The Best of Both Worlds

Psalm 4:8

It's funny how the most unlikely things get the wheels turning in my little head. I was listening to a local classic rock station, and some song lyrics reminded me of how wonderful our Jesus is and how wonderous His love (Jude 1:24).

When we leave this world and enter into the next, we are promised absolute peace and safety. While we are still in this world though, we are promised something different (John 16:33).

Christ Jesus left us with ways to experience peace and joy in the midst of our troubles (Philippians 4:4-7). He gave us His peace (John 14:27).

I am looking forward to the day that there are no more days. Just us and our Father and King in eternity, as we were meant to be (Revelation 21:1-6).

Thank You, Father, for the tribulation that drives us closer to You. Thank You for leaving us with a peace that cannot be understood and a joy that cannot be extinguished and for the hope that is in Christ Jesus.

God is AWESOME!

Three in One

Deuteronomy 6:4

My wife and I had a conversation about the trinity the other night that lead to some very good questions. Questions like what is the trinity? and is there one God in three Persons or are there three separate entities who are as one?

I believe in the Triune God (one God in three Persons). God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not, as some (I believe) false teachers assert, three separate entities.

Jesus was born from a virgin, just as the prophet Isaiah said (Isaiah 7:14). Isaiah said that He would be called Immanuel, which means God with us (Matthew 1:23). So, Jesus is God wrapped in flesh (John 1:1 and John 1:14). It had to be God who came, because there was no other sacrifice pure enough to cover all of the sins of all the world (Exodus 12:5). He had to do it Himself, just like when God swore an oath, He would swear by His own name, because there is no higher name by which to swear (Isaiah 45:23 and Jeremiah 22:5).

So we see that the Father and the Son are one and the same (John 10:27-30 and John 14:6-9).

What about the Holy Spirit? Many people think the Holy Spirit is solely a New Testament person. That He didn't arrive on the scene until the day of Pentecost. Not true. The Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, has been around as long as God, because He is God. He is spoken of many times throughout the whole bible. In Exodus, Bezalel was filled with God's Spirit (Exodus 31:2-3). King David was filled with the Spirit of God from the day he was anointed king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13). And John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was even born (Luke 1:13-15).

We worship one God in three persons, otherwise, we would be idolaters (Exodus 20:2-3).

Difficult to understand? Yes indeed! Our God is eternal, He has depths that are unsearchable by fallen, finite minds like ours (Isaiah 55:8-11). But that is the wonderful thing about how God operates. The more we obey, the more we search, the more we meditate on His word and pray, the more of Himself He will reveal to us, the stronger He will make our understanding of who He is.

God is AWESOME!

The Voice

Luke 1:5-7

It's Christmas time...time to reflect on why we celebrate Christmas. As with many believers, my reflections brought me to the bible and the accounts of the the birth of Jesus. I was reading from Luke's gospel.

Some things in Luke's account got my attention. I've read it before, but this time, as the Holy Spirit does, I was drawn to the story of John the Baptist's parents.

John's dad, Zacharias, was a priest (Luke 1:5 and 1 Chronicles 24). While Zacharias was performing his duties, he walked in where the alter of incense was, there was someone standing there. Some translations of the bible say that Zacharias was gripped with fear (Luke 1:12 NASB).

I used my imagination here. I tried to set the scene as best I could. Here was a priest, a righteous, unassuming man. It's his day to perform the priestly duties as prescribed by Aaron. He walks into the part of the temple where the alter is. Nobody is supposed to be there except the priest. Now, I don't know how well lit the temple was back then. In my imagination, things were kind of dim. Zacharias walks in, and here's this very large figure. Someone standing where no one is supposed to be. Were it me, I would be thinking this can't be good. I don't blame Zacharias for being afraid.

It's an angel. Not just any angel. God sent Gabriel (Luke 1:19).

Gabriel told Zacharias that he was going to have a son, and that he was to be named John. He told him who John would grow up to be.

Zacharias and his wife were older and had no children (Luke 1:7). It struck me that they had this in common with Abraham and Sarah, who asked a similar question (Genesis 17:17).

Gabriel said that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in the womb (Luke 1:15). Wow!

Fast forward to after Joseph and Mary get the news about Jesus, and Mary goes to stay with her cousin Elizabeth. When Mary greets Elizabeth, John leaps in the womb (Luke 1:41)!

