Monthly Archives: November 2011

A Simple Joy

“Christianity isn’t true because we believe it; it’s true and we believe it. Our faith is anchored to the absolute truth of Scripture and the resurrection of Jesus. So when we approach God, we do so with confident assurance that what the Bible teaches is true.”- Lee Strobel

When our character and thoughts are aligned to the absolute truth of God’s Word we experience the transcending joy talked about throughout the Scriptures. Reading God’s Word is one thing, but transformation comes when we believe what we read and act on that belief. We can fill our heads with knowledge all day, but unless we act on that knowledge, we have nothing but words. Words are not eternal; truth is eternal. John 16:13 tells us, “…the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth…” When we hear the conflicting messages all around us it is easy to become overwhelmed with all the “noise” in our heads. What is truth, what should I do, which direction do I take? Jesus simply tells us to “Continue in My Word…and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)  The world is complicated, Jesus is simple; let’s not complicate what He has made so easy for us. Seek His truth, stay in His Word, and experience the pleasurable joy He created you for.

Shades of Black

“Your righteousness is
everlasting and your law is true.” Psalm 119:142 (NIV)

Shades of Black

Crayons, talk about a
color explosion. I would know because I am usually stepping on them or pulling
them out of my dogs’ mouth. There are so many shades of crayons these days its borderline
insanity.  Atomic tangerine, razzmatazz,
cerulean, laser lemon, dandelion, banana mania, tickle me pink, and tropical
rain forest were just a few I scanned at the top of the crayon box. It’s not
exactly red yellow blue green and brown anymore.

It reminds me of
people.

We have a lot of
colors don’t we? No, I’m not talking about race. I’m talking about personality.
No, not personality disorders, stay with me. I’m talking about faces. You know, the church face, the work face, the home face,
the shopping face. The face that
tolerates the tantrum from your child at the grocery store yet explodes at home
at the same attitude. The face that snaps at the spouse for a sarcastic comment
made at home yet holds the tongue in front of friends in public. The face that participates
in crude jokes at work but raises hands to Jesus during Sunday worship.

Does anyone besides
the God who sees our heart know the real us? Do we even know the real us? Just who are we when we lay our head on
the pillow at the end of the day and the show is over?

If I gave the Bible a
color I’d have to call it black. (And that has nothing to do with the average
leather binding on a Bible being black.) After all, there are no shades of
black, are there? In the same way the word of God is described many times as
being the chief source of truth. It
is not just a good idea, or a template for living, or a book of stories and
morals. The Bible is truth. We can’t
say that about anything else in the world. What else can we say is absolute?
God is absolute, and so is the word he breathed.

Have you ever thought
about degrees of truth? Ever told that “little white lie”? If it is not 100% truth then it is not truth at all! It would be like
putting a drop of poison in a liter of water and saying it is “mostly water”.
You still wouldn’t want to drink it because the rest of the water would be
tainted. When someone poses the question, “what is truth?” We have only one
answer to give, because there is only one certainty with no question and no
doubt, and that is the infallible word of God.

Do you find you
experience circumstances that are confusing and troublesome? You are lied to
and deceived, manipulated and left wondering what exactly is the truth? There
is but one source to go to for all facts, all certainty, all absolutes, and all
truth.

There are no shades
of black.

Prayer

Jesus, you are Truth! I love that
I can come to your word and never doubt that I will find absolute truth there.
Let me now rest on that promise alone!

Mirror Mirror

“All your commands are
trustworthy.” Psalm 119:86-NIV

Mirror Mirror

“You are what you
eat,” or so the saying goes. Our bodies tend to reflect the choices we make in
life, and that often goes to our detriment. Our skin reflects too much sun
exposure, our body mass index reflects too much donut exposure, our frown
wrinkles reflect years of bitterness and angst, our energy levels often reflect
our activity levels…and on it goes.

In much the same way
the Bible is a reflection of God’s character. It is God’s mirror, divinely
designed for us to gaze into and capture a glimpse of the heart of an almighty
sovereign God.

“Your laws are true.”
Psalm 119:142

“The statutes you
have laid down are righteous.” Psalm 119:138

“Your word is a lamp.”
Psalm 119:105

“Your instructions
are…valuable.” Psalm 119:72

This is just the
surface of Psalm 119 and the heart of God himself. We read these words and
automatically assume we’re talking about the word of God, and we are, but when
we’re talking about God’s word we’re also talking about the character of the Author!

