for our attention. We have to be deliberate about the lost art of meditation, allowing time to let the Word we've read in our study marinate in our brains. It's not a suggestion we see in the Scriptures; it's a commandment. "... meditate ( on the Word ) day and night..." ( Joshua 1:8 ) 

Anyway while I was contemplating all of this, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that God uses our prayers to accomplish his purposes. Now there is still much mystery to this, but something took hold in my heart and lit a fire that has fueled my prayers with an urgency I lacked before. 

"You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessings granted us through the prayers of many." ( 2 Corinthians 1:11 ) 

Somehow knowing I have this part to play in the grand scheme of God's divine will, through my imperfect, broken prayers, even when I can't unravel the mystery of it all, has been a prayer game changer for me. 

One would think this knowledge would stir up one's pride, but it's just the opposite. It's humbling. It births the reality that only God has the power to change a heart, heal a wound, order a step, or stop a disaster, but he has given to his children in the midst of this prayer laboring by his Holy Spirit a power he uses to accomplish these things and many others. ( Ephesians 6:17-18 ) ( Romans 8:27 ) 

And this doesn't mean that God answers our prayers the way we think he should. I believe we will do well to begin our prayers with the prayer Jesus taught us: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done." ( Matthew 6 ) 

His kingdom. His will. Not ours. His will is perfect, and the Bible reminds us that it can't be stopped. "Why bother praying then?" That's easy to answer: Because the Bible commands us to. 

We have a part, but God does it all. ( Philippians 2:12 ) 

Yes, it is that mysterious tension again, one of those paradoxes that blows our minds, but not his. One thing I do know is that in this beautiful, divine partnership of prayer, God is establishing a deeper relationship with us. Can you feel it? Have you experienced it? ( Isaiah 14:7 ) ( Job 42:2 ) 

When the pain is so huge, and the lament so loud, where do we run? Who hears our prayers and catches our tears? Our Father in heaven. 

Hallowed be His Name. His Name is who he is - every inch of his perfect, infinite divinity is found in his Name.

Yes, it is humbling to think that God would stoop so low to not only hear our prayers but use them to accomplish his perfect will. 

But then again God has always been stooping to interact with his fallen creatures, not abandoning them in the Garden, but making a covenant with them. A covenant he knew full well we would never keep, knowing full well, that in the end, he would be the one to keep our part. 

That was his perfect will all along. Not plan B. Plan B is not God's providence. 

And it shouldn't surprise us that God would stoop that low since Jesus was already willing to stoop so low when he entered our world as a man baby to fulfill his Father's will, the Perfect interacting with the imperfect, to live the life we should have lived and to die in our place. 

So God could adopt us. So we could draw near to God and he to us. ( James 4:8 ) ( Hebrews 11:6 ) ( Romans 8:15 ) 

Jesus revealed that the mystery of God's kingdom is found when up becomes down. 

And the kingdom's purposes become fulfilled to the highest heaven, down on our knees. 💜 

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." ( Ephesians 3:20-21 ) 

Happy Weekend.

It's bone broth weather 

Scattering and Gathering

"One person gives freely, yet gains even more: another withholds unduly, and comes to poverty." ( Proverbs 11:24 ) 

In addressing the pitfalls and false teaching of the prosperity gospel that has plagued the western church in recent decades, I felt this morning it would be a good idea to share a short devotional from the late Dr. Tim Keller that I believe brings clarity to the biblical principle of "sowing and reaping" because this is a truth that God built into the structure of his universe at creation. 

It is crucial we understand his definition from his Word and not our own, so what does that principal look like in its biblical, godly form?

That's a great question, and I'm sorry that I have not conveyed this sooner. Dr. Keller brings much clarity to the concept of planting and reaping. As everything in life, it traces back to the motives of our heart. Are we giving to get back or are we giving because it springs from hearts that simply can't help themselves as we think of all God has given to us in the life and death of his Son? 

