“I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
Psalm 40:1-2
One of my favorite television dramas is McLeod’s Daughters an Australian hit that aired from 2001 - 2009. Great story telling and a super cast of talented actors and actresses account for its continued success worldwide long after the final episode. As I contemplated the cross and the events of Good Friday a scene from that show turned up in my mind as an illustration of the lengths God is willing to go to in order to draw us back to His heart. It would take pages for me to try and describe the scene – so here’s a Reader’s Digest version. A romantic, surprise proposal is in the works, but things don’t go to plan and the couple end up on their hands and knees in mud and cow stuff searching for that special little box. The leading man tells his leading lady that he loves her as he opens the box and as he slips the ring onto her muddied finger he says: “I really love you” – pass the tissues please.
I know this week’s passage isn’t a typical Good Friday or Easter passage but I think it speaks well to how God has chosen to propose to us, to draw us back into His Heart so he can change ours. He came down to pull us out of the mud and mire of a fallen world; we can find him on his hands and knees with us in the messes of our lives. He says I love you with every stroke of the whip on his back, with every stripe that’s left behind. He says I really love you with each nail driven into his innocent flesh and His words of “forgive them” and “it is finished”.
The scene from the television show ends with a yes and the couple covered with mud and cow stuff embracing. As we look to the cross of Good Friday, to the God who willingly gets dirty to save us – will we answer yes to His proposal? Will we embrace the battered, bruised and bloodied Jesus? Will we let His blood wash us clean?
Good Friday proves that HE loves us…that HE REALLY loves us.
A Prayer
Father – thank for the incredible and painful lengths Your Son was willing to go to in order to show us how much we are loved by You. Let our hearts over flow with love as we embrace our bruised and bloodied Savior. Help us to share that amazing, messy love with those around us, so they too can be lifted out of the mud, mire and cow stuff of life by the One who can make them clean and whole. In the name of Jesus who really loves us – we pray – Amen.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
On The Fringe
“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.’”
Luke 19:5, 7 & 9
Have you ever been on the Fringe? You know one of those kids that got picked last for kickball or baseball or any team game. Maybe you were the boy or girl who had to wear glasses when no one else did. Maybe you have a job – one the needs to be done – but that others look down on. Lots of things can put us on the fringe. Zacchaeus was tax collector; he was definitely on the fringe in his world.
Then he met Jesus. Those who witnessed Jesus telling Zacchaeus that he was going to spend the day at his house - got those who didn’t think they were on the fringe - whispering “he’s gonna hang-out with someone on the fringe.” Then something really amazing happened right there in front of everyone Zacchaeus was changed, transformed from a crooked tax collector into a generous and honest man. He went from being on the fringe to being at the center God’s heart – loved and the recipient of His amazing grace. But how can this be? Jesus answers the question for us in this week’s passage. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Zacchaeus was lost and knew it - he was on the fringe and wanted to belong; to be loved. Because he knew, Jesus was able to find him and welcome him back to where belonged.
So here’s the thing – we are all on the fringe. We have all fallen so short of what God had intended for us. There are some on the fringe who are totally blind to that fact. Some of us have recognized our need and Jesus has found us and restored us. There are some on the fringe who need to meet Jesus and they need to meet Him through us.
Lent is coming an end Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem and the beginning of His final week of life. His death and resurrection are coming – those with Him, those from the fringe who loved Him and who had learned so much from Him couldn’t or wouldn’t understand what was going to happen. We get to look back – we can understand. As followers of Christ we have all been on the fringe if not literally then spiritually. He found us when we were ready to be found and He is happy to spend not just a day but all of eternity with us. As you look to the cross; don’t go too far from the fringe – someone is there who needs to be introduced to Jesus and his amazing love – the someone who’ll introduce them could be you.
A Prayer
Father – because mankind is a fallen race living on a fallen planet we all are or have been on the fringe. Thank you for sending Your Son to find us and to save us. As we remember what is identified as His triumphant entry into Your city remind us that it was not His entry that was so triumphant, remind us that it was His exit that gives us victory and moves us from the fringe to the center your amazing love. In the name of Jesus – we pray – Amen.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Sssh...QUIET!
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore they speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.”
1 John 4:4-5
We live in an age where we are literally bombarded every waking moment by information. Here are some statistics – Information consumption in the U.S. equals 3.6 million gigabytes; the average American consumes 12 hours of information a day – outside of work; office workers spend 28% of their time dealing with e-mail; the human brain can only handle 7 pieces of information at the same time; information overload costs U.S. companies $650 billion annually; information overload is linked to greater stress and poorer health and overuse of social media can lead to short-term memory loss. If you can relate – can I have an AMEN?
It’s a wonder that any of us are able to focus and function with any effectiveness. It’s no wonder that we often times lose track of the most important information or are unable to hear God speaking to us amidst the din of information overload. The world tries to tell us what success looks like, how the right products, the right car, the right clothes, the right political candidates, the right whatever will bring us to that place of worldly success – but it doesn’t. There are too many cars, clothes, candidates and whatevers to choose from and so we lose ourselves in the world’s information heap – we are looking but we will never find the needle in this stack of stuff and being lost is painful.
In this week’s passage the Apostle John is helping believers sift through some information overload issues. You see even the early believers had more than one voice speaking into their hearts and minds – the voice of the spirit of God and the voice of the world. The world has the ability to overtake the voice of God not because it is actually more powerful but because it is way louder. John reminds the believers that they are children of God, that He lives in them and because of His power in them they are able to overcome the information overload of the world, sorting through the lies and noise trying to lead them away from His truth, love and freedom. His power can do the same for us with our 21st century information overload.