Faithful

Righteous

True

Dependable

Sweet

Eternal

Guiding

Teaching

Priceless

If you own a Bible,
then you own a priceless mirror of the image and character of the holiest of
Holies, and you have the utmost privilege to pour over the pages and know your creator! How could you not
fall in love with Him and his words as the Psalmist clearly has done? The more
you focus on His perfect reflection through his words, the more attractive he
becomes, and the more you want to know.

He is truly
captivating, as is every word he breathed for us.

Prayer

Jesus, how grateful I am for the gift of your
word! The privilege I have of gazing into your heart whenever I want is a
treasure I often don’t take advantage of. Continue to develop your character in
my life and help me to fall in love with you more every day as I become a
mirror of your life to those around me

Duct Tape

“Do not snatch the word of truth from my mouth.” Psalm 119:43-NIV

Duct Tape

The stickiest substance known to mankind, well, as far as sealing products goes. The man-made
miracle of duct tape…it has hundreds of uses, if not more. From sealing boxes
to fixing leaks in a raft, duct tape is an extremely versatile substance.

 And who hasn’t heard the phrase, “I wish I had some duct tape to shut them up!”

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wanted to say something, perhaps even feeling
compelled to say something, just speak up, but that proverbial duct tape has silenced you? The words press against
your lips, screaming against your tongue to be released, and yet your mouth, or
even your brain, refuses to cooperate. You leave the scene feeling ashamed,
regretful, emotional…the “what ifs” begin. What
if I had said something….what if I had done this….maybe it would have turned
out differently. A real nightmare you have.

Once again you’ve become victim to the duct tape of man, also known as fear. Fear of man can be an
effective silencer of the boldest believer. We fear rejection, acceptance, or the
repercussions of not being a part of a group anymore.  We’re insecure.

If you get nothing else out of this, I pray you get this simple truth. Man cannot take what God
has already given you. God has accepted you, secured you and given his truth to
you. No amount of fear should keep you from sharing that with a world of people
who are in desperate need of it. Does this mean we jump on our box with our
picket signs painted in the bright red letters of JOHN 3:16 at every street
corner? No, unless God has spoken to you to do so. I imagine there are many
other ways we can speak up and share the life and love of Jesus without bashing
people over the head with a “turn or burn” approach.

How many times do we pass by the homeless man as we’re walking and offer a kind hello? Or offer a
drink to the man working in our house, or let someone go ahead of us in the
grocery store? How many times do we get upset when the waitress gets our order
wrong, or the line at the bank is moving too slowly and we’re late for work? I’m
talking about living the truth of Jesus. By living the truth of Jesus we have
the means to back up the words we
speak about him.

If we’re not going to speak the truth that we have been given the privilege and honor of holding dear
in our hearts, we may as well get that roll of duct tape and wrap it around our
Bibles.

Prayer

Jesus, today I confess that I
have missed many opportunities to share your truth with those around me,
whether through your Gospel message or by an act of kindness towards a stranger.
I ask that your Spirit grant me with the discernment necessary to know when to
speak truth and when to keep my mouth shut, and I ask that I never need to feel
the regret of another missed opportunity.  

Tolerate

“You established the earth and it endures.
Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you.” Psalm 119:90b-91-NIV

Tolerate

Traffic lights; long
lines; rude people; boring sermons; elevator music; gas prices; work.

Things we tolerate. Why do we tolerate these
things? I suppose it’s because we have to, right? If we want to get where we’re
going we must wait at those traffic lights; if we want to eat we must wait in
those long, slow lines at the grocery store. (Don’t you just love how they only
have one cashier to work when they
have fifteen registers?! Sigh…I digress). We have bills to pay so we tolerate
working all of our lives, but praise Jesus if you are blessed to have a job you
actually love! And what of those boring sermons? Well, your poor pastor can’t
bring down the fire every Sunday,
give him a break! It’s called reality.

The Bible mentions
tolerate a little differently. It calls it “enduring”. Psalm 119:90 says the
earth endures. Wait a minute, the earth is tolerating.
What is the earth tolerating exactly?

Come with me to an
open field on a grassy hilltop. The breeze is cool, the sun is shining. We see
tall flowers blowing against the bright blue sky line. Glorious. Gradually a
thud begins, then louder it comes until “clomp clomp clomp,” that gorgeous
yellow bloom blowing in the breeze has been snuffed out, cut short by the stomp
of muddy boots breaking through our scene in a hurry to get to the lake beyond
the hill.

Bummer.

Humans, we must be a
real treat to tolerate at times.

