Punishing Provider

How awesome is Numbers 20? It seems like the perfect place to see both God's justice and His grace. Look at it with me.

We see this in the truth of the waters of Meribah. Yet again, the people are grumbling and complaining, this time because they don't have water and have apparently forgotten that God is the Provider. So, God tells Moses to take his staff and tell the rock to bring forth water. Instead, Moses hits the rock with his staff. Now, see God's punishment of sin. Because Moses didn't do what God commanded him to do, but did his own thing instead, God decreed that he and Aaron would not be the ones to lead Israel to the promised land. Yet, here's His grace. He didn't tell Israel that He wouldn't allow them to enter the promised land, He didn't remove His presence from them, and He didn't refuse to bring forth the water they needed. He could have done any of those things and been perfectly just in it, but instead He extended His grace.

How awesome is this? And what confidence this can give to those of us who are believers! For us, God has punished our sins on the cross through Jesus and extends us His mercy and grace through Christ. What a wonder! And how undeserving are we!

Lord, thank You that for me, through Your Son, Your grace and justice go hand in hand. It is a marvelous freedom I have in you, and not through anything I've accomplished, but through Your inexplicable love for me. I am amazed daily at the gift You've given me in Your Word to know You more and draw closer to You. I love You, Lord, and find myself speechless and breathless at the wonder of Your love for me. Thank You. Amen.

Unclean

Reading through Numbers 19 this morning, my first thought was how does any of this apply to me today? Then God opened my eyes and I saw the reason and the grace behind this chapter.

I don't know if this is the connection God intended for me to make with this, but here's what I saw. The gist of the chapter is laws for purification after someone or something has come into contact with someone or something that is dead. We don't follow these laws anymore, but it did hit me why this was so important to God. His holy presence dwelt among the Israelites. Okay, keep that in mind and then think about what death is. Death is a direct consequence of sin. Before sin came into the world, there was no death - it wasn't "natural", it was a punishment for sin. So, an Israelite who came into contact with death couldn't be in the holy presence of God within the camp. Make sense?

Which got me to thinking how lucky I am that I've been freed from the consequences of sin: hell and death. Sure, my mortal body will die, but I have eternal life, which without Christ conquering sin for meew, I wouldn't have. What amazing grace! This is so awesome!

And all from a chapter I thought would be hard to apply...

Lord, thank You that You are a holy God. I praise You for Your perfection in all ways. Lord, I am humbled to know that You died the death I deserved to save me from Your wrath against my sins. Lord, You bore my punishment, a punishment You would mete out in full justice. It's a truth too wonderful to be anything but fact, too mind-boggling to be anything but truth. You are amazing and so is Your grace. Thank You! Amen.

The Greater Gift

Here's what got me tonight in Numbers 18: verse 20. God tells Aaron he gets no portion or inheritance in the land, because God is his portion and inheritance. I thought, "So what is Aaron missing? Isn't he getting the better deal?"

The application here is clear. Sure, things of the world will tempt us and they seem great. And not everything of the world is evil. It's okay for us to have nice homes, nice cars, pretty things, as long as we are giving back to the One who blessed us with them, we're not allowing them to take center stage in our hearts, and we're satisfied with what we have. But these things are not our portion or inheritance - God is.

Do we think of Him that way? What a gift! What a portion! He is greater and far better than anything we can have here.

Lord, You are amazing. You fill me with joy and satisfy my soul. Thank You for being my portion and my inheritance. Forgive me for the times I've chased after things of dust on this earth instead of chasing after You. Open my eyes to see the beauty of the inheritance I already possess and remind me continually that my home is not here and my heart shouldn't be either. Amen.

God's Good Grace

This will probably be a short post tonight, since Numbers 17 is a short chapter. But, it does show us something about the awesome grace of God and our own natures in comparison.

So, the Israelites have been grumbling...again. God had just passed judgment on some of the ringleaders, but now He's going to give a visible demonstration of His choice to them. And He states the reason for doing this: to make an end of their grumbling against Him, lest they die. So He has Moses take a staff from the leader of each of Israel's tribes, with Aaron's being for the Levites. Whichever staff He makes bloom will be the one that He has chosen, and a sign for the people. Of course, we already know that Aaron was God's chosen, so his staff bloomed and the others did not.

Now, see the grace here? God didn't have to give them any quarter. For as long as they continued to rebel against Him and the leadership He had placed in authority over them, He could have continued punishing them, and it would have been perfectly just. Instead, He extends grace to them by causing a sign that was very specific and not to be ignored.

Would we do this? Oftentimes, we're quick to destroy or disown anyone who complains about us or questions us. We're not as likely to pray for them or to extend mercy or grace to them. Unfortunately, since we so rarely do it, that's exactly what we're called to do. Think about it: the greatest mercy and grace has been shown to us, the greatest of sinners. Shouldn't we do the same?

To me, this is a really cool picture of God's saving us. Here we were, wallowing in our sin, grumbling against the God who loved us. Instead of leaving us there, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ into the world. He did what we could never do, live a perfect life without sin. Precisely because of that and because God planned it before the foundation of the world, He was beaten, stripped, mocked, pierced with a crown of thorns, and crucified. He DIED on that cross. He shed His perfect blood to pay the penalty for MY sins. Not just the impersonal sins of the world, MY SINS. I put Him there, yet He died in my place, facing God's wrath against me, because He loved me even then. Then He was buried in a borrowed tomb for three days, before rising, conquering over the sin and death that had claimed me as its own, and after showing Himself to over 500 people, ascended to take His place at the right hand of God. And one day, He's coming back for me. How awesome is that? What grace is that?

Lord, thank You for Your sacrifice. I praise You, God, because You deserve far more praise than my stammering tongue could ever give You. You are a God my mind can barely fathom, and yet You love me. It's beyond comprehension, but I'm so desperately thankful that it's true. Lord, thank You for this perfect picture of Your grace in salvation in Numbers 17. Such a short chapter, but what a message, Lord. You love Your people even in sin and lead the way out because You've already defeated it. I am filled with worship for Your great name. What can I say, but thank you, thank you, Lord! Amen.

Green Eyes and Stiff Necks

Numbers 16 has a lot to teach us. I'm still amazed and in awe at how God has opened my heart to the Old Testament, especially these books that I thought would be so boring or that I'd already heard all the stories from. Thank You, Lord!

Okay, so the first forty verses are pretty much about the rebellion of Korah. What this really boils down to is an issue of jealousy. He and the men with him chose to believe that Moses and Aaron were unduly exalted above the rest of the congregation, specifically above themselves. They didn't like it. Why wouldn't God be able to speak through them just as easily and powerfully? Shouldn't they get a turn at being "king of the mountain"?

What they failed to understand is that God chose Moses. Moses didn't exalt himself and seek after this responsibility; in fact, if I remember correctly, he tried every excuse in the book to avoid it. Instead of being grateful for a shepherd, a protector, a mediator between them and God, they were jealous of the position Moses held. They didn't see it as the responsibility or burden it surely was, but as a place of honor that they deserved. How ludicrous! In the end, their jealousy and presumption against God's design destroyed them.

Do we ever feel this way? Oh, maybe not specifically against our pastors, but just jealous in general? Perhaps instead, we should be grateful we don't have that position we want, that house we've been eyeing, that just extra something that brings with it power, prestige, happiness...because we should find our deepest joy in Christ instead. We should be thankful for whatever position we find ourselves in, knowing that God had placed us there for a specific purpose, whether we see it at the moment or not. His plan calls for us to be in exactly the place we are at exactly the time we are there with exactly the people we are with. God hasn't left anything to chance, friend, trust me on that. He's sovereign over all and His plans for you are infinitely better than any we could contrive on our own.

The rest of the chapter is basically another rebellion, this time because the people blamed Moses for the deaths of the rebels from Korah's band. WHAT? Were they not watching? Did they not learn what God does when His plans are challenged? What a stubborn group of people! It seems like they just had to have something to complain about!

But don't we do the same sometimes? We may be gently and graciously disciplined by God for something, but the temptation is still too great for us to leave it alone, or worse, we blame God for the discipline as if we didn't deserve it and complain against Him! What a stubborn people we are!

Instead, we need to trust in Him. We need to trust that He is good and all His ways are pure and righteous, even though it may seem unfair to us at times. Remember, we don't have the view God does.

Lord, what a wonderful, mighty, just, righteous, patient, loving God You are! Forgive me for testing that instead of trusting in it. Forgive me for times I've questioned Your goodness, Your justice, or Your plans for me. Help me instead to honor You through obedience and trust. You are an amazing God and I pray that rather than bucking Your design for me, You will burn away the dross and refine what's left, molding me into exactly who You desire, where You desire and with those You desire. I love You, Lord. Thank You for being my Father. Amen.

