pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Jesus


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Extend His Love

God offers a covenant to David that is not contingent upon what David or his descendants do.  God promises His faithfulness and love to David and his descendants no matter what they do.  This is an extravagant promise.  God acknowledges that if the sons sin, there will be consequences.  In doing so God recognizes that the human side of the relationship or covenant will at times fail.  But God will remain steadfast.

Human relationships are dynamic and often fluid.  People we were once friends with are no longer close to us.  Others will come to occupy our time and interest for a season.  Some friendships last a lifetime.  Even in marriage, where forever is our intent starting out, some of these relationships come to an end.  Human relationships are affected by so many things; change is often the norm.  And as we are humans, at times we fail.  This can be fatal to some of our relationships.

Through Jesus we are connected into the covenant God made with David and his descendants.  As sons and daughters of Jesus Christ, we too are heirs to this steadfast and unchanging love that God offers.  Our claim to the love of God begins the covenant relationship between God and each of us.  At some point we recognize that love and choose to enter into a relationship with God the creator.

Even though at times we too will fail in this relationship, His love will never fail.  God’s love never fails.  As we come to know this unfailing love more and more, we too begin to share this love with others.  We extend His love.  This is our grateful response to God’s love.  Love generously today.

Scripture reference: Psalm 89: 20-37


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The Question

Herod is a man who lived by manipulation, force, coercion.  He desperately wanted to be loved.  He worked at rebuilding the temple to curry favor from the Jews.  He went to great lengths to please his wife.  Guilt and self-doubt filled Herod.  When he hears stories of Jesus, he feared that John the Baptist had returned to judge him again.

Herod did not understand the world that John, and later Jesus, was trying to bring about.  Both John and Jesus experienced rejection and death because the rulers of the day would not hear their message of justice, peace, and love.  Both men willingly died to challenge the way the world was operating.  Both sought to bring the world shalom – the well-being of all, justice for all, equality for all people in all situations, and the blessings of God’s love, mercy, and grace.

In the world today I see people like Herod – driven by self-interests and greed.  Their priorities are far from those Jesus taught and died for.  In the world today I see many people who lack peace, justice, the basic necessities of life – things Jesus strove to bring to all people.  In the world today I see people who are suffering injustices and oppression – both in my hometown and throughout the world.

The question I must ask – the question all Christians must ask – is: what I am willing to do to bring this shalom to others?  It is a hard question.  But it is a question all Christians must not only wrestle with but one we must answer with how we live our lives.

Scripture reference: Mark 6: 14-16


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In Weakness and in Strength

We all like to accentuate our ‘strengths’ to a degree.  What we and others view as strengths can be physical, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual.  Everyone has been blessed by God in many ways.  Each of the strengths we have been blessed with are gifts we have been given for building up the kingdom of God.  Many of these gifts are also used in endeavors such as work, athletics, school, and relationships.

We also all have weaknesses.  Most of the time we prefer to keep these hidden away.  We prefer to keep these tucked into a dark corner.  But when we do this, we are limiting the power of Christ in our lives.  Even though we try to keep them hidden away, they are still there.  Even though we pretend they do not exist, our weaknesses still rise up from time to time.  In turning them over to Christ and calling on His power to come along side us in our battles, we can experience His strength in our lives.

One of the best ways to build your strengths and to work on your weaknesses is to be in a small group.  For example, my brothers in Christ have come to know my strengths over time.  They encourage me to use these strengths in helping others grow in their faith.  But they also have come to know the weaknesses in my life.  My brothers in Christ hold me accountable.  They check in with me to see how I am doing in relying on Christ for my strength in these battles.  These men of God pray for me in my struggles.  To them, I offer the same things in return.

God made us just as we are – the good and bad alike.  Like with Paul, these ‘thorns’ we all have keep us humble.  They keep us within the knowledge that we really need God to make it through life.  God desires to use both our strengths and weaknesses to build His kingdom here on earth.  May we all learn to offer both up to God for His glory.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10


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Accept, Accept, Accept

At times in life we find ourselves where we do not want to be.  There are things we cannot control, such as health, and we feel a little powerless.  Sometimes it as if we were on the other side of a window looking at an unfolding scenario.  We desire to rush in and change things, but we cannot.