Scattering And Gathering: "The more you scatter your wealth, the more you gather it, and the more you try to keep it for yourself, the more it dissipates. How could that be? Think of farmers. The more they scatter seed, the more they will reap. And keep in mind that seed comes back in a better form, as harvest you can eat and sell. In the same way, spiritually wise people realize their money is seed, and the only way for them to turn it into real riches is by giving it away in remarkable proportions. ( cf. 2 Corinthians 9:6 ) 

This is not a promise that the more you give away, the more money you will make. Rather the more you give away wisely to ministries and programs that help people spiritually and physically, the more your money becomes the real wealth of changed lives in others and of spiritual health in yourself. And you will be walking in the footsteps of the one who was literally broken and scattered so he could gather us to himself. 

Where have you seen this principle of scattering and gathering illustrated? How?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, your infinite loss on the cross has led to resurrection and infinite gains for us. Give me the faith to follow your path, to disburse and scatter my goods and time for others, and thereby see your grace and life grow in the lives of people around me. Amen" 

We have been richly blessed in Christ Jesus, so we can now be a blessing to others! 

Happy Friday! 🌻

A Pound of Cure

Seriously though, today as we celebrate the Protestant Reformation, as powerful and influential, praise God, as it was, it was never meant to be a once and for all-time event. The Church as a whole and as individual parts of the Body should always be reforming. History teaches us that it is dangerous if we are not. 

As I study church history, I am continually blown away by just how wide-spread the Reformation actually was, over many countries and many years, through many saints of God from all walks of life. 

Officially beginning this day 506 years ago after Martin Luther pounded his 95 thesis into the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. ( Although some historians report he actually used glue; however, when I glue anything, I always still give the thing glued a firm pounding for good measure. ) 

The points listed in the thesis are the heartbeat of the Reformation; however, the arteries spread thickly around the entire world pumping lifeblood back into not only the Church, but all of humanity, giving the glorious Gospel back into the hands of the "common folk." 

Before this time people relied on church leaders to read and expound the Scriptures to them. Without a copy of the Bible, bishops and other church leaders could paraphrase the Scriptures and move them in any direction they chose, inflicting ungodly fear into hearts instead of the true gospel. 

"I defy the pope and his laws!" proclaimed William Tyndale to a church bishop who had informed him that it would be better for the people to have the pope's law than God's, "If God spares my life," Tyndale continued, "In a few years a plow boy shall know more of the Scriptures than you do." 

Praise God those word would ring true. 

Some think that what happened during the Reformation was a breaking away from the true church to start another religion - Protestantism. This could not be further from the truth. 

The church leaders had become caught up in immoral as well as financial scandals selling indulgences to people under the false teaching that their money would spring their loved ones out of a life of suffering in purgatory, that their money could buy forgiveness. 

"May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money."  ( Spoken by Peter in Acts 8:20 ) "Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." ( Romans 1:32 ) 

As Luther wrestled with his sin and guilt and the church's teachings on salvation, God broke through to him by the power of the Holy Spirit as he read the Gospel in the Book of Romans revealing to him the truth: Salvation is not grace plus the works you must add to it, your self-righteousness, your filthy rags, but salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. To add to Christ's salvation would be to take it away. 

The rest is history. The most important discovery that emerged from the Protestant Reformation was the rediscovery of the Bible - the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Luther reminds us when we have the integrity to wrestle with God and his Word, asking him our questions, refusing to give up, repenting of our sins, crying out to him, wonderful things are revealed. 

The Church leaders were not dividing the Holy Word of God rightly. They were obscuring the Gospel from the people, adding to it, not handling it with fear and trembling or reverence. They were not tending the Flock entrusted to them with truth and love. 

What else could the Church do but protest? 

