Category: Sacrifice

Where Are You Staying?

Posted on by Dorci

It was probably a day like any other day.  People are milling around John, known as The Baptist, as he talks about the One Who is to come.  Daily more people come to hear about the Light who has come into the world, to learn of repentance, and to be baptized. 

John is talking with two of his followers when he sees Jesus of Nazareth walk by, and declares “Behold the Lamb of God!”  John 1:36

They turn and see the One they’ve been hearing about.  The One Who they’ve heard will baptize with the Holy Spirit.  The One Who takes away the sin of the world.  And they leave and begin following Him.

“Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, ‘What do you seek?’ They said to Him, ‘Rabbi’ (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), ‘where are You staying?’  He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).’”  John 1:38-39

These two new apostles, Andrew and probably the man who would author the gospel of John, wanted to know where Jesus lived. They left John the Baptist to stay, not in a certain place, but with Jesus Himself.  Where Jesus went, they went.  Where He slept and ate and spoke, they were there with Him.

His home, wherever that would be, would now be their home. And their lives would never be the same.   

Had Andrew and John stayed with John the Baptist, they would have only heard about Jesus.

They would have missed out on three years of actually getting to know Him, walking with Him from place to place, talking with Him along the way about the great mysteries He held deep in His heart.  They would have missed seeing Him perform miracles and watching Him change the hardened hearts of men and women.  They would have missed seeing the joy in His eyes when children skipped up to Him and threw their arms around Him, and hearing Him laugh as He held them tight. 

They might have missed that day at Pentacost when they were filled with the Holy Spirit and blessed with gifts from God to live out the greatest calling to go out into the world and preach the Good News. They would have missed seeing countless others come to know Jesus–the Man they knew as friend, confidante and Lord–as their Lord and Savior. 

Hearing about Jesus was good, but living with Jesus brought them to the Source of all good things, to the very feet of God, the place of all power. 

The word staying in the apostles’ question is the same word translated as abide that Jesus later uses in this admonition: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Jesus calls us to abide with Him, too.  It’s not enough to hang back and hear about Him from teachers, parents or friends. 

He now lives in us and He wants us to live in Him, wherever that may be.  He wants us to beg the question of Him, “Where are you staying?”

Jesus doesn’t live in church.  Don’t leave Him there. 

If we’ve received Him as Lord and Savior, He lives in our hearts, and we are to live in Him. 

He is now our home.

 

And for each of us He is in a different place.  He is walking in a different direction in my life than He is in yours.

He is doing a different thing, teaching a different lesson, healing a different wound in each of our lives. 

He is sanctifying individual souls.  And only He has the power to do it.

Why be satisfied with only hearing about Him, when we can live with the Source of all life?

Where is Jesus in your life right now?  What does He want to teach you?  How is He working to mature your faith?  Where does He want to go and who does He want to serve through you? 

Are you right there, following in obedience, living where He’s living?  Are you in communion with Him daily, learning from the Master, being filled with His Spirit, receiving His gifts and living the abundant life He longs to share with you? 

Jesus said we can do nothing unless we abide in Him. 

But if we do abide in Him, there is nothing we can’t do.

Suppose…

Posted on by Dorci

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
~John Adams, 2nd President of the United States of America and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

There will come a day when those of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ will see that Utopia.  When the new heaven and new earth are unveiled, and we are its city set on a hill, gleaming as a trillion bright lights.  When love is the banner and God is its King.  And we’ll understand freedom on a whole new level.

The freedoms our Founding Fathers wanted to bring us in this country were only a shadow of the aching of every soul for spiritual freedom.  As much as we want to bring heaven down to us, no matter how good we could make it, its always going to be less than our hearts desire.

But we have that freedom inside us now, purchased for us on another hill, the hill of Calvary.

And each of us carries the light of that freedom when we agree with Joshua and say

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15b

Suppose we took those words of Joshua to heart and lived them out in all their righteous glory, and light the darkness around us in a spectacular display of God’s immeasurable love, grace and mercy.

We would allow the Holy Spirit to move us to love passionately, to give wholeheartedly, and to bring the greatest, most joyous message of freedom the world has ever known.

We would let the Word of God permeate our thoughts and actions and it, not the world, would dictate how we would change and who we would become.

