No matter what this day holds, no matter what or whom we encounter, no matter the circumstances, the surprises, the joys or the hurts, our righteous God is the creator of this day. He has already been here, He knows what it holds, and He has made provision for us through it all. Let us keep that awareness in our hearts as we walk through today (and tomorrow…), holding His hand, praising and trusting Him as we go.
Thank you, Father, for your great, great love towards us!
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
Let them sacrifice thank offerings
and tell of his works with songs of joy.
Psalm 107:21-22
No matter our condition or circumstances in life, we have all been given the opportunity be children of the Father of Heaven and Earth through His Son, Jesus Christ. In and through Him we are given access to the very throne room of God. We have been given favor by the Almighty King, the God who owns the cattle on a thousands hills. We have the heart of the God who is the source of all love, the God who has poured out His cornucopia of unlimited blessings on all who turn to Him in faith. He has lavished on us every good thing in faith, joy, peace and His very life which will carry us on forever.
And for that and so much more, we have the privilege of offering up to Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
May you be filled to overflowing with the full knowledge of the blessing you’ve received in Him and offer up to our Father a sacrifice of great praise!
Happy Thanksgiving,
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14
Moses did it for 40 years, and then again for another 40. Joseph did it for 13 years. David did it for 8 years. Jonah did it for 3 days. The Hebrews did it for 430 years. And who knows how long Job did it.
I’ve been doing it for almost 12 years. Maybe you’ve been doing it, too.
All of us have either just gotten through, or we’re going through, or we will soon go through a waiting period. The question is, though, what or whom are we waiting on?
In my particular case, I can easily wait on the right doctor, the right blood test, the right scan, the right procedure, the right medication, and on and on. And I do believe that God uses doctors and medicine to achieve His purposes. But only in His timing.
He is the One I wait on. My healing will come in His way, and in His time. And that healing may not come until I see my Savior face to face, but it will come.
He is my glory, my portion, my all in all.
Moses may well have thought his life in the desert herding sheep would be all the life he’d ever see. But God was preparing him to lead God’s people across the desert.
God was preparing Joseph to lead Egypt, David to be King, and the Hebrews to trust and follow Him into the Promised Land. And God was bringing Job into a deeper, far more intimate relationship with Him than he ever imagined. And I believe God used Job as a witness to his friends and to the people of the town that a righteous man is one who lives by faith in God, not just by the rules he follows. (I would love to know how many people put their faith in God through Job’s amazing testimony.)
The word wait in Psalm 27:14 is qâvâh – to bind together (perhaps by twisting), to collect, to expect, to gather together.
Our wait in the Lord in not sitting and doing nothing. Through it we learn to let go of the world, strand by strand, and bind our spirits to His. We become one with our Savior, and His heart becomes our heart; His will, our will.
As our spirit becomes more and more bound with His, we confidently watch, expectantly look to Him for our salvation in all things. We know that God sees our heart and hears our prayers. We understand that His wait has a purpose. He is preparing us, teaching us, maturing us, and best of all, loving us. Never think that the lack of an immediate answer means God doesn’t love you. Remember Moses and Joseph and David and Jonah and Job and His beloved people who waited in Egypt.
Whatever we wait for on this earth, whether it’s health or relationships or jobs, or for our brothers and sisters in certain parts of world who wait for their release from unjust imprisonment, whether that’s a jail cell or the evil hands of their abusers, or a million other things, all of us who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ wait on Him for our ultimate rescue.
“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:19, 22-25
Even the creation groans for the time when sin is a thing of the past and God brings us all into the presence of His glory. We wait, too, but we wait expectantly, patiently, hopefully, knowing that our rescue is near.
And while we wait, while we groan inwardly with creation for all things to be made new and perfect and beautiful, we must hold onto the hope that our waiting here prepares us for our life there. Our wait, and all we’ve gone through, will be worth it as we stand before Jesus and the purpose for it all is suddenly clear, and we share our reward with the Rescuer of our souls.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
Isaiah 64:4
“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’
Matthew 24:3
Zombies, desert wastelands, hoarding of water, dilapidated and cobwebbed dwellings, eating anything…or anyone, unspeakable evil, violence upon violence, death upon death, and some guy named Max, who is either very angry or half insane. Maybe a little bit of both.
