pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: light


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Christ’s Peace

“And he will be their peace.”  Many people in our community and around the world would love for peace to reign in their lives.  People do not expect life to be perfect.  We all know life naturally has its ups and downs, its joys and trials.  But people need peace in the midst of it all.  People need a rock upon which to weather the storm and also upon which they can share their joys with others.  People need Jesus.

Micah spoke to a people in the midst of a trial.  It was one of many times that the people of Israel had turned from God and were feeling the consequences of their choices.  Yet even in the midst of this trial, God was present.  He was never gone.  The people waited and longed for God to act and restore them.  God remained their hope and peace.  Knowing that made the trial endurable because there is light at the end of the tunnel.  No matter how far away, light is still there.

Jesus himself offers this same light.  As His time on earth drew near to a close, He offered these words to His disciples: “My peace I leave you.”  He knew the struggle ahead as they adjusted to His physical absence.  Jesus also knew the light was coming.  He knew this peace would be restored with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ promise of peace is to us as well.  We can claim this peace as His followers.  His promise was not short-term, but to the end of this age.  Many in our worlds are seeking peace.  As His followers, we are called to share this peace.  As Christ reigns in our lives, may we allow His light and love to shine forth, bringing Christ’s peace to those in need.

Scripture reference: Micah 5: 2-5a


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Where You Go

The famine passes in Judah and Naomi decides to return to her homeland.  She urges Orpah and Ruth to stay in Moab, to remarry, to start life over again.  It is certainly within the realm of possibilities – both are young enough to do so.  To go against Naomi’s wished and to instead move to a foreign land would be a risky and challenging move.  Naomi knows this as she herself made the same type of move just ten years ago.

Often we too are faced with a similar choice – to stay in the comfortable, know place or to step out into uneasiness and the unknown.  It is easy to stay comfortable.  Orpah chooses to stay with her people.  But Ruth decides that she will go.  Her love for Naomi makes her willing to be that stranger in a foreign land.

Where is your ‘foreign land’?  Is it taking the time to sit and have lunch with the homeless person who asked you for $5 for lunch?  Is it going to that part of town to replace the kitchen faucet for a single mother with lots of young children?  Is it going to the jail to visit and share the love of Christ with an inmate?

Ruth said to Naomi: “Where you go, I will go.”  Christ calls us to go to many places where His light is dim and His love is unknown.  But He always goes with us.  May we, like Ruth, say to Christ and live out those same words: Lord, where you go, I will go.

Scripture reference: Ruth 1: 6-18


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Along with Christ

It is a holy and sacred privilege when we are able to minister to someone.  This can occur in the pastor’s office or in the front pew of the church.  It can happen at the break table at work or on the bleachers at the soccer game.  While it is true that the pastor receives a call from God to minister to the people, all Christians are commissioned by Christ to share the good news found in faith in Jesus Christ.

On the cover of our bulletin it lists Greg and I as ‘pastors’ and lists the congregation as ‘ministers’.  In some cases the situation at hand calls for one specifically trained for just such a time.  Yet in some cases it is one’s life experiences that qualify one to offer ministry to another in their time of need.  The pastor can offer care and empathy to one who has lost a spouse, for example.  But a fellow Christian who has walked through that can offer this and more.

In those times we feel led to come alongside one another and to offer love, support, encouragement, … we must also remember that we do not walk alone.  Jesus is also with us.  The incarnate Christ walked this earth and experienced life.  In those sacred moments when we are called to minister to one another, Christ walks beside us too.  His love, care, presence, and power flow through us and into the life of the one in need.  In faith may we respond to His call, offering the love and light of Jesus to one in need.

Scripture reference: Hebrews 5: 1-10


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God’s Presence

Job is suffering and he cries out to God.  He searches for God so that he can plead his case and find relief. But God is silent.  When we we are in the midst of a darkness we too cry out to God.  Often we also ask the “why?” question.  If there is no answer, we feel like the darkness deepens.  But even is we do not feel it, God is present.  He is always there.  Through faith we must trust in and rely on this and soon enough His light and love will break through.

The book of Job reminds us that although there is unjust suffering in our world, the world is still good.  It was created by God and He declared it ‘good’.  Much has been corrupted since then but good is still present and will one day come to reign absolute again.  God yearns for us, His people, to cry out for His presence, to seek Him, to experience a loving relationship with Him.

There are many people who suffer without hope because they do not know the Lord.  We must fight to bring His light and love into their lives.  There are many who have given up on the God they once knew and are mired in their suffering.  We must fight to bring an end to their suffering and to reveal God’s love to them again by being His love ourselves.

Too often God is made invisible to people by the darkness in which they live.  As God’s people we must bring justice, grace, mercy, love, and relief to those suffering so that God’s light and love may once again dwell in the hearts of all people.  God wants to be made known.  To whom will we make Him known today?

Scripture reference: Job 23: 1-9 and 16-17


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Commitment

“Unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.”  Jesus often said things that were a bit jarring and often His words challenged people to the point of turning away.  In His day, disputes and arguments often arose over the words He spoke.  At times, Jesus intentionally challenged the status quo and turned the ‘normal’ upside down.

Could one really eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood?  Those living alongside Jesus could have if the purely literal interpretation was His true meaning.  But if this were His true meaning, then heaven would be closed off to all who lived after the resurrection.  As this is not the case, what then is Jesus’ meaning in these difficult words?

I think Jesus is looking for more than just hearing His words and pondering their meaning in our lives.  I think He is looking for commitment.  When we “eat” and “drink” Jesus we are taking His words and teachings and digesting them.  They become a part of who we are inside.  His teachings are the source of our energy and strength.  They are the source of life within us.  His words bubble up in us as the living water, bringing to the surface the things He taught that we are to live out.

