"Thus says the Lord, 'Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls.' But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’" Jeremiah 6:16
There is an old saying among preachers and biblical teachers that states, "If it's new it ain't true and if it's true it ain't new." Perhaps they are borrowing from the writer of Ecclesiastes when he said, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is something new?' It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time" Eccl 1:9-10.
As a society, we are obsessed with the newest, latest, greatest thing from news and information to technology to gadgetry. Who among us does not have or want the latest cell phone for example? More relevantly, people are constantly developing new philosophies of God (or god figures), religion and worship. Should you ever have the time or interest, look up "religions" like Creativity Movement, Nation of Yahweh, Church of All Worlds, Universe People and the more well known Church of Scientology. Though these organizations are easily dismissed (despite the growing number of adherents to some), far more dangerous changes are being made in churches all over the world today. One example of this is in 2003, the Episcopalian Church of the United States of America became the first mainstream religious organization to consecrate an openly gay non celebate bishop (see Rom 1:26-28 and 1 Cor 6:9-10).
Beloved, the word of God and all that it teaches is tested, tried and true. We serve the Ancient of Days who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Our God is not fad driven nor subject to the whims of fickle humanity. It is we that must conform ourselves to Him and not the other way around. While I will agree that their are new approaches to delivering the message (we now have print, microphones, air conditioned houses of worship, television, radio and the internet), the message does not change. Let us seek the old and good path and walk in it.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
A Gentle Reminder-6-27-2012 (rp)
"Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder," 2 Peter 1:12-13
Peter had just espoused a number of virtues that lead one to the other. These involved diligence, faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self control, godliness, brotherly kindness and brotherly love. In that God has supplied us with everything pertaining to life and has made an eternity with Him available to us, Peter encourages us to be all that God has called us to be by constantly working on these virtues.
To be sure, when we came to know Christ and accepted him as our personal Lord and Savior, we were only too prepared to make the changes that would demonstrate obedience to him and love for him. We all wanted to be better people. As is this case with human nature, however, our attention span narrows, our enthusiasm wanes and our attention becomes diverted.
Beloved, anything done well is accomplished by constant focused attention. When it comes to something as important and permanent as our eternity, we cannot afford to take our eye off of the prize (Phil 3:13, 14). We must be consistent in our effort to live godly lives. But because we are human, we sometimes need reminders.
Let us be reminded through prayer. Constant communication with God (1 Thes 5:17) reminds us that He is and that we have a relationship with Him. Let us be reminded by His word. Consistent study of the scriptures adds to our knowledge and understanding (Prov 4:7). Let us be reminded by the regular assembling of ourselves to worship Him (Heb 10:25). It is through our coming together that we better understand that we are His people, brothers and sisters made so by a common Father. And finally, let us be reminded by telling others (Matt 28:19, 20). We tend to talk most about what we believe and live every day.
The Spirit has said that we already know these things. Let us endeavor to keep the word and will of God and their product, our salvation, top of mind.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Peter had just espoused a number of virtues that lead one to the other. These involved diligence, faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self control, godliness, brotherly kindness and brotherly love. In that God has supplied us with everything pertaining to life and has made an eternity with Him available to us, Peter encourages us to be all that God has called us to be by constantly working on these virtues.
To be sure, when we came to know Christ and accepted him as our personal Lord and Savior, we were only too prepared to make the changes that would demonstrate obedience to him and love for him. We all wanted to be better people. As is this case with human nature, however, our attention span narrows, our enthusiasm wanes and our attention becomes diverted.
Beloved, anything done well is accomplished by constant focused attention. When it comes to something as important and permanent as our eternity, we cannot afford to take our eye off of the prize (Phil 3:13, 14). We must be consistent in our effort to live godly lives. But because we are human, we sometimes need reminders.
Let us be reminded through prayer. Constant communication with God (1 Thes 5:17) reminds us that He is and that we have a relationship with Him. Let us be reminded by His word. Consistent study of the scriptures adds to our knowledge and understanding (Prov 4:7). Let us be reminded by the regular assembling of ourselves to worship Him (Heb 10:25). It is through our coming together that we better understand that we are His people, brothers and sisters made so by a common Father. And finally, let us be reminded by telling others (Matt 28:19, 20). We tend to talk most about what we believe and live every day.
