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And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Jeremiah 1:8
The story is told of an illegal Bible Study found out in a communist country. The soldiers who discovered the Bible Study told those in attendance that they would all be shot. Then, in a moment of false mercy, the head soldier said, “I’ll let you go if you spit on the Bible we’ve discovered. One by one people approached the Bible, spit on the open pages and left hurriedly. Then, a young girl approached the now spit covered Bible. She knelt, wiped away the spit with her dress and kissed the Bible. The soldier pointed his gun and pulled the trigger.
What a brave story of heroism and love for the Lord Jesus. This young girl looked at the situation before here and realized she could not acquiesce to the man with the gun. Perhaps she realized, more than anyone else in the room that the real power didn’t lie with the gun. The real power was in God’s word and she could not deny that.
The prophet Jeremiah encountered a somewhat similar situation. He was called to be God’s messenger during a very perilous economic, political and social time in his nation. Not only that, but God’s Word was looked down upon by many in the nation and he was but a youngster.
We live in a similar time today. We’re told by society at all levels that our message is, at best, no different than any other religious message. We are accused of being out of touch, intolerant, judgmental, and a whole litany of other adjectives. The reality is, sometimes we deserve those accusations because we use God’s word and a weapon rather than the source of love, hope and grace it was intended to be.
The question for each of us today is the same as it was for Jeremiah and for the young girl who literally had a gun pointed to her head. Will you stand for God’s word when your classmates ridicule you; when you are confronted by those antagonistic to Jesus; when it would be far easier to stay quiet, but more prudent to speak the truth in love? Jesus says you can’t serve two masters. Who will you serve today?
PRAYER: Father God, I’d like to think that I would take a bullet in the head before denying you, but I confess my weakness. While no one has pointed a gun at my head, there have been times I should have spoken up but did not. Forgive me for my fear. Help me to trust you completely. Amen.
Look up to the skies above, and gaze down on the earth below. For the skies will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing. The people of the earth will die like flies, but my salvation lasts forever. My righteous rule will never end!
My younger brother had a thing for garage sales. Every weekend would find him scouring through other people’s cast offs for ‘bargains’. When his life on earth ended suddenly as the result of an accident, those of us left behind had the task of going through his things. Apparently, my brother had a thing with shoes, tennis shoes in particular. All of us has that pair of shoes that are full of holes, worn out, and…comfortable. You know the kind. The kind you hate to throw away. My brother had boxes of them. We can only imagine that the shoes that many wives finally convinced their husbands to sell at a garage sale ended up in my brothers garage!
Nothing lasts forever, right? We outgrow that favorite sweater; get tired of the shirt grandma gave us; walk one too many miles in that pair sandals, or spill on that Easter dress. What’s true for clothing is true in other areas of our lives as well.
The flame in our marriages gets drowned out by bills, kids and familiarity until the honeymoon is a distant glow on the horizon. The new job becomes as full of monotony and drudgery as the old one. Our mid-life crisis car becomes the victim or cancerous rust.
Nothing keeps it glitter forever, right? But what about our faith? As I write this, I’m looking out my window at a Maple tree blazing with fall color. I’m reminded of the seasons and how they never change. Tonight the stars will shine brightly just like they’ve done for centuries and tomorrow morning the sun will rise above the horizon…just like always.
And, one more thing. God’s love for me will be the same for me tomorrow just as it was yesterday and will be for me for eternity. Eternity never grows dim. Eternity never loses it’s luster. Eternity never says, “I’ve had enough.” God’s love for us is eternal. So, while our love wavers from day to day and circumstance to circumstance, one thing, and only one thing, remains the same. God’s love will never fail.
Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” That favorite pair of shoes in the closet? You’re going to have to throw it someday, but you’ll never lose God’s love for you.
PRAYER: Father, there are so many times I take you for granted. So many times this temporary life clouds my realization of your eternal love for me. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for loving me so well. Amen.
My son, the blessings I give are better than the promise of ancient mountains or eternal hills. Joseph, I pray these blessings will come to you, because you are the leader of your brothers. Genesis 49:26
Someone once said “A promise is only as good as the person who gives them.” Unfortunately, that is all too true today. Politicians make promises of a better tomorrow and then turn around and blame others when those promises aren’t met. Preachers often make promises too. Promises that if you do ‘A-B-C’ you’ll be blessed with untold riches. Parents make promises too.
I remember sitting down with my ten-year-old son and drawing up plans for an elaborate ‘tree house’ on stilts. That was 30 years ago. The plans are long lost, the promise (hopefully) long forgotten by him, but not by me. Not that the fort was that big of a deal. It’s simply a reminder of all the times I made promises as a parent with great intentions but lacking the time or ability to fulfill those promises.
Broken promises can destroy relationships faster than anything. A spouse can forgive unpaid bills, messy garages and grass that has been un-mowed for far too long. But breaking the promise of fidelity, even if it’s a one-time event, destroys trust at best, and all too often the marriage.
Jacob gathered his sons around him shortly before his death and gave them his final blessings; the final words that would be with them for the rest of their lives. There was Reuben (who was guilty of incest); Judah (who suggested his brothers sell Joseph into slavery) and the list goes on. Jacob himself was no saint!
So how could this man who lived by deception and passed that on to his following generations make a promise to Joseph that “My son, the blessings I give are better than the promise of ancient mountains or eternal hills. Joseph, I pray these blessings will come to you, because you are the leader of your brothers.” (Genesis 49:26)
The reason was simple. Jacob was making this promise built on the character of God, not himself. That’s the key to living in integrity. If we base our actions on our own ability we will surely fail because we are human. If we base our trust and identity on what others tell us, we’ll be disappointed. When we put all our trust in God, through Jesus Christ, we’ll find those promises to be as dependable as a mountain and as long-lasting as time itself.
Prayer: Father, we fail you so often in what we say or what we do. Often our promises are based on the hope we will be able to carry them out. Our intentions are strong; our ability is weak. Thank you that even when I fail myself or others, I can know you will never fail me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Unless you’re a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ style parent, we all want our kids to learn from us, follow our lead and to do the good things we’ve taught them to do. I’ve learned over the years however, as both a ‘youngin’ and a parent myself, that intentionally or not, there are only two ways we lead others… in love or by fear.
Leading and motivating others by instilling fear in them only produces unhealthy, results driven relationships that create immense anxiety over seemingly unmet expectations. But leading and encouraging the best in people through love produces a life-long bounty of integrity, kindness, honesty and respect in others. The young man who sees his father as his hero and role model does so because his Dad first loved him.
‘Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father.’…
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Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 