pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: desire


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Choice

Reading: Romans 8: 1-11

Verse Six: The mind of the sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.

Why do people choose to follow Jesus?  Why do some folks choose to worship God and live their lives by what is written in the Bible?  Why do some folks choose a path in life that is hard and narrow instead of walking a road that is wide and easy to meander down?  Why do some people make these choices in deciding to be a Christian?  Why do you?

Choosing to follow Jesus and to live according to His example is a choice.  In many ways, it is a choice that runs against the norm.  By nature we are wired to seek pleasure and to desire to feel good.  Our society ingrains in us the drive to succeed and accomplish and excel – all good things in and of themselves.  Our culture champions messages like ‘just do it’ and ‘of’ it makes you feel good…’  Put all together, the world says to live for self and to just enjoy life to the max.  For some, this is their choice and this is how they live their lives.  Paul writes of these folks: “The mind of the sinful man is death”.

When one chooses to walk the wide and easy way that leads to death, life is fun and exciting and entertaining most of the time.  But soon one realizes there is something missing.  One senses that there is more to life than what they are living.  There is a void.  Philosopher Blaise Pascal described this as the “God-shaped hole in all of us”.  We are created by God in His image.  Therefore, God has a place to fill in our lives.  When we make the choice to fill the hole with God, we are choosing to be whole and complete.  We are making the choice to be a Christian.  Paul also writes of this choice: “The mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace”.

We make the choice to follow Christ.  It is through this choice that we find life eternal and peace beyond all human understanding.  Here we find that Jesus is our all in all, our everything.  Thank you Jesus.


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Life in the Spirit

Reading: Romans 8: 1-11

Verse Two: Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Paul opens our passage today with a strong statement: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ”.  This is a central theme of the gospel message.  Jesus took on the sin of the world and triumphed over it as He rose from the grave and ascended to heaven.  Through the sacrifice of His body and blood we are forgiven and made righteous.  We no longer have to live with sin and guilt and shame.  Through Jesus’ loving act on the cross we are freed from all of this.  In grace we are made new and restored to righteousness.  Paul writes of this in verse two: “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death”.  We are set free as well!

For most of the passage, Paul focuses on sin versus righteousness.  Paul argues that the sinful man focuses on the desires of the flesh and is self-centered and is hostile to God.  The sinful man leads a life that ends in death.  Paul contrasts this with the man who lives led by the Spirit.  The Spirit led man focuses on the desires of God and is Good-centered and tries to please God.  The Spirit led man lives a life of peace that leads to eternal life.  The key to which life one leads is determined by whether or not Jesus is in one’s life.  Paul argues that if Christ is in us, then we will lead a life that is led by the Spirit.

Paul is, of course, writing here of the big picture.  Either we are trying to live by the Spirit or we are trying to live by the flesh.  The deciding factor is professing Jesus as Lord of our life.  Once we make this decision it does not mean that we will never sin again.  It means that our focus is on living a righteous life that is pleasing to God.  Life in the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit will guide and lead and convict us, making our battle with sin more often victorious.  The good news is that when we do slip and sin, there is no condemnation because Christ had already defeated sin and death.  Instead of condemnation we are given mercy and grace and forgiveness.  Through Him eternal victory is in our grasp.  For this we say thanks be to God!


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Who Will Rescue?

Reading: Romans 7: 15-25

Verse 15: For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Paul’s honest passage surely hits home.  The struggle with sin is one we all face on an almost daily basis.  Even as one matures in the faith and the daily walk of life seems to be going quite well, all of a sudden sin rears its ugly head and we wonder where that came from.  Paul also begins by expressing that he does not understand how this happens.  He writes, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”.  As a disciple of Jesus Christ, we want to follow Him daily and to have our lives reflect His love to others.  This is what we want to do.  Yet we often fail to do this all of the time.  Instead we get caught up in ourselves and in the smallness of life and we find ourselves doing what we hate.

Paul attributes the cause of this struggle to the sin living within him.  He is aware of the desire to sin that lives in him and in all of us.  It is so because we are of the world.  All around us are reminders to gratify self instead of seeking to please God.  Satan is constantly at work within us, trying to bring us off the narrow path that leads to true life and onto the wide road that leads to death.  The evil one also tries to have a hand in preventing us from doing the good we desire to do.  He brings up doubts and fears and makes us question ourselves, making it sometimes hard to do the good we desire to do.

It would seem that all is lost.  It is not.  In verse 22 Paul writes, “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law”.  For all who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we too know the light and love that lives in our hearts.  It is the courage and strength to face each day and to do the good we desire to do.  It is also the peace that passes understanding that helps us past the storms and past the doubts and fears we face.  Paul closes by admitting that he is weak and wretched.  So are we.  But we are not alone.  Paul asks, “Who will rescue me”?  The same one who rescues us all.  The passage concludes with the answer to this question: Jesus Christ!  To He alone who can rescue, we join Paul in saying thanks be to God.


