Tag Archives: Jesus

Wise Investment

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Gold Bar and Investment Jewelry

Gold Bar and Investment Jewelry (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Wise Investments

We know from experience that we must be careful in how we invest our money. There are people who are unwise in such things and will gladly spend our money for their foolish endeavors and come back again and again asking for more.

We know when it comes to our time and energy that here we have an even more precious investment. Whereas money can be replaced, a lost hour, a moment of opportunity, those years spent in a trivial pursuit; these things cannot be regained. Time, once squandered, is simply gone.

So then, when it comes to the time we spend with people we must also be wise. Unfortunately, there are some who have no desire to truly grow in Christ. Many who attend church, seek office or position in the church, or call on the phone with a need consume vast amounts of precious time and resources, but in fact have no intention of seeking to grown in Christ.

Herein we must seek discernment that we invest our time wisely with those who are really seeking Him. God knows whose heart is a fertile field, whose is a rocky field, and whose is a hard beaten path. God alone knows whose life is so full of weeds that nothing of His can grow. With so little of ourselves to invest in others let us be wise and discerning in the use of our time. At first glance this seems a harsh position. Shouldn’t we in the ministry be seeking to help everyone all the time?

The life of Christ is a good example of how to spend time wisely. If you look at the New Testament, you will find that the vast majority of Jesus’ time was spent with the twelve disciples. Yes, he also taught the masses and attempted to teach the Pharisees as well, but most of his three year ministry was spent teaching and developing those whom He had called. These men were where He invested His time. He did not waste time on those who did not hear His voice nor answer His call. This self same strategy would serve us well today. Our focus should be on the building and empowering or true disciples instead of watering down a message designed to appeal to the masses. Christ was uncompromising in his message which is exactly what lead to his crucifixion. This is clearly a difficult stance to take today, but it is, I believe, the correct one. We should be seeking to please Him not men. We should spend our time as He did. We should develop disciples as He did. After all, His ways are perfection! Why do we think we know better?

Truth

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bibles

bibles (Photo credit: fancycwabs)

Truth

“The Bible is not inerrant, but the eternal truths contained within it are”. If you are a student in either of my Bible study classes you have heard me say this before. What do I mean by this? There seems to be a lot of bickering among Christians and non-Christians alike about the Bible and whether or not we are to take it literally. We have a tendency to get hung up on wording. We labor over minute points. What I know for certain about the truth in scripture is this. The Bible, first and foremost, is the love story of an almighty and eternal God for His people. It begins when that dream is but a spark in His eye, a hope yet to be born. As the pages unfold, we find a story of astonishing depth and breadth- of incredible majestic heights and plunging depths of betrayal. Had these sacred truths never been recorded by his people in this endearing and enduring form it would be nonetheless The Truth in all it’s resplendent beauty.

However, it is this Truth contained within the pages which make the Bible a sacred text, not the way in which the story is particularly worded or told. Any time we as human readers of it attempt to change this revealed truth into browbeating legalism, we are guilty of destroying the sacred Truth in Love that the text is meant to reveal. Indeed, it is not the words on the pages themselves as they are written or expressed that are sacred, but rather the heart of God as revealed to the reader which comprises the holy and sacred. Just as Christ said of the Sabbath- man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. So the message of the Bible was not designed to make His children a slave to legalism and restricted interpretations of other men, but rather to free them in truth and love to live a life redeemed by His grace. May each of us remember as we search and study scripture that it is not the text itself that we should revere, but rather the heart, mind, and soul of Love who created The Word Eternal who is worthy of all our praise. Amen.

Mary’s Womb

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Mother

Mother (Photo credit: racineur)

Oh, how I praise the Lord, How I rejoice in God my Savior!” (Luke 1:46-47)

Mary’s Womb

There was nothing in her circumstances that should have lead Mary to feel this way. She was soon to be pregnant out of wedlock. What would the man she loved and had given her heart to think? As that little round bulge became more obvious how would the women of the village react? How would her life in this village be changed by the gossip, slander and innuendo?

