Christianity

The land of affliction

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And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”  Genesis 41:52

Joseph was a man who knew a great deal about affliction.  Betrayed by brothers, accused falsely, forgotten.  These are the things in life that can leave us scarred.  But they don’t have to.  God, who holds our times in His hand, can turn our affliction into something fruitful and glorifying to Him.  This is what God did in the life of Joseph.

It is interesting to notice how Jesus responded to times of grief.  When He learned of the death of John the Baptist, He retreated for a few moments alone.  But He didn’t stay there.

It is one of those wonderful ways of God that He often chooses to make the land of affliction a fruit-bearing land.   Our human tendency can be to isolate ourselves and nurse our wounds.  Or rehearse our wounds, thus opening them again and again.  It is  often from these broken places that God will bring life.  But we must be willing to move past the pain, the desire for vindication, the trap of self-pity, and begin to see the potential that exists in each affliction for God to be glorified.

Affliction is the common lot of all men.   We may choose to be self absorbed and waste it.  Or we may choose to cast ourselves, in the midst of the pain, at the feet of a loving God, to be a vessel that demonstrates His glory.

Here I am,  Lord.

Rejoice

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“And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying “Rejoice!”  So they came and held Him by the feet and worshipped Him.”  Matthew 28:9

What an amazing moment this must have been.  These women, who moments ago were expecting to see the body of a dead Jesus, are now confronted with the living Christ.  Surely there must have been an explosion of emotions that surged within them as their eyes beheld the One they loved.  One they thought they would not see again.  In a moment, all their sorrow turned to joy.  I hardly think Jesus’ encouragement to rejoice was necessary.  What else could they have done?

But in this word, I see Jesus inviting them to join Him in rejoicing in an event that they could not even fully comprehend at the time.  All they knew was that the One they loved was alive from the dead.  In this they rejoiced.  But Jesus knew that He had just defeated death, hell and the grave.  The power of sin had been broken and the enemy of our souls had been conquered.  Mercy and grace had prevailed.

Rejoice!

This is no mere exhortation to joy.  This is the triumphant cry of a victor. 

So let us rejoice in His victory.  Today and everyday.
 

Going to the Father

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As the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry approached, He began to prepare His disciples for what was about to happen; that He would no longer be with them.  He spoke to them using words such as these:

“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”  John 16:28

The only one who ever walked this earth that truly had a comprehension of the glories of heaven was Jesus.   These are things beyond our ability to comprehend.  We have never seen anything so beautiful as what awaits us there.  Yet when He speaks of leaving this earth He doesn’t refer to Himself as going to heaven, but as going to the Father.  For Jesus, who knew the reality of heaven, even greater than the splendor of the place He was returning to was the magnificence of the One He was returning to.  It was never about a place; it was about a Person.

And Jesus says to us in John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am there you may be also.”

Streets of gold, gates of pearl…..beautiful stuff.  But I await something far more magnificent – to see the face of the One who has loved me with a love beyond anything I’ve ever known.  One so perfect and holy that my mind cannot comprehend it.   But one day my eyes will see Him.  What a glorious day that will be.
 

This is the day

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“This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

I will say again, that I love the sovereignty of God.  I believe it when the Scriptures say that my steps are ordered by the Lord and that He has prepared good works for me to walk in.  Each day is fashioned and prepared for me. 

“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”   Psalm 139:16

Here’s a potential difficulty…..do I believe as strongly that He made the bad days as well as the good days?  I don’t think there is any way we can get around it.  The Lord has specially planned difficulties for us; and that is still the day that the Lord has made.  But can we rejoice in it?  Can we see beyond the inconvenience or sorrow it may bring into our life and let it “work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”?

Life is so short.  Just a vapor.  Just a few moments to love Jesus on this earth and share Him with others.  Can we give these earthly days back to Him that He may conform us to the image of Christ?  Can we not sacrifice a few days here in light of the glorious eternity that awaits us?

Oh Lord, I don’t want to be a fair weather disciple, only serving You when the path is smooth.  For each day is a gift from Your hand, whether it brings gladness or difficulty.

Although I may not always be able to rejoice over the day, I can rejoice in it.  I am learning that Jesus Christ is sufficient to make the heart glad at all times.

The work of pain

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Life involves pain.  No matter how much faith you have, or how deep your love for and trust in God, you will experience pain.  Some pain is minor and easily forgotten.  But there is other pain that is so deep that you carry the ache of it with you in your heart.  During the busy events of the day it isn’t always at the forefront of your mind, but as soon as there is a moment of quiet, the ache returns.  Seasons of deep pain bring us to a crossroads in this life of faith.  Will we turn from Christ and seek solace elsewhere, or will we throw ourselves upon Him in greater dependency, knowing that our only hope is in Him?

I am in one of those seasons of pain.  Life has taken an unexpectedly difficult turn and may yet become more difficult before it gets better.  I carry the pain of it with me and tears are a frequent occurrence.  I am anxious for a change in circumstances that will alleviate this pain.