We would fling open the gates of heaven into our lives with our prayer and obedience, dispelling all fear and flooding our lives with God’s boldness and power.   And we would serve the Lord with as much dedication and courage and bravery as those who fought to purchase and keep our earthly freedoms, living out the greatest commission to “..go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

We would live out the light of the glory of that future Paradise, right here and right now, and set the world around us on fire for Christ.

Oh, what a world that would be.

The Most Powerful Place on Earth

Posted on by Dorci

I listened to this interview on John Piper’s site a few months ago and wanted to share it with you.  Rosaria Champagne Butterfield tells of her journey from living as a radical lesbian, as she puts it, to being confronted with the truth of Christ, putting her faith in Him, and leaving the gay lifestyle.  But this is not just a story of a lesbian who got saved.

I believe there is a bigger, more universal lesson.  It’s a compelling story of someone who was enslaved by sin, as we all were before Christ freed us, whose soul was moved and whose life was changed by the power of God’s living, breathing Word.

And I think we can learn something very powerful from her story.  Actually, two somethings.

(I would encourage you to listen to the 23-minute interview first if you can, then read the rest of the post.)

            1. There is power in the Word of God.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

The Bible is not just another book.  In all the places in the world, the Bible that we have tucked on our shelves, maybe laying on our laps on Sundays, and possibly read a day or two during the week, is the only place we can be assured to find the truth of God.   And there is nothing more powerful than truth.  

If God can use His Word in such a powerful way in the heart of someone who was not yet saved, what could He do in and through those who are saved and dedicated to reading and studying His Word? 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

I’m convinced that the Church–those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ–would be tastier salt and brighter light to the world if we would be continually filled with the precious, life-giving truth on the pages of God’s Word. 

And that brings me to the second something.

            2. People don’t need our judgment.  They need Jesus. 

‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Romans 10:13-15

It is our feet, yours and mine, that bring the good news of Jesus Christ.  We are the called and we are the sent ones–not just to those who make us comfortable, or whose sins are not readily apparent, or more specifically, not like ours.  But to everyone.   Had a Christian man not befriended Dr. Butterfield, she might not be saved to this day, and many lives would be radically different. 

Christians can get a bad rap and sometimes that reputation is earned.  When we choose to stand in judgment, or speak words of hatred, or refuse to share the love of Jesus to someone because of their particular brand of sin, we’ve failed in our calling.

There is no unforgivable sin.  “Everyone who calls…”  That statement is very clearly all-inclusive.  It isn’t hate or judgment or rejection, but God’s loving kindness that brought us to repentance, and will bring others, too.

Grace and Peace,

 

 

Material distributed by By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
Image credit: prezoom / 123RF Stock Photo

The Greater Love

Posted on by Dorci

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13

In the light of the example Jesus gave us at the cross, this is our daily duty – to lay down our lives, our preferences, our wills, in favor of those God gives us.  This is, Jesus tells us, the highest, mightiest, strongest, most powerful love.  It is this love that carries crosses, moves mountains, divides oceans, binds unseen wounds and heals pain that otherwise would never heal.  It is to this love we aspire. 

And it is this love we honor today.  It is this love that leaves behind one’s own dreams, loved ones, births and deaths, to serve, protect, run into harm’s way, fight the enemy even when the odds are down, conditions are at their worst and injuries are unbearable, and risk all to carry our banner.  All for the greater good and love of freedom. 

This love and duty to country has impassioned many to lay down their lives to buy the freedom of an entire nation, and this continued courage and sacrifice has kept us free for over 200 years.  Let us honor these brave men and women with our deep gratitude, but also by following their example of greater love.

When we live our lives with respect for one another, with words that build up and not tear down, with actions that better our own corner of this country, when we live not carelessly, but thoughtfully, we honor those who have fought so hard to make us free. 

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Galatians 5:13-14

May God fill you with strength and courage as you seek to live out His greater love.

 

 

A Preposterous Tale of a Boy, a Claim and an Empty Tomb

Posted on by Dorci

The story sounds so completely preposterous. 

A boy grows up like any other boy.  Only this boy would teach in the synagogues, and with such authority the priests would be seized with jealousy.  They would obsess over plotting to kill Him.

