pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: God


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Broken

Reading: Luke 15: 1-3 & 11b-32

Today’s parable is familiar and allows for interesting perspectives.  One can easily see the story from multiple character’s views and can easily relate to each because most of us have filled all three roles at points in our lives.  If not us personally, we have been privy to others playing these roles.  The age-old question is always: who do you best relate to?  To me, the answer can vary at different times and maybe at times it can be all three that we relate best to.

Generally the older son is seen as the responsible son, at least at the beginning of the story.  He stayed and worked faithfully.  Like a good soldier he has been trudging along all these years.  One can easily envision the scorn and disgust he felt as the younger brother walked away from the family.  Once he returns we see that the older brother has not been serving happily all these years.  He reminds me of that coworker who has been on the job five years too long.

Generally the younger brother is seen as the rebel, as the selfish one.  In that day he was essentially saying, “Dad – you are as good as dead to me – can I have my money now”?  After going off and spending his third of the estate in “wild living”, he comes to a place of brokenness, repents, and heads for home to live as one of his father’s hired hands.  But the apology script he has practiced over and over isn’t really needed.  I’d guess the father never even heard the words his youngest son was trying to offer.

For the father and in our relationship with God, the words do not matter.  What matters is the condition of our heart.  God does not need to hear our confessions.  He does desire for us to come to Him with a broken and contrite heart, a heart that knows our deep and great need for Him.  This day may we come to admit our brokenness and may we seek Him in a real and deep way, connecting to God as we express our absolute need for Him.


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Ambassadors

Reading: 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

Christ offers us healing and wholeness.  Through Him we are made into a new creation.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can renew our minds every day to remain in a right relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In the relationship we are no longer slaves to sin and death because we know that through Jesus we too have conquered these things.

All people have hurts and scars from living life.  As all is not in our control and as Satan is active in this world, there will be people, events, and circumstances that bring us pain and harm.  But the good news of Jesus Christ is that we do not walk alone.  Jesus wants to carry our burdens; He wants to take away the pain and hurt.  All He asks is that we bring these things to Him, to lay them down, and to trust Him with them.

We too at times bring hurt and pain to others.  In our humanity we can be less than God intends us to be.  In these times we are not fulfilling the call to be ambassadors for Christ and bearers of the good news of salvation.  Yet even in these times God is at work, calling us back to Him.  Through the whispers and nudges of the Holy Spirit God is always seeking to reconcile us back to Him.  As we grow in our faith, we increasingly bring the love of God out into the world with us as we seek to help reconcile others to God as His ambassadors.

God seeks to draw all people into relationship.  He seeks to have His love known in every heart.  As we experience this in our own lives, may we seek to share this good news with others, living as the ambassadors Christ calls us all to be.


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Christ Bearerd

Reading: 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view.”

The cross changes everything.  Once we come to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, our world view changes.  Once we come to see that on the cross Jesus died for all, we come to see everyone from a new place.  While it is true that one has either entered into a relationship with Jesus and is saved or they have not, it is also true that Jesus calls all people to be reconciled to God.  As Christians we must look at everyone from this point of reference: either they are our fellow brother or sister in Christ or we should be doing all we can to make them our brother or sister in Christ.  All are called to the cross.  All need to come to know Jesus.

It can be easy to not answer the bell.  It can be easy to not engage a lost soul.  If we choose to simply not meet someone, to not extend ourselves to them, then it is possible to withhold Christ from them.  This is especially easy if the person or people are outside of our normal circle of contact.  People that live over “there” are much easier to dismiss than the person standing right in front of us, in the next cubicle over, or sitting next to us at the game or concert.

Alone we cannot reach everyone.  But we can each reach those that God has placed in our worlds.  The cross is for all people.  All people are God’s children.  All who we cross paths with are our neighbors.  Jesus instructed us to love our neighbor as He first loved us.  It is a tough task yet on we are each called to.  We are all commissioned to bring Jesus to the ends of the earth.  May we each begin in our little corner of the world.  May we each be Christ-bearers to those we share life with, to those we are each being called to love as Jesus loved.


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The Joy of the Lord

Reading: Psalm 32

God desires to bring us joy unspeakable.  His desire is to fill us with joy as we walk daily in a loving and meaningful personal relationship with Him.  Each and every day God seeks to be the sunshine that can carry us  through any storm.  His mercies are new every morning because His love never fails.  Even though we will fail at times, God never gives up on us.

The psalmist admits to God and reveals to us a time of struggle in their life.  When he or she was silent and did not confess their sins to God, they experiences a time without joy.  Physical ailment came due to a separation from God.  We too can easily experience this.  When we are emotionally and spiritually stuck in our sin, the feeling and affects of being separated from God are real and tangible.

