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Lifeopoly, Part 1

Mar 12, 2021

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. – Philippians 4:19-20

Do you ever feel like the game of Lifeopoly is rigged, and you’re always a roll away from landing on another bad space?  As you survey the board, there are unexpected burdens, unreasonable people, unpleasant circumstances, uncertain details, unknown outcomes, unmet expectations, unrealized dreams, unkind words, and unmanageable schedules.  All of this can leave you feeling undone!  On some days and in some seasons, it’s like every roll of every turn plops you down on a hotel-laden property whose owner demands you pay up.  You look at your resources and find that you have a measly $12 and one of the utilities, forcing you to mortgage off your peace, hope and joy. Overdrawn.  Overextended. Overwhelmed.  There is no way this game is going to end well.  Unless… You follow these instructions:  Go to Jesus.  Go directly to Jesus.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.   In other words, don’t try to play the game on your own with your own resources.   You.  Will.  Never.  Win.  The only way to handle all of the tough landing spaces in this broken, sin-stained world is to go to Jesus.  Go directly to Jesus.  There is unbelievable grace available for every unsettling thing you face.  Let us go to Him over and over to give Him our worries in time of need.  Let us go to Him over and over to give Him our worship in time of needs met.  How relieving and reassuring and renewing it is to talk to Him about our cares and trust Him to do something about them.   Whatever space you find yourself landing on today, go to Jesus for peace, joy, hope, guidance and provision.  He will give you gracious help in whatever way He knows is best.  Relying on Him is the only way to play the game of Lifeopoly.  You.  Will.  Never.  Lose.

Are You Confident? Jesus Offers Assurance.

Mar 11, 2021

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.  – 1 John 15:11-13

There are some things you need to understand about good news.  It’s only good news if it overcomes or obliterates bad news, if it applies to you personally, if it’s true and if you believe it.    When one of those things is missing, it’s not really good news for you at all.  The gospel checks those first three boxes; the fourth one is checked off when you put your faith in Jesus.  The question is:  how do you know if you really believe and are headed for eternal life in heaven when this life has ended?  The Bible makes it clear that you can know. It’s called assurance, and it’s one of the many things that Jesus offers to us.  You can know that you believe when you look back to see that your faith in Jesus has changed your life, and look around to see that your faith in Jesus is still changing your life.  That is, assurance comes when you see evidences of the power of God at work in shaping who you are and what you do.  It has caused to you hate your sin and fight against it, and love your Savior and fight for joy in Him.   You’ll not always do this, but an evidence that you belong to Jesus is you want to do this, and you strive to do this.  There is progress in your faith journey where your beliefs and motives and views and desires and attitudes and words and deeds become less like the world and more like Jesus.  Not because you are trying harder to be better, but because the love that God has for you in Jesus has gripped your heart and is making you into someone who desires to know, trust, obey, enjoy and please Him.  You’re not going to get this right all the time, so don’t let your assurance rise and fall on your fluctuating faith, desire and effort.   There will be ups and downs, steadfastness and stumbles, progress and detours, but true believers will persevere because God finishes what He starts in our lives.   That’s what genuine belief and assurance is all about: knowing that you’ll make it to heaven not because of what you are able to do, but because you are trusting in what Jesus graciously does on your behalf.

When Trials Come

Mar 9, 2021

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4

Three quick observations about trials…

  1. It’s not “if” but “when” trials come into our lives. It’s a certainty that we will face them.  It should not surprise us.  We know they are coming in various formats, durations, intensities and frequencies no matter how hard we try to insulate our lives from them. Hardships are a normal part of the Christian life in this broken world.  So, how are we to respond to their arrival and presence?
  2. Christians should count the various trials in our lives as joy. Not as defeat. Not as pleasant.  Not as punishment.  Not as meaningless.  Not as insignificant.  Not as a reason to complain.  Not as a lack of God’s care.   Trials can be many things, but they cannot be joy-stealers unless we let them. We are to consider it all joy when they come, and we do this by considering how God is at work for good in and through our hardships…
  3. Trials produce an unshakeable faith in Jesus. They are a means to an end.  God uses trials in our lives to grow, enrich, solidify, purify and mature our faith as we trust in, and rely on, the steadfast presence of Jesus to preserve us until the end.  In order for us to count our present hardships as joy, we must think about our future.  Our faith muscle becoming stronger.  Our deliverance becoming sooner.  Our witness becoming louder.  Our homecoming becoming sweeter.   Yes, you have hardships; but you also have hope.