Jesus said that he would build his Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. We can look back through history and trace his handiwork. It was not a coincidence that the rediscovery of the Gospel coincided with the invention of the printing press. And those printers burned the midnight oil ( and ink in this case ) to keep up with all of Luther's tracks explaining and teaching the Gospel, justification by faith alone, and the Five Solas, Scripture alone, Christ alone, faith alone, grace alone, and glory to God alone. 

The printers produced thousands of copies of God's Holy Word. ( Now written in the people's language, and not Latin. ) Imagine the freedom the people felt as they read the Good News for themselves, or the many illiterate having family or friends read it to them as they sat and listened to the beautiful Story of God, his redemption through the sacrifice of his Son alone, walking out of spiritual darkness and into the Light as hearts were opened to the Truth. 

And yes, Protestants have also done and continue to do ungodly things in the name of God, and this is sinful and not what Jesus taught. Violence should never be a means of spreading the Gospel. And this is exactly why we can't allow ourselves to drift for a second, but always be about our spiritual disciplines, practicing the discerning of spirits, ever vigilant to see that we are dividing the Word rightly and proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

We don't need to pound the Gospel over people's heads - but we must never stop pounding it on every church door. 

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." ( Romans 1:16 & 17 ) 

Happy Reformation Day! 💜

Digging up the Truth

"For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ( 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 CSB ) 

Jackie Hill Perry says in her new devotional, "Suffering creates an interpretive lens. Either refining the suffer's vision of God or blurring it." 

I've found this to be exceedingly true. For some it makes them hate God or gives them a reason to deny him, saying that if there is a God, he would not allow suffering. For others, it makes them concoct all sorts of false doctrines like believers aren't suppose to suffer, twisting Scriptures to fit their fancy. 

If we give ourselves over to truly studying the Bible, having the integrity to read it and let it speak to us, not explaining away the difficult verses, but reading the entire counsel of Scripture for what it is, in there, and there only, lies the story and hope we are so desperately hungering for in our hearts. 

For those willing to do this, we not only find some semblance of sense in suffering, but we find a Savior who lowered himself into ours feeling every inch of our pain and infinitely more, crying out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" ( Matthew 27:46 ) 

Why? Why did God forsake his own Son? 

So he wouldn't have to forsake us. 

That truth is worth us digging into. 

The Truth about Fairytales

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." ( John 15:13 ) 

Many years ago now, I went with the Farmer to this party way out in the country at a dilapidated, old farmhouse. I didn't know any of the people there. By the time we arrived, things were already out of hand. Everyone was drinking and cursing and smoking weed and probably other illegal substances, some were laughing hysterically, others were falling down, one group was fighting, but I was in love, so whatever.  

All the shenanigans got to be too much even for the Farmer to deal with so he took my hand and led me out the front door and over to the porch swing. I think we would have left, but our ride was drunk as a skunk and so we were sort of stuck. I definitely was no angel; I was drinking a bottle of cheap, sweet wine the Farmer had picked up for me at a local convenience store on the way. 

As we began to swing together, we heard a loud voice above all the others yell, "Out Devil - Get Out! I mean it, Devil, get out!" I said, "Oh great, now they're casting out demons." I'm not making this up. Then all of a sudden this huge, black lab came running out of the door. The Farmer and I both burst out laughing. To this day, we still tell the story of the dog named Devil. 

After Devil came out, I began to pet him and this music starts playing. We peep through the grimy window beside the swing and some of the partiers now had banjos and guitars and were singing gospel songs. Through slurred speech and missed notes they started with "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" and then proceeded to desecrate a whole host of gospel music's greatest hits. 

I wasn't sure what to do with that. I know it may sound judgmental, but back then, I didn't feel worthy to sing a hymn in the middle of my mess. I knew I wasn't living the way I should be, and I felt like a hypocrite. 

And I want to be clear that I'm not saying alcohol in and of itself is a sin, but the abuse of it carries with it a dread that is heavy, deceiving, and dark. The abuse of any good or bad thing, especially people, is a sin. I don't drink alcohol, not mainly because of my history of addiction, but because of God's mercy in delivering me. I can't pay him back, but I can honor him with my whole, sober life for all he has done for me. It's my personal conviction concerning alcohol that I do not place on anyone else. 