The Spirit has said that we already know these things. Let us endeavor to keep the word and will of God and their product, our salvation, top of mind.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
For the Love of Christ-6/26/2012
"Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “ It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." John 19:30
Whenever I think of Jesus on the cross, it fills me with the greatest of mixed emotions. The first is an overwhelming sadness. Crucifixion is a horrible way to die. The process is filled with pain and degredation. Not only were stakes driven through the body but the person being crucified was put on public display. Imagine the horror of having to shift your weight from your bent legs to your spread arms to get away from the pain, but finding no refuge. Soon wracking cramps would attack the muscles and there would be no relief. Because of the spread arms, the diaphragm slowly begins to lose its effectiveness affecting the ability to breath. Death ultimately comes through suffocation, but in most cases only after days of unimaginable suffering. It is tough to think of anyone enduring such punishment. It is even tougher to think of it happening to Jesus (and when I think Jesus, I think of everything that is).
Then my emotions swing widely when I realize that had it not been for that suffering and that death, there would have been no resurrection. And if there was no resurrection for him, there would be none for me. Paul said, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" 1 Cor 15:17. It took nothing less than his ultimate sacrifice to bring worth to my faith and cleansing to my sins. I know that it is nothing I could possibly have accomplished on my own or for myself. That he had enough love for me to pay the ultimate price fills me with joy and humility...and even shame when I fail to live up to his expectations. Even this, however, is mitigated by the knowledge that his forgiveness is vast and complete.
Beloved, how much must he love us to go through such terror? How much must he love us to have gone through such pain and humiliation? How much must we love him? The answer is simple. We must love him the same way he loves us: with everything we have!
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Whenever I think of Jesus on the cross, it fills me with the greatest of mixed emotions. The first is an overwhelming sadness. Crucifixion is a horrible way to die. The process is filled with pain and degredation. Not only were stakes driven through the body but the person being crucified was put on public display. Imagine the horror of having to shift your weight from your bent legs to your spread arms to get away from the pain, but finding no refuge. Soon wracking cramps would attack the muscles and there would be no relief. Because of the spread arms, the diaphragm slowly begins to lose its effectiveness affecting the ability to breath. Death ultimately comes through suffocation, but in most cases only after days of unimaginable suffering. It is tough to think of anyone enduring such punishment. It is even tougher to think of it happening to Jesus (and when I think Jesus, I think of everything that is).
Then my emotions swing widely when I realize that had it not been for that suffering and that death, there would have been no resurrection. And if there was no resurrection for him, there would be none for me. Paul said, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" 1 Cor 15:17. It took nothing less than his ultimate sacrifice to bring worth to my faith and cleansing to my sins. I know that it is nothing I could possibly have accomplished on my own or for myself. That he had enough love for me to pay the ultimate price fills me with joy and humility...and even shame when I fail to live up to his expectations. Even this, however, is mitigated by the knowledge that his forgiveness is vast and complete.
Beloved, how much must he love us to go through such terror? How much must he love us to have gone through such pain and humiliation? How much must we love him? The answer is simple. We must love him the same way he loves us: with everything we have!
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Monday, June 25, 2012
Are You Ready?-6/25/2012
"Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." 1 Thess 5:1-2
I have a wonderful relationship with my earthly father. This relationship was born out of love, nurturing, teaching, provision and discipline. I have many fond memories of being raised in his household. There was much laughter and joy and his vocation allowed my sister and I to see parts of the world of which many can only dream. I also remember the not-so-fun times when I had to answer for some of the mistakes I made.
Through all of it, however, I learned what love is and that my dad had plenty of it for me and the rest of our small family. Through it all I learned to love him with everything I am. It was because of both love and discipline that I learned to follow his directions because I knew they were for my good. When he said to have something done by the time he came back, it was not an option in my mind to do anything less.
Beloved we all have a great and loving heavenly Father. He likewise provides love, nurturing, teaching, discipline and all that we need for life. And while a point inevitably comes when our earthly fathers cease raising us, we are constantly being given encouragement, direction and resources to grow by our heavenly Father. Where that which can be provided by our earthly fathers comes to an end, it gets infinitely and everlastingly better with our heavenly Father if we heed His direction for our lives. For this reason, just as it did not occur to me to be unprepared for my earthly father's return, we should all likewise have the same attitude for the calling of the Lord. He has given us much to do in his absence, but has told us, "if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" John 14:3.