Take heart! While it may feel like trials are breaking you today, you can be sure that God is building you up through them in ways that are going to be amazingly good in the days to come.

Expect God To Work, But Maybe Not That Way

Mar 8, 2021

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.   – Philippians 4:19-20

God will provide for you in time of need.  God will transform you into who you were made to be.  God will deliver you from evil.  God will use you to make a difference.  God will bring you incredible joy and peace.  God will forgive you for your sin.  God will work in you and for you and through you in countless ways. But He likely won’t do many of those things in the way you think He will. Instead, He will astonish you with a “didn’t see that coming” choice of the 81st way you might have thought He’d come through for you. Think about it… He delivered the Israelites from the Philistine giant through a shepherd boy. He tore down the walls of the fortified city Jericho with marching trumpeters. He allowed an innocent man to spend years in prison to provide during a famine. He strengthened the faith of the disciples by sending them into a terrifying storm. He restored the sight of a blind man by taking spit and rubbing it in his eyes. He converted Saul from a church persecutor into a church planter. And the single most wondrous unlikelihood of them all… He sent Jesus to be born in a lowly manger and crushed on the cross to save sinners like you and me. No one would have scripted these events.   No one except God. He does the unexpected.  He does the unexplainable.  He does the unparalleled.   Our God weaves a story so incredible that it takes faith to believe it could be true.  That’s what He does for you and me.   He takes care of us in ways that can only be Him at work.  Why?  So He gets the glory forever and ever, amen!  We get the help and God gets the honor.  What.  A.  Deal.  Today, expect God to work in your life for good.  Just don’t expect Him to do it like you think He will.

Are You Finished? Jesus Offers Endurance.

Mar 5, 2021

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:39-40

There are days when our faith falters, but Jesus does not abandon us.  There are days when we feel like giving up, but Jesus does not let us. There are days when we are too overwhelmed to carry on, but Jesus does not move on without us.   Jesus came from heaven to earth to make a way for sinners like you and me to go from earth to heaven.  And every step we take together is assured because of His willingness and faithfulness to do the Father’s will:  namely, to keep us until the end of this life and raise us up at the beginning of the next.  Ours will be a journey full of mountains and valleys, victories and failures, eases and hardships, prosperities and poverties.  Yet through it all, we will be empowered by His presence and encouraged by His promises as we rely on Him in faith to keep moving on to our eternal home. He will not lose us on the way.  He will not let us lose our way.  Through every sinful setback, every stagnant season and every stormy squall, Jesus remains faithful to get to heaven all those who believe in Him.  We will keep going.  We will endure.  We will make it. Not because of anything we can do apart from Jesus, but because Jesus is a part of us, enabling us by God’s grace to persevere to the end.  Until then, even when our days include struggles and our walk include stumbles, let us press on in joyful confidence that getting to our heavenly home does not depend upon us but on Jesus.  He will stay right with us.  He will do whatever it takes.  He will provide all that is needed.  He will take as long as required.  Yes, we work hard by His grace to follow Him closely in loving obedience, but He alone will ensure that we are able to do so.  Rejoice as you hold on until the end-before-the-beginning, knowing that Jesus is holding on to you.  On this our eternal security firmly rests:  We will remain faithful to Him because He remains faithful to us.

The End Of Your Story Is Written

Mar 4, 2021

…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith… – Hebrews 12:1c-2a

Our stories don’t always make sense to us.  They don’t unfold the way we would have written them if it was up to us. They are full of unpredictable plot twists that catch us by surprise.  They can be joyful one page and painful the next.  God simply doesn’t do things our way.  And that’s a good thing.  For His ways are always good, right, wise, and loving. Yet as unforeseeable as how God works in our lives often is to us, there is also something wonderfully reassuring in the knowledge that He is indeed always at work.  It’s like we’ve seen this all a thousand times before.  Our hero rushes in at just the right moment to save the day.  As unpredictable as it is, it is also anticipated.  God has proven Himself faithful over and over again. As with any good narrative, questions unfold as the story does.  How will God provide?  What kind of people will we become?  How will God work through us to help others? Where are we going in life? What good will come from this suffering? When will this trial end? Why is this so hard?  Do we win in the end? How will this serve God’s purpose? How will my story tell the greatest story ever told? Who’s the real hero?  Spoiler alert: That’s Jesus! We may not know how this chapter ends, and the next one begins, but we trust that God knows exactly what He is doing in every scene of our lives.  By faith, we travel the course marked out on its pages, knowing that the end of our story has been written, and it’s wonderful. We don’t know what comes next with each turn of the page, and it won’t always make sense to us, but it doesn’t have to.  Because our faith is in the One who does know the happily-ever-after ending to our story.  After all, He’s the One who wrote it.

