Category: Being Faithful

Persevere and Shine

Hebrews 12:1-3                                              Persevere and Shine

“Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us!  So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won’t let go.  And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us.  We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete.  He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew later on he would be glad he did.  Now he is seated at the right side of God’s throne!  So keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners.  Then you won’t get discouraged and give up” (CEV).

 

The desert is a hard, dry, rocky, inhospitable place, but grand beauty can be found there in the plants that endure and persist until beautiful blossoms appear.  They endure times of immense heat with sporadic rainfall that may come in cloudbursts one day and white-hot skies for extended times after the rainfall. It is interesting to note that the beauty of these flowers stands out in stark contrast to the land around them.  They are easy to spot.  The eye is drawn to them.

Jesus appeared on the scene two thousand years ago with a message that disturbed the existing religious leaders.  The leaders had drifted from the belief they had on the day that the walls of Jerico fell.  Jesus reminded them of that strong faith and pointed them to the Holy Scriptures that prophesied the appearance of the Messiah.  He announced that He was that Messiah, and He showed it by the miracles He performed, by the words of peace and love that He spoke, and by the words written in the Holy Scriptures that He, and He alone, fulfilled.  He certainly stood out from the crowd.  It wasn’t hard to see Him and to follow His journey.  The religious leaders wanted to kill Him, but several times while He was in their midst, He walked right through the crowd, escaping their murderous plots.  He endured opposition from the religious leaders; He endured being ignored by the people from His home town; He endured betrayal from one of His closest associates; and He endured being hung on a Roman cross.  On resurrection day He shined brighter than anyone ever did throughout history.  His beauty was amazing, and it remains so today.

As for us, we can learn from the cactus flowers and from Jesus.  We have been battered by sin, some that continue to attack even after we have accepted Jesus as Lord.  Even now, even here, we endure implied, if not actual, persecution.  Our statements about our Lord are derided by many, and some people even think we are deluded fools for the trust and faith we have in our Lord.  Our stands on many aspects of life are derided, and we are marginalized in some parts of the communities where we live.  But, we, like Christ, must persevere and run our race to its completion, and then like Him, we will shine brightly with His beauty for eternity.

 

Steady and Trustworthy

Colossians 3:23,24                                          Steady and Trustworthy

“Work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ” (NLT).

 

The plant in the center of the picture can be easily overlooked.  It is not particularly bright or showy in appearance, but it does add a certain beauty to the section of the garden in which it is growing.  But you have to stop to look at it  to appreciate it.  Fortunately, there are many Christians just like that in our churches, and they form the solid glue that holds the congregation together.  They don’t stand out.  They don’t demand attention, and they don’t detract from the attention given others.  It’s not that they are “just there” because they do much more.  They spend time greeting newcomers.  They greet and speak with many regular attenders at every service.  The joy of the Lord is visible on their faces as they sing His praises.  They are attentive to the sermon, and they are able to discuss it even the following Saturday.  They are a little like the bread in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Like the bread in the PB and J sandwich, they provide the solid substance that holds the whole thing together.  Thank you for being one of these special people.  Although not much is said about your presence or of your normal church activity, you and your witness are important and appreciated.  Just by being there and doing what you do every week, you help the church draw closer together, and the Lord appreciates your service.  He is preparing a reward for you, an inheritance, that is yours for all eternity.

Living Water

John 7:38                                                                Living Water

“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (KJV)

 

Waters continually flow over Minerva Terrace in Yellowstone National Park, and though the formations appear to be permanent, they do change, albeit slowly.  If you visit Minerva Terrace and then return several years later, you will notice small changes.  Over decades the changes become more obvious.  These waters may not appear to be “living waters,” but the returning visitor notices the growth.  The terraces continue to grow because the water contains fine particles of limestone that precipitate as the water flows.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, my life should show growth over the course of years because those gifts God places in us are supposed to make changes in our surroundings as we go through life.  The growth for many people may not be easily seen in their lives, but it becomes abundantly clear in the lives of people they have blessed just by living in a manner that expresses the teachings of Christ.  Not many are called to the more obvious ministries such as preaching or evangelizing, but be assured that the Christian life you live may well be the tool God uses to draw someone to Him.  You may be the one whose example can bring a particular person to Christ.  You may never know in this life who that is, but perhaps someday in the streets of heaven, someone may walk up to you and thank you for the example you lived.

 

Because God Said So

Psalm 114                                                    Because God Said So

“When the Israelites escaped from Egypt—when the family of Jacob left that foreign land—the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel became his kingdom.

The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way!  The water of the Jordan River turned away.  The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs!  What’s wrong Red Sea, that made you hurry out of the way?  What happened, Jordan River, that you turned away?  Why, mountains, did you skip like rams?  Why, hills, like Lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.  He turned the rock into a pool of water; yes, a spring of water flowed from solid rock” (NLT).

 

Here’s a quick answer to the questions about the Red Sea and the Jordan River moving out of the way, and the mountains and hills skipping—Because God said so!  God wanted it that way, and He made it happen that way in order to establish His nation, Israel, in the land of promise, the land He had chosen for them.  “Israel became His kingdom,” and it still is His kingdom that He gave to His people, Israel—and so it shall remain forever, whatever man may say.