Jesus experienced this in His hometown.  He was there to teach and heal but He could not.  He was amazed at their unbelief.  Jesus did not scold them or have a meltdown or launch into a rant.  He simply moved on to other places and continued His work.  He also sent out the twelve to teach and heal.  Perhaps in reaction to what happened in His hometown, the twelve were sent out with the instruction not to take anything along but instead to rely on the hospitality of those they ministered to.  If people were not welcoming, they simply moved on.

Again, there was no forcing the issue.  There was no shoving faith down someone’s throat.  There was no judgment or condemnation.  The twelve simply shook the dust off their sandals and moved on.  I hope to show the same grace and love the next time someone rejects my attempt to share faith with them.

The lessons here for us are many.  Accept things as they are without dwelling on disappointment, anger, …  Accept the situation as it is without piling on our own expectations or judgments.  Accept the possibilities that God places before us.  Live fully in the moment at hand, offer all that we have and are, and experience God’s transforming power at work.

Scripture reference: Mark 6: 1-13


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Places, Spaces, and Faces

Sometimes it is hard to get out of our boxes.  In many ways we settle into routines and ways of doing things.  Too often we allow stereotypes to determine how we see situations and people we encounter.  Our past experiences can also cloud our expectations for the here and now and for the future.  As creatures of habit with good memories I think we often miss out on God’s presence and work in our world.

When Jesus visited his hometown to preach and offer signs of His glory, He encountered this.  As the people realized who He was – just a carpenter’s son who they saw grow up an ordinary boy and young man – their amazement turned to doubt.  The teachings and miraculous signs did not continue in this environment.  The people allowed their experience and expectations to get in the way of experiencing God.

I wonder how much I miss out on because I am so tightly packed into my little box.  How many opportunities do I miss to share God with others and to experience God through others each day?  How often do I allow my judgments and low expectations to become roadblocks to being present in meaningful ways?  Yet rarely is anything in my day ever more important than moments experiencing God’s presence.  But I do not always reflect this with my thoughts, actions, and words.

May I learn to better live a simple faith and to walk on a slower path.  May I learn to live fully in each moment and person God places before me.  May my faith, heart, and eyes be like that of a child – eager to find love and joy in all the places, spaces, and faces I encounter today.

Scripture reference: Mark 6: 1-13


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As We Go Out

It is not natural for most people to get up in the morning and to wonder how they can be weak and powerless that day.  It is just not a place many of us feel comfortable being.  Most of us like to be in control of our own choices to some degree.  Some like to be in control of some of the choices others make as well.  But at a minimum we all like to feel we have some autonomy over at least ourselves.

Power comes in many forms.  And there are at least as many ways to abuse and distort power as well.  With power can come pride, ego, boasting, privilege, domination, and a host of other negative things.

Power can be good too.  It is just a different kind of power.  It is a power not of this world so this world is puzzled by it.  It is a power this world cannot defeat or destroy either.  This power is gentle yet strong, soft yet enduring, simple yet powerful.  God whispered to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”  God was telling Paul, “I got it.”

The thorn Paul was facing and the thorns we face serve to remind us that we are weak and that we must rely on God and Him alone.  For when we fall to our knees and lift up our hands acknowledging that we cannot do it alone, then God’s grace and love and strength come rushing in.  His resurrection power is what allows us to be renewed each day, to take up our cross each day, and to follow Jesus Christ each day.  As we go out, we go with God.  He whispers to us too, “I got it.”

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 12: 2-10


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Full of Belief

When we get to the end of our rope, we often beg or plea for help.  When we feel there is nothing else that we can do, we turn for help.  When life deals us a hand that we cannot make sense of, we beg for a way to make sense of it all.

Jarius comes to Jesus.  He is a ruler in the synagogue.  For him to come to Jesus, he must be desperate.  He falls at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to come heal his sick daughter.  On their way to Jarius’ house a desperate, desperate woman turns to Jesus as her last resort and silently begs for healing.  She finds it in the hem of His cloak, in a faith strong enough to believe.

While still on the way, news come that the daughter is dead.  Jesus response to Jarius: “Do not be afraid.  Just believe.”  He is challenging Jarius to go beyond his desperate faith to a faith that is solid.  Jarius has seen the woman healed simply by touching Jesus’ cloak.  He heard Jesus credit the healing to her faith.  So maybe Jarius holds out a speck of hope.