It Would All Make Sense If We Knew All He Knows

Mar 1, 2021

For we walk by faith, not by sight.  – 2 Corinthians 5:7

First glances can be deceiving.  Initial observations can be short-sighted.  The opening paragraph doesn’t tell the whole story.  A focal point garnering attention will blur the background.  While it is easy to see the obvious things happening in, around and through our lives, without a careful look through a gospel lens, there is a lot that we can miss.  God is doing a thousand things for us today, and we may not have our spiritual eyes locked in on any of them. That’s why we walk by faith and not by sight: in order to trust that He is at work, even when we don’t know what it is that He is doing.  This brings joy and hope for the difficult times when it seems to us that God isn’t doing much at all.   So, let us… Look back on the day when we first believed.  Look around at the daily mercies poured out on us ever since. Look forward to all that is promised for all who await the return of Jesus.  Remembrance.  Thankfulness.  Confidence.   He has saved us, is saving us and will save us.  For those who are trusting in Jesus, God is always doing much more in us, for us, around us, and through us than we are aware of.  All we see is the show, but He is working behind the scenes.  All we see is the ship, but He is working beneath the surface.  He is precise.  He is punctual.  He is providential.  There is nothing that happens unless it serves His purposes.  We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows.  And when we can’t see it with our eyes, let us believe it in our hearts.  That’s what faith is for.

Are You Timid? Jesus Offers Courage.

Feb 26, 2021

 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.  – John 16:33

In this world, we will have tribulation.  It’s inevitable.  It’s imminent.  Trouble has either already made its way into your life, or it is on its way.  But.  Take.  Heart.  Jesus has overcome the world.  That means, though He doesn’t always remove the threats from our lives, He does render them powerless to do anything that would prevent us from joyfully enduring and prevailing in the end.  This is possible because Jesus has defeated the biggest threats of all:  sin, Satan and death.  This is possible as we trust in and depend on Him when we face the pain of this world’s brokenness and the persecution of this world’s system of hostility toward God and His people.  Because of Jesus we can have courage; the kind of courage that does not shrink back from saying and doing the right things no matter what people might think of us, what might happen to us and what it might cost us if we remain faithful to Jesus.  Our courage and encouragement are based on this truth:  Jesus has overcome all the tribulations and troubles and trials and tests and temptations of this world!  And He is in our corner.  His power is greater than our enemies, His sovereignty rules over our battles, His promises reside in our hearts, His forgiveness ensures our futures, His presence empowers our lives, and His grace provides for our needs.  Confident in this, we press on!  We press on, faithful in temptation and hopeful in tribulation, for we know that He will graciously keep us and empower us and provide for us and go with us and deliver us and save us because He has promised to do so.  Therefore… Be bold to speak the truth in His love.  Be courageous to face enemies with His love.  Be encouraged in tribulation by His love.  If you are a Christian, take heart today…  He has gotten you this far.  He has always provided for you.  He will do it again. Your tribulation will not last forever; but your joy in Jesus will.

