What Happens Today

  Understanding the Heart of the Gospel   To walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, we must know the heart of Christ. Christian living is not formulaic. It can’t be learned by rote, rule, or religion. It is not a series of questions and steps as if we were a service person responding to calls in a call center. What do we do in a given situation? “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.“ (Philippians‬ ‭1:27‬ ‭NIV‬‬) You have likely heard the famous Christian acronym, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) But we may more precisely ask, what is the heart of Christ? What does His heart communicate? For what Jesus  did  came from His  heart  as He communicated the heart of the Father.  His heart goes out to the downtrodden and unworthy. His heart is the heart of a servant. He washes the grime, the dirt, the disgusting; the well-trodden feet of those who have walked through the difficult situations of life. His heart is lowly and gentle, humble and kind. He cam

Knowledge without heart is a dangerous tool that can inflict blunt force trauma and with its usage leave behind offense, injury, and alienation. Paul writes in Colossians 2, My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know ( ἐπίγνωσις - epignosis )   the mystery of God, namely, Christ,   in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ( γνῶσις - gnosis ). Paul is referring to two types of knowledge here. The latter (gnosis) is the same word for knowledge he uses in 1 Corinthians 8 when he writes,  But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. (verse 1) This type of knowledge is experiential,  acquired, applied. I know what it takes to keep my marriage strong - communication, treating my wife kindly, listening to her. I "gnosis" what to do in order to maintain a good relationship with my wife. But the first type of knowledge Paul is refe

Shoveling Snow with Oven Mitts so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) The scriptures are full of promises and there is no shortage of mugs, plaques, pens, and now, masks, that have been inscribed with these very precious promises. I have many in my home study, given on those special occasions like Father's day and my birthday (March 31st in case you might need to know). Great reminders. Sparks of encouragement. Behind every scripture, every promise of God, there is purpose and meaning. The scriptures were inspired by the Spirit and graciously given by God to both admonish and to encourage. Therefore it is important to us to understand the context of the scriptures we hold on to and rightly handle this Sword of Truth as we battle through life.  I can put on a pair of oven mitts, grab a shovel, and start shoveling snow. Will my hands be pr

Forever Grateful But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) There's an old expression that I've heard used when one wants to express gratitude, "I'm forever in debt to you." These words came out of my mouth this morning as I was thinking about what Jesus did for me, personally. When I couldn't have cared less about God and His plans and His glory and His will, when I was consumed with my life, my desires, and my understanding, He broke through and rescued me from the pit of a self-centered life being lived on the path of eventual destruction. He saved me. "Lord, I'm forever in Your debt for all You have done for me!" But here's the good news, the truth of the matter: we are forever out of debt because of all He has done for us. Yes, instead, gladly, I am, we are as believers, forever grateful for all that He has done for us. And He continues in His mercy and grace to

The Struggle For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face - Colossians 2:1 There comes a feeling that is hard to explain in knowing that someone is fighting for you; to know that someone has your best interests in mind. "I've got your back." "I'm with you." "You're not alone." Words like these have the power to bring comfort, relief, assurance, and strength to go on. The struggle that Paul is referring to in this letter to the church at Colossae existed on two fronts. Lies, distractions, bad doctrine and faulty teaching was seeping into the church. It's not surprising considering that the church as shown herself to be influenced by the world that the Lord has placed us in to shine as light. We are sheep. We need guidance. And Paul struggled for the meandering church at Colossae as a loving older brother. He had likely never met the members of this chur

Faithful Not Successful Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. - Colossians 3:23,24 Mother Theresa is quoted as saying, "God does not require that we be successful, only that we be faithful." She spoke of the value of faithfulness over success. And so did Jesus. It is both humbling and freeing to know that those of us who have not found ourselves high on the ladder of success are highly valued in our low positions and rewarded for our faithful service. The daily grind is service to the Lord when done with all of our heart.  Do you mean to tell me that designing a business system at my place of employment will bring eternal reward for me? Are you saying as I care for my family and run my household well that God is filling my eternal home with good things? Can it be that as I study faithfully and

I have good news for you ... You're not perfect. Isn't that a relief? Think about it, as a child of God, a believer in Jesus, you aim for righteous behavior (alignment with God's purpose for your life) and when you fall short, you don't rejoice or fluff it off; you care. But we still tend towards falling short. And realizing that we are "but dust" is a good thing. Why? Because God knows it as well because He know us; and yet, He still loves us, He still forgives. Some have made the mistake of placating their guilt by attempting to convince themselves that they are OK within themselves; that value relinquishes the need for payment, for redemption. But it does not. We are all on a level playing field in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. No matter the quantity of good works, no matter the quantity of bad works, all of us are in need of a Savior. So put aside the rose-colored glasses and take a clear, honest look at yourself. You are not perfect.  But

As the Father Loved Me As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ( John 15:9 ESV) Your mission, your calling, does not disqualify you from the love of Christ, not matter how rocky or rough. The low estate you find yourself in does not break the great pact of His faithful love for you. Your level is suffering is not inversely proportionate to the level of His love for you. Christ’s love is just as passionate and eternal as the Father’s love is for Him. Love, like joy, is not circumstantial. It finds not its source in current conditions or lack of emotional turmoil. The joy of the Lord is your strength; a joy that is not sourced in the temporal but finds it’s rich flow and lavished abundance in the eternal- in the Eternal One. And so is the love of Christ towards you who have received Him. This great love has been shared between the Father and the Son for all eternity, and when Jesus says He loves us as the Father loves Him, He is speaking not of a fair weather f

