pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: constant


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Love and God

Reading: Psalm 116:15

Verse 15: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Most translations of this verse use the word “precious”.  It is a unique word choice in an odd little verse stuck in the middle of a Psalm that otherwise rejoices over God’s presence to us and His hand at work in blessing our lives.  A better word might be “weighty” – as in, death is weighty.  This word better conveys how the death of His saints must feel to God.  After all, God gives us life – He breathes physical life into us at birth and then later God breathes the Holy Spirit into us when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  When God pours so much into us, then maybe death would be a little weighty for God.

This little line is also a good reminder for us.  Yes, God is always present to us.  Yes, God rescued us from our sins.  Yes, God loves us dearly.  All are reasons to rejoice.  But death is also a reality of life.  In a way, this line reminds us that we need to be aware that in the midst of our rejoicing there are always others mourning.  It calls us to be congnizant of and attentive to them.  It also tempers our joy with a dash of reality.

This little line also reminds us that God’s love never fails.  God’s love for us is always there.  We are His dear children, both in life and in death.  In turn, this reminds us to be steadfast in our love of God.  We certainly find it easy to love God in the joyous times when all seems blessed by God.  It can be harder to love God when we feel beset or when we are suffering.  But we are called to love God despite the bad too.  We are called to love God through the trials and suffering.  God does not love us more sometimes and less other times.  May our love of God reflect this as well.


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Constant

Reading: Psalm 118: 21-29

The passage for today opens with thanks for answered prayers and for the gift of salvation.  A couple of verses later the author writes, “This is the dsy the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”.  When we are in a personal relationship with the Lord, we know we are saved for eternity and our view of the world and life is much different than the view held by those living without God.

Once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God is a constant presence to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.  On good days we can joyously lift our praises to God.  The light and love of God easily flows out of us and into the lives of those around us.  We live with a constant sense of verse 27: “The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine upon us”.  We daily enter his gates with praise.

Then we have times that are a struggle.  We feel as if nothing is going our way.  In these times we may not feel like joyfully singing praises, but we do have a definite sense that God is still near, always remaining present.  We know our salvation is still secure because nothing in the world can take that away.  It is a different way to walk through a trial.  Without God it is indeed a hard road to travel through the storms of life.

God’s constant presence throughout all of life, in both the good and the bad, is a gift worth sharing.  In verse 26 we are reminded that those who come in the name of the Lord are blessed.  God goes with us, blessing us as we go.  A bit later in the passage we read, “I will exalt you”.  In our day to day lives we exalt God by living like Jesus lived, loving others as a humble servant.  When we live this way, we live as a witness to the true cornerstone.  In this way others see the light too and begin to see a life for themselves is possible, one built upon the Rock.  Christ to all, Christ in all!


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Love Eternal

Reading: Luke 20: 27-38

It is odd that the Sadducees ask Jesus a question about relationships in heaven when they themselves do not believe in the resurrection.  They thought long and hard about how to ask a question with a hypothetical problem whose circumstances are based solidly in the Law of Moses.  The hypothetical location of this problem is heaven.  No one, including us, really knows exactly what heaven will be like.  The exception is, of course, Jesus.  He has been there in heaven so he can answer their ridiculous question from a position of authority.

I can picture Jesus’ smile turning to a grin as He begins to answer their question.  He begins by explaining that our earthly relationships will be secondary at best in heaven.  The only relationship that will matter in heaven, Jesus says in essence, is that we are the children of God.  In other words, the only relationship that will really matter in heaven will be our relationship with the Lord.  It will be true in the eternal but it is also true here in the temporal.  Relationships with spouses, family, friends, and so on makes life here much more pleasant and enjoyable.  But many here have these relationships but no relationship with God.  For these, their eternity will be much different than for those who claim a personal relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Jesus explains to the Sadducees that to God we are all alive, whether living or dead.  This is clearly true now.  Jesus says it will also be true in heaven.  The constants are God’s love for us and our status as children of God.  Although we do not clearly know what we will be like in heaven, we do know that some representation of us will be with God if we have a personal relationship with Jesus while here on earth.  At least the part of us that has a relationship with God will remain alive with God in heaven.  To me, this is our spirit or soul.  But this is a guess at best.  What we do know is that God’s love never ends and that it remains the same here on earth as it will one day be in heaven.  For God’s unfailing love and eternal claim bonus ad children of God, we say thanks be to God.


