pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: faith


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His Love Never Fails

God’s love never fails. While it is true that tongues will become still and knowledge will pass away, God’s love will always remain.  Paul ends this chapter in his letter to the Corinthians with the reminder that faith, hope, and love remain with us, but that the greatest of these is love.  It is knowing how deep and wide God’s love is that allows us to hold onto our faith and to keep hope even in our hardest trials.

Since the moment we were formed, God’s love surrounds us.  His love continues to be with us daily, giving us comfort, strength, and protection.   We see His love surrounding many in the Bible.  A few examples are when He guided the people through the sea as He protected them from the Egyptians; when He kept David safe as Saul pursued him; when He comforted Jesus in the wilderness; and when He gave Stephen strength in his time of persecution and stoning.  And these are just a few examples.

Paul also writes of setting aside childish ways and becoming mature in our faith.  This is what we continually do on our journey of faith.  As we grow in our faith, we learn to trust in God a little longer, to hold onto our hope a little tighter, and to rely on His love a little more.  It is a process though.  We are never suddenly right where we want to be in a growth process.  It takes time.  We experience a setback here and there.  But we must keep going forward and striving to grow in faith, hope, and love.

God’s love never fails.  May we ever keep this locked in our hearts and written on our minds as we continue on this journey of faith.  Blessings!

Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13


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Will We?

After their capitol city Jerusalem was destroyed, many of the people of Israel spent a long period living in exile.  Finally the king of Persia begins to allow some to return to start rebuilding their holy city.  The Israelites had been helpful and useful to the king, so this was a way he could thank them.  Miraculously, the small group rebuilds all of the city wall in just 52 days.  They know from this amazing feat, accomplished in the midst of unfriendly peoples all around them, that God was at work in and around them.  So they gather to worship and to hear the Word of God read.

Each week lots of folks will gather on Sunday morning to hear the Word of God, to offer Him praise, and to celebrate God’s presence in their lives.  God is a steady and active part of the lives of regular church goers.  Sunday morning is the time when they are renewed and encouraged and built up so that they can face the world in the week ahead.  Their time each Sunday morning in church allows them to live each day with God’s presence.

For lots of other folks, this feeling of a need to connect with God is generated only through an exceptional blessing or through a trying circumstance or event.  For the first group, something really amazing happens and they can sense God’s hand or presence in that blessing.  They show up on a Sunday and offer theirs thanks to God.  For the second group, it is a tragedy or trial that brings them to the point of feeling they need to connect to God.  They come desperate and seeking, sensing that only God can make a difference for them.

Funny thing though, God is equally happy to have all three in the house.  Each and every one is seen as a beloved child of God.  To God, on that day, it does not matter if one is there every Sunday or if it has been a while or if it is the first time.  On that day, they are there in the house of God.  And God is happy.

The challenge in the church is, first, to be equally happy.  The second challenge is to regularly feed to every Sunday worshiper while also meeting the special occasion worshiper where they are at and ministering to them right there.  All people need to see the relevance of God in their lives and to feel that their time is well-invested to keep showing up at church.  Together, the body of Christ has the gifts and talents to accomplish all of this.  Together the church can be relevant, can be worthy of people’s time, and can meet and minister to each person right where they are at in life and on their journey of faith.  But our question is: will we?

Scripture reference: Nehemiah 8: 1-3


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Growing in Faith

Will the year ahead be significantly different than the year that just ended?  Or will it be much of the same?  Depending on where you are at in life, the answers to these questions can be very different.  But for almost everyone, we begin the new year with the hope that 2016 will be better than 2015.

For some, there will be changes that are big – some will graduate from high school or college; some will get married or have a child; some will lose a parent or a spouse; some will start or change careers; and some will move to a new home or community.  For others, the changes will be less significant but could still be impactful.

For all people of faith, our 2016 hope should be to see growth in our relationship with God.  As we enter the new year, no one hopes to see their relationship with God be stagnant or to diminish.  Growth and development should be the goal of all of our relationships.  To see growth, however, requires some work on our part.  Some of this ‘work’ can be thrust upon us by one of the life changes listed above, but our growth often comes as a result of choices we make.

One area that can see growth is our personal ministries.  For example, I can come alongside a couple of the Youth who are struggling with their faith or with life in general to mentor and encourage them just a little bit extra.  Or at the place I volunteer I could develop a deeper connection with a few of the clients.  In each of these areas it is putting just a little more effort in to positively impact another’s life.  Yet in the offering of self in the name of Christ, our own relationship with God will grow as well.  In the coming year, may we all bear a little more fruit as we grow in our faith and in our relationship with God.