The boy grows up into adolescence like any other young man.  Only He would not look for a wife, but instead devote Himself to carpentry and to prayer.

The adolescent grows up like any other man, only He changes water to wine.

And He claims to be the Son of God.  The I Am.

Twelve men would leave their families and their lives in an instant because He called them.

It doesn’t make sense. 

In an ordinary place among ordinary people, a Man walks among them.  A Man who, on the outset, would seem ordinary, too.  But He isn’t.

He heals the blind, He touches the leper, He raises the dead.

In a time when women are property, He defends them.

In a place where there is no food, He feeds multitudes with a boy’s lunch.

How can that be?

To some religious leaders He boldly states, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5

Time and time again He shows His power, His authority.

Except one night when soldiers have come to take Him.  Still, His authority overwhelms them and they fall helpless to the ground.  He gives them strength again and as His disciples look on, they stand to their feet and seize Him.  A soldier loses an ear in the melee and He heals him.  

Why?  Why doesn’t He run while He can?

He stands before men in four separate mock trials.

He is sentenced to die in the place of a murderer who is set free.

He is beaten beyond recognition as a man.

But some begin to recognize Him as more than a man.

He is nailed to a cross to die among thieves, and promises one of them who asks that he will have a place with Him in Paradise that day.

How can He make that promise?

“But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.’” Luke 23:35

Why didn’t He?

He calls to His Father in heaven, asking Him to forgive all who have sinned against Him.

He dies and is buried in a tomb with armed guards standing watch.

The disciples scatter. Judas is dead. Peter hides in his shame. Hope is lost.  A man is dead.

Was it all too good to be true? Were His claims preposterous? Were His promises empty?

Three years had come and gone like a dream and now they were awake.  It’s over.  The Sabbath comes and goes.

And it’s morning on the third day.

Some disciples journey to the tomb. Some take spices for burial.

Photo by Ferrell Jenkins

But the stone is already rolled away and  He’s gone.

How?  Where were the soldiers? 

In her grief, Mary Magdalene begs a man she supposes to be the gardener, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” John 20:15

If only she could have one more moment with Him.

The Man calls her name.

“Mary!”

That voice, she knows that voice!

“Teacher!”

And she clings to Him.

She clings to Him Who is hope, to Him Who is the resurrection and the life, to Him Who is the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord of the universe, the King of heaven.

It was all true!  It sounded preposterous, ludicrous, absurd. A boy born to a virgin who claimed to be God and came to die for the sins of the world?  To human ears, human reasoning, it seemed insane.

It was beyond their comprehension.

It’s a story so elaborate, so perfectly designed, so extraordinary, so humble and so powerful at the same time that only God could dream it.

From the very beginning, everything He said would happen did.

He’s still dreaming dreams for us.  He’s still making promises that seem completely contrary to anything we can understand.  He’ll heal the marriage, He’ll bring home the child, He’ll provide the need.  He’ll forgive the sin,  He’ll make us new creations.  He’ll love us and be by our side no matter what.

He’ll prepare a home for us and come back to take us there.

And He’ll seal the promise by filling us with His Holy Spirit.

It seems preposterous.  Impossible.  Almost unbelievable.

But the stone is rolled away and He is alive.

 

May the joy of Jesus’ Resurrection fill you this day and every day!

 

 

 

 

The Rescue

Posted on by Dorci

I walked through his apartment in a daze, sifting methodically through his keepsakes, his memories, his life, trying to decide what I dared throw away, what I gave away and what I kept.  I was on a time crunch and for the most part I resisted leaning back to read the slew of papers left everywhere with his private thoughts, his struggles, his journey.

But sometimes the words called out to me from the pages and I gave in.  Faces from black and white Polaroids stared at me and I stared back, wondering just who they were.  How had my dad known them?

As I made my way around his bedroom, I looked up and there in a relatively dark corner was a survivor, a cutting from a Pothos.  A rescue with one or two small leaves in a clay pot.

My dad liked to rescue plants.  He was always taking cuttings from plants and giving them a fresh start.  I think in his heart of hearts he wanted to rescue something. He wanted to do something good.  He couldn’t rescue my mother, or my sister or me, or even himself.  So he rescued plants.