During this season of Lent shut down some of the information that is bombarding your heart and mind so you can hear the Spirit of God – He’ll give you to the power to say Shush…QUIET to the world.
A Prayer
Father – our world is so noisy these days, information is created and thrown at us faster than ever. It can make us tired, stressed and it hampers are ability to hear you and know who we are in You. Show us how to quiet our minds so we can hear you and live in your power, peace and rest. In the name of Jesus – we pray – Amen.
1 John 4:4-5
We live in an age where we are literally bombarded every waking moment by information. Here are some statistics – Information consumption in the U.S. equals 3.6 million gigabytes; the average American consumes 12 hours of information a day – outside of work; office workers spend 28% of their time dealing with e-mail; the human brain can only handle 7 pieces of information at the same time; information overload costs U.S. companies $650 billion annually; information overload is linked to greater stress and poorer health and overuse of social media can lead to short-term memory loss. If you can relate – can I have an AMEN?
It’s a wonder that any of us are able to focus and function with any effectiveness. It’s no wonder that we often times lose track of the most important information or are unable to hear God speaking to us amidst the din of information overload. The world tries to tell us what success looks like, how the right products, the right car, the right clothes, the right political candidates, the right whatever will bring us to that place of worldly success – but it doesn’t. There are too many cars, clothes, candidates and whatevers to choose from and so we lose ourselves in the world’s information heap – we are looking but we will never find the needle in this stack of stuff and being lost is painful.
In this week’s passage the Apostle John is helping believers sift through some information overload issues. You see even the early believers had more than one voice speaking into their hearts and minds – the voice of the spirit of God and the voice of the world. The world has the ability to overtake the voice of God not because it is actually more powerful but because it is way louder. John reminds the believers that they are children of God, that He lives in them and because of His power in them they are able to overcome the information overload of the world, sorting through the lies and noise trying to lead them away from His truth, love and freedom. His power can do the same for us with our 21st century information overload.
During this season of Lent shut down some of the information that is bombarding your heart and mind so you can hear the Spirit of God – He’ll give you to the power to say Shush…QUIET to the world.
A Prayer
Father – our world is so noisy these days, information is created and thrown at us faster than ever. It can make us tired, stressed and it hampers are ability to hear you and know who we are in You. Show us how to quiet our minds so we can hear you and live in your power, peace and rest. In the name of Jesus – we pray – Amen.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Mountain Climbing
“It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.”
Psalm 18:32-33
At the time I am writing this there is a great song playing on Christian radio called Trust In You by Lauren Daigle, at its core it is about trusting God simply because He is God – even when mountains don’t move, waters don’t part and prayers seem to go unanswered. As I was thinking about the song, I was reminded that just because that mountain doesn’t move doesn’t mean we should stand there staring up at the peak – sometimes it doesn’t move because we need to go mountain climbing.
The whole of Psalm 18 is about the amazing strength of God and how He not only uses it for our good but He also makes it available to us – He helps us climb mountains. This week’s passage reminds us that God gives us the strength that we need, that He’ll make the way perfect even if it is one step at a time. God can make us sure footed like a mountain deer who can easily reach the peaks of the mountains they live on. I like how The Message put it: “Is it not God who armed me, then aimed me in the right direction? Now I run like a deer; I’m king of the mountain.”
Sometimes He will move the mountains, part the waters and answer your prayers quickly and in the way we want. Sometimes we may have to climb the mountain, take a swim or wait for an answer – whichever way it happens we can trust in Him because He is God.
During this season of Lent I don’t know what today or tomorrow holds, I don’t know what dreams you have or what mountains might be in the way – what I do know is that He is our strength and our God and we can trust in Him.
A Prayer
Father – thank you for arming us with Your strength and for enabling us to climb the mountains that You chose not to move. Help us to trust you each day; taking whatever step we need to take and showing others how to walk in Your way and strength. In the name of Jesus – our mountain climbing guide, we pray – Amen.
Psalm 18:32-33
At the time I am writing this there is a great song playing on Christian radio called Trust In You by Lauren Daigle, at its core it is about trusting God simply because He is God – even when mountains don’t move, waters don’t part and prayers seem to go unanswered. As I was thinking about the song, I was reminded that just because that mountain doesn’t move doesn’t mean we should stand there staring up at the peak – sometimes it doesn’t move because we need to go mountain climbing.
The whole of Psalm 18 is about the amazing strength of God and how He not only uses it for our good but He also makes it available to us – He helps us climb mountains. This week’s passage reminds us that God gives us the strength that we need, that He’ll make the way perfect even if it is one step at a time. God can make us sure footed like a mountain deer who can easily reach the peaks of the mountains they live on. I like how The Message put it: “Is it not God who armed me, then aimed me in the right direction? Now I run like a deer; I’m king of the mountain.”
Sometimes He will move the mountains, part the waters and answer your prayers quickly and in the way we want. Sometimes we may have to climb the mountain, take a swim or wait for an answer – whichever way it happens we can trust in Him because He is God.
During this season of Lent I don’t know what today or tomorrow holds, I don’t know what dreams you have or what mountains might be in the way – what I do know is that He is our strength and our God and we can trust in Him.
A Prayer
Father – thank you for arming us with Your strength and for enabling us to climb the mountains that You chose not to move. Help us to trust you each day; taking whatever step we need to take and showing others how to walk in Your way and strength. In the name of Jesus – our mountain climbing guide, we pray – Amen.
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