As  the psalmist admits their sins to God, the joy of the Lord returns.  It is as if sunshine has broken through the clouds and the lights fills their heart.  The sudden flooding in of God’s joy and love leads to proclaiming to others the amazing impact God’s love can have on our lives.  The psalmist bears witness to the joy that has been restored now that they walk in a right relationship with God again.  The joy is unspeakable.  He or she feels they must teach, instruct, guide, and lead others to experience this joy themselves.

The joy of  the Lord is the Son shine that we can have in our lives every day as well.  If we humble ourselves daily and confess our sins to the Lord, we too will experience the joy of living in a right personal relationship with God.  This joy that we are filled  with becomes a light within us that we too must share with all we meet.  May the joy of the Lord fill us and flow out of us into the lives of all we meet through our words, actions, and deeds, bringing glory and honor to His name.


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Whenever Necessary

Reading: Psalm 32

Like the psalmist, sometimes we hold onto our sin.  We make a conscious choice not to come before God.  Sometimes this is because even though we know our sin, we hold onto it because we are not ready to repent or because we know that the temptation or the sin is still greater than our will or faith.  Sometimes we do not recognize our sin.  As our faith matures, the concept of what we see as sin also develops.  We come to realize more and more how far short we fall as we come to know and understand God more and more.

When we hold onto our sin, there are ramifications.  Not confessing our sin can weigh upon us emotionally and spiritually and can run us down physically.  Unconfessed sin is a barrier between God and us and inhibits a true relationship with God.  Our heart must be right with God before we can come to Him in prayer and worship.  If we try to do so with sin upon us, it is false prayer or worship.  Just as God could not look upon Jesus on the cross as He bore our sins, God cannot be in our presence if we are not righteous.  To be righteous we must be made clean.

The reality is that God already knows our sins.  The Lord of heaven is also the Lord of the earth.  There is nothing that escapes Him.  We may try to convince ourselves that God doe snot know our sins, but we are only fooling ourselves.  When we humble ourselves, come before God, and pour out our sins, we are blessed by His grace, mercy, and love.  Not only that.  God also removes the guilt and shame of our sins.

When we are in a right relationship with God, He blesses and instructs and loves us.  When we are in a right relationship with God, we wonder why we would ever lived any other way.  When sin is upon us, may we go to God often – whenever necessary – so that we may live all of our days in His presence and in the light of His love.


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In This Moment

Reading: Joshua 5: 9-12

For the Hebrew people, the time in the desert is over and they have crossed the Jordan River into the promised land.  One can almost hear the audible sigh that comes at the end of a long journey.  The people will no longer eat manna but will eat the produce of Canaan.  But first they acknowledge God and His provision.  As all things are in God’s time, they cross over and are right on time to celebrate the Passover – the feast to remember God’s saving hand in Egypt.  They connect to God in the moment instead of allowing it to pass by.  God has led them to this time and place.  They stop to worship Him.

This example of being in the moment with God is a great one for us.  We know that the glory of Easter morning us coming soon.  We know there will be stops in Holy Week where we acknowledge and live with the events and emotions that led to the cross and grave.  Each day between now and then is a day of preparation and looking within.  Let us not skip right past these days in a rush to arrive on the brink of Easter, but let us be present to each day.

Living in the moment each day of Lent could be either rewarding or trying, either joyful or painful.  Maybe we find ourselves experiencing God’s presence in our lives.  We have the taste of His blessings on our lips and we celebrate His presence and look forward to the next steps on our journey.  If so, may we be sure to stop and celebrate our thanksgivings for His presence.

Maybe we find ourselves in the period of testing or trial.  We feel not quite connected to God.  We cannot sense a first or maybe next step to take.  Maybe the unknown is keeping us from stepping forward.  In this moment may we seek God.  His desire is to connect to us and be on the journey together.  May we reach out in this moment and take hold of His hand.  May we walk this day with our Lord.


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Offering All

Reading: Isaiah 55: 6-9

When we first moved to South Dakota, we lived five miles outside of a town of 150 people.  It was dark at night.  On those nights when the moon was but a sliver, the night sky was simply amazing.  In that remote location, on nights with a definite lack of man-made light and little lunar light, the stars were awesome.  To sit outside and stare at the sky filled me with the wonder of God.  To gaze up at the layers of stars that went on forever gave me a glimpse of the power and majesty of God.  Although His power and presence filled me, it was but a glimpse.  It gave me just a little peak into how high and powerful God’s ways are.