I lifted it from its place and laid it aside in the pile of things I would keep.

I brought home my little adopted friend and tried to find just the right spot where it would get enough light to grow.  It’s been all over the house in the years since.  Right now it has a cozy home by a sunny window in my bathroom.

For a long time I put off transplanting it into a bigger pot with new soil, even though it desperately needed both.  Still, it held on.  Every once in a while a leaf would turn yellow and drop off and I’d be afraid I was watching my dad’s plant die.  But another leaf would soon take its place.  It didn’t really grow, though.  It just held steady with those two or three leaves.

After scouring brick-and-mortars and the internet for a pot deserving of a plant my dad had taken the time to nurture during its teenage years, I finally found just the right pot for it and replanted it with some fresh new soil.  And what do you know, it began to grow like crazy.

Still, it only had the one stem.  And it just kept getting longer and longer.  Somewhere along the way I had developed my dad’s love of gardening and I’d learned a thing or two about it.  I knew that if I wanted the plant to be healthy, to develop multiple stems and bush out rather than remain leggy, I’d have to prune it.  I’d have to cut some off the end of the one stem it had so that the energy would be redirected to the roots and it would grow a new stem.

I put it off for a while.  It wasn’t just a stem I’d be cutting.  It was my dad’s rescue. Strangely it seemed part of him.  But I wanted it to grow into a healthy, beautiful, thriving plant, so I went to the drawer for some scissors, stood in front of it, told it I was sorry, and cut a few inches off the end.

And within a few weeks it began to grow another leafy stem.

Recently those two leafy stems with their big, shiny leaves had grown so long they were hanging on the floor.  Still, there were only two stems.  I knew it was time to prune it again.  And I dreaded it.

I went to the drawer for the scissors and stood in front of it with slightly bated breath.  This is silly! I thought.  It’s just a plant.  Again, I told it I was sorry, and I snipped off several inches this time, just adjacent to where a leaf emerged from the stem.

And suddenly something occurred to me.  Does the Lord feel this way when He prunes us?  He knows it’s for our good.  He knows just where to cut and how much to develop healthy, new growth in our lives.  Still, He knows it’s going to hurt us.

I wonder if He stands for a moment with slightly bated breath before He allows us to hear that diagnosis.  Before we hear the news about our loved one.  Before we find out we’ve lost a job or a home, or a child.

Jesus wept.

John 11:35

Of all the times the New Testament tells us of someone crying, this instance of Jesus weeping with those who wept over Lazarus’s death is the only time the word dakruo is used to describe it.  It means to weep silently or to shed tears. All other instances were of people crying out loud.

Jesus knew in just moments He would give Lazarus new life and still, His compassion for Mary and Martha and the rest was overwhelming, because He is not an uncompassionate God.  Our pain is His pain. He wept for their immediate suffering, but also for the sin nature they were caught in which ultimately brought death–the sin nature He came to overcome.

My plant is not the only rescue in this house.  I am God’s rescue.  When He plucked me out of my dark corner of the world, I was barely alive, barely growing.  Since then God’s pruned me back many times.  And I’m not always as compliant as my plant.  I’ll argue He’s taken too much or it’s too soon to take more.  And there are times I’ve wondered if He cares how much the pruning hurts.

And I look at my plant, and I know He does.

Somehow that makes going through the pruning, the struggle of it all, just a little bit easier.  Knowing God isn’t at all cavalier about the pain He must allow in my life, knowing He has a purpose beyond what I can see, knowing He’s right beside me, weeping when I weep, makes it all just a little bit easier.

When I grow up, I want to be like my plant.  I want to allow the cutting without a peep.  I want to bounce back and quickly begin to produce new growth.  I want to be content and even flourish where the Lord sees fit to put me.

Today would have been my dad’s 75th birthday.  If he were here I’d give him a jar full of jelly beans and a trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens.  Maybe a new fishing pole. Nah.  He’d rather keep the one he’d broken in.

Happy Birthday, Dad.  You rescued me more than you know.

