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Have you felt the strong desire to be near Jesus? Is this desire stronger when you are ashamed of your sins, when you feel lonely, or perhaps when you are angry, hurt or betrayed? What would it take to fall at the feet of Jesus? No matter how broken your relationships, no matter how shameful your sin, there is nothing that the love of God in Christ Jesus cannot forgive.
The great difficulty with forgiveness lies with the sinner who cannot find his way to Christ. The proud Pharisee, in the text above, thought more of his status than he did of the woman at Jesus’ feet. Her sin was great yet, she laid her sin and shame before her Lord seeking God’s grace. The Pharisee remained blind to her repentance.
Today, too many churchgoers are quick to point out the sins of the many while failing to…
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“God help me be the person my dog thinks I am.” This is a church sign with a lot of truth.
If you have a dog, you feed him, provide shelter, love him, watch that he is comfortable and he or she is your companion and friend.
A dog is loyal, loves you no matter what, is waiting and rejoices when you come home, is a true friend.
Our relationship with God should be the same. He takes care of us, provides food and shelter, loves us, watches over us and is always our companion and friend.
We should take a lesson from our pets. We should love God with all our heart, be loyal, watch for the Lord to come back and rejoice in His presence.
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all my…
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People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. Proverbs 16:2
I remember sitting in the pew listening to the old preacher. I have to confess I did what many of us preachers/speakers do. Rather than listening to the message I critiqued the message, the content and the delivery. I came to a conclusion that, while my friend was a godly man and had a passion for Jesus and others, he wasn’t an effective speaker.
As his presentation drew to a close he did what I considered would be ‘ministerial suicide’. He gave an altar call and asked people who had been spoken to by his message to come forward for prayer. I remember thinking how bad I felt for him as I bowed my head. I’d been there many times before. You preach your heart out and when it comes to decision time, no one responds.
I heard some rustling, which I assumed was the sound of people shifting uneasily waiting for the pain to be over. Someone whispered, ‘excuse me’ and I moved so someone could move quietly past me. As they did I looked to the front. The entire stage area was crowded with people kneeling and praying. Some were weeping!
I remember thinking, rather flippantly I admit, ‘How on earth did this happen? That may have been the poorest presentation I’ve heard.’
Later, I talked with my friend and he asked me how I thought it went. I avoided telling him my critique notes that had been accumulating in my mind and simply said “Well, you certainly made an impact on the people. I was amazed at how many people came forward for prayer.”
My old friend smiled. “You know, I think that may have been one of the worst prestations I’ve ever made, but I agree. God certainly used my efforts for his good. I guess the old adage “passion beats technique every time’ was true in this case.
His words hit home. There are so many times in our lives when we have a passion to influence people. When those passions are built on selfish motives such as gaining popularity, ‘atta boys’ and prestige we have our reward.
When our passions are built on Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, great things happen. I’m still learning that time spent at my desk in study is vitally important, but the most important time is the time I spend on my knees. God doesn’t pay as much attention to ‘how we do things’ as he does ‘why we do things’. Passion [for Jesus] beats technique every time.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for the many opportunities we have in life to be examples of your love, grace and mercy. Help us to focus more on our motives than our actions and to rely on your Holy Spirit to guide us in how we can influence others for the Kingdom. Amen.
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. Colossians 1:15
Most people don’t like to look in the mirror. Looking in the mirror reveals all of our blemishes, at least in our own eyes. Usually, when we do look we look with a critical eye, wanting to make sure we look our very best. Mirrors don’t hide anything. When you see yourself in the mirror, you see exactly what everyone else sees.
One day, just before Jesus was brutally murdered by an angry mob, Philip, one of his disciples, made a very stunning request. Jesus had just announced that he would be leaving them. I can’t imagine how that made his followers feel. They had lived with him for three years. They had left all they had to follow him. Now he was going to leave. How could they possibly understand?
So, in the midst of this distress, Philip says, “Show us the Father and that will be enough.”
I don’t think we gentile believers can really grasp the significance of that statement. Jehovah God, YHWH, was revered, feared and distant to most Jewish believers. Many saw him as demanding and ready to show his wrath at the drop of a hat.
Jesus had shown them a different vision of the Father’s Kingdom. It was a Kingdom of grace and mercy; of healing and restoration; of forgiveness and hope. Still they didn’t completely understand.
When Philip made his request I envision Jesus turning to him and looking him square in the eyes. Maybe he placed his hands on Philip’s shoulders to make sure he had all his attention. Then he said (my paraphrase), “Philip. Look at me. When we look at me you see the Father”.
When he said that to Philip I can imagine Philip looking into Jesus’ eyes and seeing the woman caught in adultery who left pardoned rather than condemned; of him healing the blind man and delivering him from his spiritual and physical darkness; of him returning a now breathing young man to his mother, who celebrated his new life.
Some see God as being an angry task master intent on making our lives miserable. I don’t. I see a loving father who earnestly desires for us to come to him for healing, encouragement, guidance and protection. When I see God I see Jesus hanging on a cross for my sin. When I see God, I see an empty tomb and realize that everything I fear, even death, has been defeated.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus. I bow before you in awe at who you are. Thank you for revealing to me the great love and patience your Father has for me. Forgive me for the times I’ve doubted and rebelled. Help me to live and love the way you showed us to live and love. Amen.
Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. Isaiah 46:10
I’m an idea person, but not much on planning. That’s why I rely heavily on people who can think of the details needed for a project. The reason is obvious. Ideas are great. They are the stuff that made this nation great. But not thinking through the details on how to make something happen can be disastrous.
I have a friend who is a drama director at a local high school. I admire his ability to get his young actors and actresses to perform a variety of plays from mysteries to musicals and comedies. The thing I admire most about him though is his attention to detail. He’ll add a line here or there, or have a person move in just a certain way to add emphasis to a scene. His productions are almost always excellent, but even with all his planning and direction, things go wrong. A prop may be forgotten; a cue missed; a technological failure and more can all add up to a less than perfect performance. Sometimes those failures go unnoticed by the audience, other times they are obvious.
So it goes with life. No matter how hard we try to make the perfect meal, write the perfect blog post, present the perfect lesson or sermon, something always seems to go wrong. All of us are much more likely to act with confidence if we can be assured we will succeed at our endeavor. The more confidence we have in the outcome, the more likely we are to move forward.
In Old Testament times, military leaders would often inquire of God as to whether or not they should go to battle against a particular enemy. If God said go, they went with a full assurance that victory would be there’s. If they were told to hold back and make peace, they knew to act wisely in negotiating a peace. The underlying motivation for their actions was knowing God was on their side.
There are many times in each of our lives when we face difficult decisions regarding our relationships, careers, and other events. As believers in the Lord of the universe we can come with confidence to seek his wisdom because we know his plans have always…that’s right ALWAYS come true. The real beauty of that is that he will guide you in the best way and if failure does come, he’ll help you through that too.
PRAYER: Father God, I think one of the things I appreciate the most about you is the fact that I can trust you to do and be exactly what you say. With you by my side I can move confidently knowing you will walk with me through success and failure. Thank you for your guidance through your Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 