Anyway, back then I might not have sang gospel songs in the midst of my broken life, but I would read a few Bible verses in the morning and attend church to make myself feel half-way like a Christian. But isn't that how we are before we come to Jesus? We want to come on our own terms. We want to decide which parts of our lives we give to Jesus and which ones we keep to ourselves.

Sometimes when we see someone engaging in sinful behavior, we might hear someone say that that person needs to get "a little bit of Jesus." 

But as C.S. Lewis so bluntly put it: "He ( Jesus ) has not left that open to us." 

With Jesus it's all or nothing. He's either Lord or lunatic. There's no middle ground. 

Cold or hot. "Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." ( Revelation 3:15 -16 ) Those are Jesus's words to the church in Laodicea. Yeah, he's speaking to the church. 

Jesus lived a perfect life and died a criminal's death for us. In our place. When we just grab a little bit of Jesus to make us feel good in our sin, I imagine it saddens him greatly. Like when he lamented over Jerusalem longing to tuck the people under him like a hen gathers in her chicks. ( Matthew 23:37 ) 

We've seen in TV shows, movies, and books these scenarios where someone saves someone else's life, and then the one who was rescued gives their very own life over to the hero. They say that they owe them their lives now that they saved them. 

I believe we see this depicted so much in film and all genre of literature, especially fairy stories and fantasy tales, because it's a longing deep inside the human soul. We want someone to love us so much that they are willing to search the world over to find us, then give their lives to save ours so that we then can become theirs forever. 

And we have that! That is exactly what we have in Jesus! 

When the truth of this gracious and merciful knowledge makes its way to the bottom of our broken hearts, the response is always: "I'm yours forever, Jesus! You own every part of my life!" 

This gratitude springs up and out into praise to God and a willingness to go where ever he sends us, to love all those he places before us, to serve him with gladness, and to surrender to him every square inch of our sinful lives so he can begin our metamorphosis into his glorious image that pleases our heavenly Father. Not to try and save ourselves, but because he has saved us! 

A few weekends ago I thought about this long ago memory as I sat swinging on the front porch at Josh's house with my grandchildren. I was overcome with emotion because in our rebellion, God had grace and mercy on me and the Farmer. We didn't deserve it. No one does. If we deserved it, it wouldn't be grace. And if we weren't guilty, it wouldn't be mercy. If we thanked God for eternity, it wouldn't be enough.

But I'm prepared to try. 

I look forward to it. 

Thank God for his indescribable gift and give your heart and entire life to Christ if you haven't already. The King has come for you. 💜

It was a treat to share a movie experience with my oldest man child near his home in Atlanta. ( Wow, the seats were recliners! ) I really need to get out more.  

Jonah and the Well ( of mercy )

Many of my friends this morning are suffering in various ways. Sometimes life seems to bring on these seasons of pain, grief, and fear in tidal waves but not without the mercies of God relentlessly swimming within them. 

My childhood friend Jerry is facing open heart surgery right at this moment. Another friend is in unending, excruciating agony in both of her shoulders with little pain management available. Another is fighting blood cancer. Still another is battling M.S. There are others. 

Maybe you are thinking that is all good and fine, that you can believe God will intervene and help these dire and needy situations. But what about the one who caused their own pain? Does God help them? Surely they knew how to get themselves into this mess, and God now standing with his hands on his hips, wagging his finger, will not get them out. 

What about Jonah?

Jonah, a prophet of the people of God, no less, who should have known better, was flat out disobedient to God's command in his job description. "Go preach to Nineveh." God wanted to show mercy on the wicked city. However, Jonah ran away from God the text tells us; he went in the opposite direction. 

We could say Jonah caused his own pain. 