Good Intentions

So, I've been extremely caught up in the day-to-day stuff over the past two days, and need to ask your forgiveness for not writing. Yesterday, I didn't even study at all! I guess the good thing that has come from missing is that where, before, it was par for the course, now it feels strange and wrong. So I'm grateful for that at least.

Tonight, though, I want to share just a life lesson rather than getting back into Numbers.

I got an email today from our Children's Director. Every year, at summertime, we as parents get a link to a digital copy of a booklet that gives you ideas on how to be intentional in teaching your children about Christ throughout the summer. It's got some really cool ideas in it, ones that just might have an impact: building a fort with your child and talking to them about how God is our fortress; going on a walk barefoot, then washing their feet and telling them about Christ being a servant; searching for dive sticks in the pool and relating it to how Jesus came to seek and save the lost. These ideas also have Scriptures that can go along with them, and questions to get the conversation started.

The idea is to be intentional, using every opportunity to teach your child the gospel. Looking through it today, it got me wondering, especially in light of the busyness of the past few days....how many opportunities am I missing? Am I parenting intentionally, or just hoping that Cole will pick it up from our study time or church or whatever?

So I decided to put it to the test tonight, and God gave me ample opportunity. Success: he wanted to help me while watering the plants. As I picked the dead flowers off, I spoke to Him of the need for us to prune our hearts of sin so that God can do the work of growing good fruit in its place. As I gave them water, I described how it's nourishing to the plant and vital to its growth, just like the Word is for our souls. He listened attentively, then chattered about something else, but at least the seed was planted!

But there was a failure as well, a missed opportunity. We went out and played a war game (I definitely have a boy!). I should have spoken of our spiritual war and the armor of God, but I got caught up in the game and didn't.

Now, I'm not saying that we have to beat our kids over the head with the Bible, or that every activity must have a lesson attached to it. Some of that comes from watching us as parents living a godly life, too. What I am saying is that I can be much more sensitive to those moments that God gives me, even creating some, in the hopes that seeing Christ in the every day will make Him more real to my child.

How are you parenting?

Lord, thank You for opening my eyes to the possibilities I've been missing when I haven't shared You with my son in an intentional way. Forgive me for that. Please, Lord, grant me many more opportunities and call to mind the parallels and the Scriptures to explain the gospel to Him. Save him early, Lord, so that he might have a lifetime of joy in knowing You. Thank You, Lord. Amen.

Oh, How I Love Jesus, Week Three

Before I copy tomorrow's lesson over, I wanted to give those of you who might be reading a quick update. Richard's (my stepdad's) mother passed away today around 12:10 or so. He seems to be at peace about it and is confident of her salvation, so we can praise God knowing that she is with Him and much, much happier now. Her joy is complete. That being said, please continue to keep the family in your prayers as they go through the next weeks, as we all know these times can be hard. Even keep them in your prayers at holidays, since we know we miss our family most at those times. Thank you again for your faithful prayers.

And now for the lesson..

Oh, How I Love Jesus
Week Three

To quickly review, over the past two weeks, we’ve been talking about what it means practically to have a relationship with Jesus. We’ve discovered who He is, what a relationship is, and what you do in a relationship. Then last week, we talked about two of His attributes, namely, His righteousness and His holiness. We discussed what those things are and how they affect our relationship with Him.

Today’s lesson is a tough one. We’re going to talk about two more of His attributes, love and justice. The reason this is so tough is because there’s so much to say about both and I want to tell you everything that I can, but we have a limited amount of time, so we’re going to just dive in.

The reason I wanted to talk about these two together is that, at first blush, these two look like entirely different things, and almost as if they’re in opposition to each other. We think if God is just, He must be busy running around punishing everyone, but if He’s loving, He has to forgive everyone. The reality of it is that these are two sides of the same coin. Let me show you how; we’ll start with His justice.

What is justice? What does it mean to be just? How does that affect my relationship with Jesus?

To be just is to be guided by truth, reason, or fairness. It is to be in keeping with the truth. We know that God is the Author of Truth, so we know that He must be just. Not only that, but Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He.” Let’s also talk about that word justice. Justice brings to mind the idea of giving out a deserved punishment or reward. Keep that in mind while we talk about this, because it’s going to be important. In fact, God’s justice is so important to Him, that He actually demanded it of His people a little earlier in Deuteronomy as a condition of entering the promised land (16:20). (Justice, and only justice, you shall follow that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.)

So we know that God is just and we know that His justice is important to Him - but what does that have to do with us and our relationship with Him? Well, here’s the issue: we are not just. In fact, we’re the opposite of just - we’re sinners. And who have we sinned against? Others, sure, but ultimately against God. Psalm 51:4 - “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.” You see, we are separated from God by our sin, which means we can’t have a relationship with Him. That makes His justice seem like a scary thing, then, right? That means we deserve only punishment from Him. Okay, now stay with me here, because we’re going to go back and forth between two books in the New Testament to make a point here. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Uh-oh. We can all find ourselves on that list somewhere, so we’re in big trouble! But wait, surely we can do some good things to make up for it, right? I mean, we can volunteer at the local soup kitchen, we can go to Sunday School and church every Sunday, we can go to every youth group function and sing and listen to the sermon and we’ll be just fine, right? It all balances out in the end…or does it? Flip over to Galatians 3:10-11: “For all who rely on works of the law (trying to do the good things that God commands us to do) are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” Pause there for a second: did you catch that? You have to abide by all the Law. So if you mess up in one little thing, you’re out of luck; you’re done; you’ve got the curse. Pick it up with me in verse 11: “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” Okay, so those good works we thought would balance out our sin? They’re nothing before Him. So we’re still in trouble here.

But keep reading in verse 13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’-so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” And then back in 1 Corinthians 6, look at verse 11: “And such were some of you (remember that list from before?). But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” So do you see what just happened? We are justified through Christ! What does that mean? It means that if we repent of our sins and believe in Christ’s atoning work on the cross, when God looks at us, He sees that His justice has already been achieved. He didn’t set it aside, He poured out our punishment for our sin on the body of Christ on the cross. So Christ did what we couldn’t do - He lived sinlessly, and was therefore able to pay the price for our sins, because He did keep every commandment of the law. And now, when God looks at me, He sees Christ’s blood over me, and I am safe from the curse.

Listen to this from Romans 3, verses 21-26: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Now do you see what I get excited about His justice? What should bring me to my knees in terror instead brings me to my knees in humility and thankfulness. God never set aside His justice for me; if He had, He would no longer be God. Instead, He chose me before the foundation of the world and sent His son to die for me so that He would remain just and I would be justified. Praise God! What love that shows! Which brings us to the next attribute…

What is love? What does it mean that He loves me? How does that affect my relationship with Jesus?

I love the definition of love I found: “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person” (dictionary.com). I love this so much because it’s the perfect description of Christ’s love for me personally.

Look at this. First Chronicles 16:34 says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” The love that He has for me is never-ending and all encompassing. It cannot be shaken. That is amazing. There is no other love out there like this, not even the love your parents have for you. Yes, they love you and would do anything for you and will hopefully never stop loving you; but it is not the same unconditional, undeserved love that Christ demonstrates for us.

Having said that, I think you know about Christ’s love. There’s no way to describe the depth and the quality of it, because it is so far beyond us. Instead, I want to show you how He demonstrates that to us and what we are called to do because of and with it. So look first at Titus 3:4-7. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Here’s what I want you to see from these verses. First, His love is unconditional. There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve it. It comes forth solely because He wants it to. That’s it! Second, He lavishes His love upon us. He richly blesses us and has given us the greatest blessing of all in our salvation through Jesus. Third, His love for us is so great, that He has made us as His own sons and daughters; we are not left orphans or set aside from His table to be tolerated, but we are made welcome and are heirs with Christ. How amazing!

So what does this love mean for us? It means that we have a responsibility to honor and share it. First, we are to love God. (Deuteronomy 6:5 - “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”) Jesus expounds upon that by telling us that it is “the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:38). This means that our love for Him cannot be a hidden thing, it cannot be on the periphery of our lives; it must be central to it, the foundation for all that we do. Our love for Him must consume us!

Next, it is to create a deeper love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. John 13:34 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This should also spur us on to love those who are lost even more as well, because it is through us and our love for each other and for Christ that they will see their need for Him.

