Category Archives: Christian Life

POPULARITY OR TRUTH?

Christian Life, ,

POPULARITY OR TRUTH?

4 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. Luke 6:24-26

One thing’s for sure, Jesus. You were practising what you preached!

At that point in His ministry, He was the most popular figure in Israel in all her history. There were no others who had dispensed healing and deliverance as freely as He did; sporadic miracles, yes, but not mass healings wherever He went. Wasn’t He out to win this popularity contest? After all, wasn’t He the Messiah and didn’t He want people to follow Him? Wasn’t He offering them a brand new life and free, for all, at that?

No, He was not in the running for the popularity prize. Far from it! At this point His fame was at an all-time high but not for long. The more He taught the truth, the more unpalatable it would become and the crowd would melt away, especially when He spoke about loving their enemies! What! Love the Romans? No way! And sharing their goods with the poor? And on and on.

And what about eating His flesh and drinking His blood? That was it! Jesus, you must really be crazy! When the truth veered away from what they really wanted more than anything else, these pesky Romans off their backs, forever, they were thoroughly disillusioned. Judas too! They had so hoped that He was really their Messiah but when He refused to come to the party, they wavered, even His disciples.

So what was He about? What was His message that they found so unpalatable and difficult to grasp? There were a few basic truths they needed to get hold of, and Jesus plugged away at them in the hopes that they would get it so that they could embrace the true kingdom of which He was so earnestly speaking.

Rome was not their problem; they were. The real enemy was residing deep inside their own hearts; that disposition that was evidence of an alien master, self, that had replaced the Spirit of God way back at the beginning. When Adam chose to change allegiance, he unleashed a trail of hardship and suffering that they were experiencing, but, in God’s kingdom, it would all be removed when He restores all things.

But there was something even more sinister embedded in the attitude that ruled them — an “I’m better than you” disposition that made them look down on other people and think that they had arrived, when, in actual fact, they were as miserably bankrupt as everyone else. He warned that if they thought that having it all, or living a cushy life made them better than others, they were in for a shock. They were all in it together and hard times would come for them as for everyone else.

They were not to live it up, thinking they were immune. The real problem was that they believed that hard times were for “sinners”, and that wealth and “stuff” was a sign of God’s blessing. Not in God’s kingdom!

Worst of all, (and He was probably directing His words to the really religious ones) it was dangerous to give in to “approval addiction”. Jesus warned that if they lived to win people’s approval, that was all they would get. People’s approval is gained through performance, not through obedience to the truth, and people love it when we behave just like they do!

Jesus was offering them something far better — a life of freedom from selfish self-destruction to live in generous love and service to others like He did.

What is your standard, popularity or truth?

PETER AND THE CHARCOAL FIRES

Christian Life, ,

PETER AND THE CHARCOAL FIRES

“Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.”

John 18:18 NLT

“When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.”

John 21:9 NLT

I write this article because many of us have vivid memories of a “charcoal fire” experience like Peter’s. Why did John specifically record that Peter was standing by a charcoal fire when he denied his association with Jesus? Why did Jesus tie Peter’s denial to the crowing of a cock?

These were the triggers that awakened Peter’s memory to his terrible failure. Every time he heard a cock crow… every time he felt the warmth of a charcoal fire… humiliation would overwhelm him, threatening the bond he had with Jesus in those years of walking with Him, until…

Jesus met him on the beach beside a charcoal fire. Why did Jesus specifically make a charcoal fire upon which to cook breakfast for His disciples? Driftwood would have done the job. Was is to drive the pain of Peter’s failure deeper into his heart, to cement that act of betrayal so that their association would forever be ended, a barrier too high to surmount?

“No!” A thousand times, “No!” It would be so unlike Jesus to do that. It was, instead, the most beautiful act of pure love, to transform the environment of gut-wrenching failure into a moment of forgiveness and restoration.

Jesus changed Peter’s agony from humiliation and regret into the glorious reality of the cross – speaking forgiveness – by that truly kind gesture. The raw wounds in His hands and feet, a stark reminder of His suffering, spoke a silent message of forgiveness as He reached out and gestured Peter to come to Him.

A simple question ended the war in Peter’s heart. “Do you love me?” Peter’s confession of love for Jesus, more real in that poignant moment, overwhelmed his pain, lifted the burden of regret, and flooded his heart with gratitude and relief.