Are you ready?
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
I have a wonderful relationship with my earthly father. This relationship was born out of love, nurturing, teaching, provision and discipline. I have many fond memories of being raised in his household. There was much laughter and joy and his vocation allowed my sister and I to see parts of the world of which many can only dream. I also remember the not-so-fun times when I had to answer for some of the mistakes I made.
Through all of it, however, I learned what love is and that my dad had plenty of it for me and the rest of our small family. Through it all I learned to love him with everything I am. It was because of both love and discipline that I learned to follow his directions because I knew they were for my good. When he said to have something done by the time he came back, it was not an option in my mind to do anything less.
Beloved we all have a great and loving heavenly Father. He likewise provides love, nurturing, teaching, discipline and all that we need for life. And while a point inevitably comes when our earthly fathers cease raising us, we are constantly being given encouragement, direction and resources to grow by our heavenly Father. Where that which can be provided by our earthly fathers comes to an end, it gets infinitely and everlastingly better with our heavenly Father if we heed His direction for our lives. For this reason, just as it did not occur to me to be unprepared for my earthly father's return, we should all likewise have the same attitude for the calling of the Lord. He has given us much to do in his absence, but has told us, "if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" John 14:3.
Are you ready?
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Friday, June 22, 2012
Humility-6/22/2010
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 1 Pet 5:6-7
Humility is not a trait that comes naturally to most people. It only develops as a matter of circumstance or of will. There are many things in life that can drive us to our knees but the least painful distance to the floor is through the path of simple obedience to God.
When you think about pride (placing oneself above others or an over estimate of one's means or merits), there is little good that comes from it. Pride almost necessarily includes the demeaning of others. It shouts, "I do not need anything from anyone and I pull myself up by my own bootstraps." This attitude can find that person alone and without at their greatest time of need and without doubt, that time inevitably comes. What is God to do with or for those who do not want or need Him?
Beloved, God desires that we rely fully upon him. Prov 3:5 reminds us to "Trust in God with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding." Have you ever seen that trust exercise where a person crosses their arms over their chest and falls backwards, relying on someone to catch them? This is the word picture behind trust. A proud person would pad the ground in advance to avoid injury in case "plan A" fails. There is no back up to God. He is absolutely trustworthy and will do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever hope or dream. He not only catches us but lifts up. Those who refuse to humble themselves are in danger of being left to their own fallible devices.
Whatever challenge, problem, sorrow, pain or even pleasant expectation of eternity we may have, we must rely fully on Him who made us. Pride can never save you, but God, in His own time, does. This a truly humbling thought.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Humility is not a trait that comes naturally to most people. It only develops as a matter of circumstance or of will. There are many things in life that can drive us to our knees but the least painful distance to the floor is through the path of simple obedience to God.
When you think about pride (placing oneself above others or an over estimate of one's means or merits), there is little good that comes from it. Pride almost necessarily includes the demeaning of others. It shouts, "I do not need anything from anyone and I pull myself up by my own bootstraps." This attitude can find that person alone and without at their greatest time of need and without doubt, that time inevitably comes. What is God to do with or for those who do not want or need Him?
Beloved, God desires that we rely fully upon him. Prov 3:5 reminds us to "Trust in God with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding." Have you ever seen that trust exercise where a person crosses their arms over their chest and falls backwards, relying on someone to catch them? This is the word picture behind trust. A proud person would pad the ground in advance to avoid injury in case "plan A" fails. There is no back up to God. He is absolutely trustworthy and will do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever hope or dream. He not only catches us but lifts up. Those who refuse to humble themselves are in danger of being left to their own fallible devices.
Whatever challenge, problem, sorrow, pain or even pleasant expectation of eternity we may have, we must rely fully on Him who made us. Pride can never save you, but God, in His own time, does. This a truly humbling thought.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Spiritual ADD-6/19/2012 (rp)
"Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep." Jonah 1:2-5
Oftentimes, we as Christians suffer from spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). With our minds and mouths we acknowledge God as the King of our lives, our Creator, the Almighty and our Father. We are His people and we know it. We are to be obedient and we know it. He loves us and wants the best for us and we know it. Our actions from time to time, however, belie these truths. In fact, we will sometimes go out of our way to be out of His way.