And on the way, He brought water out of solid rock, He fed them with food from the sky, both manna and quail.  He kept their clothes from wearing out.  Some may have seen that as a mixed blessing.  The clothes never wore out, but they never got a new wardrobe.  All this, God provided for forty years.  Yet, only two of those who walked out of Egypt walked into the Promised Land.  When they were presented with the first opportunity to enter the land, all but two who had been sent into the land to check it out decided not to enter in because the current residents were seen as giants, and even after all God had done for them, they didn’t believe that He would carry them to victory over the giants.  The people believed the ten who thought the inhabitants of the Promised Land were too big to defeat, so only Joshua and Caleb walked in.

So, what’s the meaning for me today?  When God calls me to do something, and He begins to lead me, I need to follow Him, not just at the beginning, but until He tells me that I have arrived—have completed the task He asked of me.  That’s easy for me to say, but it’s harder for me to do.  Would I have had the faith of Joshua and Caleb, or would I have shied away, been scared off by the bad reports of men?  Do I have the faith and trust today to follow through with God’s assignments, or will I fail the test and see my assignment completed by someone else?  My prayer is like that of the father of the son who was tormented by an evil spirit, who said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (KJV)  The translation for me is “I believe for this moment.  Please help when I begin to falter.”

The Crooked Made Straight

Luke 3:4-6                                                The Crooked Made Straight

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.  The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.  And all people will see God’s salvation’” (NIV).

 

This is taken from the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist.  He went throughout the countryside preaching a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  The Scripture quoted above speaks of John’s reason for ministry—prepare people for the coming of the Messiah.  The implication of the verse is that when Jesus arrives, things will get better.  Moving through life is to become easier with valleys and mountains made level, crooked roads made straight, and the rough ways made smooth.  Did that happen, even after Jesus was baptized by John?  No, it didn’t because the leaders of the time saw Jesus as a threat to their authority because they feared that His message would upset the Romans and cause them to crack down and take away the powers the religious leaders had.  Their selfishness and lust for power made them rouse the people against Jesus, accuse Him of sedition against the Romans, and demand that He be crucified.

So the church began in a time and place of criticism and antagonistic actions by the religious leaders of the day.  It seems to have been a foretaste of what was to come for millenia after the crucifixion of Christ.  Throughout history, the church seems to grow best when its members are driven to defend themselves and their beliefs in Jesus Christ.  The opposition makes for tougher, more determined  believers.  For the past two thousand years, those who truly accepted Christ as Savior have proven to be willing to undergo hardship, punishment, and even death to declare that Jesus is the Messiah, the one and only way to God.

If you follow the lines in the picture above from left to right, the swirls, whorls, and bumps are easily seen, but as the view continues to the right, the lines smooth out and go forward in a strength proven by the earlier difficulties in the growth of the tree.  Yes, valleys will be filled, mountains will be made low, crooked roads will be made straight, and the rough places will be made smooth.  But a look at the center of the picture above shows the difficulties and hard times that the tree survived before it got to the smooth times.  So in our lives as Christians, we will encounter tough times, difficult times, and, perhaps, even dangerous times before we attain peace and rest with Christ in eternity.  I haven’t been in eternity with Jesus, but I am convinced that eternity with Him will be worth any difficulties we encounter here.  So hang in there—it will be worth it.

We’ve Got Work to Do

Ephesians 2:10                                           We’ve Got Work to Do

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV).

 

That’s a picture of a magnificent animal, standing tall, looking forward as if he has a task to do, and he’s ready to do it.  He is a striking animal that God has created.  Well, I believe that God sees us in much the same way He sees the animal in the picture, but with one big exception.  God created the animals, and then He created man in His image, and that’s an important difference.  Then, many years later, He created me and He created you.

We are told in Ephesians 2:10 that God has prepared work for us.  If we read the verse closely and slowly, we discover that we were created for a particular purpose, a job that was itself, specifically prepared for us.  That makes it pretty special, particularly when the one who created the universe chose us for a particular task.  Implied is the idea that He has formed us and  given us the abilities that we need, for this special task.  If He chose me for this special task, then He didn’t choose someone else for the exact same task.  That indicates that I am special to Him, the only one of all the people ever created who is exactly right for this job.  Since God has spent time and energy preparing us for a task and preparing a task for us, it follows that we are able to do it well, but how can we do it well if we don’t know exactly what it is?  Sometimes it seems as if God has left us alone to discover just exactly what He wants of us.  He hasn’t, but He does want us to also spend time and energy, as He has, in discovering what His plan is for us.  How do we do that?  I’m no expert, and I don’t suppose that there is anyone, aside from God, who can tell each of us what we should be doing.

There are several obvious things to do to prepare.  We can read the Word.  We can pray.  Then, we can read the Word, and we can pray.  I would suggest that we then read the Word and pray.  A few  people are definite that they know by this time exactly what God has planned for them, but that’s not most of us.  We get to study, read, and pray for a longer period of time, and sometimes we even have to try different jobs until we find out what we do best, and what we enjoy doing most.  That makes for a longer journey, but any walk with our Lord is fruitful.  Some of us try many things until we finally know our special place in His plan.  I certainly can’t tell you when you will know God’s special call on your life, but I can tell you that it will be a blessed and satisfying journey during the search.  I do know that whatever the task prepared for me, it is important, and God expects me to perform it to the best of my ability.  So, Lord, I commit myself to the task you have chosen for me, and I intend to do it to the best of my ability.  Lord, I ask for your help, wisdom, and encouragement along the way.