Christian messages paired with photographs of God's great creation
Mark 16:6 He Is Risen!
“’Don’t be alarmed,’” he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.’ (NIV)
It was true yesterday. It is true today, and it will be true forever! Praise be to God!
HALLELUJAH!
The Old Rugged Cross
THANK YOU, JESUS!
Psalm 150 Praise the Lord!
“Hallelujah!
Praise God in His holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies;
Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness;
Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings;
Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute;
Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin.
Let every living, breathing creature praise God!
Hallelujah!” (MSG)
The Psalmist certainly got it right. Praise the Lord—everywhere in every way! “Praise the Lord” are words found frequently in the Psalms. Often David ends up praising the Lord after the beginning of the Psalm is full of complaints. Maybe that’s why God said that David was a man after His heart. He always came back to trusting and praising God.
“Praise the Lord” is appropriate any time, but especially during this time of year when we commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus! It is to His glory and our salvation that we can say, “Thank you, Jesus” and “Praise the Lord.” Because of Jesus, we are assured of an eternity with Him. I’ll say it again, PRAISE THE LORD!
2 Corinthians 5:17 New Life–New Beginnings
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (NKJV).
Each spring the very ground seems to celebrate new life. Flowers grow and display their vivid colors; trees bud with new leaves, and some trees even bud with flowers that will develop into fruit later in the year. There seems to be a spring in the step of most of us as the weather warms and the hours of sunlight lengthen. And for me, baseball and stock car racing begin new seasons. There is much to be joyful about in the season of spring. Schools even take holidays to celebrate it. (It used to be called Easter vacation, but now it has been renamed “Spring Break.”)
All are good reasons to celebrate the return of spring, but of course the greatest, most significant reason to celebrate this time of the year is because of the ultimate sacrifice given by God the Father. He sacrificed His Only Begotten Son that each of us could have new life—a brand new life with all of our sins forgiven and a home reserved for us in heaven for eternity. In sports, most youngsters will ask for a “do-over” if it wasn’t done right the first time. Sometimes it is offered by the other players, but this ultimate “do-over” is always offered by God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the verse above states, “…he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” There it is: old life gone and forgotten—new life straight ahead. So, this year have the most significant celebration ever. Celebrate new life in Jesus Christ. Watch to see fruit appear in your life as you grow and mature in the Christian life. If you’ve already done that, congratulations. Now go invite someone else to do the same.
Luke, Chapter 6 Gems
Last week I mentioned how much I had gleaned from reading the sixth chapter of Luke. I wrote several posts using specific verses, and now this posting consists of a summary of the other gems I learned from the words of Jesus. I did the reading in the Message translation. I’ll let you find the particular verse for each gem.
“Love your enemies.” That brings out the best in you.
Do unto others as you want them to do to you, but do it first.
Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never regret it.
Don’t pick on people unless you want the same treatment.
Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.
Don’t use an “I know-better-than-you” mentality, a “holier-than-thou” attitude.
“My words are foundation words, words to build a life on.”
Don’t use my words in Bible studies—use them in your life.
If you are going to take advice from anyone, I suggest that you take the advice of Jesus.
Luke 6:43-45 Who Are You?
“You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deed” (MSG).
But I thought what I say and do are “who I am.” No, not quite, they can represent who we are, but who we are includes all the other things in our lives that flow out of our words and our acts. Do our acts match our words, or do we hedge a little bit on our doing? Those who are critical of Christians hit that exact point. They expect our acts to exactly match what we say, and when our acts and words don’t match up, they use those situations as proof that we follow false religion. That can be a compelling argument, so the pressure is on us to make our acts, all of our acts, match our words. And that is why we must focus on the forgiveness of Jesus. He is the central point of Christianity, and it is His life, death, and resurrection that is ultimately important. We need to let it be known that we are certainly not perfect, but that Jesus, by His sacrifice, has taken the punishment for all of our sins, and has wiped them out—erased them as if they had never happened.
It is essential that we endeavor to follow the principles presented by Jesus. ‘Do unto others as we would have them do to us.” Put others needs before our own. In short, live so that the love of Jesus is as noticeable in our actions as it is in our words. It is more important to show the love of Jesus than it is to obey the Ten Commandments. When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, He answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (NIV). The closer we get to these two commandments the closer we are to having our lives brim over with “true words and deeds.” I’m not sure how to define myself right now, but my goal is to have my life brim over with “true words and deeds.”
Proverbs 16:18 Pride of Self–Not Good
“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (NIV).
We’ve all seen those who have been quite prideful, and we have also seen them “get their comeuppance.” Those who think they have it made, have a difficult time when they eventually fail, and we all fail sometime. They seem to think that it can’t happen to them. They obviously haven’t read Proverbs 16:18. The Message translation puts it in more direct terms: “First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego he harder the fall.”
Those with big egos need to keep stoking it—need to keep building it up. Eventually when they look back, they will see, as Satchel Paige said, “Somebody might be gainin’ on you.” Big egos have to keep pushing their limits, and the time will come when they can’t quite match what their egos require. Failure happens to all of us. Trouble comes to all of us at some time, and we have to learn how to face it. The best way to face it is to recognize from the beginning who gives us our skills and abilities and give Him the credit.