Pastor Bryan, the teaching pastor at the Summit Church, in his recent series on Jonah pointed out something I had never seen before in the epic story. 

"God has more mercy than we have mess."

In Jonah's rebellion, God was still hounding him to heaven. When Jonah refused mercy to Nineveh, God still showed mercy to him. 

Astounding, isn't it? 

Another thing Pastor Bryan pointed out was that as Jonah continued in his disobedience, God sent the storm that rocked the sea and the boat. God sent the fishermen, who threw Jonah overboard. And God sent the whale that swallowed him alive. 

God sent these things to Jonah out of his mercy. Pastor Bryan hopes that he has shattered our image of a Santa Claus god. 

When we are in a pit simply because we live in a broken world or in a pit of our own making and rebellion, either way, we do not have the strength or the power to get ourselves out. We don't "got this" I'm sorry, but I don't like that saying. We don't got nothing. 

But God has everything. 

And we learn this when we come face to face with the darkness, fear, and pain of a pit, whatever it may be. We learn to call on the God who has everything and depend on him. 

We learn that God has more mercy than we have mess. 

He sends storms, fishermen, and whales to "fish" us out of the pit. 

Some people want to just trash the God of the Old Testament and accuse him of "cosmic child abuse" and all sorts of atrocities, but they are missing the overarching theme of the entire Bible narrative: We are the ones that got ourselves in the mess! We are the guilty, rebellious party. We are born sinners, and we add to our sin account daily. Against God who is Holy, Holy, Holy. 

And "while we were sinners, Christ died for us." ( Romans 5:8 ) 

Because God has more mercy than we have mess. 

I just pray that we have eyes to see and ears to hear. 

"Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:15 

Cry out to him. 

"I cried out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice....The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me.... yet you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God...... Salvation belongs to the LORD!" 💜 ( Jonah 2:1,5,6,9 )

The Farmer with the late great Atlas and his grand pup Aslan 

T.G.I.M.

Today as we move out into our spheres of influence, into our work spaces and into the new week, I pray we take the lessons of Sunday with us. Yesterday at my church Harvest Ministries, we devoted the service to praising the Lord and to prayer for our pastors, staff, each other, for Israel and for the nations. It wasn't planned by us, but by the Spirit. 

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all." ( John 6:63 ) 

So we cried out to God. It was a time of humbly serving each other and seeking the face of God which acknowledges our dependence upon him and not on ourselves. It puts us in a right posture for the rest of the week. It's that "upside-down kingdom" thing again where in God's Kingdom the way up is down. 

It is in this same servant spirit that we must move out into our Monday. What does that look like? Instead of thinking we have to begin some "big" work of God, like we so often do in this country, where fame, flashy, and fruitful seem to be emphasized, even from the pulpit at times, I think it simply means this:

"Do what's in front of you."

Now, good fruit is biblical to be sure. We are called to bear much healthy fruit. In fact, the Scriptures tell us that good fruitfulness is assurance that we are children of God and that we are growing. 

But I don't believe our eyes should become too focused on the fruit we are producing. Maybe we should glance at it from time to time, do an occasional fruit inspection, but if our eyes and heart are concentrating on how much fruit we think we are creating, we will miss what's in front of us. 

And God is more concerned with our faithfulness than our fruitfulness. 

Are we being faithful with what's in front of us? 

For one thing, we can't produce the fruit anyway. 

In 1 Corinthians 2:5  Paul writes to the immature, jealous church members, "What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each." 

"Servants" Paul says that he and Apollos are "servants." 

"I planted. Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." 

Let's focus on being faithful then with what's in front of us and leave the fruit production up to God. 

"For even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." ( Mark 10:45 ) 

People were hungry. Jesus fed them. People were sinful. Jesus forgave them. People were lost. Jesus found them. People were ignorant. Jesus taught them. People were dirty. Jesus washed them. 