Scripture reference: Revelation 21: 1-6a


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Times of Gathering

Advent is a time of gathering together.  To grow and develop in our faith we need the love and support of one another.  Without being intentional about being a community of faith, it can be easier to drift away from our faith.  In this season it can be easy to get caught up in the commercial side of Christmas.  Gathering together as a Christian community of faith reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas.

There are many ways to gather.  A group could gather to decorate the church or the homeof an elderly member.  A group could meet to bake holiday cookies and then go deliver them to a homebound member or to a nursing home.  A group could form and go sing Christmas carols at the jail or at a group home.  A group could gather once a week before school or work to study an Advent devotional.  A family could use an Advent calendar and pray together each day.  There are many ways to gather together to celebrate and share our faith.

Each of these practices are ways to connect us to our faith and to share that faith with others.  Each is a tangible way to be a witness to Christ’s love in our world.  In this holy season we live between what we know Christ did for us already and in the hopeof Christ coming again.  While our eternal hope rests secure in Christ’s resurrection power, we still long for His return when He will make all things new.  May we find ways to share the love of Christ with those in our lives so that they too may come to know the true meaning of Christmas.

Scripture reference: 1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13


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Time to Prepare

Today’s passage speaks of one of the basic yet most important beliefs of our faith: one day Jesus will return.  In the days right after His resurrection, the disciples all thought His return was imminent.  But as time went by and the disciples’ earthly lives came to a close, the idea of ‘one day’ Jesus will return took on more of a ‘some day’ feel.  Although we are warned that Jesus’ return will be quick and sudden – like a theif in the night – we really do not live a day-to-day faith that reflects this.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away many are gearing up for it.  There are menus to be planned, guest lists to be finalized, things to be prepared, and rooms to be cleaned!  There is a very specific date, very close, so there is some urgency to it all.  And then Friday will be here and that will signal the start of the season to get ready for Christmas.  All we did for Thanksgivign will be repeated plus we will shop for gifts for our friends and loved ones.

Oh ya!  And Advent starts this Sunday.  This too is its own season.  This too is a season in which we prepare for something – the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In a way it is much easier than Thanksgiving or Christmas to prepare for.  It the personal season in which we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  All it takes is a little time and a book or devotional or online resource to focus in on Advent and what the coming of Christ means to our Christian faith.

The time for Jesus’ return is unknown.  Advent is coming Sunday.  It is not quite here, so there is a little time to get ready yet.  May we each choose to carve out a little extra time to prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of the King of Kings.

Scripture reference: Luke 21: 25-36


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Questions

The teacher of the law was given a great opportunity.  He was able to ask Jesus a question directly.  And Jesus answered him directly!  This is uncommon as Jesus usually responded with another question, with a parable, or with a story or illustration that indirectly answers the question.

Think for a moment if you were this teacher.  What other question would you ask – this one goes right to the heart of his profession.  If you were a doctor, for example, you might ask about the cure to a disease.

I think the question we would ask would depend on where we are in our faith journey or on what has been occurring recently in our life.  If there has been a tragic event or if we or a loved one are drawing close to the end of our time on earth, then the question will center on this.  Many of our questions in these cases center on the “why” question.

If one is in a ‘normal’ stage of life and all is relatively good in life, the questions would be different.  Maybe our question would center on the how and what type of questions.  But in all cases, I think our questions would center on wanting to understand something better.

So if you could ask anything of Jesus, what would it be?  It is important to wrestle with our questions because they lead to conversations with Jesus.  Our questions reveal a lot about our inner being, the state of our faith, the things that are unsettled within us, and the things we long for deeply.

While we usually do not get as direct of an answer as the teacher of the law received, our questions are great to consider anyway.  Ask Him your question!  Allow the ongoing conversation between you two to roll around in your heart and mind and to build your faith in and understanding of Jesus and who He calls you to be.

Scripture reference: Mark 12: 28-34


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Into a New Way

The Book of Hebrews seeks to connect the Jews living under the old covenant to the new covenant ushered in by Jesus Christ.  In today’s passage the author explains that the old way of animal sacrifices only cleans that outside of a person but that through the new sacrifice, through the blood of Jesus, we are cleansed on the inside.  We are reminded that we are cleansed so that we can serve the living God.

Throughout Hebrews is this idea of ‘living’.  We are exhorted to have a living faith that is guided by the Spirit and not bound by manmade rules and laws.  Living by the Spirit can feel dangerous and wide-open.  Living by religion can feel safe and known.  But too often ‘religion’ is typified by rigid practices, by entrenched traditions, and by requirements that feel a lot like laws.  Like sheep tightly confined to a pen, religion asks one to go through the motions, to check off the boxes.  Religion becomes little more that Sunday worship and an occassional prayer.