The story ends in a house full of people crying and grieving when they arrive.  Jesus tells them she is only asleep and they laugh.  Upstairs, alone in the room with the parents and  the inner circle of disciples, Jesus calls the girl back from the dead.  She rises and walks around.  She is alive again.  “Just believe.”  Jarius and family must have.  The healed woman must have.  They turned to begging when they had no other choice.

Jesus will be present in our begging too.  When we come to Him with our pleas and supplications, we too will find His presence.  When we go to Jesus full of faith, we will find Him there.  We must be aware that healing may not come.  It is about being with and giving our full faith to Jesus Christ, in both the good and the bad.  It is about growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Scripture reference: Mark 5: 21-43


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Powerful Words

Healing involves more than the physical.  It often includes the emotional and the spiritual as well.  Often getting “better” physically is easier than emotionally or spiritually because a prescription usually puts our bodies on the mend.  When we are broken emotionally or spiritually, the process of healing is usually more complex than a pill.

Yet when one is physically ill for a long period of time, it does affect your emotional and spiritual well-being also.  Try to imagine being the woman  in today’s scripture – afflicted with a bleeding problem for 12 years, unclean according to Jewish Law, broke because she has spent everything trying to get better.  Think what this has done to her mind and spirit.

Yet inside her still flickers a bit of hope.  She hears that Jesus is nearby.  She works her way through the crowd and sneaks up behind Him.  In faith she touches His cloak.  Talk about faith – “If I just touch His cloak…”  The bleeding stops.  She knows at once that she has been healed.  Imagine what that meant to her – able to be a part of society again, able to go into the temple, able to start to reassemble her life.  Jesus blesses her and sends her on her way.

“Your faith has healed you.  Go in peace.  Be freed from your suffering.”  Powerful words.  Powerful words spoken to you and me as well.  Words offered to us for our physical, emotional, and spiritual healing and wholeness.  Like the woman, we need to reach out to Jesus.  Like her, we need to go to Him in faith.  And like her, we too can feel His power released into our lives.  Go to Jesus.

Scripture reference: Mark 5: 25-34


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Generous

Jesus was all about giving.  He was all about the ways in which He could offer Himself and His gifts to make other’s lives better.  He gave away all that He could for the sake of those He encountered.  Ultimately Jesus gave even His life for us.

The king of the universe who could control anything He wanted – nature, death, physical disabilities and limitations – humbled Himself and took on human form.  He who is more powerful than anyone, stooped down to our level and gave and gave and gave.  He calls us to follow.

Paul writes, “he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.”  He was encouraging the church in Corinth to recognize the gift Jesus gave as a means of inspiring them to be generous.  Paul saw the church as a connected body.  He encouraged them to give now when they can and trust, in faith, that when they are in need, others will provide for them.

Jesus taught by example the practice of “self-emptying.”  He showed us the way.  As we give to others, we become less and Jesus becomes more.  In this process we die to self and come to see the world through His eyes.  John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer offers these words, “Let me be full, let me be empty.  Let me have all things, let me have nothing.”  God fills us up so that by giving to others we can be empty.  God blesses us so that in turn we can bless others.  This day may we be generous with all we have.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15


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Turn to Him

Psalm 130 has a somber tone to it.  It is one of the Penitential psalms.  Many if us can relate to this psalm type because we have all had times of sadness or depression.  These psalms resonate with us.  Sometimes we question God or our faith in these seasons.  In these times it is important to remember that God is always fully present with us, no matter our state of mind or heart.

God knows what it is like to wrestle with these feelings of sadness, emotional emptiness, and anguish.  In he form of Jesus, God experienced these emotions.  Jesus wept tears for Lazarus.  He sought solitude at times when the feelings of being completely drained rested heavy upon Him.  He cried blood tears of anguish in the garden.  Jesus has been there too so He intercedes for us and He reaches out a hand towards us.

The psalmist reminds us of God’s role too: “with the Lord is steadfast love and with Him is great power to redeem.”  It is a love that comes to us out of Jesus’ experiences.  It is a love that wants the best for us all of the time.  It is a love that brings healing and wholeness.  It is a love to which we are always called and invited into.

In the midst of the hard day, in the middle of the struggle, we must turn to Him.  Spend time in the Word, time in prayer, and time with Jesus.

Scripture reference: Psalm 130