Our culture is mesmerized by thoughts of straining to survive a post-apocalyptic age. It is enamored by the fight to withstand a revolution led by the most heinous of us, worlds overtaken by flesh-eating undead, by inhabitants of another world hell-bent on our destruction. It is just this side of obsessed with all things ungodly and other worldly, as long as that other world is the one that breathes fire and sulfur.
It’s been made so fascinating, so entertaining, that scarcely anyone would think there could be, somewhere in the fray, some truth, and that the actual truth it mimics could be much more real and more frightening than fiction.
So why all the allure about the end of the world?
Could it be that our Creator has built into us, somewhere in the recesses of our souls, inside our DNA, an awareness of this truth? Just as we have an awareness of something, or in reality Someone, greater than ourselves – someone who created us, someone who’s responsible for the existence of this world we live in, for the intricacy of atoms and the ginormousness of billions and billions of galaxies, and for the vacuum inside us that we all search to fill until we fill it with Him – is an awareness, and a question about our future.
And could it be that like all superheroes, God has an adversary, and that adversary will use our craving to fill the void inside us, and our fascination for the dark side of truth, to create a world so fantastical that we couldn’t possibly believe there is any actual truth to it? Where he himself is only a guy in a red suit with fluff-filled horns and a plastic pitchfork, and no one could really believe in the existence of someone like that, could they? It’s all just too preposterous.
Only it isn’t.
God does have an adversary, many of them, in fact, but chief among them is satan, who isn’t red and I highly doubt carries a pitchfork, but was a created angel who rebelled against God and was banished from heaven. One-third of the angels rebelled with him, and his goal is to incite as many souls as possible to rebel against God, too. satan’s tactics have always been subtle – to mimic God by taking a grain of truth and building around it so many tantalizing lies that we’d rather believe and act on the lies rather than the truth.
He did it in the garden with Eve, and he even tried it in the wilderness with the Son of God. His war against God won’t end until God ends it, and if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves on the wrong side of the battle line.
Just like the disciples, we have a curiosity about the end of the world as we know it because God wants to speak to our hearts through it, and the last thing satan wants for us to do is listen. Will the end include zombies and evil aliens? No. But the Bible has a lot to say about the end of all things and the time when Christ returns.
Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question was to warn them, and us, to be on the lookout for false prophets, false messiahs (mimics of the truth), wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, famines and earthquakes, increased wickedness, many turning away from the faith, betraying and hating each other.
“Immediately,” Jesus said, “after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Matthew 24:29-31
Paul tells us:
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Could it be that satan has hijacked that glorious truth by mimicking God once again, and masterminded a theater of lies where he, instead, “resurrects” hoards to a state of hideous undead, so satisfying to the flesh that the world eats it up? Has entertainment been used by satan like a blaring horn in the distance to draw the world away from the actual truth that one day they will face God for judgment of their sins if they haven’t believed in Jesus Christ?
I don’t put it past him.
Paul told the church in Thessalonica, and the Word tells us, that no one knows the day or the hour but that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3
The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into the real apocalyptic time when God’s judgment rains down upon the earth. It is teeming with visions of stars falling to the earth, warring angels, dragons, the seal of God on the foreheads of His servants, and of course, satan, once again mimicking God’s actions through the anti-Christ by forcing people to wear his number instead.
The enemy of God knows he’s living on borrowed time, and he appeals to the dark side of our nature, the attraction we all have toward sin and darkness, and bit by bit, tiny victory after tiny victory, if we don’t choose our steps carefully, we can follow him down the wide road as he robs us of our joy and peace and the life God wants to give us.
Through Paul, God reminds us that “you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober (watchful). For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober (watchful), putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8
We may not see the destruction of all things in our lifetime, but we will all see the end of our mortal bodies, and Paul goes on to remind us how we’re to live until then: “acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22
And what will be the afterlife for us then?
For those who die in rebellion to God, those wishes will be granted and they will not see the Light of God for the rest of eternity. Those souls will be banished from the presence and love of God to eternal destruction and torment.
But for those who die believing in Jesus Christ, those will be raised to everlasting life, and the ones who are yet alive and are believing when Christ comes again will join them all to ride to victory.
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24
“Never stop learning.”
“Keep learning.”
“Don’t give up learning.”
I must have heard this admonition at least three or four times over the past couple of weeks. Heaven help us if we ever come to the place where we think we have it all figured out. Or that we’re too old or too young or too busy, or too anything to learn new things.
