He's Never Letting Go

Good morning! Today's passage of focus is Psalm 73:23-26:

Yet I am always with you;

you hold my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me up in glory. 

Who do I have in heaven but you?

And I desire nothing on earth but you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart,

my portion forever.

Let's be real: I'm a moron. I do some really stupid stuff. Sometimes I forget to turn the burner off of the stove. Sometimes I fall asleep in my contacts. Sometimes I forget an assignment for school. Sometimes I forget to feed my cat in the morning. Sometimes I just do stupid things. Maybe you're a moron that does stupid things too. Maybe I'm the only one. I'll let the reader decide that on their own. 

Even more, I'm a sinner: a rebel against a holy God. Nothing is stupider than that. Asaph, the original poet behind this psalm, goes so far as to call himself a "brute" in reference to his own sinful nature, and I can't disagree from my own angle. I'm an oft-wayward son to my always-faithful Father God. 

And yet... I remain with God. He never lets me go, no matter what.

Does He remain, no matter how stupid I am? Yes, no matter what!

Does He always hold my right hand, guiding me like a dad helping a small child across the street? Yes, no matter what!

Does He always counsel and guide me, no matter how many times I have failed to listen before? Yes, no matter what!

And after it's all said and done, at the end of my life, will He bring me into glory with Him as my strength and portion forever? Oh yes, He will. No matter what. 

This is a truth I need daily reminders of. This is why we must dive into His Word and read the Bible: it rejuvenates our very life. I need to hear it, read it, study it, learn it, pursue it--all to remind myself anew amidst the chaos and temptations and hardships and struggles of each new day that the good news of Jesus and His faithfulness will see me through. 

We remain with God. He will never let us go.

Yes, no matter what.

The Path to Righteousness

Today's passage is Romans 4:23-25, which says:

Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Abraham's faith was "credited for righteousness." If we are to know what this means, a couple words have to be defined. The first is faith, which means trusting in God, putting His ways and, well, Him before everything else. Faith is not just blindly leaping off a cliff into the unknown, but is instead trusting a God who you believe is really able to hold you. That's what Abraham did when he first followed the Lord: he believed that God could really provide for him and lead him, so he followed. Faith is trust based on past experience, current belief, and future hope; the longer we believe in the Lord in our current situation, the more we will draw on past faithfulness He has shown us and the more we will be confident hoping in His future faithfulness. 

Another term is important to know here: righteousness. We are all sinners (wrongdoers, rebels against God's commands). Therefore, we are all unrighteousness before God, and He will judge us at the end of days on our righteousness (or lack thereof). That's the truth the Bible makes clear. The only way to avoid that judgment is to be seen as righteous before God when that day comes, and that is exactly what this passage details out. 

Abraham was no more righteous than you or me. He was a rebel against the Almighty, and therefore needed to be made righteous before God. These verses show that Abraham was made righteous not because of anything he did, but because of Who he trusted. He trusted, or put his faith in, God, and that trust in God throughout the rest of his life made him a righteous man in the eyes of God. And that is available to us, too. 

 If we believe in Jesus, our Lord and King, as raised from the dead to pay for our sins (delivered for trespasses) and defeat death once and for all (raised), we too can be righteous before God (for our justification). Again, it's trusting, it's putting faith in Jesus. Have you done that? Are you actively doing that with your life daily? Trusting in Jesus is the only path to true righteousness.

This is the entire message of every evangelist that ever was, from the apostle Paul to Billy Graham. This is the message that fulfills the Great Commission to go and make disciples, or followers of Jesus, of all nations. This is the message of trusting in the resurrection of Christ in order to be made righteous! This is the epitome of the power of God on display in the good news of Jesus: you can be saved! Trust it today.

The Contrast of Sinfulness and Holiness

Today's passage is Romans 3:5-6. which says:

But if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what are we to say? I am using a human argument: Is God unrighteous to inflict wrath? Absolutely not! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?

I have a cat named Casey, and she is adorable. I love this kitty dearly; I play with her, I start my day with feeding her and petting her, yada yada yada. But there is one time when I avoid her with all of my being: when I am dressed in a pair of black dress pants, headed to somewhere important. 