No longer would a charcoal fire be the sword through his heart, the reminder of the events of that terrible night.

What was the difference?

It was the accuser at the charcoal fire who roused fear in Peter’s heart. Fear, the enemy’s favoured weapon, drew the lie from his mouth, “I don’t know the man,” leaving him with a conscience writhing in torment.

It was Jesus, Prince of Peace, standing at another charcoal fire, speaking words of comfort and restoration, who finally brought Peter’s torment to an end.

Isn’t it always the presence of Jesus in the same situation where we fell into fear, guilt, and shame, who knows, forgives, and renews our love for Him?

Peter’s “charcoal fire” would never again be a reminder of his failure. His “charcoal fire”  encounter with Jesus, bringing forgiveness, restoration, and peace, would forever remind him of the grace and mercy that wipes the slate clean.

What if Peter had chosen to stay by the accuser’s charcoal fire in Caiaphas’ courtyard? What if he had never moved on to the charcoal fire on the beach in Galliee?

He would never have escaped the accuser’s voice. He would never have known the presence of Jesus and the peace of forgiveness. He would never have experienced Pentecost or the joy of leading thousands to faith in Jesus. He would never have become the great Apostle Peter.

And so with us. We can cling to our victim status, forever making our failures our “charcoal fire” resting place, forever wallowing in the lies of the accuser or…

We can revel in the presence of Jesus, turning our failures into opportunities, seeing His grace and forgiveness shining through. We can change our perspective, recognise His hand in all the details of our lives, putting us on a path to a life of unending gratitude expressed in our service to others.

We can become victors, overcomers who rise above our selfish misery through grace to sit with Jesus on His throne.

We can choose to live the truly abundant life Jesus promised us. It is not a life of wealth and prosperity, for these are as transient as this present age which is passing away.

It’s not about circumstances because these are always uncertain and changing.

It’s about love, joy, and peace in the heart, knowing that Jesus is always the same and He will never abandon us. It is a life of joyful partnership with Jesus, calling on His name in every circumstance and revelling in His presence, grace, comfort, and strength to see us through.

The choice is ours.

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”

Romans 5:17 NIV

“To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

Revelation 3:21 NIV

As Joshua said to the Israelites of old,

“So, fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly… Serve the Lord alone…. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve….  But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:14-15 NLT,

So I say to you today, “Choose whom you will serve…”, your own foolish failures, or the Lord Jesus who offers you forgiveness and a new life with Him.

WHAT WAS PAUL’S THORN?

Christian Life, ,

WHAT WAS PAUL’S THORN?

Many interesting theories have been suggested in answer to the question, “What was Paul’s thorn?” Some suggest that it was a physical ailment, a sickness, or a serious eye condition, backed up by his use of a scribe to write his letters.

Does Paul himself answer this question? What lessons can Paul’s “thorn” offer us in our walk with the Lord?

Firstly, where in the Bible does the idea of a thorn originate?

“55 But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. 56 And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”

Numbers 33:55-56 NLT

Before Israel’s occupation of the Promised Land, God warned His people not to tolerate idol-worshippers among them. If they failed to rid the land of the Canaanites, the Canaanites’ idolatry would be both a constant irritation to them and a lure to participate in their ungodly behaviour.

In the New Covenant, what the Canaanites were to Israel, the flesh is to the believer. The Apostle Paul warned the Galatians that there is a relentless war going on between the flesh and the spirit, triggered by our reactions to the people and circumstances in our lives that rub us up the wrong way.

The flesh demands that we retaliate while the Spirit calls us to resist the temptation to react by remaining in the love of God because He is the supreme authority in all our circumstances. Through these uncomfortable or trying situations, God calls us to reign over our flesh by receiving His grace to overcome.

The bottom line in this war between flesh and spirit is the issue of idolatry. When we allow our flesh to dictate our responses to these tests, we declare ourselves to be god. We think we know better than God; we make our own rules and are, at that moment, eating “the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, declaring independence from God and no need of Him to help us in this war.

What is idolatry?

“18 I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.”

Deuteronomy 29:18 NLT

The writer to the Hebrews speaks of idolatry as a poisonous root of bitterness.

