Written some 700 years before He was a twinkle in His mother’s eye, the birth and death of the Savior of the world was prophesied.
Tag: Jesus
The Fiercest Battle
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
Matthew 10:34-36
Whoa. That is some pretty inflammatory language Jesus is using here. Did not come to bring peace? A sword? Enemies?
What on earth could Jesus be talking about?
First, we need to understand who He’s talking to. Jesus is giving instruction to the twelve disciples as He sends them out, specifically to the Jews, as His witnesses to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases and drive out demons.
But before they head out, they need to understand His message, and what they’ll be up against. Many, even the disciples, were under the impression that when the Messiah came He would set up His kingdom on earth and reign over all, bringing peace, ending famine and wars.
But Jesus makes it clear that is not His mission. Not yet, anyway.
As they went, they were to proclaim this message: the kingdom of heaven is near. The Messiah has come.
And He came to be the fulfillment of the law.
The law showed us we were sinners, and sin requires a payment of death. Jesus came to die in our place to pay for our sins. He came to make truth known, even as He Himself is truth. But not everyone wants to hear that they’re a sinner. And of those who know they’re a sinner, not everyone wants to be saved from it.
Jesus references the words of the prophet Micah in Micah 7:6. Micah lamented about the terrible times in which he lived when sin was rampant, and there were few who held onto faith and righteousness. And many of those who did found that their sons or daughters or other family members fell into the other camp—the one that reveled in immorality–and that caused strife, to say the least.
Centuries later, the disciples would find that, again, there would be relatively few who would choose faith and righteousness, even among the ancient sons and daughters of God. Few who would choose to align themselves with the truth—Jesus Christ. The disciples themselves would be among the few who stood in a world full of people who would rather deny the Christ and live in their own sinfulness. Even then the disciples were unaware that there was one among them, a friend, a fellow servant, who would choose sin over Christ.
And now, centuries later, the story is the same. Sin is rampant and there are few in this world who acknowledge their sin and put their faith in Christ. And even among those who call themselves Christians, there are fewer still who are willing to submit their whole lives to Him, leave the world behind, take up their crosses daily and live upright lives before their God.
And for those who do, for those who know that truth triumphs over sin and evil and destruction and death, for those who desire to live in that truth, we will, sooner or later, be called on to make a choice.
Someone we love, a close friend, a fellow servant, someone in our own family, someone who doesn’t adhere to the truth, will want to sin and drag us along with them. They won’t understand why we won’t do this or allow that. And a son will be against his father, a daughter against her mother, a fellow servant against another.
And a battle will ensue. This is the metaphoric sword Jesus speaks of.
The battle could get bloody. Sharp words may well be thrown our way. Wounds will be inflicted. Relationships could die. We could feel as though our heart is being ripped clean out of our chest. And all the while we’ll need to keep loving them and praying for them.
The inner struggle will be to not to let our flesh take over, to not retaliate with harsh words of our own, but to keep praying, remembering we don’t battle against flesh and blood but against an enemy we cannot see.
Prayer is the real battleground, and whether or not we choose to remain in prayer is where the battle will be won or lost.
Through it all we might have an inkling of the pain Christ suffered on the cross.
Are we willing to risk it all for Him? Is His cause our cause?
It’s at this moment when the foundation of our faith will be revealed. Is it sure? Do we stand on the Rock which does not move, is not shaken and does not compromise? Is our love for Him real?
Or will we falter? Will we choose sin over truth? Now is the time to choose, not when we’re in the heat of battle and the enemy is coming at us full force. Put on the spiritual armor and don’t take it off.
Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. He will get at us any way he can, even through family members. Especially through family members. He will come and whisper “It’s just a little sin. Just a little compromise won’t hurt. And you love them, right? You don’t want them angry with you.”
If we listen and give in, before we know it we’re far from God, and so is the one we love.
Stand strong.
Love them enough not to compromise. This is not a battle for mere ground or castles or other earthly kingdoms. This is a battle for hearts and eternities.
And love Christ more. He saved us and He wants to save the other person in our lives whose ways are at odds with His, whose heart is far from Him and whose eternity will be a bitter one unless they have a lighthouse to show them the way.
Better than keeping a false, temporary peace, be a light shining the truth of God, so they can find their way to Him and experience real, lasting, eternal peace.