In realizing how big and powerful and majestic God is, I also realize how small I am.  This realization brings awareness of how much I need God and His Light and Love, made known to me in Jesus.  Yet as big as God is, He still knows me by name.  He formed me uniquely in my mother’s womb and He knows every hair on my head.  God hears each and every word of each and every prayer I lift up to Him.

This same God knows each sin and impure thought and … that I have.  This brings me to frequent times of repentance and committing again to strive for becoming more like Christ.  It leads me to examine what I am offering to God and what I am holding back.  Almost always I see that I am less that I could be, less than He calls me to be.  May I lay aside all within me that elevates self over God.  May I offer all of myself to the One who gave His all for me in His life and on the cross.


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Being Fruitful

Reading Luke 13: 1-9

The world is sometimes filled with tragedy and sorrow.  You do not have to watch the news too long to feel the urge to turn off the television.  In today’s passage the people come to Jesus with a story of death and tragedy and are seeking help to make sense of it.  Jesus instead bring sup another story of loss and sorrow.  He warns us that tragedy can strike us all and that we must therefore repent, lest we will perish.  Jesus is implying that death will come to us all; it is up to us how we choose to live our lives between now and then.  Will our lives lead us to perish to hell or to rise to eternal life?

Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the fig tree.  The owner comes for a third year and again finds no fruit on the tree.  He instructs the gardener to cut it down.  The gardener asks for one more year.  He will tend to it and water it and fertilize it in an effort to help the tree bear fruit.  In this parable we are the fig tree.  Year after year Jesus pours into us through the Word, in worship, in small groups, …  He yearns to see us bear fruit.  The Holy Spirit works on us also, pruning and fertilizing and guiding us along so that we are more able to bear fruit.

As we continue to grow in our faith, we will bear fruit as we mature, just as the tree will.  As we touch the lives of others, bearing fruit and shining the light and love of Jesus, we will bring hope and comfort amidst the darkness and tragedies of this world.  It is through our witness and love that others will come to know Jesus, the only source of strength, healing, and understanding in the midst of pain and sorrow.  As we are fruitful and faithful witnesses, we are living for and pointing others toward the one and only way to true, eternal life: Jesus Christ.

 


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He Is Faithful

Reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-13

Paul opens chapter ten reviewing the sins of the Israelites out in the desert.  It was a time of God’s constant presence in the cloud and pillar of fire, yet the people must have gotten used to having Him around.  They stumbled in a number of ways, sometimes repeatedly – idolatry, overindulgence in food and drink, sexual immorality, testing or doubting God.  Paul uses this review lesson as a way to mirror the sins of the church in Corinth.  As we read these sins, we realize they are still common to man in 2016 and perhaps some are even common to us.

Even though God physically was present to the Israelites, they wandered.  As we fast forward to today, we now have the living presence of God present to us in the Holy Spirit.  At times we too can pretend to not hear that little voice in our head or we can shrug off that little nudge that we felt.  Paul issues a warning that applies to us as well: if we feel we are standing firm, be careful that we do not fall.

In this season of Lent, a time of introspection and repentance, let us look hard at our lives.  We may not make golden calves to worship, but are we freely generous with our resources and time?  We may stay away from overindulgence, but do we treat our bodies as temples?  We may not engage in affairs, but does our eye occasionally wander?  And then there is gossip, envy, judging, laziness, …

All is not lost or hopeless.  Paul also reminds us that God is faithful.  God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.  He will provide a way out.  As we consider the state of our soul this day, may we be willing to use the strength God offers and may we follow the way He provides, lest we too fall.


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All in All

Readings: Isaiah 55: 1-5 and 1 Corinthians 10: 1-5

Even though the Israelites wandered around the desert for 40 years, they were well cared for. God had led them out of 400 years of slavery and had rescued them from Pharaoh’s army. He had provided manna, quail, and water when needed. He was constantly leading them from the cloud and pillar of fire. If not for their times of disobedience, it would have been a nice, relatively short journey. In their disobedience is a lack of trust in God.

Even though we too wander off from time to time and become lost in the wilderness of our sin, we too are well cared for by God. Through Jesus Christ we have been redeemed from slavery to our sin. In the time we spend in worship and personal study we are fed by the Word. As we go through our daily life we are guided and led by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We too are blessed richly by God. We too are a chosen people.

In my life it can be very easy to take for granted all of the ways God blesses and cares for me. I think that can be true for many of us living in a modern and free country. So we too must heed Paul’s warning. We too must not get complacent and take God and His blessings for granted. We too must not accept where we are but ever seek to be continuing on our journey of faith.

In order to not fall into complacency let us stay in regular contact with God. In our times together may we daily offer our sincere thanksgiving for His many blessings and also delve into the Word so that we are always growing to be more and more Christ-like. If we pursue God with all of our hearts, He will become our all in all.