pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: Jesus


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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


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Has Been All Along

Jesus and the disciples set out across the lake in a boat at night.  It is hard to see and to read the sky at night.  A storm suddenly began and soon the disciples were fearing for their lives.  And Jesus was asleep.

Life can be routine.  We can go to work day after day.  Weekends come and go but don’t seem to really interrupt the routine.  They are just part of it.  Life is just moving along and suddenly there is a storm.  It seems to come out of nowhere and takes us by surprise.  We had been walking along, as if in the dark.  We call out to Jesus but realize that maybe we’ve let Him slip out of our daily life.  That matters not to Him.  He is right there.  Has been all along.

When the disciples woke Jesus because their fears had conquered them, He did not throw them overboard.  He realized their fear and rebuked the storm.  Immediate calm.  After giving them what I imagine was just enough time to take in what just happened, He turns to them.  In essence He asks, “After all this time, still no faith?”

When the storms of life suddenly blind side us, we flail and reach for Jesus.  In our minds we may even wonder how He could let this happen.  I don’t want to know what is on His mind.  Maybe His first question to us would be, “Where ya been?”  Truth be told, our faith waivers a lot.  In the trials we definitely think we need Jesus.  But He knows better.  That is why He is always right there.  And that is why He has been all along.  Thanks Jesus!

Scripture reference: Mark 4: 35-41


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Shine the Light

Christians live in this world as a people set apart.  Although we are physically in this world, we long for our eternal home.  What guides our words, actions, and choices is foreign to the world in general.  The world does not understand the ways of God, so we live in this world trying to share God with those who do not yet know Him and His saving grace.

Being different sometimes brings negative attention.  Sometimes it is as simple as not fitting in because our faith prevents participation in something.  Sometimes it is not being invited because of how we are seen.  In other parts of the world it can be much worse.  The beatings and deaths that early Christians endured still happen in many places around the world.

Paul certainly experienced his share of trials, hardships, and tribulations.  In today’s reading is quite the list.  But he always kept sight of his hope.  He wrote, “Now is the day of salvation!”  No matter what life would bring his way, he knew that each day brought a new reconciliation with God.  Paul knew his calling in life: to share this Jesus Christ who was his all in all, his Lord and savior.

As a Christian we should stand out – in a good way.  Paul reminds us in this passage to not be a stumbling block to anyone.  In our words, actions, and choices may we shine the light and love of Jesus on all in our day today.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 6: 1-13


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With Abandon

When we choose Christ we become a new creation.  We choose to set aside our old ways and to walk a new path.  The old self dies and we are born again a whole new creation.  Wonderful as this is, there is better news: God is not done with us.  And there is better news still: He is never done with us!

As this new creation in Christ develops, we need some guidance and nourishment.  We find this in His Word.  This is both the Bible and the Holy Spirit, both of which speak into our lives.  God’s Word is living and active.  God’s Word is full of meaning for us and for our lives.

The Bible is past, present, and future.  In it we find what was.  These roots of our faith are important.  They are the sustainers of our faith.  The past ties to the present in the form of Jesus.  He is the living example of God’s love.  Through Him we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, keeping Jesus Christ very much in the present.  In the Word we also find promises.  These promises help us in the present by giving us encouragement and support.  In them we also see into those things eternal life brings.

This new creation that we become is one filled with love, hope, and enthusiasm for God, Jesus, and one another.  May we live with abandon for our Jesus, who was and is and will always be.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 5: 11-17


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Walking by Faith

Paul reminds us that we walk by faith and not by sight.  Envision with me, just for a moment, your feet walking along a stony path.  See just the bottom of your legs and your feet and the path.  Hear the sound of the rock underneath your feet.

What is it that you see and hear?  Are your feet moving right along, steadily crunching the gravel as you stride?  Or are your feet skipping along making a scuffling sound in the stones?  Or are they moving haltingly and unsteadily, offering up an uneven pattern of noise?  Or are your feet still, making no sound at all upon the rocks?

Depending on how our lives are at the present moment, we may be breezing along the path, at a standstill, or somewhere in between.  For a season our walk of faith might be steady, but at other times it is not.  Life can distract us, disruptions can halt our progress.  Peaks and valleys come and go, but we always must keep moving forward in faith.

In faith we do continue to walk forward, ever seeking to draw nearer to He who stands at the end of our path – Jesus Christ.  By keeping our eyes on Christ, we can always move closer whether we run, jump, skip, walk, or barely move forward.  At times the next step may seem unclear or unsure, but we know by the faith in our heart that He is there, ever calling us along our journey of faith.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10


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Yes, No, Maybe

Yes, no, and maybe.  Like all those questions we asked our parents, these too are the answers to the prayers we lift up to God.  The ‘yes’ answers tend to make us happy and draw us closer to God.  Often God is referred to as a loving father.  Jesus speaks often of how God the Father loves to give his children good things.

The ‘no’ answers have a finality much in the same way a solid no from our parents was usually the end of the discussion.  Sometimes we do not like to hear or be told ‘no’.  It can feel like we are not being loved or are being held back in some way.  Yet loving parents weigh the situation and the possible consequences and often choose to say no out of genuine love and care for us.  God operates much the same way.  He has a bigger picture in mind than our limited understanding can sometimes grapple with.

