Month: November 2022

The crowd that had just been fed by the miracle of loaves & fishes finally found Jesus and they were ready for more entertainment & food. But instead Jesus had challenged their carnal thinking & told them, “Don’t work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” … quoting from Isaiah 55:2 which says, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, & your labor for that which does not satisfy?” But they only latched on to the word “work” and asked Him, “How consistent must we be then in working to keep God’s commandments, and what is the bare minimum work we must do?” In other words, looking at it from a totally legalistic & temporal viewpoint. But then Jesus totally blew them out of the water with His reply as He clarified what God truly required of them.. “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”

In this verse and in fact in the entire 13th Chapter of I Corinthians (Which is called the Love Chapter) Paul not only distinguishes among faith, hope, and love, but links them together to show their mutual dependance on each other. In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus gives us the first & greatest commandment, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Unlike the passive type of love we usually think of…this type of love – Agape love- is active and was shown by God the Father to us when He gave us His one and only Son to die in our place…it is a perfect love that proceeds out of a heart of care & concern for others…all others. But we need faith, a trust and belief in Jesus, actively expressing itself to manifest this love. (Galatians 5:6) While hope is no more than faith looking towards the future with sure confidence & expectation. Paul sums this up wonderfully in I Thessalonians 1:3, when he wrote, “We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Temptation itself isn’t sin – it’s something we’re bound to all face simply by being a sin-natured human being. Even Jesus Himself was tempted for 40 days in the desert by the devil. (Matthew 4:1-11) And that’s where the big difference lies…God tests, the devil tempts. James 1:13-14 is clear, God cannot tempt us, but our temptations are included in His Sovereign plan for our good. For if we overcome temptation, we are strengthened spiritually…but if we succumb to our unrighteous passions & desires, we will be hit with our own desperate need for further sanctification & grace. God will test us, but He will never tempt us in the sense of enticing us to sin. And if we need a good example of this, we only have to look to His Son, Jesus, Who was tested & tempted in every way, yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

None of us are exempt from life-altering conditions and/or circumstances that change us. A serious cancer diagnosis, a loss of a spouse, a devastating house fire, or a fatal car wreck can instantly remake our life. And suddenly there we are , looking at the half glass of water…trying to decide if it’s half full, or half empty. In I Peter 4:12-14 it’s quite evident, trials are our destiny, to one degree or another. For in these sufferings we can intimately identify with and unite to Christ & His sufferings for us…and through this participation of suffering, the power of Christ’s resurrection can be manifested in our lives as Christians. We were never promised a life without suffering and it’s our choice to bloom where we’re planted, or to rot in the ground.

Four times in the Old Testament we see a man sit by a well and God brings him his wife. Isaac & Rebekah in Genesis 24:16, Jacob & Rachel in Genesis 29:10, and Moses & Zipporah in Exodus 2:15-21. In John 4:1-42 we see a man sitting by the well – Jesus- and a unnamed Samaritan woman. She was a half-Jew outcast, shunned by even her own people, and a social reject with a scandalous past. But despite it all Jesus had traveled into Samaria for this divine appointment. But the marriage He was arranging was preparation for the Bride of Christ, the Church. His mission and purpose there, to speak eternal words…words of life & living water to that lost woman. This encounter so important in the fact, that it was the first time Jesus declared to anyone that He was the Messiah.

Paul sometimes accepted support for his ministry from the established Churches. But when preaching in a new city where he wanted to exemplify the freeness of the gift offering, he worked for his keep. (Paul was a tent-maker & weaver of black goat hair used for tent material.) But he also plied his trade in Thessalonica to set a strong example for those who were refusing to work. That’s because certain members of the new Church had erroneously concluded that since Christ was returning soon they need not worry about being gainfully employed and instead, wandered from house to house daily gossiping & meddling in other people’s business…to the point of becoming a burden on the rest of the Church members for their needs… when they were fully capable of working. And as a result, their lifestyle had become lazy & undisciplined and the Church was forced to deal with it all.

Many of you may be in the same Season as I of caring for elderly parents. There is a delicate balance of showing respect while keeping them safe, & of honoring who they are while still desiring what is best in the current situation. As this Proverb shows, physical strength may wane, but white hair and wisdom increases with age. And the Lord is constant in His care for His people…from before birth to old age…and we should also be constant in caring for those who first cared for us, with dignity & grace.

Hurt people don’t always have to hurt people. Some of us by the grace of God heal, grow, and live our lives helping others heal, grow, and live for Jesus. So what makes the difference? We can either hang on to our hurts & wear them like a badge of honor, reacting anytime we are confronted with thoughtless & reckless words of retaliation…or we can take to heart God’s Words in Exodus 15:26 when He said, “I am the Lord, Who heals you.” For only the Lord has the power & mercy to heal in the peace of His salvation…our healing from the damage inflicted by sin only coming through Jesus Christ…by whose wounds we are healed. But the decision is ours to either heal, grow & live for Him by submitting to His authority…or holding on to our hurt & growing bitter.

Jesus was back in Cana in Galilee when a royal official from King Herod’s court found Him and begged Jesus to come and heal his son in Capernaum. We are not told if the man was Jew or Gentile, but he had obliviously heard of Jesus performing miracles and was desperate to have Him heal his boy. But Jesus did something extraordinary…He tells the man to go back home, that his son would recover from his illness. But then this man does something equally as extraordinary…he believes what Jesus is telling him. Seven simple words, spoken emphatically, declared, not merely prophesized…but holding the power to heal. Seven words spoken at a distance but yet yielding the divine power to give life back to a dying child. What caused this man to trust Jesus? Was it the authority in His voice…the assurance in His eyes…the trustworthiness in His manner? Whatever the man saw & heard from Jesus, he went away, convinced his son would live.

Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried. The season of being used mightily by the Lord has ended & you feel forgotten, useless, & put out to pasture. But consider this – maybe the Lord has actually planted you and you are being prepared. We all know that seed planted in the soil doesn’t germinate & sprout overnight…there’s a time of development and preparation. Just think, God may be preparing you to burst forth soon for Him. That’s because we are God’s field (I Corinthians 3:9) … and He has promised that we will flourish and still bear fruit in old age. (Psalm 92:12-15)