By contrast Hebrews call us out of our old ways of living by religion and into new way of living by faith.  Faith is guided by the Spirit.  The Spirit moves in unexpected and surprising and unknown ways.  For typically neat, in-the-box people, this is scary.  Religion with its known boundaries is safe.  Jesus did not call us to religion, but to faith.

When Jesus sais, “Come, follow me”, He did not say where or how or when.  He simply said, “Come.”  He knew that the Spirit would lead.  May we each step out, take ahold of the hand of the Holy Spirit, and see where Jesus takes us today.

Scripture reference: Hebrews 9: 11-14


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Hold Onto God

A famine at home forced the family of four to move to a foreign land.  They left behind their kin, the culture they knew, their faith base, and all else that mattered to find food.  The family made the move to survive, to be in a better situation.

In smaller ways we do this all the time.  We make a little change here or there seeking to be happier, healthier, or somehow better off.  Sometimes we too make larger changes.  Maybe you have moved to a new city or state or even country to have a better ‘opportunity’.  If you have done this, you can relate to this family – strangers in a foreign land.

Just as they were getting settled, the father dies. The mother at least has her two sons.  They each eventually marry a foreign woman.  The sons are happy and the possibility of grandchildren may some day bless her life.  Slowly the foreign land becomes les foreign as they learn the ways and begin to put down roots.  Ten years later, no grandkids.  Both boys die.  She is left with just two daughters-in-law.  And more pain and loss.

Perhaps a change you have made did not work out either.  Maybe the job wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.  Maybe something outside of your control changed your situation too.  Maybe like you, this woman found herself in a tight spot.  Virtually alone in a foreign land, she turned to her foundation, to God.  In Him she laid her trust.  In Him she laid her future.  Although tragic to this point, it is just the beginning of her story.  In the end it is a story of God’s blessings.  Hold onto God.  He wants to bless you too.

Scripture reference: Ruth 1: 1-5


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Faith and Mystery

The book of Job has a happy ending.  Job’s suffering ends and God restored him beyond all he had before.  Job is blessed with large herds, many sons, and beautiful daughters.  He lives for 140 years as a very blessed and dies full of life.  One could say all ends well but our questions are left unanswered.  We do not know why Job had to endure this trial.  We do not know Job’s take on what happened either.  In the end we see that God remains mysterious.  For our faith, this mystery is essential.

Try as we might, mankind cannot explain all that is in the world.  There is much that has been figured out but we only seem to be able to go so far.  Great minds have studied and observed and analyzed and calculated to learn much.  We can split atoms and see far into space.  We can trace the evolution and extinction of many species.  We can replace hearts and we can restart hearts.  Yet there is much that cannot be explained by scientists, doctors, mathematicians…  Events and things that happened and happen remain a mystery.  In our world miracles still occur and a shrug of the shoulders is the best explanation that can be offered in intelligent response.

There is still mystery to God as well.  There are may questions that cannot be answered.  The ‘why’ questions of life and death and illness remain as do the ‘how’ of miracles that occur.  There is much we do not know of God.  But there is also much we do know.  God is love, compassion, peace, comfort, understanding, forgiveness, mercy, grace.  He has plans for each of us and those plans are good.  Yet there is still much mystery and this is also good.  Faith and hope are still required of us in our relationship with God.  Faith draws upon trust and experience.  As we live out this life in relationship with God, our faith grows.  In faith and hope, we live with the mystery of God because above all else, we know that God is love.

Scripture reference: Job 42: 10-17


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On Our Side

Job’s journey of faith parallels ours in some ways.  In his interactions with his friends and even with God, he is stubborn, defiant, and even borders on obnoxious early on in the book.  Although overall Job is steadfast in his faith, maybe at this point it is a little immature.  At times our faith is too.  At times we are questioning or angry or defiant about something that is occurring in our life; we too question and ask why.  We openly ask where God is even though a part of us senses He is always there.

At the end of the book we see a different faith in Job.  He is humble, truthful, grateful.  Although he would never want to experience a trial like that again, he knows he is a better follower because of his experience.  He sees the foolishness of questioning God and doubting His constant presence.  Job has felt an intimacy with God that both yields and comes with a mature faith.  As life weathers and shapes us, we too become more mature in our faith and in our relationship with God.  Like Job, our experiences, both good and bad, shape who we are as a follower of God.

From Job we learn a valuable lesson: God is on our side.  At times, and particularly in hard times, we may want to question, to doubt, or may even want to curse.  In these times we must trust that God is good and above all else, He loves us.  In these times may we trust in and live into the words of Christ: not my will, but Your will.  God of love, be with us this day.

Scripture reference: Job 42: 1-6