Now turn to 1 John with me. We’re going to start in chapter 4 and work through a few verses, because we’re going to see how His love for us and our love for Him and how we show that all joins together. This is so awesome how it’s all laid out for us right here! Look at verse 7: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.” Okay, so we see here again that we are commanded to love one another, because God is love and our expression of that proves our love for Him. Pick up in verse 9: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Here we are reminded of the ultimate expression of love on both the part of God and Jesus - God sent His only Son to die so that sinners that would believe in Him might be saved, and we see Jesus willingly fulfilling His Father’s plan. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” So again, we see John reminding us that the work of Christ produces more love in us, and should cause us to spread and grow that love. Jump down to verse 16: “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.” Then verse 19: “We love because He first loved us.” So here we see how our relationship with God started in the first place - because He loved us. We didn’t love Him first, but because He loved us, if we repent and believe in the work of Christ on the cross, we will love Him. That love for Him will cause us to abide in Him and in return, He will abide in us. Isn’t this amazing? Christ died for us while we still hated Him, mired in our sin, and then turned that into love that just keeps growing. Wow!

Conclusion

I realize that there isn’t a lot of personal application in this lesson for you, other than that we try to follow His commandments to honor His justice, and we love our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as the lost, that we might abide in Him and our relationship be deeper. However, these two attributes are just so amazing that I couldn’t talk about having a relationship with Him without making sure that you would understand why they are so amazing, and how they draw me to Him, how I’ve learned to appreciate them in more than just a superficial way. So my question to you this morning is this: Which side of His justice are you on? Are you deserving of punishment, or are you covered by Christ’s blood? Do you love Him? Or are you still mired in the muck of your sin? If you are His, abide in Him. Get to know Him more deeply through His word. Actively find ways to love your brothers and sisters in Christ and to honor Him by obedience to His commandments. Seek opportunities to tell others about Him. If you are not His, consider where you are today. Consider what you deserve from a just God: punishment for your sin. You can do nothing to earn heaven or salvation; it is a gift freely given out of love by Christ. However, you do have to take ahold of that gift. You must repent, or turn away from, your sin and turn to the only One who can save you. You must believe that Christ lived the sinless life that you can’t, and that as a result, He was the perfect and only sacrifice acceptable to God for sin. You must believe that He took the full measure of God’s wrath against your sin on the cross and that it was fully paid for. You must believe that He died, but rose after three days to conquer over your sin and over your death. Then you must take up your cross, daily dying to your flesh, and follow after the One who saved you, in full confidence that when God looks at you, He no longer sees a sinner, no longer sees your sin, but sees a son or daughter, sees the blood of His righteous Son covering over you, and knows that His justice against you has been satisfied.

Lord, I praise You for being a just God. And Lord, in spite of the fact that Your justice convicts me, I love it. Because of Your justice, You sent Your Son, and now I can know Him and have a personal relationship with Him. It just blows my mind, Lord, that You would love a sinner like me that much. Forgive me for the times that I have disregarded or ignored Your love and Your sacrifice, Lord. Thank You for loving me in spite of my sin. Thank You for saving me while I was still stuck in it and not even looking for a way out. Help me, Lord, to love You more each day and to abide in You. love You more than words can say, yet I know it's only a fraction of a fraction of the love You hold for me. Thank You! In Your name I pray, amen.

Tonight

Friends, there will be no real post tonight. My stepfather's mother is in the hospital and they're not expecting her to last long. Instead, please pray for her and the family. Richard believes that she's saved, so we are thankful for that. Thank you for your prayers.

Strangers Among Us

So, today's chapter was Numbers 15. There was so much great stuff here (and I never thought I would get excited about Numbers!), but one idea in particular stuck out to me. You can actually see it in the first 31 verses, if the title of this post didn't already give it away.

I think it's really interesting that God commands that even the strangers, the sojourners, must follow the same rules as the Israelites. He has the same expectations and the same consequences. While God makes a distinction between them as being outside of the people of God, for lack of a better phrase, He still sets forth the same laws for them so long as they are with the Israelites.

I think this is very important and has some big implications for us. Here are some scenarios where this could play out for us, and this isn't an exhaustive list, but just a few ideas.

When unsaved family members come to dinner, do we pray out loud like we do when they're not around, or do we pray quietly so we don't make them uncomfortable? Or do we not pray at all?

What about in public? How do we pray when we eat out?

When you're babysitting for someone who isn't saved, do you teach their child the same things you do your own (i.e., prayer before meals or bedtime, being obedient to glorify God, Bible story/studies, etc.)? Same goes for when your child's friend spends the night at your house.

Do you discipline or talk to your child the same way you would normally when they're around their friends? I don't mean in a way that would embarrass them, but explaining the consequences of sin? Calling them to repentance?

Do you confront sin in the life of an unbeliever in order to show them Christ, or do you ignore it and leave them in it because they're not saved?

Do you listen to popular music with your friends when you would normally listen to praise music?

The list could go on and on, but you get the idea. Do you bend your will and rules to conform to someone else's, someone who isn't saved? STOP RIGHT NOW. Why do we do this? Why aren't we staying on the narrow path, and requiring them to come along with us? Now I realize that all of the scenarios above aren't exactly always in our control. But, I can always bow my head and pray, and I can always have my family join me, regardless of where we are. If I'm driving, I get to choose what's on the radio. I can teach my child about the consequences of sin no matter where he is or who he's with.

Do you see the importance here? Not only is it about making a choice to stand for Christ and to be uncompromising on the gospel, but it's an opportunity to give the stranger to Christ a small taste of Who He is, and how important He is. If they see us waffling back and forth depending on the situation, what does that tell them about our faith? Our Christ? Our God?

So, I guess my point for today is: Don't compromise your values and your faith and the gospel to please the stranger. Where you go, God goes, so make sure He's known. Maybe, just maybe, He'll use that in the life of an unbeliever. Having said that, also remember that we are sojourners in this world, so do it with kindness and love.

Lord, thank You for Your goodness and grace. I pray tonight, Lord, that You will enable me to be bold for the gospel-with kindness and love. I don't want to step on anyone's toes, but neither do I want to compromise on my faith or values or what you've commanded me to do. Forgive me for the times I've done just that. I love you, Lord, and I pray this in faith, knowing that You will answer. Amen.

One Bad Apple

Read through Numbers 14 today. Got it? Okay, let's get started.

Ever hear that phrase, "One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch"? That's what I see here today. Except Israel ended up with ten bad apples, and they had a BIG bunch. Can you see it? Of the twelve men that were sent to spy out the Promised Land, ten denied that it was any good and because of those ten, the lone two dissenting men were ignored. The rest of the Israelites went right back to grumbling, apparently having learned nothing from the manna incident (just saying). In fact, they grumbled so much that they started wishing to go back to Egypt again! Wow, what a stiff-necked group of people!

But do you see how it started? Just a few questioning the will of God, just a few complaining, and suddenly, the whole of the nation is doing it. They start thinking they'd rather go back to bondage than enter this land God had promised them!

Does any of this sound familiar in our own lives? If not, it probably should; either that, or we're deluding ourselves. We as Christians must be so mindful of this. We grumble and complain about things all the time! See if any if this sounds like something you're guilty of (I'm raising my hand on a few, too!):

"The preacher was stepping on some toes today, wasn't he? Yep, that was a mighty good sermon."

"Can you believe he/she said that to me? After all, he'd/she'd better take the plank out of his/her own eye before getting the speck out of mine!"

"Ugh, I can't believe I was asked to teach/cook/supervise the children/mow the church lawn AGAIN! Don't they have anyone else to ask?"

"Now, you know I love the pastor, but some things just shouldn't be said from the pulpit."


Yep, that's right fellow churchgoers. All of these comments just stir up strife and reveal a sinful heart. Guess what? That makes you the bad apple! Yikes! Think about it. Just one of these comments to anyone else gets them to thinking, and maybe agreeing a little with you. Then they share it with a spouse, who shares it with a friend, and the next thing you know, the whole church is rotten. Yes, I said it.

Then we want to start making committees and programs and the pastor can't preach what the Holy Spirit is telling him to because he might offend someone. And so we return to our Egypt - back to the bondage of sin we go, and happily to. Man, we'll lock that door and throw away the key our own selves!

Friends, be aware of your attitudes and your words. Let them be edifying and encouraging instead of damaging and destructive. "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Don't be the bad apple that spoils the bunch.

Lord, thank You for being gracious and merciful even when we've sinned against You. Thank You for giving us the opportunity to repent instead of just leaving us to our just desserts. Forgive me for times when I have allowed resentment or subtle sins to creep into my heart and cause dissension in the body. Help me, I pray, to be especially mindful of my words and attitude, so that I might glorify You and build up Your church rather than working against You. Amen.

