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I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul. 1 Peter 2:11 (GNT)
My daughter came home from school the other day full of all sorts of information and questions about the Civil War in the USA. She wanted to know about slavery. She wondered what it must have been like to be a slave.
I realized at that point how lucky I was that we have never had to deal personally with slavery. How comfortable we were in our nice middle-class rural existence. How far removed we were from the reality others face in their daily existence. An existence in which they are completely dependent on people who have not interest in their own physical, spiritual or emotional health. An existence built on getting the most out of you and giving back as little as absolutely possible; the bare minimum in order to keep you productive and alive.
Such was, from my very limited perspective, the life of a slave. Such was the life of a refugee. Yanked from everything they knew, from family, friends and homeland, they were (are?) sent to a foreign land where their culture is not recognized and their needs are disregarded.
The physical harshness must have been tremendous. The emotional trauma must have been staggering. But the biggest, most shameful thing that happened was the destruction of the soul. The soul is the very essence of our existence. It tells us of our value. It tells us who we are. When the soul is wounded it makes life difficult and we question who we are. When the soul is destroyed we lose all sight of who we are and give up completely with the dreams, goals and potential of what we can become.
No wonder Peter calls us refugees. No wonder he warns us of the tactics of the enemy. Tactics that give no regard for who we are. Tactics that aim to destroy our freedom. He’s ruthless, cunning and full of hate and anger. His weapons are deadly, his goal is your destruction. But his banner tells us his way is best, most pleasurable, the ‘right thing’ to do to be free.
God’s way contradicts his way in every way. His rules are for our benefit, not our destruction. His plan is for our emotional stability and freedom. Living according to the principles of the Creator God gives us victory over The enemies attacks. Following him allows us to corral the passions that can so easily pull us down. When we are living in victory over the evil desires, the outward stressors will not change but our ability to endure and be at peace will be evident.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are so aware of the battle for my soul. I praise you for the victory you gave me over the enemy through your work on the cross. Empower me to endure the pressure of enemy attack so I can enjoy the freedom of my soul. Amen.
May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Psalm 20:5
We don’t celebrate our victories or the victories of others often enough. In old testament times armies that would go off to battle would do so behind their banner, a flag of sorts that told the world who they were. When victory was accomplished they raised their banners high in celebration.
The ultimate victory each of us has as believers is our salvation of course. We don’t fight for that; it was done for us by the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. That alone is cause for celebration on a daily basis. Our banner, in a sense, is life itself. As followers of Jesus Christ we have a hope the world can’t gain, a future in heaven for eternity and forgiveness and freedom from guilt. We have plenty of things to celebrate, so let the celebration begin!
This was brought to mind recently when a friend told me of a huge struggle he was having with a co-worker. My friend’s marriage was struggling and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could endure the pain of the failing relationship. Everything he did to try to make the relationship work seemed to fall by the wayside.
In the meantime, a woman at work had become a very good friend and sounding board. On one occasion she invited him to lunch with other co-workers. He went and had a great time. Then she invited him to her home for an after-work drink. It would have been very easy for him to give into the invitation but, as he said to me, “Right now with my marriage the way it is, I can’t trust myself to be alone with her. I feel like such a jerk for letting this happen.”
I realized what my friend was saying. He’d been struggling with thoughts of this woman for some time, yet had always put those thoughts out of his mind. He’d done nothing physically with the woman and had never been alone with her, but there was a strong emotional attachment.
Rather than allowing him to dwell on the ‘might-have-beens’ I reminded him of the victory he’d had! I encouraged him to celebrate the victory he had over temptation and sin. We read the story of Joseph and how he fled from the advances of Potiphar’s wife. I don’t think for a moment that he wasn’t tempted to give in, but he didn’t. That was time to celebrate even though for a time is seemed like a tough situation.
We need to take sin seriously in our lives, but we also need to take time to celebrate the victories we have over sin. We need to join in celebration with our friends when they overcome obstacles on the journey. We need to lift our banners high not only in our own victories but in the victories of others.