Without fail, every time I put a pair of black pants on, Casey will find me and start rubbing against the legs of the pants. She may have wanted nothing to do with me just moments before, but now, there are black pants to rub on. If you have a cat, you know where this is headed. If you don't, I have one word for you: fur. 

Cat hair stands out on a pair of black pants brighter than a full moon on a clear night. You can't miss it. Thus, I so try to stay away from my cat when I am dressed up because I don't want to end up with hair all over my pants, which is embarrassing if it goes unnoticed (so I hear).

Here's the deal: like cat hair on a pair of black slacks, our unrighteousness (our sinful hearts, our rebellion against God, etc.) actively highlights our God's righteousness. Our sinful actions show just how holy He is in comparison. Truly, we all deserve wrath and judgment, and there is no hiding it. It can't be missed when put in contrast with the Lord's holiness. 

This is why we daily need to preach the gospel to ourselves. It's not because as a believer we are likely to fall into judgment--we cannot. Christ already paid for that on the cross, securing life eternal for all who trust in Him as Lord and Savior.

However, there are others all around us that are in danger of the coming judgment. They have not put their faith in Jesus, and are sitting in their sinfulness, ready to accept God's righteous wrath if they do not repent. And that's something that should burden believers.

We are called, as the people of God and followers of Jesus, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Just as we love ourselves enough to repent of the sinfulness in our lives (I hope), we must love others well enough to want them to do the same. We must warn a sinful world that a holy God is bringing righteous and deserved wrath upon them, judging them for their blatant sinfulness. 

Lord, work the beauty of the gospel into us today. Show us our need to preach, proclaim, exclaim, and shout the good news of salvation in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Give us a bigger heart for the lost, and a greater love for others--like your love for them. 

The Horrible Result of Christian Hypocrisy

This morning I was stricken by Romans 2:24, which reads: 

For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. 

This passage is at the conclusion of a long rant from Paul about a lack of godliness in the Jewish people. The Jewish people were calling for the Gentiles (those outside the people of God) to live up to the values of the Old Testament Scriptures, yet they themselves were not living up to them, either. It's hypocrisy, plain and simple.

The Lord makes it clear in this verse that the hypocrisy of His people is not just reflecting poorly upon their own holiness, but it is ultimately a reason that the world is blaspheming and rejecting the Lord as their God! Can you imagine--the behavior of God's people, and lack of godliness in it, is turning people away from the Lord!

This has always been a struggle for God's people. In the Old Testament, this verse is actually stated in its original context in the prophetic books of Isaiah (who tried to get the Jews to repent of their hypocrisy before judgment came through the Babylonians) and Ezekiel (who tried to get the Jews to repent of their hypocrisy amidst their trials with the Babylonians). Then, in the New Testament, we have Peter clearly applying this principle to the church (and specifically the false converts and teachers that we fail to root out of the church), saying that our hypocrisy will lead the lost to follow our shameful ways and bring The Way, the path of Jesus Christ, into disrepute. We must not allow for this. 

To put it simply, our hypocrisy as believers leads to the world's rejection of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

There are almost an infinite number of ways that I fail to live up to what I preach and claim to believe as a follower of Jesus, but a lack of love for the Lord is the root of all of it. Because I do not love the Lord my God with all of my heart, all of my soul, all of my mind, and all of my strength as I ought, I end up failing to live according to the commands He said I would follow if I love Him. I allow other gods before Him. I make little idols out of any number of possessions, hobbies, or worldly ideals. I use His name in vain every time I refer to Him in a flippant or irreverent way (which includes half-hearted worship through singing or prayer). I fail to keep the Sabbath whenever I choose not to rest in His works and truly worship with His bride on a Sunday morning, allowing worries and distractions keep me from Him. I fail to love my neighbor or even myself as I should, all because my love for God is imperfect. 

The good news, however, is that these shortcomings in my own walk with Jesus upon The Way are what the gospel is all about! As I reflect daily on the salvation I have through Christ, which began when He knew me before I was born and will be completed throughout eternity as I walk with Him in the new earth, I become more ensnared by the beauty of His grace. As I reflect on the work of Jesus in my heart, on the cross, and on His throne today, praise and worship naturally blossoms in my being! I must daily, hourly even, remind myself of the beauty of the gospel!