When we take in Jesus’ words and teachings at this deep, deep level they become a part of who we are at the core of or being.  It is then that we are claimed by Jesus and we fully belong to Him.  Through His living presence in us we participate fully in this life.  Our lives then reflect the light and life of Jesus in us to a world living in darkness.  With Jesus deep within us, we become a part of building His kingdom here on earth each day.

Scripture reference: John 6: 51-54


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Sharing the Light

As light and dark are opposites, there is a sharp contrast between the two.  Biblically speaking, the light represents God, Jesus, and all other things holy and righteous.  The dark represents Satan and his minions and all things evil and sinful.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are choosing to walk in the light.  Although it is our intent to always “be in the light”, at times we slip and walk in darkness or at least in the shadows.

Paul contrasts the light and dark with a few illustrations laid out as choices.  He urges us to be wise instead of unwise, filled with the Spirit instead of with wine, to be understanding instead of foolish.  In each case it is choosing to follow Christ’s will for our lives instead of pursuing our own selfish desires.  When we veer off the path of light we are often chasing temporary pleasures or the things of this world with no eternal value such as power, wealth, or possessions.

We are called to be light.  We are called to be in the world but not of it.  Our light is to shine out into the darkness.  One light in a dark room makes an amazing difference.  As people of faith we choose to pursue goodness, righteousness, and truth.  We seek to share these things with others in our lives, sharing the light within that cannot be overcome by the darkness.

In our pursuit of being light, the Spirit is the essential traveling partner.  The leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit is the only thing that allows us a chance to stand in the battle between good and evil that rages inside of us.  At times we will stumble or even fall, but the Spirit will always guide us back to the light.  Because of God’s great love for us, we never need to remain in the dark.  We are beloved children of God, always welcomed back into relationship with Him through Christ’s atoning work on the cross.  This day, shine the light!

Scripture reference: Ephesians 5: 15-20


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The Living Temple

For the people of Israel, the temple was something magnificent and wonderful.  The seven year building project was the fulfillment of a promise God made to Israel, the people of God.  It is a symbol of God dwelling with them.  For Solomon it was also a tool.  His prayer asked God to use it for evangelism.  When a foreigner came to see the beauty of the temple, Solomon wanted them to leave having been moved into a relationship with God.

The temple in Jerusalem was a physical place.  For the Israelites, it was the house of God.  In the New Testament, our body is referred to as a temple.  We are called to treat our own body as the temple of God.  This is a much more personal connection.  One does not have to go to the temple or synagogue or church to find God.  He dwells right inside of each person.  The manifestation of God in us should also be a beautiful thing, something that draws others toward God, something that moves others into a relationship with God.

How does one live as a ‘temple of God’?  How does one live in such a way as to reveal the God that dwells within us?  First, it is revealed in how we live our lives.  It is in how we go through our day, in how we treat others, in the decisions we make, and in how we walk through the storms of life.  Second, it is in how we share what it is inside us that makes us ‘different’ from the world and its ways.  It is in how we answer the ‘why’ questions that people will have.  Third, it is in how we share our faith that allows others to seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ for themselves.  Each day may we live as the light of God, shining into the darkness, bringing the gospel of hope to our world.

Scripture reference: 1 Kings 8: 22-30 and 41-43 Continue reading →


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Giving and Receiving

Faith is meant to be lived out in community.  It is in the wider community of the world that we come to interact with people to share our faith.  Within our churches we also have a community.  It is in the fellowship of believers that we grow and develop in our faith.  It is from this smaller community that we go forth into the world.

Life is about giving and receiving.  In life we will all have situations where we can offer of ourselves to others.  We will also have times when we are in need and others will give to us.  This give and take is what it means to live in community as brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is about being filled and being emptied.

It is often through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we are filled.  He is the bread of life and the living water.  All who come to Him will never be hungry and will never thirst.  At times we need to be filled by Christ.  His table is always open for us to come, to connect with His Spirit, to be filled with His love.  Others in our community of faith can also fill us up and build us up.  This is just one reason community and relationships are so important to our faith.

It is from our community of faith and through our relationship with Jesus that we go forth into the world to answer our call to make disciples of all nations.  This is most often done in small, personal ways.  It is both giving generously of ourselves to meet the needs of another and also graciously welcoming another when they give to us.  Christ must be lived out in all of our relationships so that the light shines into the darkness and overcomes it.  It is in the light that we walk.  It is the light that draws others to Christ.

Scripture reference: John 6: 35


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Clean Hands, Pure Heart

The whole earth and all that is in it belong to God, the creator.  Psalm 24 beings by stating God’s claim to rule over all He made.  For us, as a people of God, His claim has significance and importance.  There are implications both personal and communal.

On a personal level the Lord is seeking those with clean hands and a pure heart.  To live with clean hands is to live a life of integrity.  It is a life that seeks to do good, to do no evil, and to honor God in all we do and say.  To live with a pure heart is to place God as Lord of our life.  We bow to no other god or idol – not to power or position or authority or jealousy or greed…

Psalm 24 also calls for us to open the gates of the city, to invite God in.  This means praying for God to be a part of our communities.  For example, a group of ministers from around our city gathered at a high place yesterday and prayed over our community.  It was a powerful experience to look down over our city and to pray for God’s presence to be made known.  We all can join together in our churches to pray for His presence to be in our churches and in our communities.

When we live with clean hands and a pure heart, we are blessed by God.  We proclaim His goodness and bring Him glory through our lives.  In doing so we help to manifest God’s rule over the whole earth.  This is how we shine the light for all to see.  In all we do, may we bring God the honor and glory that He is due.

Scripture reference: Psalm 24


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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