But in the midst of this pain, does God have a work He desires to do in me?  Absolutely.  And God has mercifully allowed me to see some of the beautiful fruit of it.  I would choose fruit without pain.  But God knows that the sweetest and most enduring fruit is that which is born through tribulation.  His wisdom is beyond my understanding. 

But as for me, I have made my choice. 

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”  Psalm 121:1-8

Christianity – a profitable enterprise

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I recently was given a book that explained how many ways I could profit by partnering with a certain ministry.   Many, many ways.  Things like this bother me, when I see people who are using the gospel to line their pockets or build their own kingdom.   Everybody’s looking for profit.

So am I.  Godly profit.

“For they indeed (our earthly fathers) for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He (our heavenly Father) for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” Hebrews 12:10

This is a profit that not many are anxious to acquire.  It involves suffering and patiently enduring the correcting rod of God.  It is easy to profit by manipulating people into giving you money.  It is much more difficult to obtain this profit that comes through the chastening of God.

How often our pride rises up when He corrects us.  This is natural for fallen man, but as believers we are to learn to submit ourselves ever more entirely to the will of our Father, even when His will is to bring hardship or suffering of some type into our lives.  His goal for us through these things is that we would become partakers of His holiness.  If we really love God, the promise of partaking of His holiness will help us to endure the chastening.  In fact, we will even find ourselves praying for correction in areas that displease Him because we have such a longing to partake in His holiness.

To be sure, our heavenly Father is good.  Even when administering correction, He is good.

Godly profit – it doesn’t spend here on earth.  But this isn’t home anyway.

But who do you say that I am?

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He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Matthew 16:15

 

The people believed that Jesus was a prophet. They were aware that His life was no mere humanity – they recognized the presence of the supernatural in some way. So they came and listened to His teaching, they brought their sick loved ones to him for healing, but many never knew Him as anything more than teacher and healer.

But who do you say that I am? This is the question of the hour. This is a question on which our very eternity hangs. If He is only a teacher and healer we will gain knowledge and health, but die in our sins. If He is our example of how to live, we will be better people but not righteous, and thus eternally unworthy of the glories of heaven. But if He is the Son of God, the Christ, the Savior, we will obtain everlasting life.

There are some things about Jesus that are only known by revelation. This is one of them. The natural mind cannot fathom the wickedness of the sin that permeates the human heart and the lengths that God has gone to in order to provide atonement for it. But when this revelation dawns in a human heart, it changes one forever.

So the question remains. Who do you say that He is?

Unto us

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Unto us a Child is born
Unto us a Son is given
In order to redeem our souls
The Father sent the Jewel of heaven

The birth we celebrate this day
Was planned before the world began
But it announced the grand unfolding
Of our God’s eternal plan

Angelic praise burst through the skies
Proclaiming the birth of this Child
The One whose purpose was His death
That God and man be reconciled

Let earth and heaven now proclaim
With voices raised in wondrous praise
That Jesus, now the risen Saviour
Forever lives, forever reigns

Joseph – just and merciful

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“Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.”  Matthew 1:19

Joseph was a man who followed the commands of God.  He knew the law and he obeyed the law.  He would have known that the punishment for a woman caught in adultery was to be stoned to death.  It would not have been wrong for him to demand this sentence to be executed upon Mary.  But it was not in his heart to do that.   And once he received God’s instruction through a dream, he knew what he needed to do and he did it.

Although I cannot tell for certain, it appears that Joseph did not take Mary to him as his wife until she was already more than 3 months pregnant.  People being the same then as now, they were certainly doing the math when the baby was born.  All appearances were that Joseph had acted improperly during their betrothal.  This just man appeared, in the eyes of others, to be most unjust. 

What better man to be the earthly father of Jesus than one who loved and obeyed the law, but also valued mercy; one who himself, very probably, had borne reproach for his obedience to God.

How I thank God for the men and women he has placed in my life who model the love and mercy of God, and who believe in holiness and obedience to God even when it brings the displeasure or disapproval of man.   And I pray that He will make me one of these people as well, who faithfully imitates Christ in my following of Him.

Muted out

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Sometimes things in the Bible make me laugh.  This is one of them. 

And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”  Luke 1:18

Zacharias has just been given the best imaginable news by an angel.  His response is to ask for a sign.  Zacharias!  That was an angel talking to you.  Seems like that might be a good enough sign.

So unbelieving Zacharias was made mute (and apparently deaf) when he doubted the message of the angel regarding the birth of a son.

Imagine being his age, after so many childless years, to finally be counting down the days until the birth of your son.  How many times during those months did he look at Elizabeth’s swollen belly and long to lift his voice in praise?  Or to laugh with her when the baby kicked?  Or to speak of the words the angel had told him?  Each time was a reminder of his doubt.  Is it any surprise then, that by the time John was born Zacharias was fully convinced of what the angel had told him and his first words after having his speech restored was this eruption of praise:

“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us;
To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Let us not be muted out through unbelief, but continually lift our voices in praise to the God who is faithful to perform that which He has promised.