Are you doing the same? Are you reflecting on the good news of Jesus to help you prevent hypocrisy among a lost world, Christian? Are you a non-Christian, and want to know more about what Jesus has done in my life? Drop in the comments below, and I'll be happy to talk with you more. 

Inheritance Through Faith and Perseverance (Evening Prayer 1/22/2020)

For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned. Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints ​— ​and by continuing to serve them. Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance 
-- Hebrews 6:4-12 (CSB)

This passage was shared with me by a church member recently when I was doing a pastoral visit at his home. It had been perplexing him, and it perplexed me, too. What exactly does the author of Hebrews mean here? I went to my CSB Study Bible for help, and here's where it lead me.

Are we to think that these "dearly loved friends" are leaving Christianity and returning to Judaism or whatever religion they previously adhered to? I don't think so, because the author seems to indicate in v.9 that he is speaking rhetorically, and he/she is "confident of things that are better" in their case, specifically. That sounds like the audience knows that Christ is better.

If that's not what he/she means, is it possible that these hearers had heard the gospel, maybe even liking it, but ultimately strayed away? This certainly happens, as we see in the parable of the sower that Jesus tells throughout the Gospels. Yet, look at the way the author describes them: enlightened, tasting of heaven, sharing in the Holy Spirit, tasting God's good word, and the powers of the coming age. That's a description that can only belong to a saved person. No nominal "Christian" that is going to fall away would be described in such terms--especially when it talks about sharing in the Holy Spirit, which only happens in the life of a believer.

Is it discussing the work of sanctification (or being made like Jesus daily), rather than our salvation itself? Again, I don't think so: why wouldn't we be able to repent of our apostasy if this were talking about our growth in Christ? Peter did exactly that repentance from rejecting Jesus in John 21.

So, what does it mean? I think it is a warning against turning from Christ and to continue relying on Christ. The author seems to be indicating that if we have a life that "receives the rain" (i.e. is surrounded by the gospel and things of Christ) and yet "produce thorns" shows that we never were enlightened or Spirit-shared. The author warns us as believers to remain in the faith, to have faith and persevere, which is evidence of our salvation in Jesus. Our faith and deeds are evidence that we have been saved (James 2 goes in-depth here); let us remain in the faith and never fall away!

Father God, hold us close. We know that if we are believers, you will not let us go; do not let us even desire to be released. May we abide in you as you abide within us. 

They Covered Their Father's Nakedness (Morning Prayer 1/22/20)

Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated. Noah, as a man of the soil, began by planting a vineyard. He drank some of the wine, became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a cloak and placed it over both their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father naked. When Noah awoke from his drinking and learned what his youngest son had done to him, he said:

Canaan is cursed. He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers. 

He also said:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;

Let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

Let God extend Japheth; 

let Japheth dwell in the tents of Shem;

let Canaan be Shem’s slave.

Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died. 

-- Genesis 9:18-29 (CSB)

Nobody is perfect, ya know? Noah is often lifted up as a hero of Scripture and as an example of how to live a life following the Lord, and rightfully so. Noah was the only one following God when the time of the flood came, and is a great example in many ways of the Christian life. However, Noah was also a human with a sin nature, and in this tale, he sinned. He got hammered and stripped naked in view of everybody.

Now, in this moment of shame and embarrassing behavior, anyone could have two real options: help Noah or hurt Noah. Ham chose to laugh at Noah's embarrassing situation, highlighting his father's sin with a sin of his own. Shem and Japheth, however, chose to help their father, which was the correct choice. 

We, too, are faced with a similar opportunity each day. We can either help or hurt anytime another is in a bad situation--by their own doing or by no fault of their own. When we choose to help them get out of that situation, we are making the same choice that Shem and Japheth made: the choice to love. To help others is to love others, and that is what the Christian life is to look like. It's, frankly, what Christ did when He came, lived, died, and rose again--all on our behalf. He chose to love us, to help us, rather than to hurt or ignore us. Our plight was and is a direct result of our sinfulness, and yet Christ still loved us enough to come to our aid. 

Will we chose to follow the example of Shem, Japheth, and Jesus today? Will we choose love by choosing to help, or will we choose to hurt?