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Constant and Steadfast

Readings: Psalm 126: 4-6 and Isaiah 43: 16-21

Both passages speak to God’s love and provision that allows us to walk through difficult times, holding onto our faith.  Both texts acknowledge that at times we will face difficulties, hardships, challenges.  Both writings remind us that just as God has been there for His people in past trials, He too will be our rock and light in the trials we face.

In times of trial it does indeed seem dark.  We await some sign of hope or the dawn of change that signals a beginning to the end of our trial.  If it is a prolonged trial, we come to points of wanting to shout “Why?” to God.  It is in these moments that we need to recall God’s work in our lives.  It is at these times that we need to draw upon the strength found in passages such as today’s readings.  When we remind ourselves of God’s unfailing and steadfast love, the darkness lessens as hope begins to grow again.

Each trial we go through is an experience in faith.  As we reflect on how God was present to us each time faced a tough situation, we will see how we were never alone and we will see God’s hand always at work.  These reflections allow our faith and trust in God to grow.  They bring us reassurances that He will be there in the next trial and in the next and in the next…  For His constant presence and steadfast love, we say thanks be to God!


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An Act of Praise

“I will praise the Lord all my life.” (Psalm 146, verse 2a)

We find this line at the beginning of Psalm 146, one of the “Hallelujah” psalms.  Each of the last five psalms in the book focus on the idea of praising the Lord.  It is a great way to end the book of Psalms.  In verse 2a the psalmist pledges to praise God all of the time.  This too should be our pledge.

How would our daily life and perspective on life change if we really did live in a state of constant praise to our God?  How would our life look if all we did was bring praise and glory to God?  I imagine our witness would be quite different!  If we lived and breathed a constant praise to God, imagine how our light would shine!

We are created to live this way, implanted with the spark of the divine since our conception.  God’s desire is for us to reflect His light and love all of the time, not just in church for an hour or just when we are with our church friends.

To live as a constant praise to God requires some choices.  First, we must fully trust in Him as our all in all – our provider, comforter, healer, creator, …  Second, we must actively thank God for all of the blessings in our daily lives.  In doing so we reinforce that God is really our all.  From this deep well of trust and thanksgiving, may we pour out our lives today and every day as an act of praise to our God and King!

Scripture reference: Psalm 146


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Still Seeking Us

God does not expect perfection.  I just don’t think He ever expects us to get there in this lifetime.  Our God is a God of mystery – absolute and unconditional love for creatures who seem bent on sin and who must constantly be reminded of who we are in Him.  God will always love each of us with this amazing love.

Because of this love, God comes to meet us in all the ugliness of life.  He comes to us in our brokenness, in our failures, in our rebellion.  God does not seek out just the holiest of saints, but He seeks out each and every one of us.  That a God who is perfect in every way would seek to be in relationship with you and me is hard to comprehend.

Yet God meets us just right where we are.  His Spirit enters into our hearts and dwells within us.  In the constant battle with our inclination to temptation and sin, the Spirit never gives up, never tires of reminding us of God’s ways.  God sticks with us and continues to offer this divine presence, almost in spite of us.

It does require almost constant effort to keep us on track and on the path that God desires for our lives.  At times we take a great detour.  But it matters not – God is always there, waiting for an audience with us.  His patience must be almost as big as His love.  Each of us is capable of mirroring a glimpse of this great love and, like all good parents, God eagerly awaits those moments when His heart swells with pride and the angels cheer.  Soon enough though, we return to being just ourselves – human in all ways, imperfect in many.  Yet God still loves us.  God is still right there.  It is not about us in any way.  It is simply because of His great love.  For this, thanks be to God.

Scripture reference: 1 Kings 2:10-12 and 3: 3-14