Faith to Move Forward

First of all, sorry I didn't post anything last night. I went to my mom's for my birthday dinner (which was excellent!). By the time that I got home and showered, I was ready for bed! Forgive me?

Today I studied through Numbers 13. This is where Moses sends men from each of the tribes of Israel to spy out the land that God was giving to them (Canaan). Of the twelve men that go out, only Caleb wanted to move forward. Usually, we focus on Caleb's faith in God; we like to zero in on how he trusted that God had said He would give the Israelites this land, and so Caleb wasn't intimidated by what he found there, because he knew that God would bring them through. Now, that is an awesome lesson of this event, but instead of looking at Caleb, I want to look at the other men, the ones who didn't want to move forward.

Have you ever wondered what was holding them back? They were operating on the same information that Caleb was, after all. They knew that God had promised them the land of Canaan. They knew that this was their opportunity to go in and take it. They had seen how God provided for them time after time. They walked with His clouds, His fire, His presence. How could they doubt?

I think that we all too often sneer at these men and ridicule them for their faithlessness, but aren't we the same? Don't we let opportunities pass by ourselves? Think about it. Have you ever had the chance to move, but the thought of leaving what you know behind scares you? Have you had the chance to witness to someone, but the fear of man held you back? Have you wanted to make a change in "the establishment" (for lack of a better term), but it seemed like everyone else was too well entrenched for you to make a difference? Have you ever known that you need to stand up to someone or stand up for Christ, but you know that your opponent is larger than you are, be it physically, in intelligence, or what-have-you?

If so, you're in the exact same boat as these men! They came back with all kinds of excuses - the people are too big, the cities are too fortified, et cetera, et cetera. Don't we do the same thing? We say we honor God and trust Him in one breath, and then in the next we cower back from opportunities that, for all we know, are God-given! What if God put you in an office with an unbelieving boss so that you could be light to him/her? What if God is calling you to move to the next state over because He has a purpose for you there? What if you're squirming in your seat at that PTA meeting because God wants you to speak up and change something at your child's school? What if your conscience is troubling you because you know you need to confront a fellow believer with their sin and pray over them and help guide them to repentance? What if, what if...

Do you want your life to be filled with "what ifs"? And for such silly reasons as man's opinion, fear of the unknown...pride? Listen, we've got the same information as Caleb and those other men did. We know that God is with us. Why should we fear to lay hold of the opportunities He puts in our path? I'm not saying just charge ahead willfully and go blundering along, hoping it all works out. Sure, we need to prayerfully approach each situation that arises, but then we need to move forward in faith.

What have you been holding back from? Who have you been holding back from? Spend some time in prayer about how to rightfully approach the situation, and then act.

Lord, I bring You praise. I am so thankful for the opportunities that You give me each day to profess my faith, to seek after You, to spread Your gospel in this darkened world. Forgive me for the times when I've stood still instead of moving forward in faith. Grant me another opportunity where I've failed and send more my way - not for my own selfish pride or to try to make up for what I've missed, but because I determine here and now to respond in faith when presented with these chances. Give me eyes to see the need, and ears to hear what You would have me say. Give me the strength and courage to act. In Your name I pray, amen.

All to Us

So let the glory of your name be the passion of the church.
Let the righteousness of God be a holy flame that burns.
Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives.
We believe You're all to us!

How I pray that we can sing this in truth. This is the prayer of my heart. Those words are what I desire to see and to have others see in my church, in my work, in my home, in my life. When someone looks at me, I don't really even want them to see me. I just want them to see the One who lives in me.

Friends, I'm not going to do a journal tonight based on a passage of Scripture or even on the amazing sermon we heard today. Instead, I ask that you look back at the entry from last Saturday and from yesterday. Specifically, I want you to study the Scriptures concerning who Christ is. Go ahead, I'll wait.

.......

Are you back? Okay, great. Were you moved? Are you in awe? Are you filled with wonder? Do you feel your heart stirring in admiration, appreciation, thanksgiving, and praise? Good, because you should. This God, so far beyond us, loves us! How can we not sing to Him? How can we not worship Him? How can we not pray to Him? How can we not serve Him by serving those around us? How can we not listen attentively to His Word faithfully preached? How can we not study it daily on our own? HOW CAN WE NOT GIVE OUR ALL TO HIM WHEN HE HAS GIVEN ALL TO US?

Okay, so maybe there's a touch of today's sermon here. But I have been thinking, praying, and praising Him all day today, and I've just been struck anew with the wonder of our Savior. I hope you are, too.

Lord, you are amazing. How do I describe you? Words are not enough. Emotions are not enough. All I can do is bow before You and offer You my all. Feeble as my life is, Lord, it's already Yours, anyway. I pray that You would take it and use me in whatever way You see fit. Forgive me for holding anything back. I'm desperate for You and Your grace, Lord. Amen.

Oh, How I Love Jesus, Week Two

OK, all, here's the lesson I'll be teaching the middle school girls tomorrow morning. :)

Oh How I Love Jesus/M Gathering

Week Two



So, last week, we discussed how we were going to start talking about what it means for us to have a relationship with Jesus, what this actually looks like for us practically in our day-to-day lives. We decided that in order to answer that question, we needed to know a few things first. We needed to know who Jesus was, and we learned that he is the Messiah, the Son of God, our only way to the Father, our Savior through the cross, the One Who was resurrected and defeated sin and death for those who are His, the One Who will return for His people someday, our King who commands our obedience. Then we looked at what a relationship is, and discussed how the basis of our relationship with Jesus was His blood shed on the cross for our sins. Finally, we talked about what it means to be in a relationship. We discussed how we can and should speak to Him through prayer and how important that is, as well as how we can show that we love Him through our obedience, staying in His Word, and bearing fruit for Him.



What we haven’t yet discussed is why we should want to have a relationship with this Jesus. That’s what we’re going to start doing today. I am not going to go through all of the feel-good Sunday school reasons with you. You’ve heard this stuff. Sure, we certainly will talk about His grace, His mercy, and His love for us and how those attributes call us to Him; but we can’t just focus on the “Jesus, meek and mild” as Pastor Nick calls it. There are other attributes that should make us desire Him just as much: His holiness, His righteousness, His justice. Read Psalm 29 with me. Does this seem like a “feel-good Jesus”? No, this is a God mighty and powerful. This is the God we pathetic sinners want to have a relationship with! So, over the next few weeks, that’s what we’re going to be looking at. This week, I want to talk about His holiness and righteousness, and how those are things that make me desire a relationship with Him and how those attributes affect our lives.



What is holy? What does it mean to be holy? How does that affect my relationship with Jesus?



So let’s define the word “holy” or “holiness”. What does that even mean? Well, we know that it means to be set apart. But what does that even mean? His Word says, “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:4) Did you catch that? He alone is holy. That means that God is unique, and that holiness is an attribute unique to Him. So what does that mean for us?



“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) It means that we are not holy. We are not set apart. They say opposites attract, and I think that’s applicable here. Here’s what I mean by that: while I don’t covet God’s holiness, and I certainly don’t want to be God, because I am not holy, that attribute makes me long for Him. It makes me long to get to know Him better. There is something missing in me that can only be made complete by His holiness. And when I can semi-wrap my mind around this attribute, it makes me fall to my knees. I can never be holy, I can never be like Him, I can never offer anything that would make a God like that look at me, notice me, let alone love me and desire a relationship with me!



So where does that leave us? It leaves us at the foot of the cross, with our eyes fixed upon Jesus and the knowledge of the work He accomplished there. Did you know that because of His work, we can be made holy? Not in the way that God is holy, but in that when God looks at us, He will see us as set apart, drawn out from the rest by His Son, who has laid claim to our hearts. “Blessed be the God and Father our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” (Ephesians 1:3-4) Can you imagine? Through the cross, God makes sinners holy and blameless! How can you not desire a relationship with Him?



But how does this work for us in our day-to-day? As always, we must turn to His Word for the answer. On a side note, isn’t it lovely that we have an “instruction manual” for our lives all laid out before us? Every answer is here! Second Corinthians says, “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” (6:16; 7:1) So we see that, as always, it comes back to a matter of obedience to His commandments. And again, this is not a way to earn our salvation or get rewards from Christ; instead, it’s an outworking of what has already been completed in our hearts. It’s a “gift” we give to Christ to honor and glorify Him in thanksgiving for our salvation. The idea in these verses is that as God is holy and set apart, so should we be. That doesn’t mean that you can’t have unbelieving friends; it does mean that you can’t willfully sin along with them. It does mean that you are to be light in the darkness to them to lead them to Christ. It means you are “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4: 22-24)



His holiness goes hand in hand with His righteousness, which is another thing that draws me to Him – another thing I’m not that He is, that He can provide.