Love and Blessings,

 

The Word Became Flesh

Posted on by Dorci

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” John 1:1-4, 14a

Every now and then I try again to wrap my mind around the fact that God has no beginning. He always was. And my head wants to implode. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has no beginning, no ending, no boundaries to where and when He can go. He is in all places and times at once.

His strength and power are limitless.  There is nothing He does not know.  Every star, every planet, every body of water, every being was created by Him.  Light and darkness obey Him.

And when it came to solving the problem of our sin and separation from Him, He could have solved it any way He wished. He could have stayed on His throne without leaving behind His heavenly kingdom or rightful place beside the Father.

But in His infinite wisdom, Jesus came down off His throne and its majesty, and allowed Himself to be born wrapped in all the boundaries of humanity.

And suddenly His throne was a million miles away.

He entrusted Himself to His heavenly Father as He submitted His care to human hands.  Instead of being wrapped in royal robes, He was wrapped only in cloths, a helpless and vulnerable babe, lying in a trough made for beasts He created.

For our sakes He left His nobility and became poor. He left His majesty and felt pain.  He left the angels’ praises and knew rejection.

From the moment He was born and throughout His life, Jesus showed us we can trust our heavenly Father, even when we feel as helpless and vulnerable as a baby. No matter who or what circumstances seem to be in control of our lives, our heavenly Father is always in control.  And we can trust Him.

We can rest in the arms of Jesus and know that He knows. And He has a plan.

 

May God bless you, and I wish you a very, merry Christmas!

Love is Patient

Posted on by Dorci

 

Love

is

patient.

Love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.
 
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Posted on by Dorci

Growing up I always felt I was on a different path.  I was drawn to that person who was different, the outcast.  The boy in the wheelchair.  The child whose parent had died.  The girl who stank.

You see, I had these long, skinny arms and legs and was painfully shy. Grade school was a little bumpy. But it made me more compassionate and I found myself wanting to be a friend to the kids no one else wanted to be friends with.

I didn’t know God yet, but He knew me. And He was working something much more important into my life than being popular.  He was teaching me humility and sacrifice.

He was teaching me to do the right thing even when it isn’t easy.

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” 1 Peter 4:12-14a, 19

When we accepted Christ we entered into a different world. A world, seen and unseen, that is hostile toward us.  A world that hates Christ and anyone who follows Him.

For too long we can cling to our worldly idea of how we want our lives to be.  How we think they should be.  We want to be liked. Successful. Free of pain. Maybe drive a nice car.  Live in a comfy house.  We think that if we do the religious do’s and not the religious don’ts we’ll be rewarded with a life free of discomfort. Then when something jumps out at us from the forest we’re surprised.

Nope, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Following Christ means we will live a life of sacrifice and suffering.  If we’re not suffering for our faith maybe we’re not fully following Jesus.

He didn’t stay on His comfy throne. He came down to us.  He went out and met with those who were suffering.  He walked long days and prayed long nights.  He touched those no one else would touch.  He healed on the Sabbath when He knew He’d be reviled for it.  He spoke the truth when He knew He’d be crucified for it.

When we walk with the Lord, we can expect suffering. A faith that’s lived rightly is a faith that will be opposed. Embrace a life of sacrifice. It’s a faith that does the right thing even when it’s hard. But there’s a rainbow coming.

If the world hated Christ, who are we to think it will love us?  It won’t. The world will mock us, persecute us, ridicule us, make us the outcast, and even more as the Day of the Lord draws nearer.  There may even be times when a brother or sister in Christ will oppose us.  God’s ways are radical and misunderstood.  And some are still living with that comfy ideal.

We have a chance every day to leave our comfy lives behind for something eternally better.  We can choose to serve no matter how inconvenient. We can choose to uncompromisingly live out our godly beliefs no matter how intolerant they may seem to the world. We can choose to speak the truth no matter who disagrees.

We can choose to live radically for Christ because He radically lived, and died, for us.

And when we suffer we can rejoice that we are on a shared mission with Christ.  We have a message to get out and a calling to fulfill, come hell or high water. And our hardships are serving us to prove our faith purer every day.

A day will come when all suffering is done.  We’ll celebrate as the glory of God is revealed and with Him we will rejoice as the victors!

Q4U: How are you able to continue living for Christ through suffering?

Grace and peace,
Dorci