Father God, help us choose to help today. Help us choose to love. We know that is the way that you would do, because it is the way you have done. Aid us in becoming more like you today. In Christ's name, amen.

Testing and Rebelling

     How do we handle ourselves when we find ourselves in a place we don't understand? How do we approach the Lord when it seems like times are too hard, or we don't feel that we have all we need, or things just could not get worse. Exodus 17:1-7 shows the nation of Israel in a place similar to that, and I think they give us an excellent model of how not to approach such times:

The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?”

But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 

-- Exodus 17:1-7 (CSB)

     The Israelites were travelling, as the Lord commanded, but there was no water where the Lord sent them. So they got mad at Moses, which then prompted Moses to remind them that it was God who had brought them to this place in life in the first place. That's the same as us; wherever we are currently in life, it is because God brought us there or allowed us to wander there ourselves. Nothing is beyond His scope or His vision; we are never apart from His presence and never blocked from His guidance.
     This didn't stop the Israelites from grumbling and complaining about the situation, though. I get it; there's not any water, and water is necessary for life to continue. It had to have felt like Moses was leading them out into the desert to dehydrate and die of thirst. They even started to long for the "good ol' days" when they were enslaved by the Egyptians, where they at least had access to water. I guess they figured that a terrible life with water was better than no life at all. So they kept complaining at Moses, and Moses did not know what to do. How was he to handle this situation?
     He turned to the Lord. He called out for God to help, knowing that God was totally aware of their plight and that it was God Himself who had lead them there. They had no rebelled and gone somewhere they were not supposed to go; it was totally through Moses's faith in God and His guidance that they had ended up in this predicament. God's people were on the verge of literally dying out, but God had no intention of that happening. He was not going to allow His covenant people to die out. His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would not be coming up short, and certainly not in a place that God Himself had led them. He led His people to a place of testing, and they responded by testing Him. They failed His test of faith.
     So Moses called out, and God answered with a plan. It wasn't the assumed, normal plan either. I'm sure Moses assumed that God would lead them to a place with more water, like a river or a lake. We often assume that God's plans will be pretty predictable, too. I know that I often think I can plot out God's answers and next steps for my life, and yet time and time again, I am proven wrong. God almost always surprises me with the next step on His journey with me, and He surprised Moses here, too. God brought their salvation in an unexpected and unforeseen way: He brought water from a rock.
     There is a ton of parallel here with Jesus in the New Testament. He's the Rock we stand on (1 Corinthians 10) and our source of living water (John 4). He is the salvation that came to us in an unforeseen way, as a baby in a boondocks town that grew up to be a street-preaching rabbi that literally died in our place to provide salvation to us. We do not have to go find our living water and our salvation; just like the Israelites, our salvation came to us in our hour of need, and we simply need to trust Him for salvation.
     This is not a one-time deal, though. We do not trust Jesus to save us once, and then live the rest of our lives. Trusting in Jesus as our salvation may be initiated and secured when we place our faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, but our daily walk with the Lord is meant to be a daily step of faith. We daily find ourselves, like the Israelites, confused and frustrated. We don't always understand our circumstances and we don't always see how it will work out for good. Yet, we always have a choice to make: to grumble like Israel, or trust that our Savior is the Rock of salvation every day in everyplace. We must not test (Massah) or rebel against (Meribah) the Lord; we must trust Him.
     Hebrews 3:7-4:2 puts this Old Testament passage into a New Testament context; we cannot allow a sinful, unbelieving and distrustful heart to turn us away from God. We must have confidence in Christ. We must encourage our fellow believers to keep the faith. Hebrews 4:2 clearly shows that Israel had heard the gospel, same as us in the church today; they simply did not combine the good news with daily, practical faith in the moments of everyday life. When they did that, they rejected the rest available to them: both in the immediate rest we find in placing our burdens on Christ and in the future rest we have in eternity with Him. Their lack of faith showed a lack of heart change by the gospel, and revealed them to be frauds in the faith.
     Will we trust our Lord daily, while we still have time to walk with Him and rest in Him, or will we doubt and test Him until the end of our days? The choice is ours to choose faith, and I pray that we will each do just that.