Professional athletes are the most visible of those who reach a time when the body can no longer support the ego. It’s satisfying to see an athlete recognize the source of his power and ability, give God the glory, and thank Him for his success. His decline seems to be more graceful, and his past performance more appreciated.
The Bible has a warning for the prideful in Isaiah 2:12, saying: “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up– And it shall be brought low…” (NKJV). We all decline as we age, but for those who are grateful to God for what He has done for them, He provides great rewards in Heaven. Who would you rather be preparing rewards for you—God or men? And would you want your rewards to last a few years or for eternity?
There is nothing wrong with feeling satisfaction when we have done something well, as long as we remember who gave us the ability to do good work. We can have three reasons for feeling good about our successes. First, there is a natural satisfaction that comes with doing a job well. Second, we can feel good that we have been of service to our Lord and Savior. Third, we can be gratified that God has trusted us to do His work. It is good to be a tool in the hands of God.
Luke 6:12-13 Jesus Prayed All Night
“At about that time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles…” (MSG).
Jesus had spent time with His disciples on the Sabbath and had received criticism from the Pharisees and religious leaders because His disciples has picked grain on the Sabbath to eat and because He healed a man with a crippled arm on the Sabbath. Then He withdrew from His disciples and climbed a mountain to pray. Is it important that He climbed a mountain to pray? I don’t know, but I do know that it was important that Jesus, the Son of God the Father, spent the entire night in prayer. I also believe that it was important that he drew away to be by Himself to spend significant time in prayer. He knew that He had major decisions to make regarding who of His followers were to be closest to Him, which ones would share His most intimate words. I do know that there are times when Norma and I need to get away, even from each other at times, to spend special time with God. If I am willing to spend special time with my wife, it is certainly worthwhile to spend special alone time with the one who knows me better and loves me more than my wife does, my Lord Jesus. I come away refreshed when I spend extended time alone with God, when I am willing to focus on Him, His love for me, His plans for me, and the personal teaching he has for me. Norma and I also find it advantageous to spend time together with God. What we hear from Him is multiplied when we hear it together. Our discussions after our individual alone times with God and our together times with God are made more meaningful through the ways in which we individually hear His voice. We complement each other’s understanding, and we help each other remember what we have heard.
Spend time alone with God, and spend time with God and your spouse. It will be a time of blessing that lasts and lasts. Incidentally, we, as often as possible, spend our extended times with Him in the outdoors He has created.
Luke 6:30 Live Generously
“If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more payback. Live generously” (MSG).
I’ve been reading the Gospel of Luke, and when I got to chapter six, I had to slow down. Jesus put a lot of lessons in that particular chapter. I was thinking of the many subjects I have to write about, when, in my mind, I had the thought, “Yeah, there’s a lot for you to learn in that chapter.” I guess I need to pay attention to and meditate on the words of Jesus in Luke, chapter six.
I got brought up short on verse thirty today. I had been at the grocery store and thought that they used trickery to get customers—me in particular—to pay more than they expected for one particular item. When I got home, I was thinking of ways to get back at them. One idea was to fill a cart with frozen food, take it to the cash-wrap, leave it there, and walk out. As soon as that thought went through my mind, Luke chapter six, verse thirty, popped up. “No more payback.” When I voiced the thought that I hadn’t really done it, the thought immediately came back, “Yeah, but you thought it.” Sometimes God brings a verse of Scripture to the forefront of my mind and makes me think about it. I had to repent and pray for blessing upon that store.
Often our first thought is “pay back” for someone who tried to take advantage or actually did take advantage of us. “It just seems right. They deserve it.” Well, I deserve punishment for my sins, but I’m not going to be punished for them. Thank God that Jesus lived generously. He gave up His life—He suffered torture—He suffered ridicule on my behalf because I sinned. In this verse, He is asking me to forget the payback, forgive instead. Wait, I don’t think Jesus is asking me to forgive or suggesting that I forgive. He is telling me to forgive. Unforgiveness is not an acceptable action for those claiming to be followers of Jesus. First, I thank God for forgiving me of my sins; second, I thank Jesus for counting me as one of His followers; and third, I thank God for reminding me that I am expected to forgive.
Luke 6:26 Seek God’s Approval, Not Man’s
“There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular” (MSG).
When we flatter people, we are appreciated by them—not necessarily approved by God. Often to gain people’s approval we have to say things that may not be entirely true. That popularity lasts only until someone else says something more flattering. Then to regain our popularity we need to top their statements. Somewhere along the line of topping others, the truth often gets lost, and we find ourselves speaking things we never intended. Trapped in our own exaggerations, we may well go on to further untruths that will be very hard to substantiate. Truth telling may not make us popular, but we don’t have to apologize for telling the truth.
God appreciates those who are truth-tellers, and He will personally let them know it when they arrive in Heaven. I can imagine that His words will be, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” For those who tell the truth, it will be a great feeling to be known in Heaven as someone God could trust with the truth. To hear those words from Jesus is worth infinitely more than hearing the praises of our friends and acquaintance on earth. One of the reasons it will be worth infinitely more is that those words will apply for eternity.
Lord, help me to remain true to You, help me to be a truth-teller, help me to speak often of your love.