Make your family breakfast. Forgive your friend. Send the missionary. Teach your child to pray. Wash away bitterness and envy from your relationships. Have patience with the slow driver in the left hand lane. ( Welcome to the Farmer's world. ) Invite your co-worker to church. Attend the counseling session with your spouse. Linger a bit longer and with more intensity as you listen. Care for the poor and for aging parents. Influence your grandchildren for the gospel. Consider others better than yourself. 

When we die and stand before our Father, we will not hear the words, "Well done good and "fruitful" servant." 

No, what do we long to hear?  

"Well done, good and "faithful" servant.

You have been faithful over a little; 

I will set you over much. 

Enter into the joy of your master." ( Matthew 25:21 ) 

T.G.I.M. 

D.W.I.F.O.Y.

Happy Monday! 

It's the Gospel Truth

Almost five years ago I experienced some sort of a spiritual renewal one very dark night while wrestling with a functioning addiction to alcohol that was causing all kinds of mayhem to work itself out into my life, poisoning every area.

In an act of radical grace in my rebellion, God rescued his prodigal lamb. For months afterward I asked God what in the world he did to me because I could not figure it out, how I could change like that. Several elder saints in the Lord who visited the farm lovingly counseled me that I had experienced a spiritual awakening. God was answering my prayer; he delivered me. 

Another prayer I prayed to God was that I wanted to know the truth. Through my life I had attended many different denominations, and although they all believed the core doctrines of the Christian faith, they were all across the board on the secondary issues. "I am confused," I prayed, "Please show me the truth." 

Since that day, I have been on a spiritual rollercoaster with many highs and many lows as I've emerged myself into theological lectures and classes, and buried my nose in commentaries and doctrinal treatises, engaging in much passionate canonical discourse. I've deconstructed from false teachings embedded in my belief system, been perplexed as I poured over Arminian free-will arguments, and spent considerable time in the "cage-stage" of Calvinism. 

Theologian Micheal Horton explains, "Whenever someone has invested considerable time and energy, especially on a subject that has altered their lives, passion can boil over into fanaticism." 

Many times I've had to beg the Lord to take away this simmering pride and subdue the monster inside of me clamoring for more knowledge and doctrine so I can win the argument. Another prayer answered as he began to humble me in the midst of the most beautiful thing possible, the only possible thing to replace this angst - the thing angels long to look into. ( 1 Peter 1:12 ) 

The gospel. 

Inside my heart I heard God speak, "When you wanted to know the truth, you meant doctrine, but I meant my Son." 

My pastor once quoted from the pulpit, "Better to be at home with your Bible and not your theology than to be at home with your theology and not your Bible." Isn't that the gospel truth? We must be aware continuously of forcing our theology to fit into the Scriptures. 

Read the text and let it speak for itself. Let the tension remain and meditate on it. The Holy Spirit will guide us. He will teach us Jesus promised. And get into a gospel-centered Bible study with fellow believers. Commit your study always to the Lord in prayer, and he will open your mind to understand it. Pray that we may handle the Word with fear and trembling and rightly divide it. ( Luke 24:35, 2 Timothy 2:15 ) 

This is the best advice I can give. 

Sanctification is the journey, not the destination. I thank God profusely that he has not allowed me to become clogged up and lodged in the theological quagmire I've thankfully passed through, although it has benefited the process greatly. Some things have stuck while others dropped off as I cycled through. 

I realize now that what happened that night was that the gospel of Jesus Christ that had been in my head on an academic level only, had finally made the pilgrimage down into my heart. 

For most of my life if someone had asked me to explain the gospel, I would have embarrassed myself to no end. The elements of it were tucked away in my intellect, but they always came out of my mouth sounding mechanical. The reason is because they were never in my heart. I had never experienced the gospel for myself. I had never tasted that the Lord is good. I had never bitten into the sweet honey of grace, that's for sure. 

Christianity was a religion to me. I had to measure up, follow the rules, so I could be saved. And then there was the ever exhausting task of keeping myself saved. No wonder I was a mess. 