We are told there
will be a new heaven and a new earth one day (Revelation 21). Life as God
intended, in total perfection. Until then the earth endures (us, perhaps) and
it serves God under the laws he has given: laws of gravity and the laws of
motion. The seasons we are given come and go due to the motion of space, the
rotation of the moon and sun and the earth. It all works in harmony; all of
creation follows perfectly ordered laws laid out by the Creator. The smallest
of flowers bends its will to the sovereign God of the universe while man,
created in the image of God himself, often shakes his fist at the Creator and
questions and doubts at the very minimum.  It’s no wonder God doesn’t merely tolerate us!
But NO! That would go against his very nature of holiness! Instead God loves us
so much he not only gave us the biggest sacrifice of all in His son Jesus, but
he also threw the icing on the cake with giving us all of nature to marvel at
and enjoy!

If the earth and
nature itself endures and serves God willfully, we would do well to look on and
learn from the example given. Have you ever heard a flower complain as its
petals are picked off by a person humming “He loves me, he loves me not?” Have
you ever heard a rain drop whimper as it splatters across the windshield of a
racing car? Have you ever heard a blade of grass rage over getting trampled
under the foot of a workman’s boot?

Are we serving God
with our whole hearts or merely
tolerating his words as ideas in our lives?

He sees our true
heart.

Prayer

I praise you, Jesus. As my
Creator I am thankful for your generosity. You have given all of nature for my
pleasure and I often take it for granted. The next time I see your creations may
I be motivated to serve you with all my heart.

Faithful

“Your faithfulness
continues through all generations.” Psalm 119:90a-NIV

Faithful

Let’s play a game.
Think of a person in your life with the following attributes. This person must
exhibit these qualities 100% of the time, without error. Who do you think of
who is:

Reliable

Competent

Authentic

Accurate

(I said 100% of the
time!)

Infallible

True

Honorable

Unchanging

Dependable (my
favorite)

Hmmm…it’s OK, I’m
having a hard time too. Hopefully it didn’t take you long to figure out that
only one person can exhibit these characteristics perfectly, and that is Jesus,
aside from that, well, you have us.

Disloyal

Unreliable

Fickle

Insecure (ouch)

Fake

Undependable

Dangerous

Maybe you can see
yourself in the negative list more so than the first? Or is that just a problem
I have? I can tell you what my nature is drawn to without Jesus, and it’s not
pretty!

2 Timothy 2:13 tells
us “If we are faithless,” (and we usually are) “…He is faithful [true, infallible,
constant, dependable] for he cannot deny himself.”

Throughout all time,
all eternity, God and every word he spoke remains faithful no matter how we
react to life. (Insecure, unreliable, fickle…) This promise of God’s character
is not only true for his children today but for every generation preceding and
coming hereafter.

Does the reliability
of people ever get you down? Take heart; rather, take refuge in the faithfulness of God’s word!

Prayer:

Thank you, Jesus, for your
faithfulness in spite of my unbelief and doubt. Remind me today of the truth
that you are loyal no matter how I feel or what circumstances have come over
me.

Settled

 “Forever, O Lord, your
word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 119:89-NKJV

Settled

Look in the mirror.
How often has your appearance changed over the years? How about your wardrobe?
If you’re honest with yourself, there may be a decade (or two) that you’d
rather forget when it comes to fashion!

Trends come and go;
music fads change; seasons change; ideas change; even the tires on our car
change (at the worst times, might I add!). Everywhere we look something is changing, and frankly it
gets to be a little tiresome. How do we keep up with it all unless we spend
money? Of course, that usually requires a job
change!

What a drag.

But wait…I see the
sun beams breaking through the graying clouds of our downcast spirit. Now there is something constant! The sun!
When have you ever woken up and not found the sun in the sky? Maybe it was
hidden behind some storm clouds, but you knew it was there, and it would shine
again. It’s constant, you can count on it. We count on the stars to be there at
night and the earth to continue rotating on its axis. Who put all of these
things in motion, anyways? Do we count on Him? If God’s creation is constant,
how much more so is his Word! No, it’s
not only constant, it’s settled!

Established.

Firm.

Immovable.

God has made up his
mind about a few things (to say the least) and he has graciously poured them
out into print for us: the BIBLE! What pleasure, what relief we have knowing anytime of the day or night we have the
honor of learning the heart of God through his inspired words! He breathed it,
he spoke it; these words have no variation. They are the same yesterday, today,
and forever, settled in heaven and on earth, unchanged for all eternity for you
and for me.

Prayer:

Jesus, when everything around me
bellows with uncertainty, I will cling to your words of life as the only unshakeable
source of constant truth.