Who’s In Charge? And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church (Ephesians 1:22 ESV) He is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:10 NIV) Not everyone is a good person. Not everyone is looking out for your best interests. In fact, there are those around us with malicious intentions and who may even act to bring harm. It’s the world we live in today. It’s been this way since the beginning actually. In a garden we read of an evil creature who had mal-intent towards the perfect and good Creator and sought to brought harm to Him by harming those the Creator cared about. This event has found its way into our classic stories of revenge - harm me and I’ll harm what you care about. And this evil creature (Satan, the devil) continues his work through people. Cain kills Abel, Jacob’s sons exact revenge on men who harmed their sister, religious leaders conspire to kill the Son of God, and there are many other such stories of revenge and ha

Rejoice Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NASB) God’s grace is truly amazing. When I think back to His mercy and the patience He has shown me even when I should have known better, my heart is fills with joy and praise. The word in Greek for rejoice is χαίρω (chairo) and comes from the same root as the words in Greek for grace and joy. Not surprising. God’s grace gives us a license to be joyful, outside of ourselves, in spite of our failings; we can, as Paul commands, rejoice. You have permission. We might even say, delight in God’s grace! Rest in it. Lean on it. I’ll say it again, delight in God’s grace. Augustine did. Over sixteen hundred years ago he wrote his “Confessions”, an uber-honest and transparent narrative on God’s amazing work in his wandering life. Raised by and prayed for a Christian mother, Augustine went his own way into the world of education and philosophy. This world was not all it promised to be, and eventually he would leav

Think On These Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬) This morning the Lord awakened me to three things to think on that align with Paul’s “finally brethren” exhortation in his letter to the Philippians. In the past I’ve tried to find things that are true, and noble, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable to think on but have honestly come up with little to nothing. My mind struggles to find such things in our world today. But this morning, I’m grateful to God for giving me three things that are lovely and right, pure and true, and noble and admirable. The morning birdsongs The sound of the birds singing in the morning together and individually is lovely to listen to. Each bird with its own call, giving turns to one another and then in excited ensemble singing together are lik

Words of Faith When my children were younger and wanted me to give them something to eat, they would say, “Dad, I’m hungry.” And I, as a Dad true to my good sense of humor would respond, “Hi hungry, I’m Dad.” That “dad joke” slays me still and I continue to use it whenever opportunity presents itself. I love the faith of children; call it child-like. If a child has a belly ache, they tell mom or dad, “I have a belly ache.” If a child is hungry, their request is spoken until it is heard. If a child has a question, they ask, usually with follow on questions. They are, in their complete honesty and unconcern for social propriety, living examples to us of what Jesus meant when He said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14 NIV) and And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18

Good for Evil Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”  (1 Samuel 25:21,22) How many of us have seen our heart set out on a campaign to set right the wrong-doing of those who have mistreated us? We've served, we've given, we've acted with integrity and treated kindly. We've laid down our lives. And yet, in return for our acts of kindness, we've received hurt. Let justice reign! Let it reign through me! David may have felt the same way. After offering protection to a group of shepherds tending their flocks in an area where David and his army were temporarily staying, David sent for refreshments to the man (Nabal) who the shepherds worked for. "Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son D

In The Yet To Come Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.   (Psalm 42:5 NIV)         Waiting is hard, contrary to our pleasure and to our comfort. I used to tell my daughters, it's good for young ladies to learn to wait. Not a popular message. There is an attitude that exists today catering to our desire for immediacy. It reveals itself in many aspects of our lives. I've always been amazed (maybe that's not the right word) as a software developer at the prevailing concern of users to minimize mouse clicks to get to the content that interests them more quickly. I've had to re-architect systems to eliminate a single mouse click from the user's path to information. Ok, enough complaining on my part.         To the contrary, God is not interested in us having a quick and efficient journey. He's not running a business, He's not placed us in a corporation. We are in H

Overlooked People and things get overlooked. Maybe you’ve felt the sting of being overlooked for a position or promotion. Or maybe you yourself have overlooked the facts and passed wrong judgement. A detective may fail in overlooking important clues. Details are overlooked. Things get overlooked. But there is one thing that is to our credit to overlook. A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11 NIV) Overlook means to “look past”, “to fail to notice”. All of us have failed at things, some of us more than others, but failing to notice an offense is a respectable and virtuous failure. People need mercy during times of difficulty; you included. Mercy is a drink of fresh water to one who is suffering under the burden of stress, trial, or anxiety. Jesus forgave us as believers of many an offense against Him. In fact, He forgave us of every offense against Him. Should we not do the same? When we overlook an offense we release not

The Promises of God If God makes a promise, can you depend on it? Does He have the power to carry out what He says He will do? Is His word trustworthy? Those of us who know God will quickly answer yes. We know that God is not only powerful, He is also faithful. So what about that cold that we’ve been battling for the past two weeks, or what about the glaucoma, the cancer, the emotional issues, the mental hangups? The anxiety. Doesn’t God promise that He will heal all of our diseases? I know of Christians that have been healed, but I also know of those who have gone to their grave with their disease, and even at times, because of it. Why the disconnect? Has God forgotten some while healing others? Why does tragedy strike some who have faith in God while skirting around others? Before I answer that question (it’s really one question), let’s look at the Scripture to see what it has to say about the promises of God. Here are three things we can say about His promises - The promises of God