The Battle-Axe Of Discouragement

Feb 24, 2021

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9

There are days when I feel like giving up on trying to make a difference because I wonder if I’m making any difference at all.   Maybe you can relate. These thoughts and feelings aren’t random, they are intentional.  They are the work of the enemy trying to bring us down so he can shut us down.  One of the weapons he wields most frequently is the battle-axe of discouragement.   Satan wants to convince us that our doing good isn’t actually doing much good.  He will skew the facts, point to the wrong metric, and mislabel our actions as failures.  But God doesn’t measure our success by social media likes, comments and shares.  God sees us quietly toiling behind the scenes loving Him by loving others and measures our success not by our fruitfulness or fanfare, but our faithfulness.   It should bring a smile to our faces knowing that what we do brings a smile to His face when we do it for the good of others and the glory of His Name.  When we struggle for the motivation to continue down the sometimes long and lonely road of serving, let us remember that we serve an audience of one.  The enemy wants to discourage us, but be of good cheer … Jesus has wrested the battle axe from his hands and has given us the Armor of God to press on in doing good.  It is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us! By His sustaining grace, His empowering resolve, His enabling strength, His guiding leadership, and His motivating cheer, let us continue to fight the good fight of faith. Nothing we do for His kingdom will ever be in vain.  Therefore… Let us not lose heart or lose hope.  Let us not slow down or shut down.  Let us not give up or give in.  Let us listen for the applause of heaven.  Now we hear from a distance, but someday in His presence.

We Are All Believers

Feb 22, 2021

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.  – 2 Corinthians 1:19-20a

There is something you and I need to understand about ourselves.   No matter how little or much we are aware of it, how little or much attention we give to it, how little or much we acknowledge it, its steady and sturdy influence upon our lives is unmistakably clear:  We are believers.  And all of life’s desires, decisions, and deeds flow from one of two basic beliefs:  we believe that we need God, or we believe that we do not need Him.  There is also something you and I need to understand about our God:  He can be believed.  This should give sound to what we say, sight to what we see, rationale to what we think, and reason to what we do.  God always keeps His promises, and His promises for His children are always good. The way to overcome every sin and struggle of the heart is to believe His promises.  Why believe God’s promises? Because God’s promises are kept, lasting, joy-producing, full, better, precious, true, timeless, situation-proof, purchased already, all-encompassing, impossible-to-fail, unbreakable, edifying, powerful, freeing, loving, gracious and are all “yes” for us in Jesus. There is such joyful victory, sweet freedom, complete rest and incredible strength when we believe the promises of God in the moments they are needed.   Listen:  You will believe something today.  When that temptation is offered, that relationship blows up, that meeting goes wrong, that diagnosis is grim, that pleasure is available, that problem shows up, that plan falls through, that sin is appealing, and that thing happens … you will believe something to be true.  Instead of believing sin’s promises that you have been abandoned by God, and you should accept a substitute for God, believe the promises of God.  Place your full weight on God’s Word, for this is the only solid ground in a world full of cleverly-disguised sinking sand.  If He says it, you can believe it.  And if you can believe it, you can experience its life-giving assurances.

Are You Ambitious? Jesus Offers Riches.

Feb 18, 2021

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.   – Ephesians 2:4-7

When I was a toddler, I could not have imagined what a rich life I had ahead of me.  I don’t mean rich in money or material possessions; I mean rich in experiences of delight, beauty, pleasure, satisfaction, happiness and wonder.  In time, I discovered the delight of playing with a puppy, the beauty of a mountaintop view, the pleasure of sex with my wife, the satisfaction of writing a well-crafted sentence, the happiness of welcoming my son into the world, and the wonder of gazing into a darkened sky dotted with stars.  These and tens of thousands of other similar, but wonderfully different discoveries only further enriched my life.  But, as good as they have been, these are measurable riches.  They are fixed and finite.  They will end for me when my time on this earth ends.  But that end is just the beginning.  Because of God’s mercy, grace and love toward me in Jesus, I have riches of His kindness awaiting me.   These riches are immeasurable.  These riches are eternal.  There is a glorious eternity looming ahead of me and all who trust in Jesus in which bad things will be eliminated, good things will be perfected and the best things will be unveiled.  What God gives to us because of, through and in Jesus is unimaginably delightful, beautiful, pleasurable, satisfying, joyful and wonderful.  We have an eternity with Him that… Never gets stale.  Never gets boring.  Never gets routine.  Never gets unappealing.  Never gets finished.  There will always be more to discover and enjoy from the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.  Don’t live for this day; live for that day.  Don’t be discouraged by this day; be encouraged by that day.  Take hope in this every day:  for those who are trusting in Jesus, the best is always yet to come.

Are You Threatened? Jesus Offers Security.