“14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”

Hebrews 12:14,15 NLT

Idolatry is that attitude that I don’t need God. I am self-sufficient; I can navigate life’s problems on my own. However, by doing so, I inadvertently put my confidence in some other source. most often money or some person or thing I lean on for support. I am essentially my own god because I replace the true God with my own solutions and act on my own wisdom.

When I react in anger or bitterness to some affront to the god I am, I compound my accuser’s sin with my own which does not solve the issue. It only makes it worse.

So, what was Paul’s thorn that was, to him, the temptation to find his own solution?

During Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, which was his calling, he was confronted by hostility from the Jews, the Gentiles, the Roman government and even the geographical environment in which he worked. He was tired and frustrated by all these hindrances, this “thorn in his side”, these ungodly people who interfered with his ministry. He begged the Lord three times to take it (the thorn) away.

What Paul did not realise that, though the “thorn” was from Satan, designed to stop him from doing God’s will, it was the very instrument the Lord was using to teach Paul how to overcome the danger of his flesh.

God was using the very hatred and opposition to the gospel Paul was experiencing to protect him from the danger of thinking that his  “supernatural revelations” made him better than others. Pride would cut him off from fellowship with Jesus.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:6 NLT

Paul’s greatest asset was not the revelations that gave him understanding of the message he was called to proclaim or the eloquence with which he preached and taught. He was not to revel in the visions of heaven and eternity he was privileged to experience. His greatest asset was the “thorn” of opposition and persecution, of hardships and deprivation that kept him in intimate touch with his Lord because of his need to be humbly dependent on Him.

Paul would never fully experience the power to overcome his fleshly responses without the tests that exposed his weakness. The very weakness of his flesh qualified him to receive all the grace he needed to maintain his close connection to Jesus and to draw his life from Him.

God knows exactly what form our “thorn” should take to keep us dependant on the power of His grace to overcome our weakness. Instead of viewing our thorn as a hindrance, we should recognise that God gift-wraps His grace in a package that appears distasteful to us.

The wrapping may appear unsightly, but the gift within is valuable beyond understanding. Only as we open the package and unwrap the grace, will we appreciate the love that gave us the gift. God’s passion is to bind us to Him in loving trust and oneness. He will do whatever it takes to keep our hearts in submission to Him.

And so, regarding his “thorn”, Paul came to this conclusion…

“Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

PASSING BY

Christian Life, , ,

PASSING BY

The expression, “passed by”, appears more than once in the Bible but the words make no sense until we look at them from God’s perspective. I’ll only refer to four incidents.

Moses was in crisis. God’s people had broken His covenant only days after God had established His union with them. With Moses out of the way, (up the mountain), the people slipped back into idolatry. What was he to do? How was he to handle the situation since the covenant no longer bound God to His people and left them vulnerable and unprotected in a dangerous wilderness?

Moses went back up the mountain to negotiate with God. Firstly, he insisted on God’s presence to take them on to the Promised Land. God agreed to go with them. Secondly, he asked the Lord to show him His glory, the full array of His attributes.

God’s response put restrictions on Moses’ request.

“19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Exodus 33:19-20 NIV

What did God mean by “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” This cannot be taken literally since God is spirit. He does not have a face. Can this mean,” you cannot see the front of me ie, where I am going, but I will show you where I have been, i.e., my back parts.”

“21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

Exodus 33:19-23 NIV

God said He would “pass by” Moses while He hid him in the cleft of a rock.

“5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed by (in front of) Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:5-7 NIV

This revelation of Himself that God gave Moses was Moses’ answer to his crisis. God had revealed Himself as “gracious, compassionate merciful, and forgiving.” Now Moses could appeal for forgiveness for his people because God is merciful.

“8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

Exodus 34:8-9 NIV

God graciously responded by renewing the covenant.

Elijah also had an experience of God “passing by” in his time of crisis. He had won a great victory against the prophets of Baal on Mt Caramel. Perhaps he anticipated revival in Israel but, instead of revival, the wicked queen, Jezebel, threatened to kill him. Elijah fled to Mt Horeb (Sinai) where God met while he took shelter in a cave on the mountain.

Elijah wanted to die because of his failure to bring God’s people back to Him. He felt that he was the only one left who worshipped the Lord. God met him in the cave and spoke to him.