What is righteousness? What does it mean to be righteous? How does that affect my relationship with Jesus?



The idea of righteousness carries with it the idea of being “morally upright”, just, and sinless; all things that we are not, but Christ is. Listen to this description of God, now that you know what righteousness is: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before You.” (Psalm 89:14) What a beautiful picture of the One we want to have this relationship with!



And yet, there is a problem. Ecclesiastes says, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” (7:20) Romans 3:10 declares, “None is righteous, no, not one.” So how can the unrighteous have anything to do with the Righteous One? Through faith in the resurrecting, saving power of Christ. “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19)



Do you see how our entire relationship with Christ pivots on His work on the cross? How do we respond to this? Romans 6:12-13 answers that question. “Let not sin therefore remain in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” James also gives us instruction. “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (1:19-22) You see, Christ’s righteousness covering over us demands a response, and again, that response is obedience to and a delight in His Word. How do we defeat sin and follow Him to have a relationship with Him? We don’t have to! Jesus has already defeated sin on the cross. The war has already been won, but we must partake in the battle. That’s why Paul tells us about the armor of God in Ephesians 6. Wouldn’t you fight for an earthly relationship if it were important to you? How much more should we fight for our relationship with Christ?

Conclusion


Do you see how these two attributes, attributes that we gloss over a lot of times to focus on the “feel-good” ones, are so vital to our relationship with Him? They are the very foundation of our relationship with Him! Do His holiness and His righteousness draw you to Him? Do they increase your desire to know Him, to have an intimate knowledge of Christ and to be intimately known by Him? If so, take joy and do the hard work of fighting for that relationship, knowing that it produces good things. “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you.” If not, spend some time in prayer and determine why that is. Do you not know Him? Do you not desire Him as He is? Have you made your picture of what you want God to be your idol instead of the one true God? Repent, and believe and seek the God who is.

Lord, thank You for being Who You are. Thank you for Your righteousness and Your holiness. Forgive me for not being grateful enough for those qualities. Thank you for the process of sanctification, Lord, where you're making me more and more like You every day. I pray, Lord, that You will open my eyes to the beauty of these qualities and make me appreciate them and You more and more each day. Amen.

Face-to-Face

So, I know most people would focus on Miriam's judgment in Numbers 12. But, while that's important, I'm captivated by something else. Notice God's words in verses 6-8? He says that He speaks with Moses "mouth to mouth" and that Moses "beholds the form of the Lord". Reading that, it hit me that one day, that will be me. I'll get to see Christ's form. I'll get to speak with Him face-to-face (if I can get off my knees!). How awesome is that?

Have you ever sat and thought about that? What will He look like? What will I do when I see Him? I know the song "I Can Only Imagine" poses that very question, and while I like the song well enough, I've always thought, "Of course I'm going to be on my knees, duh." But will I? I don't know. It's so difficult to envision this scenario. My mind is too darkened to even try to get a pixel of this image.

Luckily, His Word does give us some clues. We know that in Exodus 33 and 34, Moses was told that he could only see the back of God passing by, because no man could see His face and live. Yet when Moses came down from the mountain, he had to shield his face with a veil because it was shining so brightly with the reflected glory - just from the Lord's back!

Then we look to Matthew 17, where we behold the transfiguration of Jesus. We're told that "His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light". (verse 2) Peter's reaction, of course, is to jump in to do something and to speak before thinking. But after hearing the voice of God, all of the disciples fall to their knees. What does this mean for us? I don't really know the answer to that question. Maybe it means that our reactions will be different depending on our personalities. Maybe it means that no one can stand before the face of God, even the bravest (or foolhardy, as the case may be). Either way, we know that when we finally see the face of our Lord, He will be light!

But some of the most interesting pictures of what we can expect to see are in Revelation. In chapter 1, verses 9-20, we see John's first vision of Christ. John says that He is clothed in a long robe with a golden sash; his hair is white, with eyes like flames, and feet of burnished bronze. His voice sounds like many waters - we'll hear nothing else. From His mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword (the Word), and again, His face is shining like the sun at its brightest. What an image! I think John has the most appropriate action in the world - he falls at His feet as one dead. I'm pretty sure I would, too. Yet what a beautiful picture we see when Christ tells John not to fear and reminds John of who He is.

We see Him next in Revelation 4. We're told here that he has the appearance of jasper and carnelian, with a rainbow around his throne that looks like an emerald (not quite sure how that works, but I can't wait to see it!). Lightning and thunder emerges from the throne with a sea of glass in front of it. Creatures fly around the throne, proclaiming His glory and honor. Next to this throne of God stands a slain Lamb, with seven horns and seven eyes. Without getting into all of the symbolism vs. realism debate of Revelation, can you picture this? Me neither! I'm awestruck at this description of God and Christ. I can't even conjure up the tiniest image of what this looks like. My mind has absolutely nothing to compare it to. It's like trying to invent a new color. It just can't be done!

My favorite picture of Christ, though, is in Revelation 19. He appears on a white horse with flaming eyes. He comes to make war. He has many diadems on His head and a name written that only He knows. His robe has been dipped in blood and He is called the Word of God. A sharp sword protrudes from His mouth and the name "King of kinds and Lord of lords" is written on His robe and His thigh. Again, I can just barely, fuzzily picture this. What makes this my favorite is that it is so triumphant. I feel like when we see Him like this, if there has ever been the tinest seed of doubt in anyone's mind about who will win this war, it will be erased in the blink of an eye.

THIS IS OUR GOD. This is the One whom we desire to see. He is the One that we serve. It is He who has already won this war, the conquering Creator, the Lion of Judah! Amen! While I may not know what my reaction will be, and I'm pretty sure I will be down on my knees, face buried in the ground, I can't wait to see Him! I long for the day when He might lay His hand on me and tell me not to be afraid. I can't wait to speak with him "mouth to mouth", to walk with Him and talk with Him and sing His praises with the angels before His throne. Hallelujah!

Lord, you are an awesome God. What feeble words can I even offer to give You the praise You so richly deserve? You are magnificent beyond all measure. Forgive me for thinking less of You than You truly are. I pray that someday, I may see your shining face and speak with You. I pray that I will sing praises to You with words I don't even know yet, words more suitable to describe Your glory and majesty. Thank You, Lord, that even though You are so far above me, that You love me anyway. Amen.

• Current Mood: excited

Tags: appearance, miriam, moses, numbers, transfiguration

The Anger of God

Reading through Numbers 11 today. *Mindblown*. Where to begin?

Okay, let's set the stage here: the Israelites are following a visual manifestation of God through the wilderness. He has given them clear instructions, He is providing for them, and life is good, right? Well, maybe not for some. In verses 1-3, we see how some of the Israelites "complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes". Wow. My first thought was, how dumb do you have to be? But I guess we do this all the time, when you really stop and think about it. We just can't see Him while we're doing it. "God, if You just gave me this, I'd be happy. If You would just do this for me, my life would be complete. Lord, how could You allow this to happen to me?" We sound like spoiled brats! And it never bothers us that we're saying and thinking these things in front of the God of this world, who is gracious to provide us with our next breath! Anyway, these Israelites are complaining and God hears them, and He is ANGRY. He burns them and part of the camp! Our first reaction a lot of times would be to say that's not fair, or a loving God wouldn't do that. But the truth is, He can do whatever He wants, and because we know that He is good and just, it's perfectly fair. Our understanding of "fair" is so far below God's that it's not even funny. To me, the fact that these guys (and maybe girls, too) were complaining about how terrible their lives were in front of the God who had freed them from bondage, provided them food daily (we'll get to that in a minute), and is protecting them and guiding them through the wilderness is ample evidence that their hearts were not inclined towards God. It isn't like these were "good" men (I mean, we're all born sinners, right?), and they didn't deserve any of God's graciousness - but they did deserve punishment for their sin, and that's what they got. I feel like just those three verses ought to make us mindful of our thoughts and attitudes towards both the blessings and the "misfortunes" in our lives. If we truly believe that God is in control, how can we complain about anything? And trust me, I'm the chief of sinners here, so I'm not judging you for doing it. I'm just saying we should all be a little more mindful of it. Especially in light of what comes next...