One day you may see a glimmer of hope. You’re gaining ground. Hearts are softening. Christ is winning.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
Trials and Triumphs
A 12-year-old boy kills his sister and later finds the forgiveness and love of a great and merciful God.
An angry man, disillusioned by a God who would allow untimely deaths in his family, is later visited by the presence of God, washed in His peace and finds the love of God is all he needs.
A woman turns to the gay community and lifestyle and later allows the truth of God to dispel the lies as He heals her heart and she finds a new life in Him.
A Christian woman struggles with resentment toward God as she watches her believing mother deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease, but would in time come to understand that the reason was full of God’s grace.
And my own story of growing up with parents suffering from mental illness and substance abuse, then turning to anything and everything in the world to deaden the pain and try to find love, and later finding real love and the forgiveness of Christ in a tiny church filled with the Spirit of God.
These are just a few of the testimonies of God’s faithfulness, grace and forgiveness in the lives of ordinary people who were touched by an extraordinary God in the book Trials and Triumphs, Hope Beyond Circumstances, Forty Life-Changing Testimonies.
I am so blessed to be a part of this project, one of the forty people who tell their stories of grace–either how they came to Christ, or how they held onto Him in difficult circumstances. Each fascinating account is authored by the person who experienced it. Every story is unique, but each one points to the same God, the same Lord Who is willing to forgive and give strength and courage to anyone who genuinely seeks Him.
Any believer can watch the news or look at their own family members, friends, co-workers, and on and on can see that the world needs a Savior. People are starving for the love and forgiveness that we know only God can give through His Son, Jesus Christ.
But the enemy of God is hard at work lying, deceiving and bringing destruction on anyone who believes those lies.
Revelation 12:11-12 tells us that “They overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;”
People can dispute a lot of things about God, but no one can dispute what God has done in our own lives. All of us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior have a testimony, the story of who we were before we put our faith in Christ, and how He’s changed our hearts and lives since. Stories of how He’s loved us, intervened for us in miraculous ways, provided for us and protected us, and another page to our story is written every day.
That, God’s Word says, is how the enemy will be defeated in the lives of those family members and friends and co-workers. As we tell the truth of God’s love, just as someone, somewhere told us, by the faith given by God and the blood of the Lamb, they will be snatched from the enemy’s mouth and set firmly in the hands of God.
Think of it: we have the privilege of joining with Christ to defeat the enemy that has lingered and lied and destroyed since the Garden of Eden by sharing our witness to those lost and dying in their sin.
Maybe you know someone right now who needs to hear these stories of faith. Maybe you need to be encouraged and comforted yourself as you face struggles of your own. I pray this book brings hope and magnifies the grace that is our God in the lives of many around the world.
If you’re so inclined, you can find it on Amazon at the link on the right.
Grace and Peace!
The Third Day
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26
The whole world thought he was dead.
Their hopes had been so high. Living under an oppressive rule, he had emerged as a man who performed miracles among the least of them — the poor, the lame, the blind, the leper, the demon-possessed. So many lives had changed beyond anything they could have imagined. They were healed, brought back to life, rejoined to their families, all because of one man.
One man had noticed them when no one else had. When the only other attention given to them was shame or pity, he had seen them. He had looked into their eyes, into their very souls, and validated their existence.
He had done and said things no one ever had. He worked on the Sabbath and made no apologies. He overturned the tables and cleared the temple for making a mockery of it. He stood in the faces of hypocritical religious leaders and called them blind guides and whitewashed tombs. He fed thousands with a boy’s lunch.
They’d hoped to make him king. He was on his way to greatness and they were on their way to freedom. Just a week before they had celebrated him.
And now he was dead.
His disciples were in mourning. He had said something to them about being raised on the third day, but who could know what he meant now. The past three years were gone, and it all seemed a blur. Things seemed to be headed in such a hopeful direction. Once they thought he’d be their leader and they’d serve alongside him. He would redeem Israel. He would be their savior.
Now he was a prophet at best. Just a good man lying dead inside a tomb. Where was God? Why did He let it happen? Jesus’ life and theirs had all taken a turn they never saw coming, and all their hopes and dreams were gone.
But things aren’t always as they seem.
Beyond their understanding, beyond their imagination, beyond their greatest hopes and dreams, Christ rose from the dead on the third day, just like He said He would.