9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

1 Kings 19:9-13 NIV

God “passed by” Elijah, revealing Himself, not in earth-shattering natural events but in a gentle whisper. Elijah’s work was not over. God gave him instructions to anoint a new king in Aram, a neighbouring country, a new king in Israel who would rid the land of Baal-worship, and a new prophet, Elisha, who would be Elijah’s successor.

The third incident happened after Jesus had fed more than 5000 people in the miraculous multiplication of five barley and two small fish. After Jesus had dismissed the crowd, He stayed behind to pray while His disciples returned to Bethsaida by boat.

“47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn, he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately, he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Mark 6:47-50 NIV

Why would Mark record that Jesus was about to “pass by” them unless it had more than a literal meaning? Did the disciples’ terrified interruption prevent Him from revealing something about Himself that would have calmed them in their crisis? Both Moses and Elijah received revelation that solved their problems. The disciples did not because they were bewildered, afraid and with hardened hearts.

“51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”

Mark 6:51-52 NIV

Jesus also “passed by” Bartimaeus and he could see again.

35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” … 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Luke 18:35-37, 40-43 NIV

There is great significance in these stories. Every time we are in need or in a crisis, Jesus is “passing by”, in other words, He is there and He wants to reveal something about Himself, some aspect of His glory that will build our memory bank of His faithfulness (His “back parts”) that we will draw on in the future when we run into similar situations that have tested our faith.

What we receive from Him will depend on, again, our perspective of God and His working in us.

Moses was expecting a revelation of God’s glory and he got it and acted in it.

Elijah has pms, poor me syndrome! He did what God told him to do but he wasn’t excited about it.

The disciples were so terrified that they got nothing out of their experience, either from the miracle of feeding the five thousand or Jesus walking on the water to come to them in their need. How often Jesus is “passing by” in our times of crisis but we fail to recognise Him or to learn the lesson of His presence and His faithfulness because we are blinded by our circumstances, not encouraged by our faith.

And as for Bartimaeus, he received what he wanted because he refused to allow Jesus to “pass by” without hearing and listening to his cry for help.

I HAVE LOVED YOU….

Christian Life, ,

I HAVE LOVED YOU….

Without the awareness of the greatness of God’s love for us, living in His kingdom would be just another set of rules to obey. This love of God binds our hearts to Him in a powerful union of trust, submission and obedience which are the hallmarks of a true son.

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”

John 15:9 NLT

“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.”

Jude 1:20-21 NLT

Can you see how important it is that we understand that all we experience as believers in Jesus must be filtered through this love of God? His love underpins everything that has happened and will happen to us because He is “passing by”, to reveal Himself to us, in each situation, according to our need.

To put our trust in and root our lives in God’s love means that NOTHING can get between His love and us. Paul assures us, based on everything God did for us through Jesus…

“I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

God’s love for us didn’t begin when we came to faith in Jesus. God loved us before He made the world.

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”

Ephesians 1:4 NLT

God was watching and intimately supervising the formation of the unborn child and setting out the days of its life before it came into the world.

“You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Psalms 139:15-16 NLT

He loved us even when we were living in sin in our unregenerate days.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Romans 5:8 NLT

The Old Covenant was an interim covenant given to Israel to teach them that God is holy and that sin separates sinners from a holy God and is punishable by consequences. To apply the consequences of sin, which Jesus atoned for by His death, to believers in Jesus in the New Covenant is to cancel what Jesus did on the cross.

So, believers cannot be rooted in God’s love and be subject to generational curses at the same time.

I found another contradiction in the context of deliverance in general. Isaiah prophesied that Messiah would set His people free…

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the broken-hearted and to proclaim that captives will be released, and prisoners will be freed.”

Isaiah 61:1 NLT

Jesus confirmed that He was the Anointed One…

“The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Luke 4:17-21 NLT

… and that it was His role to set captives free.

Free from what?

Free from sin and all its effects.

Jesus is passionate about setting His people free from everything that opposes, contradicts, or attempts to replace God’s grace and that has any control over them other than the Holy Spirit. God gives His grace freely to those who realise they are nothing and depend on Him for everything that enables them to live free… from sin, and from self – effort.

Jesus sets us free when we realise that real freedom us living in the absolute confidence of God’s love for us, revealed and confirmed in the death of Jesus.

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”

Romans 8:31-32 NLT

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3