Feb 17, 2021

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  – Romans 8:35-39

People go to great lengths to safeguard their money, their jobs, their computers, their phones, their homes, their health, their families, their minds and their lives against internal and external dangers that threaten their well-being. They look for security in a variety of places ranging from the number in their bank account balance to the number on their keypad of their home alarm system to the number of years of seniority at their workplace.  All of the security measures that people take have one thing in common:  they can fail at any time, which means they don’t really offer security at all.  Real security is having something which guarantees a good future for you that can never be lost by you or taken from you.  That’s the kind of security we have in the love that Jesus has for us, even if we experience terrible things in this world because we are headed for another world.   Out of His love for us… He laid down His life for us on the cross so we can be forgiven and freed from the only thing that can truly threaten us, our sin.  He rose from the dead to defeat the final enemy that we could never safeguard against, our mortality.  He sits in the position of power and authority to rule for good the one thing that we struggle to control, our lives.  He prepares for us a place and an inheritance to be enjoyed forever by ensuring the one thing that we cannot, our eternity.  He promises to provide all that we need for all that we face until He brings us safely to the one thing we long for most, our home with Him.  He atones.  He rules.  He prepares.  He sustains.  He delivers.  And there is nothing that can stop Him from loving us like that.   That.  Is.  Security.   Because Jesus loves you… He gave His life for you in the past, He’s walking with you in the present, and He’s coming back for you in the future.  Christian, take heart today, for though your life is not without threats and troubles, your life is safe and secure in the love of Jesus.

Are You Vulnerable? Jesus Offers Care.

Feb 11, 2021

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”  – John 10:10-11, 27-28a

The enemy of your soul doesn’t care about you.  His only interest in you is as a victim.  He wants to “steal and kill and destroy,” and the primary way he attempts to do this is by leading you astray.   This is how he does it:  by making sin look attractive and obedience seem restrictive.  Deception, doubt, desire, disobedience and death … that’s his 5-step plan for us all.   He wants you and me to believe that sin isn’t sin, that sin is worth it, that sin is better for us, that sin isn’t that serious and that sin won’t cost too much.  The enemy doesn’t care about you; but Jesus does.  One of the ways that Jesus shows He cares about us and gives His care to us is by establishing boundaries for us from God’s Word. So many people see His commandments as “restrictive rules” that are keeping the good stuff out of our lives instead of seeing them as “gracious guardrails” that are keeping our lives out of the gutter.  He is our Good Shepherd Who protects us, provides for us, empowers us, refreshes us, delights us, guides us and delivers us safely to our eternal home in heaven.  How?  We hear His voice (the words of the Bible, the message of the gospel, the commands of the law, the plans of the Father, the counsel of the Holy Spirit) calling us into His care, and do as He says.  He leads.  We follow.  That’s it.   He takes care of us by taking care of all the rest.  And if we are His sheep, we can be assured that when we do go astray, He will come after us with fierce love and unstoppable power to bring us back.  He convicts us of our sin, corrects us in grace, and calls us back to abundant life in Him. Today, you will hear the convincing lies of the enemy inviting you to go astray and you will hear the sweet voice of Jesus calling you to follow Him in faith.  Who will you believe knows best, offers what is best and is after your best?  The one who wants only to steal and kill and destroy?  Or the One who loves you enough to lay down His life for you?

Are You Needy? Jesus Offers Provision.

Feb 10, 2021

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:19

We will often find ourselves in places where we and our resources are inadequate, but never in any place where our need is bigger than God’s ability or reserve, for His supply is in the inexhaustible riches of His glory in Jesus.   Neither His love for us, nor His provision for us will ever run out, which means everything we really need will really be supplied in and through and by Jesus.  Not maybe.  Not probably.  Definitely.  He will provide for every need.   Not some of them.  Not most of them.  All of them, without exception.  Right when we need it, not a second too late. If we don’t have it now, it’s because we don’t need it now.  Listen: God doesn’t define “need” the way you and I do.  What He promises to supply is anything and everything that is required for us to live with joy and fruitfulness as we fulfil the plans and purposes He has for us.  Only He knows what we really need, and we can be sure that we will lack nothing that He determines would be for our good, even if that means seasons of suffering and hardship.  His grace is sufficient!  Though God will often supply our need differently than we expect, we have the promise of the sustaining presence of Jesus with us always to deliver that aid and deliver us safely to our heavenly home. Therefore, we have no reason for fear, worry, panic, discontentment, unhappiness, or whining.  God means for us not to worry about our future because we have the promise of His provision for us in Jesus.  Take heart today, take your cares to Him in prayer, and take a look around for God at work.  You need help.  You will have the help you need.  Because He is faithful, and He is for you.