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Away for Me

Reading: Matthew 4: 1-11

Food is a natural temptation.  The forbidden fruit is more than Adam and Eve can bear.  In the desert, day after day of manna becomes more than the Israelites can take and they cry out to God.  In both cases, God is put to the test.  In today’s passage, food is again what is used to test God.  Jesus hasn’t eaten for forty days, so He must have been tempted.  And Satan wants to test God too – will the stones turn to bread?

The second temptation also tests God.  If Jesus does something foolish will God swoop in and rescue Him?  Will God come through?  It is a similar test of God.  In both of these cases, we often venture down similar roads.  We will do and say things that certainly test God, that must test God’s patience.  We are rarely brave enough to step boldly out in a faith that requires radical trust in God to intervene on our behalf.

In the last temptation, Jesus is offered power.  It is something we all want to one degree or another.  We like to be in control, to make our own decisions.  At times, we have all questioned our boss or someone else in authority and thought we could certainly do better if given the chance.  We are wired to succeed and to compete to be number one.  For Satan to offer the rule of the world to Jesus must have been tempting.  It would definitely be tempting to us – except the thought of bowing down to Satan is hard to fathom.  

If we are honest, there is much that we place in the role of what we worship.  It can be money, time, status, position, beauty…  When we worship or live for these things, we have really demoted God.  The more we pursue the things of this world, the further from God we venture.  It is here that we are most susceptible to Satan’s whispers and temptations.

In our story today, we see the solution to whatever temptation.  Just as Jesus stood boldly, may we too call on the power of God and say to the great tempter, “Away from me Satan!”


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Worship the Lord

Reading: Psalm 145: 1-5 and 17-21

Psalm 145 is a song of praise to God.  In our worship we call out to God, singing to an “audience of one”, as the saying goes.  Verse 18 reads, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth”.  As we call out in worship, we offer God our thanksgiving and praise in song.  We also call out to draw near to God, to be in God’s presence.  When we call out to God, God draws near to us.

Some years in Youth group we are blessed to have a young man or woman who can play the guitar or piano and can sing.  These gifted young people bless us by leading our times of worship.  Other years we do not have such an individual and by default I lead.  Although I do not always maintain the same tempo and play an occasional wrong chord, I can provide the guitar to lead worship.  The vocals are another story.  I cannot count how many times on of the youth singers has looked at me with the “what are you singing?” look.  I smile and we keep on going.  I wish I could sing.  But I am simply not a good singer.  So I make a joyful noise to the Lord.

God does not require our perfection.  God desires our presence in worship.  God desires that our hearts be fully present in worship.  God would much rather have our off key singing with love and passion than our reverent silence.  God does bless many with the gift of a good voice.  Accordingly, they should lead the worship of the Lord whenever possible.  And even the best is not perfect.  This matters not either.  God desires our joyful worship.  God wants us to offer all of ourselves in worship.  Each time, as we seek to draw near the Lord, may we offer our audience of one all that we are and all that we have, for it is pleasing in God’s sight when we worship the Lord.


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Secure?

Reading: Luke 12: 13-15

The issue of greed is the central focus of today’s reading.  One brother asks Jesus to help him get his share of his father’s estate.  We do not know his status – rich, poor, comfortable, in deep need.  Nor do we know his brother’s situation.  Jesus does not seem to care about this.  He aims right at a huge issue in the day and probably for these brothers: greed.  This focus may or may not be related to the man’s request for his share of the inheritance.

Greed us certainly an issue still today.  So Jesus’ teaching on greed is still very relevant today.  It always will be so.  Just as the brother is warned to be on their guard against greed, we too are warned.  We must be on our guard against greed because it can so easily become consuming of our focus and attention.

In the parable Jesus is clear that greed is not the possessing of things but in being possessed by what we have or what we lust after.  It is entirely possible to have much and be possessed by none of it.  We can be richly blessed and be very generous in offering what we have when a need arises.  But it is hard.  To attain wealth takes some time and effort, therefore we tend to develop an attachment to our wealth.  This is hard especially in our culture.  The main message of society is more, more, more.  Society encourages us to own or have as much as we can.  This easily leads to the mindset of greed.

So Jesus is right to warn us of greed.  We must be on our guard to not be drawn into being possessed by what we possess or desire to possess.  To do so our focus must be on Christ and the treasures of His kingdom.  This is the true inheritance we must seek.  It is the only inheritance that matters.  Our possessions do not secure our future.  It is our relationship with Jesus Christ that secures our future.  He is the only way, truth, and life.  May we do all we can to seek Jesus as our all in all.  Holy Spirit work in us this day to set Jesus as our all in all. 