I’m happy to say, by the way, that my friend and his wife are rebuilding a rocky relationship. They aren’t out of the woods yet, but things got better once he started to celebrate the victories he had over temptation.
Take time each day to celebrate the victories you have through Jesus Christ. It will do your soul good!
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I’m guilty of dwelling on my past, my failures, my struggles and my temptations. I realize now that those things have kept me from celebrating the positives and dwelling on the victories I have in you. Thank you for setting me free. Empower me to live a life of victory and celebration. Amen.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Luke 7:47 NLT
It was a small, intimate gathering. Jesus was invited to a gathering of all the influential people. How do I know that? Pharisees didn’t hang out with low-life, unless of course they could get some personal gain from it. They were educated, spiritual and men of integrity. Men of integrity didn’t associate with people of ill-repute.
Jesus had just raised a young man from the dead and the little town of Nain must have been all abuzz about the event. It’s no wonder then that the Pharisee would take this opportunity to have Jesus over for a meal. Never hurts to draw a little attention to yourself at the expense of a famous person.
Everything was going fine until ‘she’ showed up. We don’t know her name, but no doubt the townsfolk did. She had a ‘reputation’. The men all knew who she was, the ones that would admit it anyway.
We really shouldn’t be too hard on Mr. Pharisee though. We are all guilty of looking down on people who don’t ‘hold to the same standards’ we hold to. Perhaps that’s the problem. Too often we measure other people’s actions, transgressions and evil choices by our standards and not God’s. Oh, don’t get me wrong. We SAY they are God’s standards, but often our vision is skewed. If we measure everyone’s actions by God’s standards we will realize that we all fall shamefully short of his glory.
The woman who bowed at Jesus’ feet didn’t care about how others felt about her. She only cared about how Jesus felt about her. Something in his demeanor, his words, the look in her eyes spoke love, forgiveness and acceptance.
The Pharisee, on the other hand, didn’t see those things in Jesus. Why? He never got a grasp of his own sin. Those who clearly see their own sin are more aware of their forgiveness. Why? It’s not that we are forgiven less but we won’t feel forgiven until we see ourselves for who we really are. When we fail to see our own sin we bear the huge burden of not being able to forgive others.
One writer wrote, “A man’s love to God will be in proportion to the obligation he “feels” to him for forgiveness” The woman felt God’s love much more than the Pharisee because she was well aware of the huge amount of forgiveness she’d been given.
If you struggle with forgiveness of those who have hurt you, I encourage you to take some time to examine your own life. Forgiving others who have hurt you doesn’t mean you trust them, it means you release yourself from their pain.
If you are struggling under the watchful eye of your own personal Pharisees, look beyond them to the loving, forgiving, accepting eyes of Jesus Christ. He didn’t come to judge you. He came to free you.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ. I confess to you that I’m a sinner. I am so aware of the sins of others I’ve not noticed mine, until now. I’m tired of the looks of judgment that come my way. I pray that you would free me from my guilt and empower me to show others the same love you have shown me. Amen.
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split Matthew 27:50-51 (NIV)
Murder: the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.
I used to think that Jesus Christ was murdered by an angry mob until I read Matthew 27 again for the millionth time.
Two things came to my mind about that whole situation. The second one first (in order to confuse you) was how traumatic the death of Jesus was. The curtain in the temple was sixty feet long and thirty feet wide! All woven of one piece and not a seam to be found it must have been a sight to behold.
‘The curtain’ served as the final division between man and God. Behind it was the holiest of all places, where God himself dwelt. The High priest was allowed behind the curtain once a year to offer sacrifices to God on behalf of his people and himself. The only way to God, essentially, was through the priest.
Just outside the temple, perhaps within view, a lonely hillside held three crosses and a small gathering of people who’d come to mourn, to celebrate or just to watch the show and jeer at the criminals hanging there.
When the guy in the middle died, the result was something like noone had ever seen. As he breathed his last there was a tremendous earthquake to add to the ominous dark sky. Rocks split in two from the force of the action.