In verses 4-14, we see how this ungrateful spirit has spread throughout the camp. Moses now has a ton of people complaining that they don't have meat. They aren't satisfied with the MANNA COMING FROM HEAVEN every day. But wait, before we are quite so harsh on the Israelites, I did a little research on the description of manna given here. It says that it was like coriander seeds. Now, it doesn't say if that means the taste (which would be sort of a lemony, citrusy flavor), or the appearance, or the smell, or what. Then it says it has the appearance of bdellium. I looked that up. Apparently, bdellium is a gum that comes from a tree. It looks like this:



I'll admit, that doesn't seem very appetizing, especially if you're eating it every day. And the taste was supposed to be like cakes baked with oil. Now, I freely admit that I don't know what that means. It doesn't sound so bad to me, but I guess if I was eating cake every single day for every single meal, maybe I would get tired of it, too. However, I think the problem here is not that they were tired of the taste or the appearance or whatever. If that were the case, why couldn't one of them have prayed and said, "Can you make the manna taste like chicken today?" Instead, I think the problem is the heart behind the grumbling. They weren't satisfied with God's provision for them. They didn't want to alter what He was giving them (which maybe would have been bad enough on its own), and they didn't graciously ask for something else. Instead, they wanted something entirely different from what He was offering and they complained about it, even going so far as to say that they missed Egypt, where they could eat what they want (remember, Egypt, where they were slaves? I mean, really, come on, guys!)! You know why we can sort of identify with them, though? Because we do the same thing. God blesses us with a home, but we want a bigger, better, more expensive one in a classier neighborhood. God blesses us with a car that runs and gets us from Point A to Point B, but we want the newest model. God blesses us with a job, but we want a higher-paying, more influential one. He blesses us with a spouse, but we wish they were just different - more like us. He blesses us with children, but we want our "alone time" and wish they'd just go entertain themselves (that's right, I called us out on that one - including myself some days!). Do you see the folly behind this? Who are we to question what God gives us? We should be grateful, since we don't deserve any of it! Does that mean that you can't pray for God to bless you with a new home when you're in a financial position to be able to afford it and are considering whether to move or not? Does that mean you can't ask Him to allow you to get that promotion you applied for if it's in His will? Of course not! But do you see the difference? In the last two cases, you're not complaining about what you already have, you're seeking His guidance on what to do next.

Then we see God being gracious in verses 16-30. I don't know if this is the intent or not, but to me, it seems like Moses is being a little whiny. I mean, I can't imagine the weight for the people of Israel that he has on his shoulders (so thankful I'm not a pastor - you men are to be greatly esteemed for what you do!), but it almost comes off like he's being disrespectful and short-tempered with God. If Cole spoke to me like that, there would certainly be a punishment in his little future! And yet, God is gracious, and instead, gives Moses what he asks for - elders to help him carry the weight of the nation of Israel, men to serve alongside him so that he doesn't have to do it alone (elders, here's your "shout out" - thank you for your service, too!). And here's where Moses' heart is different: When his assistant tries to guard Moses' position, for lack of a better description, Moses instead wishes that all the people were prophets and had the Spirit upon them! See, he's not shrugging off his burden, he knows God has given it to him. He doesn't ask God to take away what He's given to Moses and replace it with something else; he's asking for assistance with it when he knows he's reached his breaking point. Can you see the difference between the attitude of Moses and that of the Israelites?

Finally, God answers the complaints of the Israelites in verses 31-35. I feel like this is one of those "be careful what you wish for" moments. God sends a huge quantity of quail. It's everywhere, covering everything. Now, imagine the people who were complaining running out and joyously grabbing up all that they could carry and then starting to shovel it in their mouths. Nowhere in this passage does it say that they offered any thanks to God. Also, they didn't just gather enough for one day, like they did with the manna. It says that the ones who gathered the least gathered 6 bushels!! They gathered for two days and a night! What are they going to do with all that? They've complained about God's blessings, they've ignored Him when He gives them what they want, and because their foolish hearts are so darkened by sin, God gives them more than they bargained for. Anyone who had eaten the meat was struck with a deadly plague. Notice, God was gracious in that He didn't strike down the entire nation. He made a distinction, it appears, between the ones who had complained and hardened their hearts against Him and the ones who didn't. To put a finer point on this, look at the name they gave the place where they buried the plague victims: Kibroth-hattaavah, which means graves of craving. These people weren't just hungry for something different; they were lusting after it. A craving consumes your thoughts (anyone who's ever been pregnant can tell you that), leaving not much room for anything else. They let this craving for meat take over their thoughts, leaving no room for God. Do we do this? Do we allow our lust for things of this world to overtake our desire to honor Christ? Do we let it blind us to His graciousness? I hope not, because I know from now on, I'm going to be very mindful of my attitude toward His blessings!

Lord, I praise You for being my Provider. I thank You that You are gracious to me even in the midst of discipline. I ask Your forgiveness for the times when Your bounty hasn't been enough for me, when I've been craving something that wasn't given to me or wasn't meant for me. I ask forgiveness for my hardhearted grumbling and complaining when I don't get what I want, and I ask you to remove that spirit from me. Cut it out like a cancer, Lord, so that it can't grow and consume me. I want to be wholly Yours, seeking Your wisdom and not demanding Your blessings as though I deserve something from You. Guard my heart against ungratefulness. In Your name I ask these things, amen.

• Current Mood: guilty

Tags: anger, blessings, forgiveness, god, grace, manna, numbers

No Escape

Tonight, in First Wednesday (for those of you who don't know, this is the first Wednesday of every month, where the middle and high school students and leaders meet; we play games and then hear the gospel!), Brett preached on Daniel 5. Now, when you hear Daniel, you automatically think of the Lions' Den, right? Well, that's the chapter right after the one we learned from tonight. The account right before it is a bit scarier and a lot sadder - it doesn't have a "happy ending", after all. It's the account of Belshazzar; how he gives a great feast and in the midst of it, decides to profane God's holy vessels from the tabernacle; how God's finger writes a message on the wall that shakes Belshazzar to his core, but more out of fear for himself than fear of God; and how Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall for him, telling him how his reign is at an end, how the Medes and the Persians will take over his kingdom, and how he has been found wanting in God's judgment. Can you imagine being told that?

Okay, but so what does all of that have to do with us? God's hand isn't exactly visibly writing messages on our walls...but He does have a message for you. (Note: when I say that, please don't think that I presume to speak for God. I most certainly do not. His Word will follow and my humble thoughts are all that are here. I pray that my words are Spirit-led, but I don't want any confusion here on this.)

TO THE BELIEVER: I have a few words for you. What this account in Scripture holds for us is an encouragement and a warning. The warning is this: don't become complacent in your belief. Don't assume that because you were raised in a Christian home, or because you go to church, etc., that you're square with God. After all, Belshazzar's father, Nebuchadnezzar also experienced God firsthand (Daniel 4). As a result, he ended up praising Him and turning to Him at the end of his life. Belshazzar clearly did not, as demonstrated in his actions in Daniel 5. His father's faith didn't save him. Also, don't presume upon God's grace just because you have been saved. Yes, our sins have been forgiven; but, Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Which leads to my encouragement: Daniel didn't sit idly by when an opportunity presented itself to stand up for God. He didn't hesitate, hoping someone else would raise their hand and take his place. And when he did speak up, he didn't tiptoe around the truth, either. He was bold and blunt with Belshazzar. He didn't let Belshazzar hide behind a bunch of lies to obscure his sin. He didn't bow down to the kings of this world, because he was about the business of serving the one true King. We should do the same. We look to men like Daniel as heroes of the faith, but too often, we use that as an excuse to not act, pretending as though we could never measure up to men like this. Why not? There is no difference between us! Daniel was a sinner, but saved through his faithfulness to God in expectation of the cross; the only difference for us is that we are on this side of the cross and have an even more clear picture and even less excuse. And so I have a Word for you: "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." (2 Timothy 4:1-5) There is no escape from your calling and your obedience to Christ. What a blessing!