There is no where that is truer than in our walk with Christ on our journey through life.
God is always speaking, as long as we’re listening.
In Peter’s second letter to those living in faith in Christ, he writes:
“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7
Faith is not a badge we put on at the moment of conversion as if the race were over and the rewards already given. Faith is the starting point. Then, with our faith in hand, we run the race.
Virtue
Live with high moral standards. That is a daily, conscious effort in this morally-declining world. Up is down, right is wrong and wrong is right. But we know where to go to cut to the chase and find the absolute truth, and that is always God’s Word.
Knowledge
God tells us in scripture that we are to grow in the knowledge of Christ, grow in the wisdom and knowledge that Christ gives, and, interestingly, that husbands are to live in an understanding (knowledgeable) way with their wives.
Self-control
The more we allow the Holy Spirit to rein in our hearts and lives, the more we will learn to restrain ourselves from the things of the world that create division from Him, and vice versa.
Steadfastness
This is a cheerful, patient endurance through all our trials, ever-increasing in hope that through it all our God is molding us into the image of His Son. We learn to wait – to wait for direction, to wait for discernment, to wait for rescue, to wait for healing, to wait on our God and know that He hears, He loves us, and His timing and ways are perfect.
Godliness
Simply, less of me and more of Him.
Brotherly affection
Daily we are to grow in our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Love
This is agape, the highest form of love. It is the pinnacle of sacrificial, unconditional love that puts ourselves on the alter to serve another.
To grow in these godly qualities takes a willingness to be humble. It takes being able to admit when we’re wrong so we can repent and grow. It is taking regular stock of our hearts through scripture as the Sword “penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb 4:12)
It takes walking out of the shadows into the bright and baring light of Christ and letting Him examine us, burning off those ungodly traits through the fire of trial, and knowing that those same flames burn with His love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.
Why? Why do we want to do these things instead of just coasting through life, knowing that we have salvation at the end of it? Peter tells us in the next verse:
“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:8
I don’t know about you, but I want to be effective. I want my life to count for good. It was used for enough pain and sorrow before Christ graciously invaded my life. I want to learn and grow and trip and get back up and try again, trust more, pray more, yield more, love more.
In this one life I get, I want Christ to have His way in and through me. I want to learn the way of my Master and be prepared and unashamed when I meet Him face to face.
But it won’t come by osmosis.
So I take the faith handed to me by the Holy Spirit, and together we run…
Grace and Peace in Abundance,
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10-11
I’ve been reading through 1 Peter again, but this time more through the eyes of Peter. Precious Peter.
The man who was given three chances to pray along with Jesus on the night He was betrayed, instead fell asleep and three times fell into temptation.
He had looked into Jesus’ eyes and said he would be the lone faithful holdout among everyone else on earth…and then denied Him the very next day.
He had gone so far as to tell Jesus would rather die with Him than deny Him…then denied Him with an oath.
He had impulsively cut an ear off one of the high priest’s servants when they came to arrest Jesus, and then fell so fast and so hard that that very day he called down curses and emphatically swore on oath that he…did…not…know…the…Man.
And then a rooster crowed, and Jesus stopped everything and looked into his eyes.
Peter fled, found a solitary place and wept bitterly.
It must have seemed like an eternity from that moment until the moment after Jesus had risen from the dead and met them on the beach with fish frying over a fire and Jesus once again looked him in the eye, asking him not once, but three times, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” John 21:15-17
And three times Peter answered yes.
And in that moment Jesus restored him with his new assignment, saying “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17) And then the command “Follow Me.” (John 21:19)
And Peter became a fisher of men.
The man who had been so filled with pride before became the man who wrote “be self-controlled.” (1 Peter 1:13)
The man who had let fear rule in his heart is the same man who would later write “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 13:14-17)
Peter knew true suffering. Those days he spent with guilt and shame, far from his friend, far from God, far from forgiveness, were agonizing. He probably spent much of those days with his head hanging down looking at the ground, or into the sea, as he resigned himself to his old life of fishing for fish. Jesus was gone; his life with Him was over. Simon Peter discovered there is no greater suffering than to be separated from God.
Maybe circumstances in your life have changed and you’re feeling like a failure. Maybe they’ve left you on the sidelines. Maybe you think God’s done with you.
Let me tell you something: He isn’t. He wasn’t done with Peter and He’s not done with you.