Now, with the benefit of 2000 years and God’s Word, we know the end of the story. We know there was a purpose for His death. We know He was indeed the Christ, the Messiah who was to come, and that He had to die and live again for the remission of the sins of mankind. We know He stayed with them, teaching them for another forty days, and then He ascended into heaven to the right hand of the Father where He rules forever.
God’s ways were much higher than Jesus’ disciples ever could have imagined. He didn’t come just to save Israel for this life, but all believers for eternity. He didn’t come to be just king of a country, but King of our hearts. We know He wasn’t only a prophet or a good man, He was, and is, God.
And in His resurrection, He showed His power over death. He proved the words He’d spoken to them: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6
Resurrection morning is all about life. His life and ours. It’s about the Source of life coming down to redeem us and give us new life. Not only did Christ rise, but in Him we rise. When we believe in Him we’re forgiven of all our sins and His life courses through our veins. We have the promise of our souls rising from the grave the moment our life here ends, and our bodies at the end of all things.
But we are not yet resurrected. We are still bound to these bodies and we battle sin in ourselves and in the world every day. And there are times our lives can take a jolting turn. Like the disciples, we can have plans that God doesn’t have. Life had been moving along so well and we had it all mapped out. And then there was the loss of something — a child, a spouse, a parent, a career, a friendship, health. Something changed and it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Disillusion sets in. All our hopes and dreams are gone.
And we can be like the disciples in those long hours after their friend’s lifeless body had been carried away for burial. We wonder what happened. We wonder where God is and how things could have turned out so differently than we thought they would. The hours tick by and we wonder if the third day will ever come. We feel lost, confused and alone.
But things aren’t always as they seem.
In the dark hours of suffering and loss we can understand what the disciples didn’t: that our preconceived notions and personal hopes and dreams have to die if God’s are to live in and through us. Just as God wanted to do so much more than the disciples could have imagined, He wants to do much more in our lives than we can ever dream.
We see the end of the story that the disciples had not yet seen. And God sees the end of our story. He sees what He is making us to be. He sees what’s on the other side of that hill in our journey. He sees the joy on our faces as He raises us from the dead and we join Him in heaven. He sees us living whole, glorified lives, our souls freed from every kind of pain to soar forever with Him in new life.
He is the Author of Life, and we can trust Him.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16
Christ’s power over death is at work in us right now. It may not look like it; it may not feel like it. But the disciples would all tell us that looks and feelings can be deceiving. We can have His joy now, knowing our third day will come soon. And one day that joy will be complete, when the Maker of Life raises us with Him. His resurrection gives us a taste of that new life now, and a glimpse of the glory to come.
In Him,
Eyes on the Ball
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
“Keep your eyes on the ball!”I don’t know how many times I heard those words lobbed to me as I stood at home plate, bat in my little hands, waiting for the pitcher to underhand the softball in my direction.
But I could never do it. The ball became nothing but a blur as it spinned toward me, and then past me. I simply could not get a fix on that little white ball.
Had I loved sports (instead of being forced to do my time by the Department of Education) I could have practiced and learned how to focus my eyes and maybe even make contact.
Learning to focus on anything, foregoing all the distractions, takes practice.
Even focusing on the Lord takes patience and lots and lots of practice. Without focus on Him, everything becomes a blur, and we forget our purpose–to glorify God in all we do.
But we first have to love Him, and in order to love Him, we have to know Him.
We have to forego other things in order to spend with Him, practicing His presence, hearing His voice.
But so much…life….can get in the way.
So much of our pains and sorrows and worries and temptations and earthly goals take us away from our time with the Lord. Maybe we’ve been offended by God and we’ve allowed that to create distance. Maybe it’s sin we’ve allowed to settle in our lives. An unforgiveness. A bitterness. Maybe we’ve just let the little daily urgencies of life keep pushing out what’s most important.
We can forget that those things that trouble us are not the problem, but only a temporary tool used in the hands of a loving and gracious God to bring us to full maturity. We can forget that He is fully capable of handling them and that we don’t need to let them overcome us. We can place them at Jesus’ feet and look into His eyes.
We can choose to take our eyes off those things…off the crowd, off the other team, off the world…and put them back on Jesus. Back on the ball. Only then will we find success—peace and joy and real love–in the kingdom of God. Only then will we be able lay up real treasures in heaven where this life will be but a distant memory, and eternity will be more real than this life ever was, where our reward is waiting with Him.
I love how Francis Chan puts it in this short video:
Blessings and Peace,