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What Do You Want?

“Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”  Just imagine for a moment if God asked you that.  I am sure we have all had practice dreaming about what we would do if we won the lottery or if we somehow found a genie in a bottle.  Our answer would reveal a lot about us.

God asked Solomon this very question.  He could have asked for wealth or power or at least for peace during his reign.  He could have asked for long life.  He did not ask for anything for himself.  Or for his family.  Solomon asked God for a discerning heart to govern justly and to be able to distinguish right from wrong.  God was very pleased with Solomon’s request so He granted it and gave him more.

You and I may never be asked this question.  But we do answer it each day with how we live.  We reveal what we desire and what we value by the way we live.  Every word we speak, every choice we make, every action we undertake, every goal we set – all answers the same question: “What do you want?”

If we desire a deep faith, do we invest daily in the development of this faith?  If we long for contentment, do we choose to live simply and not choose to chase after the next, newest, best thing?  If we want quality relationships, do we give of ourselves honestly and sincerely all the time?  If we feel led to help the lost and the least, do we spend time with alongside them ministering to their needs?

So.. what do you want?  What has your answer been and how does it need to change?

Scripture reference: 1 Kings 3: 5-9


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Human Yet Spirit

One thing we all have together is our humanity.  God created each human being for a greater purpose than simply living out our earthly years.  In the life of every person is also an inner light that comes from our creator.  Working within all of us are also the desires of the flesh.  Paul often writes of this struggle that wages inside every human being.

All of us live within a human body and therefore face human desires.  God and our faith provide us with a framework within which we decide to do or not to do certain things.  Some are good and should be pursued.  Some are harmful and should be avoided.  This same concept is true for the non-believer, except their ‘filter’ is just not at the same place as a Christian’s is.

All of us also have the same inner light that our Creator placed in each us.  As with the things of the flesh, if we acknowledge and ‘feed’ the Spirit within us, then it grows.  If one chooses to ignore it and push it down, life is lived differently as all one has left is this body.  As we feed and allow the Spirit to have  more control of our life, our filter shifts.  What we did not see as sin before we begin to question.  As we grow closer and closer to Christ, we seek His perfectionmore and more.  While we will never attain perfection, others come to notice our faith more and more.   May our light shine so that God maybe glorified and so that others may come to know our Christ.

Scripture reference: Romans 8: 12-13


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Won’t You Be There Too?

In one of my devotionals this morning I found this great line: “We wrestle with life and dance without recognition”.  How often this is true!  Too often we struggle with an issue, a decision, or a person and do not seek God.  I can almost imagine Him saying, “Hey… I’m right here”.  Not often enough do we think, “Oh ya!”

Yet God is always around us.  God is always there just waiting on us to recognize His presence.  But we too easily get lost in our own perceived ability to do it, in our own little subculture, in our social media worlds, and in our own neat and tidy museum where we gather once a week to sing songs, to pray a few prayers, to fellowship.  We can just see church as the place where God is present to us.  And just in that hour.
God desires more.  God wants more.  He deserves more.  Imagine being head-over-heels in love with someone and choosing to only spend one hour s week with them.  When they’re there all the time!
God wants all of us, all of the time.  He wants to be the first one we turn to on the morning, the last one we say goodnight to, and everything in between.  He’s there.  Won’t you be there too?

Scripture reference: Genesis 28: 10-19a


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Thank you Jesus!

When you ask a friend or a child to do something, would you rather have them say ‘yes’ and then no do it or would you rather have them say ‘no’ and do it anyway?  Neither is the ideal situation, but which do you prefer?  Does intention or completion matter more?

When we first say ‘yes’ to a personal and intimate relationship with Christ, it does not include any ‘but’ or ‘if’ or ‘when I’ statements.  At first it is just a big ‘YES!’  Soon enough though sin, or at least temptation, rears its ugly head.  Sin is almost a constant presence in our life.  Paul writes beautifully about this struggle in Romans 7.  The sin can be as small as an unkind thought or word or it can range to jealously eyeing your neighbor’s possessions.  In spite of our inner desires to live a life wholly pleasing to God, sin is always nearby.

Bluntly put, we cannot do it on our own.  Thankfully, through His time on the earth, Jesus empathizes with our human condition.  Though Jesus was without sin, in the time on earth He came to see our struggle.  So now, in heaven, He intercedes for us before God.  Without Christ we would be lost.  But thanks be to God for the gift of His Son!!  As constant as the struggle with sin is in our lives, more steady is the presence and love of Christ.  Thank you Jesus!!

Scripture reference: Romans 7: 15-25a