In a recent blog post I made the statement that we need to first tell people the bad news of the gospel before we can share the good news of the gospel with them. I was wrong. Really wrong.

The Bible narrative which is the story of God is not bad then good, it is actually good, then bad, then good again. 

Good, bad, good.   

God made everything good. He said so. Our first parents were given a choice and they sinned in the Garden of Eden when they did not obey God, thinking they knew better. This sin tainted the rest of humankind, that's the bad news: We're born sinners. 

But God had a plan.

God can have mercy on us for one reason: He did not have mercy on his Son. 

Think about that. That's what Jesus has done for us. "....while we were sinners, Christ died for us." ( Romans 5:8 ) That's the gospel. The things that these angelic heavenly beings who dwell in the holiness and presence of God long to look into. 

Do we? 

God made a covenant that terrible day in Eden with Adam and Eve that he had a plan to redeem and restore creation, including his people by sending his Son to bear our iniquity for us, rising from the grave on the third day. Our Redeemer lives. That's the good news. That's the complete gospel. 

If we let the gospel overwhelm our hearts, if we make the gospel truth the thing we meditate upon and not our theology, it will work itself out into every area of our lives and begin to change everything, including our theology. 

It will melt our hearts. 💜

"I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." ( Romans 1:16 ) 

"If I.... understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." ( 1 Corinthians 13 ) 

Nothing satisfies like the Pure Milk of the Word 

"Shadowlands"

That year I didn't know if we would celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary together, let alone make it to our 40th. I remember standing by the Farmer's bedside after he was admitted to the hospital with chest pains wondering if I was about to become a young widow. 

He was hooked up to numerous monitors and devices, and I was attempting to soak it all in while listening to a doctor inform me that my husband, age 35, had suffered a heart attack. He was being prepped for a procedure, a procedure at that time I had never heard of, but one that would become quite familiar to us in the following years. I remember our two teenage sons standing on either side of me. Johnny was wearing long, khaki shorts with a favorite band t-shirt, and he had on a pair of Converse sneakers. Josh was wearing his baseball uniform. 

Unpredictable. That's my first word. 

Life is unpredictable. 

A man goes through the fire of multiple heart procedures and surgeries, including open heart, the removal of part of his colon, life threatening illnesses and conditions, one after another, near fatal accidents, one involving a dirt bike and a ruptured spleen and almost bleeding out, and somehow, so far, this man emerges from all of the trauma alive and well. 

In spite of the harrowing circumstances it has been subjected to, the Farmer's heart continues to fiercely beat like a war drum always prepared for battle. 

I have to admit I've grown to love that bull-headed heart. 

Maybe one can assume the ending of a bad movie, but certainly not the details, events, or outcome of one's life here inside the complexity of God's universe and his economy. A sick person lives. A healthy person dies. 

D.A. Hubbard said concerning the wisdom literature of the Bible, "Proverbs seems to say, 'Here are the rules for life try them and find that they will work.' Job and Ecclesiastes say, 'We did and they don't.'" 

This quote backs up our lives, doesn't it? The reality guards us from ever thinking if only we could find the magical, biblical formula, we could then receive this good thing. Possibly, but not always. You never know. In order to gain God's wisdom for life, we must read all three books and allow the tension of paradox to transform our thinking because God's wisdom along with his purposes are as nuanced and mysterious as his creative power. 

If we can catch a glimpse of this anomaly and allow the truth to take hold, the bold beauty will begin to redefine our lives causing us to truly live for the glory of the God who created us and who we can not tame.  

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." Ecclesiastes 3:11

At first, I kicked and rebelled against the unpredictability of life. I didn't want to have to live that way, not ever knowing what was going to happen, angry that God wouldn't give me a guarantee like it seemed others had when I was still so young. 

But the unpredictability forced me to trust God and not the Farmer. 