Yet there is nothing of these worries in Mary’s words! “Now generation after generation will call me blessed” she bravely proclaimed. I suspect that the generation who heard these words did not think her blessed. I imagine that, outside of Elizabeth and Joseph, they thought her an idle dreamer at best, or at worst, delusional. There was so much room for Mary and Joseph to fail. But they did not. This is, perhaps, why God chose them.

It is not the wealthy or powerful whom God needs. He does not need either of these things we humans value. He made the entire universe! He knows each star by name and His power is that which holds the sub atomic structure of the universe in place so that there is order instead of chaos. But God did need something which he found in Mary and Joseph. He needed people who could imagine the world through His eyes. He needed those who could understand that the things we see are not real, but rather temporary trappings of this world. In a moment they shall all be burned up and will be no more. But there is a new world and a new universe dawning. It is the Bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem. Its’ golden streets consist of those whose faith has been tried and tested in fire and purified. This new Eternal City consists of Mary, Joseph and their descendants.

This world has secularized Christmas because many no longer see Christ in it. We do not see Christ in it because the Church has become blind to Christ in some ways. The world does not need indignant Christians who stand upon their soapbox and lament that Christmas tinsel is on sale before Halloween. It needs holy, mature Christians whose faith will give birth to the Living Christ within them. We desperately need Christians who will kneel beside the cradle of their hearts having sacrificed their dreams just as Mary did. This is what will allow Emmanuel, God with us, to shine with such brilliance that the tinsel of Christmas will seem as the cheap imitation it is.

Oh Living God, may Gabriel not go away empty handed when he comes to bring good tidings of great joy to us. May he find in us an empty womb, emptied of pride and self, of hopes and dreams, so that our hearts may be shaped only, always, by His image. We pray that as He is finally born in the stable of our hearts, He will not be marred by the selfishness of our dreams, nor sullied by our insistence upon our own way. Oh God we pray that by Your great power and outstretched arm You might remove all within us that would taint the beauty, the holiness of His birth. For tonight is that night. We are each the expectant Mary. The angels of heaven, the servants of God sent to do His bidding await the fullness of Christ formed in each of us. Oh the unimaginable splendor of this moment of Divine Grace! May we never allow it to be cheapened by allowing that sacred space within us to be occupied by anything but His holy Presence. This we ask, with all the faith we can muster through the risen, resurrected and soon coming Triumphant King. Come Lord Jesus, our hearts await! Amen.

Cacoon

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Butterfly on flower

Butterfly on flower (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

Cocoon

Jesus once spoke of the narrow gate leading the difficult way to heaven and the broad road taken by so many which leads to hell. The history of God’s people and our own lives verifies that this so. But why is the destination of heaven so difficult to achieve? One way of examining this is can be found in nature.

Consider the chrysalis of the butterfly. It is the act of struggling to be free of the chrysalis that gives the new butterfly’s wings the strength required to fly. In the same way, we have the seed of saving faith in new birth. But birth is an arduous journey. It involves pain and struggle. Jesus, in speaking of the narrow way to his disciples was trying to warn them that they would not enter the Kingdom of Heaven without first paying a heavy cost. As the butterfly is born of the struggle to be free of the chrysalis, so is true discipleship born of struggle. The wings of true faith are strengthened by trials, testing and tribulation. A new butterfly’s wings carry the potential for flight. The struggle which ensues as it exits the chrysalis ensures that the wings are conditioned for actual flight.

As it is with the butterfly, so it is with us. As we set our feet upon the narrow path which Jesus spoke of, many obstacles will be encountered. Each is designed to strengthen faith and dependency upon God, thereby ensuring our ability to fly free of the old life and into the new one of unlimited joy and freedom. The gift of eternal life is one freely given to all by faith. Yet faith is something not easily achieved in the absence of significant pain and struggle. So when you face trials, rejoice and be glad! Your Father in Heaven is strengthening your wings for the long journey home.