He’s using circumstances to mature you, to perfect you, to make you wholly dependent on Him. And when the time is right, with His resurrection power, He will restore you.
You are His domain, His glory. He started the work and He will complete it. Hold onto to the hope that Peter discovered was not a vain hope.
Be careful not to fill that heartache with something less than God’s perfect will, something of this earth. Don’t go back to fishing. Keep waiting and filling your heart with truth, hope and His promises.
Ultimate restoration will come for all of us who trust in Him when we see our Savior face to face. As long as we’re on this side of heaven and away from the Lord we will feel a longing to be with Him, to be restored body and soul. In the meantime, keep following Christ on the narrow road.
He’s coming back soon!
Grace and peace,
Jesus and His friends had just finished eating Passover supper, where Jesus revealed to them that Judas would betray Him. I wonder at the thoughts that ran through the minds of the eleven, perhaps looking at Judas in horror and judgment, saying to themselves they would never do that.
Jesus then used the bread and the cup to remind them again that He was about to give up His body and His blood as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. He looked into their eyes and urged them “…do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
“When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Then Jesus told them, ‘This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.’ (Zechariah 13:7)
Peter replied, ‘Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.’
‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’
But Peter declared, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’ And all the other disciples said the same.
Matthew 26:31-35
They stood at the Mount of Olives – a mountain ridge that held not only olive groves, but cemeteries, as well. Surely there the gravity of the circumstances would sink into their hearts. And suddenly He was telling them that not only would Judas betray them, but the rest of them would, too.
The disciples’ response to Him showed they still trusted in themselves over Jesus and over the prophecy laid out in God’s Word. It was this thinking – their pride, their self-sufficiency, their leaning on their own understanding – that led them to fall away.
They had allowed the seeds of pride sin to be planted in their minds and they were budding. Soon they would see how watering those seeds with pride and fear would quickly grow them into weeds that were out of control.
Never say, “I would never do that…” Never judge another person’s actions and say “I would never…”
The Lord knows what we are capable of. He warns us today the way He warned his friends that night. He tells us to “Be alert. Be watchful. Be prayerful. Be humble. Be sober in your thinking of yourselves.”
If we haven’t done or said something that shocked us then we haven’t yet faced the kind of overwhelming fear that could lead us to betraying Christ.
But times are changing fast. It should come as no surprise to anyone that conditions are becoming more and more hostile toward Believers. What are we willing to give up to follow Christ? Our friends? Our family? Our reputations? Our livelihood? Our freedom?
We have yet to face anywhere near the kind of pressure the disciples faced on the night they ran and hid and denied ever knowing Christ.
They all meant what they said that night as they stood among the olive trees, burial caves and tombstones, but in just 24 hours they would come to find out just how shallow and immature their faith still was.
But faith grows in the face of trouble.
Of course Jesus knew who and what they were, that they were still spiritual babes. He would give them another chance to heed His warning, as God’s mercy often does. He would lead them to the garden, taking Peter, James and John even closer.
Grow closer, my friends. Don’t wait until the enemy makes it personal…makes you choose. Choose Him now. Be resolute to walk with Him all the way to the cross.
Tomorrow: The Garden
He had performed miracles, taught in the Synagogues, cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sin. And if that weren’t enough…
He claimed to be King.
“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Matthew 21:5
He claimed to be the fulfillment of prophecy.
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17
He claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah.
“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” John 4:25-26
He claimed to be the Son of God.
“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’” Matthew 16:15-17
He claimed to be the Son of Man.
For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:8
He claimed to be the only way to heaven.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
He claimed to be the King of the Jews.
“Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you say.’” Matthew 27:11
Jesus was all that and so much more. And the Israelites were thrilled, for a while. But they had expectations of their Messiah that were simply not true.
They expected Him to set up an earthly kingdom, to end their suffering, to take over rule and provide for them, to sit on a throne and be their king.
And it’s in those wrong expectations where things went awry.
Things can go awry for us, too, when we conjure up in our minds a god who simply does not exist. When life happens and what we expect this god of our imaginations – the god we’ve set inside our parameters, in our little box – to be and to do for us does not happen. When we want God to conform to our image of Him, and we set up this false god as an idol and worship him, and then tragedy strikes, prayers aren’t answered, what we hear is silence, we can begin to shout “crucify Him!”
Oh, we may not use those words. We may just stop praying, or reading the Bible, or going to church. We may stop trusting, or witnessing, or believing. We may just stop walking with Him.