Slowly I began to realize that we all live in the dark, unpredictable recesses of the Shadowlands, whether we accept it or not, a capricious kingdom where we are handed an irregular shape, a contorted silhouette of sorts, but never the full panorama. 

And unpredictability always invites suffering to the party with it because suffering has the stark ability to begin to uncover the frailty and neediness hidden within the shadows of our heart. 

Suffering is my second word. 

The fact that we've encountered so much suffering never knowing the outcome surprisingly didn't build a life for us of walking around on pins and needles or sinking into quicksand, but one forged on the trust of a God who loved us so much he would send his Son to bear our sins in his own suffering. That is where our faith arose, out of Christ's suffering, not a formula.  

I love how Dorothy Sayers put it:

“For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is— limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.”

And God isn't allowing anything to move into our lives and set up shop that would keep us from becoming like his Son. When I realized this truth I began to see how much God really did love us. And I began to love him back.  

Suffering can defeat pride and stir up humility because our weaknesses and our pain cause us to lean on our Father and depend on him. And he knows that's the only environment we can flourish within. Life outside of God isn't true life; it's just existence. 

He took away our false notions of predictability and prideful self-reliance at an early stage in our marriage, allowing us to feel like we were free falling towards the earth every single moment. It continues to make us who we are because it continues to make us rely on his grace every single second.  

Unpredictability and suffering do not live in comfy, luxurious dwellings; they live on the precarious cliffs and rocky edges of high places that always compel our eyes to look upward, focused on the summit above us as he secures our footing below us. 

In the sanctification process, if are we are becoming adept and determined mountain climbers, we're on the right track. 

I don't understand how it all works, and I want to be careful because some suffering in this world is nothing short of horrible. Some suffering is immense and dark and hopelessly painful. The Farmer has seen and experienced this here, but heart-wrenchingly more so in his travels overseas. Seeing human suffering on that deep level he admits, "has changed me and messed me up, but as hard as it has been, it's been for the better."

When we share in someone else's suffering, we are becoming like Jesus. When one spouse suffers, the other does too. God uses them both for his glory. 

Wherever we encounter suffering as disciples of Jesus we must run with the pain, outrage, and questions to our Father, as Peter said after listening to the difficult words of Jesus, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God." ( John 6:68-69 ) 

Who else can we run to when suffering has knocked the breath of life out of us?  

If there's no God and mankind just evolved somehow from nothingness or primordial soup then there is no point to suffering or purpose in it. Why bother asking why it exists? It's just here by accident. It's random, no one's fault. But if there is a God, then suffering has a purpose and an explanation behind it whether we see it in this life or not. 

"And so we will keep climbing, Saint Peter." 

I've learned that suffering, somehow someway, gives us a glimpse of the glory of God that we could not see otherwise. But we have to remain steadfast in the Lord in order for suffering to do its work. I believe this because I've lived this. 

Unpredictability and suffering have the potential to paralyze us with fear or to persuade us to live in the moment, but even more than that, they can empower us to live 'for' the moment, the moment when we will stand before our heavenly Father after using every "talent" he has equipped us with in this broken world as good stewards. 

Especially the talents no one in their right minds would ever refer to as gifts or talents, but the only ones that enable us to be like Jesus. We share in his glory and his suffering. ( Romans 8:17-18 ) 

And we will live for the moment when we can finally say farewell to these thorns and thistles east of Eden and enter the glorious Kingdom of our Heavenly Father where Jesus will wipe away every tear and make all things new. Where we will truly come to life in a resplendent shade of glory we can only image now here in the Shadowlands. ( Revelation 21 )

I understand that we can't know all God is doing in our lives. Even still, while the Farmer and I were traveling to visit family on our special 40th this month, we speculated on what we would be like today if we had not endure the suffering we've encountered in our married life together, and it wasn't a pretty picture, even if it was painfully predictable.  

Soli Deo Gloria 💜

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." ( John 3:16 ) 

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." ( Philippians 3:12 )