And then there are the ‘maybe’ answers.  Receiving no answer can be the hardest answer of them all.  To be left in limbo is hard.  Often we would rather have a ‘no’ than to be left hanging.  When we receive a maybe from our earthly parents, we ramp up the pleading of our case.  With our heavenly Father we do the same with our prayers.  We do not sit and wait well.

No matter what the answer, we must remember a few things.  First, God loves each of us deeply and unconditionally.  Second, God has a plan for our life and that plan is for our good, for us to prosper.  Third, God can be a mystery at times.  When we believe and live into the first two, we can more easily live with the third.  Through faith we come to trust our Father.

Scripture reference: Psalm 20


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Here, But…

It is not always easy to keep an eye on the eternal promises of God.  In the big picture we ‘get it’ – our real eternity rests with God and all the saints.  Yet at times we too get bogged down and lost in the day to day struggles we all face.

Sometimes though, it can feel like a millstone has been tied around our neck.  The uphill battle against a disease or illness, the sudden loss of a job or spouse or friend, another life change you never saw coming…  When it is more that the day to day troubles, which can be hard and very real too, it can be hard to remember God’s eternal promises.

All is not forever lost.  God suddenly pokes into our hard time and we are reminded of His great love.  Maybe it is through a friend or in a time of prayer or study or in a moment of solitude where He makes His presence known.  Like Paul we are reminded that these hardships are just temporary.  God’s plans will far outlive all of these earthly trials. What Christ offered on the cross has an eternal purpose and we are a part of that.

When we spend time daily with God, we experience the promise of being renewed day by day.  When we fix our eyes on the unseen, on our faith, we gain a sense of the eternal. When we remember that our earthly bodies are just temporary and we live for our eternal home built by God, we come to know our true reality.  We are here but not of this world.  Thanks be to God.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 4:16 to 5:1


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Deep, Wide, and Full

A song I like has these lyrics: “Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more; Where grace is found, is where You are.”  Sin is a constant battle in our lives.  But our reality as children of God is that His love is deeper than our sin could ever be.  When we allow sin to separate us from God, it is always us that keeps that separation.

We choose to be in a time of separation from God when we refuse to acknowledge or repent of our sins.  Sometimes we truly do not know we are sinning, especially when our faith is immature.  But as we grow, we come to see things as sin that we never did before.  In these times, the refiner’s fire is at work in our lives.

At other times our earthly side will rise up and will lead us into sin.  Usually we know we are headed down a road we should not be on, but turn away on our own.  If we call out to Jesus, He will turn us.  But sometimes we don’t call out.  Even then, forgiveness is still available when we turn, repent, and seek His grace.

There are times too when we just do not seek forgiveness.  Either we justify our own sin or we deem another is unworthy of our forgiveness.  Particularly in these times we need to remember that we will be judged according to how we judge others.  Forgiveness is a matter of the heart.  May our hearts be like God’s – deep, wide, and full of love!

Scripture reference: Mark 3: 22-30


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All in All

When the Israelites ask the prophet Samuel to appoint them a king, they are living fully in the world.  How quickly they have forgotten God’s defeat of Pharaoh and His leadership of them into the Promised Land.  How quickly they have forgotten the leadership of God’s agents – Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Samuel.  They want to be like the rest of the nations around them, so they say, “Give us a king!”

At times I walk a similar path with God as I live fully in the world.  My life does not always fully reflect my pledge that “Jesus is Lord.”  In the little daily struggles it is not always to Jesus that I first turn.  Often I try to rely on myself or turn to others to deal with the day to day issues.  Maybe in the ‘big’ stuff I am a little better.  Maybe just a little though.  It is in the larger crisis that I realize sooner that I am less in control and I tend to turn to Him quicker.  This is especially true when I have hit bottom or feel as if I am at the end of my rope.  Yet Jesus is not who I always turn to.

When I say and claim “Jesus is Lord” my thought process and my heart need to reflect this.  It is just not turning to Him in times of trial either.  It is in choosing to give to another without hesitation and without questioning.  It is to offer the best of my day to Jesus and not what I have left at the end.  It is really about giving Jesus every area and little corner of my life.  May I be willing for Jesus to be by all in all, my everything.  Strengthen me Lord Jesus.  Bend me to Your will.  Make me yours.

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 8: 4-9


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Loved That Much

“For God so loved the world…”  Just by prompting you with those six words, you probably can finish the verse.  For those that have even just a few years of church, these are familiar words.  But not to everybody.  After Tim Tebow wore ‘John 3:16’ on his eye black in the national championship game a few years back, over 90 million people googled it.

It is a powerful verse.  It is the gospel message in a nutshell.  On a communal level, sometimes the message is hard to fathom.  When one sees all of the violence, hatred, abuse, prejudice, injustice… in the world, it is hard to understand how God could love this world so much as to send His only Son into it.  But that is just how much He loves this broken world.

Then I think about this verse on a personal level.  When I consider how long I have known and been in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and look hard at my life some days, I think, ‘Even me?’  In spite of all the times I fail to do what you lead me to and all of the times I sin, You still love me?  Yes He does.  God loves all of us this way.  Wow!

The reality is that God would send His Son to die for just one of us.  He loves each of us that much.  But God sent Jesus to all of us – for each and every person who lives or has lived from the time Jesus walked the earth until the time He returns in glory.  For God so loved this broken, hurting, fallen world so much that He sent His one and only Son to save this world.  He loves the world that much.  He loves you and me that much.  Thanks be to God for His great love!!

Scripture reference: John 3: 16-17