This to me was an amazing part of the Christmas story that we often leave out. The part about The Voice(Isaiah 40:3)

God is AWESOME!

Tis The Season

Psalm 73

It's the Christmas season again. Seems to come faster every year.

It's usually this time of year that unbelievers seem to go out of their way more than usual to offend Christians.

It has been a source of frustration for me that would at times drive me to anger. Until recently, that is.

I've been pondering a Psalm by Asaph. He wrote Psalm 73. Asaph said something in Psalm 73 that caught my imagination. Maybe the Holy Spirit has been teaching me something about the Christmas spirit.

Asaph had been talking about the wicked and how they always seem to prosper without any consequences for their actions. In Psalm 73:16-17, God taught him a profound lesson.

The more I pondered what Asaph wrote, the less offended I felt at the unbelievers and the more sorry I felt for them. Unless they turn to Christ Jesus, they will move toward a fate that I wouldn't wish on anyone (Job 27:8).

Those who refuse to believe and openly curse God and His Christ have horrible things waiting for them (Jeremiah 23:12). Christ Jesus holds out hope to them and we are the ones who are supposed to be pointing the way to His outstretched hand.

Some will angrily slap His hand away. They will refuse to turn to Him. I feel afraid for them (1 Thessalonians 5:3 and 2 Thessalonians 1:9).

God showed Asaph their end, and it made him shutter when he understood (Psalm 73:21-22).

Thank You, Father, for teaching that I should love my enemies and bless those who curse me. Thank You for showing me why.

God is AWESOME!

With This Ring...

Ephesians 5:22-33

I wear a wedding ring because I am married. The ring does not simply signify that I have a wife. My ring represents my wife. In wearing my ring, I am declaring that I am only one half of a greater whole. It is a celebration of my wife and my love for her.

Ephesians chapter 5 has some controversial ideas for our current culture. It is often taken out of context. The teaching about wives submitting to their husbands is often misrepresented and misused, which is a big no-no (Exodus 20:7). In the context of Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul is teaching about how God's people should conduct themselves. The title of his lesson could be in Ephesians 5:1 and the summation of the lesson can be found in Ephesians 5:32.

In His genius, God instituted marriage. As the Apostle Paul points out in Ephesians 5:32, it refers to Christ and the church. The act of submitting cannot be viewed as weakness. Humility before God and in obedience to God is, in the eyes of Christ Jesus, strength (Mark 9:35). The wives are not the only ones being called upon to submit. We are all to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:17-21).

So, in my rambling, I'm trying to make the point that marriage is a representation of our relationship with our God. A relationship that should be treated with the utmost respect and humility toward one another. A relationship that should be taken seriously, that should be approached with reverence and a thankful heart. A relationship that should be celebrated with a joyful heart.

When I look at my wedding ring, I see everything that is good in my life. I see my wife and I smile.

God is AWESOME!

Alternative Lifestyle

John15:5 and Colossians 3:2-3

My pastor said something a few years ago that has stuck with me. We were studying the teaching of the Vine in John 15. Jesus used the term abide in Me repeatedly. My pastor said that abiding in Christ could be viewed as a lifestyle.

I was thinking about abiding in Christ as a lifestyle today. Then a thought occurred to me. There are those in the world who call the way they live their lives alternative lifestyles. But really, they are living as fallen creatures in a fallen world. That is nothing new or alternative. They are simply people who are groping in the darkness (Isaiah 59:10) who have rejected the Light of Truth.

We as the Church, the called out ones (1st Peter 2:9), have been set apart. According to Titus 2, we are the ones in this world living alternative lifestyles.

We live a lifestyle that seems completely foreign and strange to unbelievers. A lifestyle of abiding in Christ is an alternative lifestyle in a fallen world.

God is AWESOME!

A Reason For Everything

My wife and I watched the last Presidential debate. When it ended, Governor Romney's family came out on stage. We both commented on how much the Governor's sons looked like him. My wife said, "There is no question about who their daddy is."

A thought occurred to me that kind of gave me chills (the good kind). God designed in our DNA the family resemblance for a reason. Children look like their parents for a reason.

God is our Father. The family resemblance is there to remind us that there should be no mistake about to whom we belong. We should look just like our Father.

God is AWESOME!