Are You Weak? Jesus Offers Power.

Feb 2, 2021

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Suffering is either soon to be knocking at your door, or it has already knocked down your door and has invaded your life.   It is inevitable; you will suffer in this world.  And when you do, you will likely feel powerless to do anything about it.  The mountain will seem too high.  The situation will seem too overwhelming.  The outlook will seem too bleak.  The task will seem too great.   In times of weakness like these, we need to remember this:  if we trust in our own power, our problems will always seem big.  If we trust in the power of Jesus, our problems will always seem small.   It would be plausible to lose hope and lose heart when facing things that are too much for us to handle if we were forced to handle them alone.  But Jesus has said He will never leave us alone, always supplying the grace we need for the needs we face.  He does not promise us a plan to escape our hardships; He promises a power to endure them.   A life of power is one that is stripped of self-reliance and replaced with Savior-reliance.  A life of power is one in which we acknowledge our need for His help, ask for His help, anticipate His help, accept His help in whatever way He chooses to send it, and act by His help.  A life of power is one in which we boast in our weaknesses, gladly enduring them (instead of grumbling about them) because it makes Jesus look good in our lives as His divine strength works in us, for us and through us.  With His power, no suffering or struggle or setback or situation can ever overwhelm us as we trust in in the sufficiency of His grace.  Therefore, let us abandon trust in ourselves and instead trust in our Savior to empower our next steps into the unexpected, uncertain and unpleasant difficulties of this broken world.  Because … With faith all things are not made easy.  With faith all things are made possible.

Are You Doubtful? Jesus Offers Hope.

Feb 1, 2021

Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. – Ephesians 1:18

You don’t have to cross your fingers.  You don’t have to be cautiously optimistic.  You don’t have to wonder in uncertainty.  You don’t have to have a glass half full disposition.  You don’t have to fear the worst.  You can have a real hope in this broken world with broken people even when life doesn’t work out the way you thought it would because you are certain it will work out for good.  That’s what real hope is:  a confident expectation of something good in your future.  And it comes from Jesus alone when you trust in Him.  This hope is based on the character, authority and power of Jesus to deliver all that He has promised to His followers in this life and, more importantly, in the life to come.  When He says He will be with us in time of need, give to us all that we need, and come for us to put an end to our needs, we can be assured that He is able and faithful to do as He says today, tomorrow and forever.  To the degree we are sure in this, we will be filled up with peace and assurance when we’re running low, renewed and refreshed with a spiritual energy when we’re running out, helped through difficulty and disappointment when we’re running down, and kept steadfast and confident when we feel like running away.   This is our hope in Jesus:  the best is yet to come.  Let us believe it, expect it, anticipate it and await it to come true because Jesus said it’s true.  Let us watch for the daily doses of His grace to appear when we need them.  And let us regard the eternal pleasure of heaven with Him as something wonderful on the calendar that is certain to come at the appointed time.  Because it is.  Because it will.

Are You Stuck? Jesus Offers Change.

Jan 29, 2021

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Every human being knows what it feels like to be stuck.  Stuck in repeated mistakes.  Stuck in character flaws.  Stuck in unfulfilling rhythms.  Stuck in bad habits.  Stuck in inner unrest.  Stuck in habitual sin.   That last one is the real problem:  Sin has made it impossible for us to be who God created us to be.  That’s why we get stuck.  And turning to external moral codes of conduct, white-knuckle behavior modification, religious checklists and self-help practices is never going to lead to the kind of real and lasting changes in us that we long for.  But God in the richness of His mercy and grace sent Jesus to get us un-stuck and offer real transformation for those who put their trust in Him as we become more like Him.  The biblical concept of “believe” means that very thing:  it is to be transformed by the reality of someone or something.  When how we think and feel about Jesus changes, so do we.  We don’t cause this transformation ourselves; God does.  He initiates it.  He motivates it.  He cultivates it.  He consummates it.   This is the reality of becoming new in Christ:  a change in our standing with God, a change in what makes us happy, a change in what controls our lives, and a change in what our eternity will be like.  What then must we do? We must fill our minds with the promises, truths, commands, reminders and good news of the Bible and let them be the loudest voice in our lives. Change will take place when we believe more fully in more areas of our lives the things that are found there.  Take heart today, you can change.  If you are trusting in Jesus, God will never give up on changing you from who you used to be into who you were made to be.