TO THE "UNSURE": I have a few words for you. I tell you, there is no doubt that there is a God. If you're "unsure" about whether or not He is real and alive, it's because your conscience is struggling with your sin to tell you that He is there, and you'd better not ignore Him. No matter how you strive to pretend he isn't there, there is no escape from the God of this universe. He is everywhere. Not only that, but He is in control of it all, including the next breath of air you take into your lungs. That's right, you breathe only because of His grace, because He wills it. If you're unsure, it's probably because somewhere along the line you've heard the truth, but you grapple with it because you're not quite ready to submit to His will and die to yourself. The truth is, you're already dead. You can only be made alive in Christ. The Bible tells us this truth: "For what can be known about God is made plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Romans 1:18-21) Oh dear friend, do not let that happen to you! Look around you in awe of creation, but don't confuse creation with the Creator! Bend your knee to Him now and experience His grace and mercy. Don't be found wanting as Belshazzar was. You cannot hide from the truth of His existence. And I have a Word for you: "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:18-20)

TO THE APATHETIC AND UNBELIEVERS: Woe to you. I pity you - not because I am any better than you and looking down on you from some high horse, but because I once was in the same miry pit as you. I know how it feels to revel in sin, thinking that you are apart from God, choosing to believe that there is no God, and loving life such as it is. Enjoy it while it lasts, because if you don't turn from your sin, there is an eternal condemnation, Hell, waiting for you, and it is a very real place. My prayer for you is that God will take your heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh before He decides to remove you from this world altogether. His Word tells us that "the fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Psalm 53:1). Don't be a fool. If you read the above message to those on the fence, you know that God has made Himself plainly visible through creation by His grace - He didn't have to do even that. You can't run from Him, you can't ignore Him and you can't hide your sin from Him. You can't shut Him up or out - others have tried. You can't stop the spread of His gospel - it grows every time it is censored. You can't defeat His church - it perseveres through all persecution. You can't even kill Him - He's already died and been resurrected. What will you do? I hope and pray that your answer is, "Repent and believe." No other response makes sense. If you think you're exempt, you're not. "None is righteous, no, not one: no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3: 10-12, 23). You are not the only sinless one in all of humanity - that distinction has already been claimed by the Son of Man. Turn away from your foolish sins and the vanities of this world and turn to the only One who can save you. There is no escape from your predicament without Christ. And so I have a Word for you as well: "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person would dare even to die - but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God." (Romans 5:6-9)

Here is the simple Truth, with a capital "T". We are all sinners. Sin is anything that does not conform to the standards of God, and since none of us can keep God's commandments perfectly, we are all sinners. Because God is holy, out sin separates us from God. Therefore, we are all in a place of desolation. We are born sinners. We can't work our way out of it. All of our good works are as filthy rags before Him. There is not one iota of anything in us that can fix our situation. But, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the life that we can't. Christ was born of a virgin, fully God and fully man. This God-man was tempted and tried just as we are, yet remained without sin. Because of this, He was the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) He accomplished this through His death on a cross. After being beaten, stripped of His clothing, mocked, whipped, crowned with a crown of thorns, and dragging His own instrument of torture up a hillside, He was crucified - nails driven through His hands and feet, and a spear put into His side to verify His death. All this He suffered for my sins, and yours too, if you will believe on Him. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, sealed away behind a great boulder. Yet, on the third day, He rose, conquering over sin and death. The grave couldn't hold Him! Hallelujah! He was seen by a multitude of witnesses, and then ascended back into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for those He calls His own. And praise God, one day He is coming again to gather together those who are His, and we will see Him face-to-face! Friends, I want this to be as joyous for you as it is for me. This is Good News!

I would invite you, if you have questions, or if you are unsure about your salvation, to talk to someone who knows Christ. Don't wait another day, because you don't know when His grace will be removed from you.

Lord, I love you! I am breathless with the wonder of Your grace to me. I am overwhelmed and drawn to my knees when I think that You died for me, while I was yet stuck in my sin, loving it and hating You. I don't deserve to know Your name, Lord, let alone to be loved by You! I ask Your forgiveness for times that the wonder of Your gospel has grown cold in my heart and not stirred me to speak of You when it should. I pray that You would embolden and strengthen me for the work You would have me do in Your name. I pray that You give me the words to say, the opportunities to say them, and the courage to not back down in the face of adversity. I pray that You will do a mighty work in the hearts of my family and friends that are not saved, Lord. Save them; make them Your own. Allow them to see the beauty of being a bondservant to You. In Your name I pray, amen.

Last Night

Sorry I didn't post last night. We've been talking a lot lately in church about application of the Scriptures. I also had small group last night, and we talked about the same thing and had a time of intense prayer that our church would not just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word as well. As a result, I wanted to take the time last night to really reflect and pray on what this means for me and for my church. Here are a few of the things I came up with:

1.) We need to pray. We need to pray fervently, earnestly, and with passion. Prayer is our way to speak with God. It is so powerful, yet so often we diminish it. We want to just pray that quick, thirty second prayer before our meals and before bed and call it a day. That's not okay. I wonder how we would talk to Him if we were face-to-face with Him? We need to realize that when we pray, we are before His face, before His throne. We wouldn't dash off a quick "please, God, gimme" and move on if we could see Him, and we shouldn't do it just because we can't. Furthermore, we need to stop being so selfish in our prayers. Listen, the world is not about you. Everything in creation, including you, is for His glory. So stop asking for things for yourself and your families and friends, and start really thinking about what you're saying when you pray. We need to be praying for our pastors. These men are called by God to bring His Word to His people. That is a high and scary calling, because guess what? If they are doing what they ought, they are presuming that what they are speaking is Spirit-led and Spirit-driven, and if it's not? They have a higher price to pay for that. They are guarding our souls, yet how often do we forget to pray for them? We need to pray for our government leaders - no matter how we feel about them or which way we lean politically. Romans tells us that these men and women, for good or ill, are in that position because God has ordained them to be there, whether it be for judgment for a nation or for its good. We need to pray for our churches - not the building and not the finances (though those aren't bad things to pray for), but the believers, which is what the church really is anyway. We need to pray that they might hold fast to the Word, that they might keep His commandments, and that they will abide in Him.

2.) We need to abide in Him. This means staying in His Word. We need to thirst and hunger for it! We need to pray before diving into it, pray that the Spirit will reveal His truth in it. We need to follow His commandments. We need to daily take up cross, die to ourselves and follow Him. We need to share His Word, share His gospel. We need to look for ways to spread His truth. We need to arm ourselves for war, because we are in a spiritual war. We need to engage with the world in order to evangelize and bring glory to God.

We cannot just hear the Word and sit back on our haunches, grinning up at the pastor happily, content and well-fed while the world is starving right outside our door. We need to let what we hear equip us for His work. We need to take it out, make it a part of our lives, and cover ourselves in it.

Lord, thank You that You will not let Your Word return void. Thank You that You will not allow us to sit idle. Forgive us for the times we've been self-content and self-satisfied, meek when we need to be strong. Arm us and equip us for the battle that we're in, Lord. Grant us a boldness and a courage we've never known before. Show us how to be doers of Your Word, and what that looks like practically in our day-to-day lives. We love You and want to bring You all the honor and glory You deserve. Amen

All to God

I was reading through Numbers 10 tonight. Of the many cool things in it, my favorite part was verses 1-10. If you really read it, the entire focus is on God. They're to blow these trumpets for every little thing, and God tells them that it is as a reminder of them before Him.This doesn't mean that God forgets anything. I don't profess to understand why the wording here is the way it is, but the idea is that it keeps their focus on Him and He is faithful and mindful of them in return.

Let me make a disclaimer here: this is not a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" kind of thing. As if we could do anything to earn God's love, or even His notice!

To me, the idea is more about our relationship with Him than the actions performed in this passage. God is gracious, as evidenced by the very fact that He is mindful of us. Just read Psalm 8 and glory in our Creator! I think we need to be reminded of God more than we need to be called to His mind. Too often, we go about our daily activities without ever thinking of Him and what He has done for us. Instead, we should keep 1 Corinthians 10:31 in mind, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God".

So what does this mean? What does it look like? I think it means that we do everything to the best of our ability, as though we were doing it for Christ (Ephesians 6:7). I think it means we are attentive to our attitudes and what it says about our God. I think it means we remain humble, knowing we don't deserve any of the blessings we receive, and turning the praise and glory that could puff up our pride back to God. I think it means we pray, we serve, we study the Word, we abide in Him.

Most of all, I think it means we strive to live a life pleasing to God, not with the intention of gaining any reward, be it earthly or heavenly, but out of a radical love for our Savior.

Lord, I praise You as the Creator. I look around me and cannot fathom how anyone can deny Your existence. But even harder to comprehend, Lord, is that You didn't just make me and then move on. No, You love me. You are mindful of me. Your Word tells me You even know the numbers of hairs on my head, and that You work all things together for my good. I can't understand why, Lord, but I am immensely thankful for it. Forgive me for those times when I've gone through my day without thinking of You, just coasting along on autopilot. Forgive me for those days where I haven't given my all in Your service, whether it be my job, my home, my church, whatever. But thank You that You did give Your all on the cross to reconcile me to You. Thank You that I am always on your mind. Help me, Lord, to remember Your sacrifice and to work as if I'm doing it for You each day, Lord, because I am. I love You and praise You and give You all the honor and glory. Amen.