Jonah was a prophet of God. His whole reason for existing was to impart God's word to those whom he was charged to give it. That said, not only did he refuse direct instructions from God to preach to a people desperately in need of the word, he actually paid money to get on a ship headed the opposite direction.
Beloved we all have storms in our lives. They come in a variety of guises, but none of us is ignorant of a storm when we are in one. During these storms, we must ask ourselves if God is trying to get our attention.
It is interesting to know that once guilt ridden Jonah was thrown overboard at his own request, the storm that was afflicting the innocent around him ceased immediately. Further, Jonah spent the next three days in the belly of a fish. This was plenty of time to contemplate both the benefits of obedience and his relationship with God.
What will it take for God to get your attention?
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Oftentimes, we as Christians suffer from spiritual Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). With our minds and mouths we acknowledge God as the King of our lives, our Creator, the Almighty and our Father. We are His people and we know it. We are to be obedient and we know it. He loves us and wants the best for us and we know it. Our actions from time to time, however, belie these truths. In fact, we will sometimes go out of our way to be out of His way.
Jonah was a prophet of God. His whole reason for existing was to impart God's word to those whom he was charged to give it. That said, not only did he refuse direct instructions from God to preach to a people desperately in need of the word, he actually paid money to get on a ship headed the opposite direction.
Beloved we all have storms in our lives. They come in a variety of guises, but none of us is ignorant of a storm when we are in one. During these storms, we must ask ourselves if God is trying to get our attention.
It is interesting to know that once guilt ridden Jonah was thrown overboard at his own request, the storm that was afflicting the innocent around him ceased immediately. Further, Jonah spent the next three days in the belly of a fish. This was plenty of time to contemplate both the benefits of obedience and his relationship with God.
What will it take for God to get your attention?
Loving Like Jesus,
Lee
Monday, June 18, 2012
Needing God and Each Other-6/18/2012
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16
To be sure, we all need God. There is nothing without Him. A close second, however, is the fact that we all need each other. Among the greatest and most beneficial things God created are relationships. Everything He created relates in some way to every other thing, most relevantly male and female animals and the creation of man and woman. Nowhere in Scripture are we command to worship God in isolation but in association with others.
As parents raise their children together, so God raises His. We teach our kids to love honor and respect one another as well as others, but these are lessons we learn from our common Father. The benefits of living life in association with others are innumerable. Among the things we can do with and for each other is to grow our relationship with God through prayer.
Beloved we all need encouragement. We need companionship. We need to be corrected when we are out of line. And we need to be needed. By confessing our sins to one another we are not only positioning ourselves to receive needed help, but we are empowering brother(s) and sister(s) to obey God and to use the gifts with which they have been blessed. It is not unusual for a person to feel so down that they cannot pray for themselves. This is where our relationships are most effective. As the Scripture says, great and wondrous things can be accomplished through prayer. Verses 17 and 18 of the same passage outline the fact that Elias prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years. He prayed again and the rains came bringing forth fruit. Imagine using that power for one another. God would have us to relate to one another within our relationship with Him.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
To be sure, we all need God. There is nothing without Him. A close second, however, is the fact that we all need each other. Among the greatest and most beneficial things God created are relationships. Everything He created relates in some way to every other thing, most relevantly male and female animals and the creation of man and woman. Nowhere in Scripture are we command to worship God in isolation but in association with others.
As parents raise their children together, so God raises His. We teach our kids to love honor and respect one another as well as others, but these are lessons we learn from our common Father. The benefits of living life in association with others are innumerable. Among the things we can do with and for each other is to grow our relationship with God through prayer.
Beloved we all need encouragement. We need companionship. We need to be corrected when we are out of line. And we need to be needed. By confessing our sins to one another we are not only positioning ourselves to receive needed help, but we are empowering brother(s) and sister(s) to obey God and to use the gifts with which they have been blessed. It is not unusual for a person to feel so down that they cannot pray for themselves. This is where our relationships are most effective. As the Scripture says, great and wondrous things can be accomplished through prayer. Verses 17 and 18 of the same passage outline the fact that Elias prayed and it did not rain for three and a half years. He prayed again and the rains came bringing forth fruit. Imagine using that power for one another. God would have us to relate to one another within our relationship with Him.
Rejoicing in the Lord,
Lee
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