pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: living


by Leave a comment

Living Worthy, Speaking Truth

Reading: 2 Timothy 4: 16-18

On this day, many will gather for worship.  Some will be like the tax collector, coming humbly before God, knowing they too are a sinner, seeking God’s grace.  Others will come like it’s an obligation, thinking they are already ‘there’, no real need for God, full of judgment for the worship and those all around them.  Paul connects to both of these – once a Pharisee but now a sinner saved by God’s grace.

As Paul closes his second letter to Timothy, he is near the end of his journey.  He can look back over his ministry for Jesus and can see how the Lord has been by his side, giving him the strength and protection he needed.  Paul has always sought the next lost soul, always working to connect a fellow sinner to the only one who can save – Jesus Christ.  Along the way Paul has faced many mockers, doubters, judges, critics, skeptics, …  Paul has remained steadfast to his mission to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

We have much in common with Paul.  Each if us has had our share of sin in our life and we continue to wrestle with temptation and sin.  We too have experienced God’s redeeming grace over and over.  We too live in a secular society that often questions, derides, doubts, and challenges our faith.  Our loyalty to God and God’s Word will be put to the test.  And just as Paul experienced time and time again, God will stand beside us and God will give us all we need to remain steadfast.  God will protect us and guide us through the storms of life.  God is faithful and true.

Living a life worthy of our calling and speaking the truths of God is something we cannot do on our own.  But when we are steadfast and faithful, God will be present and will lead the way.  God will go before us each day, guiding us and filling us with just what we need.  Today, may we live as a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, bringing all the glory and honor to the Lord our God.


by 1 Comment

Generous Living

Reading: Luke 16: 1-9

In today’s passage a manager is fired for poor job performance.  He has mismanaged the owner’s resources.  We do not know if he is incompetent or lazy as well, but we do know he is somehow being dishonest and is wasting the owner’s resources.  The shrewd manner in which he then acts would maybe rule out incompetent.  In a handful of quick transactions, he not only shores up his future, he also gains commendation from the owner.

If we are honest, there are times we too waste the company’s resources.  There are times when we check our Facebook or when we text back and forth solidifying our weekend plans or update our fantasy football lineup at work.  And there are other times when our mind simply drifts for a few minutes.  Some days we would really like to just lay our heads down on our desk and take a little nap.  If the boss notices these types of things a few times, we too could find ourselves unemployed.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to offer our best effort in all we do.  We are called to work joyously in all of our labors – to work as if we were working for the Lord.  Always putting in a good days effort is a witness to our faith.  It is about respect for others and being personally responsible.

Personal responsibility forms us another way as well.  In the parable Jesus offers advice on the use of our resources.  He says to be generous with our money – it will gain us friends.  This idea also extends to our time and talents.  We should be generous with these as well.  When we share what God has blessed us with to help others, we are building up a treasure in heaven as well.  Generous living is a blessing all around.


by 1 Comment

Living Water

Reading: Jeremiah 2: 4-13

Where do you get your sense of worth?  Where is it from that you draw confidence, peace, and contentment?  Where do you turn in time of trial, stress, or temptation?  The answers to these questions will reveal much about your faith and your relationship with God.

Jeremiah is writing to a people who have turned away from God.  The people have strayed from God and have turned to worthless idols.  They have defiled the land with altars to foreign gods.  They have put their trust in “broken cisterns” – in their own power and might.  In this sense they have made themselves gods.

Like the people of Jeremiah’s day, we also turn to idols.  We look to our bank accounts and retirement investments for reassurance that all is well in life.  Instead of building altars to foreign gods, we park shiny new toys in our driveways and garages.  In these we see our own worth.  We see our name on the door of our office with its fancy title and think we are content.  But when a storm rolls in we turn to alcohol or drugs to dull the pain or to TV or the internet to numb the mind.  Too often God is a last resort, a desperate prayer when we have exhausted all other options.

Soon enough the shiny becomes dull, the title just isn’t what it once was, and the ways to cope don’t seem to be working anymore.  We feel lost and stuck at the same time.  All the while the Holy Spirit has been present, trying to turn us outward instead of inward, to look to the only way, truth, and life instead of everywhere else.  Even in our most self-centered moments, God does not give up, does not stop loving us, does not stop reaching out.  It is a live beyond our understanding.

At some point we all come to sense that our peace, contentment, and joy cannot come from the things of this world.  They are all temporary.  At some point we all get to this place.  It is a place of silence, of being alone.  It is a place where all else is stripped away.  It is where we meet God.  Maybe it is ‘again’ for some, maybe it is the first time for others.  It is here, in this place of solitude, that the living water seeps in through all the cracks in our brokenness.  It is here that we begin to find peace, contentment, and joy.  But our cracks remain.  We are imperfect creations.  We will lose our focus and fall back to the things of this world.  We will stray from God and our souls will become dry.  But our God is never done with us.  This living water is always seeking to seep back in, to fill us up.  Always.  It is a love beyond our understanding.

This day and every day, may we enter the silence, draw near to God, and confess our sins.  This day and every day, may we invite God in so that the living water will fill us up.


by Leave a comment

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


by Leave a comment

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


by Leave a comment

God’s Living Word

God’s word can be like any other book we read – just words on a page.  Maybe the stories are even interesting and entertaining.  But if there is no application to our life or change made inside our hearts and minds, then the words are just letters on the page.

God’s word, whether read personally or proclaimed aloud, is a living, breathing book.  When we take it in, pray and meditate over it, and search for the meaning that a particular passage has for our life, then we are refined and molded by the Word.

When we open the Bible seeking to find, God will bring life and meaning to His word.  When we knock and open the scriptures, there are answers to unlock our situations and to satisfy our questions, to provide direction for our lives.

God’s word is meant to be lived out.  We live it out in personal ways – in the decisions we make, in the way we conduct ourselves, in the ways we draw close to God, and in the relationships we have with others.  We also live it out in community – in how we treat each other, in how we serve each other, and in how we love one another.

When we read or hear the words on the pages in the Bible and begin to live out what they say and teach, then we are allowing God’s word to live and breathe in us.  May we learn to breath in deeply and to live out boldly all that God has for us.

Scripture reference: 1 Thessalonians 2: 9-13