Throughout the week we’ll see that the disciples did that very thing. Instead of listening and learning and believing the truth, even in the face of overwhelming fear, instead of allowing their expectations of a limitless, righteous, holy God Who can never put in a box to be changed, instead of throwing away their pride, they turned back. They scattered. They hid themselves in the darkness of the world.
But, there is redemption…
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
This Friday, March 20, the movie Do You Believe? will open in theatres. It journeys alongside the lives of a dozen people, all struggling and looking for something, but they don’t know what.
Sounds like a lot of people in the world right now. And of course, there is only one answer to all of life’s questions, to its pain, its confusion, its heartache, to the web of our own sin, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. “No one comes to the Father except through me” Jesus declared. No one.
But the good news is that anyone, no matter what a person’s religious background, age, color, socioeconomic background or anything else, and no matter what sins a person has done, anyone who believes on the name of Jesus Christ and declares Him as Lord will be forgiven and saved from the eternal punishment of those sins.
Christ says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelation 3:20
Not only will a place be made in heaven for those who believe in God’s Son, but Christ promises to live with us right here, right now, to journey with us and give us hope and peace in the midst of our struggles.
We all know people who are struggling and looking for something but they don’t know what that something is. But we who know Christ do, and we may be the only one who can stand in the gap for them, who can be the bridge between darkness and Light, who can introduce them to the One who is the answer to the questions they’re asking.
Ask the Lord who that person or persons are who He would have you invite not just to see a movie, but to be shown the Way. Pray ahead of time that the Lord would soften hearts. Fast and ask the Spirit to break the chains. And then be bold and ask.
Heck, throw in a big tub of buttered popcorn.
Maybe you are the person who is struggling and looking for answers. Maybe you’ve gone to church all your life, maybe you haven’t stepped foot in one in a long time, maybe never at all.
Please know this: God loves you. His Son, Jesus Christ, loves you, and He desperately wants a relationship with you, so much that He died on the cross for your sins. His grace and mercy are deep and wide enough to reach you no matter how far away you think you are. He is only one prayer away.
If you can, go see the movie this weekend. And whether you go for yourself or you take someone, come back here and tell me how God spoke to you through it.
Life is short, and none of us knows how much time we have left. All those who will pass away today didn’t know it yesterday. We must seize the day.
In His great grace,
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’” John 15:18-25
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:21-22
More and more I’m seeing headlines about someone in America being sued or fired because of their faith in Christ. This is of course just a small taste of the persecution Christians and Jews are facing around the world.
And every time I see one of those headlines I’m as surprised and disgusted as anybody. But we can’t be; we must expect it. Persecution is increasing, and we need to prepare ourselves that we may one day see it knock on our own door. Jesus warned the apostles and He warns us now: we will be hated.
The word for hated in these verses means to detest, especially to persecute. This is not your run of the mill kind of hatred. It’s not just a feeling. This is hatred that is so vile and deep that it moves the person to act on their hatred, to systematically and methodically harm a person or group.
What I find interesting is that this is the complete opposite of compassion, which is to be so deeply filled with sympathy that it moves a person to action. Regardless of how much Christ was hated, He consistently demonstrated compassion His whole life. He’s our example of how to live a holy life in the face of persecution.
The Spirit enables us, we just need to decide if we’re willing. Let God take care of the persecutors, we must be faithful to Christ, to pray and to live holy and upright lives, not giving the enemy a foothold.
Jesus makes a point to remind us though, that all this is not without the hope of our promised salvation and reward.
In the meantime, we can pray to have the same attitude as the apostles who were arrested and jailed by the high priest and the Sanhedrin – people who claimed to know God and should have believed in His Son alongside the apostles – for teaching and healing in the name of Christ.
The apostles were flogged, ordered not to speak in the name of Jesus (which they promptly disobeyed) and let go. And Acts 5:41-42 says “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.”
Rejoicing because they had been counted to worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. From our own perspective it’s an awful thing to suffer persecution, but from a spiritual standpoint, the apostles saw it as a badge of honor. It meant they were living their lives for Christ in such a way that they suffered as their Lord had said they would. It meant the Spirit was moving, lives were being changed, souls were being convicted…and the enemy was not happy.
But I’d give anything to see the smile on Jesus’s face as He watched them fulfill what He called them to do.
In His great grace,