Are You Troubled? Jesus Offers Peace.

Jan 20, 2021

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.  – John 14:27

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No matter how tough we are, how removed we are, how indifferent we are, or how protected we are, there are real threats to our peace of heart and peace of mind.  In this world, we will have troubles.  But Jesus entered into our world of troubles so we could have our peace restored, both now and forever.  That’s what He offers us … peace with God made possible because He died in our place, and the peace of God made possible because we believe in Him.  In fact, to the degree that we trust that He rules and reigns over our lives for good, we will experience a depth of heavenly peace that comes when there is no earthly reason for it.  Trust in the heart unseats and undoes trouble in the heart no matter what is happening in our lives, for Christian peace does not come instead of problems, but in spite of them. That doesn’t mean that we should be unconcerned or naïve about the realities of the brokenness around us, but rather we should face them with absolute confidence in the presence, promises and provision of Jesus.  He has overcome the world, is with us as we live in the world, provides all that we need in this world, and promises to come back to deliver us from this world!  So, today when you get that call, diagnosis, news, task, opposition, stress, roadblock or thing that troubles you, remember Who Jesus is to you and what Jesus promises to you. If you trust that He’s powerful enough, loving enough and wise enough to handle sin, death and Satan to give you eternal life, then trust that He can also help you through all the issues you face in everyday life until He gets you home.  As you do, nothing will be able to take His peace away from you.

From Heaven To Earth, From Earth To Heaven

Dec 18, 2020

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:39-40

From heaven to earth.  From Bethlehem to Calvary.  From a manger to a cross.  From God to man.  Christmas begins an epic story of just how far Jesus would travel, and just how hard His journey would be, to bring us back into a loving relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Jesus came from heaven to earth to make a way for sinners like you and me to go from earth to heaven.  His story births our stories where every step we take together is assured because of His willingness and faithfulness to do the Father’s will:  namely, to keep us until the end of this life and raise us up at the beginning of the next.  Ours will be a journey full of mountains and valleys, victories and failures, eases and hardships, prosperities and poverties.  Yet through it all, we will be empowered by His presence and encouraged by His promises as we rely on Him in faith.  Christmas reminds us Who Jesus is, why He came, and where He is taking us.  Destination:  Heaven.   He will not lose us on the way.  He will not let us lose our way.  He promises acceptance and perseverance to anyone who truly believes.  Believers are followers, and as we follow Jesus wherever He leads to do whatever He wills, let us remember that He didn’t bring us this far to bring us this far.  Step by step on the way to our eternal home, let us hold on to the hope of this promise:  Jesus is holding on to us until we get there.

He Knows What You’re Going Through

Dec 15, 2020

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

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When Jesus took on flesh to dwell among us, He didn’t come with an entourage of personal attendants to ensure His well-being.  He didn’t book a suite at the first century equivalent of a Four Seasons for His stay.  He didn’t plan out an itinerary that was filled with pleasantries and luxuries.  He didn’t insulate Himself from the ugliness, brokenness and sinfulness of this world.  What He did was join us to suffer like us only a thousand times worse than us.  Jesus knows the trials, troubles, tests and temptations that we face in our daily lives because He faced them down too.  Life for Jesus on earth was filled with the same things we go through:  difficult people, difficult circumstances, difficult tasks, and difficult experiences. And the greatest difficulty always loomed in front of Him:  to be crushed on the cross to atone for our sins and secure our trial-free, trouble-free, test-free, temptation-free eternity with God.  He suffered.  He endured.  He conquered.  And now He is with you to ensure that you do the same.   Jesus knows all about your hurts; and one of the reasons He came was to help you through them and heal you from them.  Take heart today and trust in the One who loves, understands, cares and helps you live with God-glorifying, joy-experiencing, hope-filled endurance no matter what you come up against. He doesn’t just know what you are going through. He didn’t just go through it too. He went through it for you.