Oh How I Love Jesus, Week One

At the risk of my middle school girls reading this before tomorrow, I really wanted to share with you the lesson that I wrote for them. We are starting a new series with them called Oh How I Love Jesus. The idea is for us to teach them about what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ - what it looks like practically in our lives, what we love about Him, etc. This means that it's a very personal thing for each teacher, and so we are writing our own lessons for the next five weeks. So, what I think I'm going to try to do is post every Saturday night what my lesson will be for the next Sunday morning. If any of you parents of my girls are reading this, it might be neat for you, too, because this is what I'm going to be talking to them about (keep in mind it's written as if I'm speaking directly to them, so it may be more tailored to them). It will also be a cool way for you to get them caught up if they miss a week! :)

Here goes:

Oh How I Love Jesus/M Gathering
Week One


We’re starting a new series this week! Over the next five weeks, we’re going to talk about what it looks like to actually have a relationship with Jesus. We’re going to look at who He is. We’re going to discuss how our love and devotion to Christ affects our daily walk with Him. What does it practically mean to have a relationship with Christ? Not just to say we know him or that we go to church and so we have a relationship with him, but the nitty-gritty of what this actually means for us in every day life. This is a really cool and unique opportunity for both myself and for you, because I’m writing these lessons. That means that I get to share with you what Jesus has done and is doing in my life, what He means to me, and what that means for my life – and yours.

Who is Jesus?

Because we’re going to be talking about having a relationship with Jesus, I think it’s important to ask who He is. I mean, do we really know Him or do we just know about Him? Here’s what I mean by this: You may know everything there is to know about Ryan Gosling or Chris Hemsworth, down to which sock they put on first in the morning. You may be the biggest fangirl out there, but if you don’t know them, if you’ve never met them, you’re never going to have a relationship with them. Do you see the difference? It’s possible to say the same thing about Jesus Christ. We can know all of the facts about Him. We can even intellectually (with our minds) accept those facts without ever knowing Him. In some ways, you girls are more in danger of this than anyone. You live in Christian homes with Christian parents who bring you to a godly Christian church. In many ways, you’re given the gospel repeatedly and continually. It’s easy to become immune to it, to accept the facts without accepting Christ. The danger in this is that you become comfortable with it, even assured of your salvation, and it’s just not really there. That’s how I was before Christ opened my eyes to who He really is.

So who is He? His Word tells us:

He is “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1) – This is important because it establishes his bloodline and the fulfillment of all the Jewish prophecies concerning the lineage of the Messiah.

He is “…my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) – He is God the Father’s perfect Son. He is “the Son of God.” (Matthew 1:1) He is “…the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16-17; John 20:31)

He is the one who can give the blind their sight, allow the lame to walk, cleanse the leper and make the deaf man hear, the one who can raise the dead and who preaches the good news to the poor (Matthew 11:5-6).

He is the one who knows the Father and through Whom we have access to the Father (Matthew 11:27).

He is “the Word”, the One through Whom “all things were made” (John 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 8:6). He is “the Author of life” (Acts 3:15).

He is the “holy one of God.” (John 6:69)

He is the “bread of life” (John 6:35) and “living water” (John 4:10). He is the “light of the world” (John 8:12). He is “the door” and the “good shepherd” (John 10:9, 14). He is “Teacher and Lord” (John 13:13)

He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is “the true vine” (John 15:1).

He is the One who gave “…His life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) He is the “Son of Man” who “came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) He is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:36)

He is the crucified and the risen (Mark 9:31). He is the “resurrection and the life” (John 11:25-27). He is the name by which we are saved (Acts 4:12).

He is our “peace with God” (Romans 5:1-2). He is the One who intercedes with God for us (Romans 8:34). He is our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5-6).

He is our “wisdom in God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

He is the One who “was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:19) He is the One who will come again in glory for those who are His (Matthew 24:31).

He is the “head of the body, the church" (Col. 1:18-23).

He is the supreme Savior and King (Heb. 1:1-4).

Are you getting it yet? If you have a relationship with Jesus you will not just acknowledge these things, you will know them and feel them in the deepest part of your being. And hearing these things will excite you and bring you great joy!

What is a relationship?

So now that we know who we want to have a relationship with (Jesus), we need to know what a relationship is. We need to understand what we’re seeking to enter into with Christ.

Dictionary.com defines a relationship in three ways.

The first is an emotion or connection between people. By this definition, you can have a relationship with a lot of different people, defined by many different connections. In some ways, these might be more “superficial” relationships: friends you only see at work, people you only see at school events, even survivors of something terrible could have a relationship by this definition.

The second definition gives us a little bit deeper meaning. It is a connection, association or involvement. Rather than just being some sort of connection, this binds people a little closer. This could be relationships you have on a sports team, or as a part of a club. A really great example is the relationship you have with people here at church. You share an association with and involvement in West Salem Baptist Church. So we see the definition going a little deeper.

My favorite definition of a relationship is a connection between persons by blood or marriage. Think about it: these are the deepest relationships that you can have. The bond between you and your siblings, your parents, and someday your spouse are going to be some of the strongest connections you can have. What makes this my favorite definition, though, is that it tells us it’s a connection by blood – and this is truly how we have a relationship with Jesus – by His blood! (Eph. 1:7-10; Col. 1:19-23; Rev. 1:5-6) Do you see how the blood He shed on the cross and His love for us is so connected?

What does it mean to be in a relationship?

Okay, so now we know who we want to have a relationship with and what a relationship is. But what does this practically mean for us? How do we have a relationship with someone who isn’t physically with us (yet)? What do we do?

Can we talk to him, like we would talk to a friend? Yes, through prayer. Look at what the first church was doing in Acts 1:14 – “devoting themselves earnestly to prayer”. And some of these would have been people who had seen Jesus in their lifetime! Prayer is our way of talking to Jesus. It’s through prayer that we can praise Him in adoration. It's through prayer that we confess and repent of our sins against Him and receive forgiveness of sins and are cleansed from all unrighteousness. It’s through prayer that we can thank Him for his many blessings. It’s through prayer that we can ask Him for the things that we need, for guidance, for strength, for salvation, for help for others. In addition to that, we know that prayer strengthens our relationship with the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27; Phil. 4:6-7). As an added bonus, praying with other believers will also strengthen your relationships with them!

We can show Him that we love Him. Just as obeying and giving honor to your parents makes your relationship with them better, the same is true for your relationship with Christ. Obedience brings many blessings. We are called to abide in Christ. (John 15:4-11) So, we see here that to show Christ that we love Him, He tells us to keep His commandments, to bear fruit, and to let His word abide in us. How does this work practically? Well, to have His word in us, we must study it. That doesn’t mean that we only listen to His words on Wednesdays and Sundays when we have to be at church. It means that we nurture a deep love for His word, and immerse ourselves in it daily. We should need it like we need food and water (Psalm 42:1-2). We can’t know what His commands are; we can’t know how He loves us and what He has done for us if we are not in His word. We can’t grow spiritually without the food of His word (1 Cor. 3:1-3). Abiding in His word causes us to grow and bear fruit (Gal. 5:22-23; Romans 7:4). And this fruit marks us as believers and draws others to Christ (Proverbs 11:30). By keeping His commandments, we show that we honor Christ and His sacrifice. We know that we cannot keep them perfectly, but the desire to honor and obey that comes from abiding in the word draws us ever closer to Him and causes us to produce more beautiful fruit.

So why should we want a relationship with Him?

Simply put, because He is above all things, because He is Lord and Savior whether we will it or no, and one day at His name “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10-11) You already have a relationship with Him, but it can go one of two ways. It can either be one of a sinner facing the Judge with no excuse, or one of an adopted brother, an excited pupil learning from her Teacher, a servant gladly serving her Master, a subject bowing before a beloved King. But make no mistake; it will be one or the other. There are no gray areas and no other avenues by which to be saved. There are no other gods to challenge Him.

So my encouragement, prayer, and plea to you today is this: Bend your knee to Him now. Follow Him now. Love Him now. Know Him now. Don’t let another moment pass with just vain facts about Him as your basis for a relationship with Him. Repent of your sins, turn away from the vain things of this world. Turn to the only One who can save you, the One whose purpose was and is to save those who would believe on His name unto salvation. Believe that His death on the cross and His resurrection and victory over sin and death accomplished your salvation. Then take up your cross and follow Him, abiding in Him to His glory.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll try to talk to you practically about what my relationship with Christ has been like: what’s drawn me to Him, where I have failed Him, and how to live out your faith in Him. You’ll hear me speak about him, bragging on Him like He’s my family or my husband-because through His blood, He is. My prayer is that you will get excited about Him, too.

So, there it is!

Lord, I thank You that we can have a relationship with You. I thank You that we love You because You first loved us. Forgive me for the times that I have failed to make my relationship with You a priority in my life. But thank You that You never let me go. I ask that You draw me daily closer to You and help me to walk in the knowledge of Your word. Help my life to be a beacon of light for You. Amen.