Meanwhile inside the temple as the priests celebrated their victory over some itinerant preacher fromGalileethe temple shook and the curtain split in two from top to bottom! Can you imagine the reaction of those in the building! No one had ever seen the holiest of all places. Some may have covered their eyes in fear (as if dark skies at midday and earthquakes weren’t enough). Tradition says that he priests hastily tried to patch the curtain (wonder if they had duct tape back then?)
That action was extremely symbolic because now, because of Jesus, direct access to God was completed. The devout Jews continued to worship as though access to God was restricted. They continued to believe that the only way to truly learn from God was through a priest, a tradition that has lasted through the centuries. But Jesus’ death put an end to that. To say a priest or pastor or missionary is closer to God because of position is like saying you are closer to the planet Mars because you are taller than I?
Closeness to God isn’t because of position, it’s because of passion.
Then, there’s the issue of Jesus’ murder. As I read that passage again, I asked myself, is it murder when you willingly let someone kill you? After all, Jesus didn’t need to die that day. The same power that tore the curtain and split the rocks could have saved him at the bat of an eyelash.
So, I looked up the definition of murder. Murder is, according to Webster, a crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.
Was Jesus murdered? According to Webster he was. He meets the qualifications. Jesus was innocent of all charges, yet he died for your sin. Nothing you have done of ever will do could have gotten you through that curtain in theTemple. Nothing you can do will ever separate you from God’s forgiveness through Jesus.
Was his killing an act of planning and malice and cunning? Yes, although the priests thought their plan worked, the plan for Jesus to die was planned years earlier. They were simply pawns in God’s plan to finally bring us home, to tear that curtain in half.
Jesus was murdered by his own will so you can choose. He died so you could live. He conquered death so you could have eternal life.
PRAYER; Lord Jesus, once again I’m reminded of your sacrifice of love for me and the power you have to bring us to the Father. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for removing the curtain so I can find God. Amen.
Death had wrapped its ropes around me, and I was almost swallowed by its flooding waters. Psalm 18:4 (CEV)
Recently we went to a local museum to see a display on the ‘Real Pirates of the Caribbean’. It was an interesting display of artifacts from history and from the bottom of the sea.
There was one display that caught my mind and Psalm 18:4 reminds me of it. Hanging in one display was a metal cage approximately 8 feet long and in the shape of a human body. The corresponding sign told that this cage was used to execute pirates.
The man (or woman) was placed in the cage and the cage was subsequently staked in the sandy beach. As the tide came in, the cage would remain in place, the water would inch up the bodies of the victim and eventually submerge them. Death by drowning.
Imagine being in that cage as a pirate. You knew how unforgiving the sea was. You knew the tide and how it worked. You stood there in your cage and watched the tide grow closer. You felt the cold water inch up your body. You knew death was imminent and that there was nothing you could do about it. The cold ocean water reached your knees, your waist, your neck and finally, painfully you breathe your last.
History tells us that those living close to the shore would often hear the screams of the condemned begging for help, begging for someone to rescue them. Of course, even if some compassionate soul would try to rescue them, there was no hope, no way to stop the tide; no way to unlock the cage; no hope to bring them safely ashore. The very thing that brought them riches (the sea) was their ultimate demise.
Horrific as that scenario may be, we are surrounded by people who, like the executed pirates, are living in cages of their own. Some are cages they have built themselves on lie, on rebellious choice, one broken promise at a time. Others are victims of the brutality imposed on them. The reason for their cage is unimportant. The result is what is important.
For the pirate, there was no hope; no one with a key to open the cage and offer them freedom. For us we have someone who not only has a key to unlock the door, but will bring us safely ashore.
If you feel like the pirate; if you feel the cold waters of the ocean rising up your body; if you feel your own destruction is at hand and there is no hope, know that Jesus Christ offers you the escape you need to break free of your prison. His forgiveness is all you need to find new life.
The key to unlocking the door is simply asking him to forgive you of your sin and to empower you to live a life free of the despair and pain of your past.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I thank you for rescuing me from the destruction and despair of my past. Forgive me of the sins of my past. Empower me by your Holy Spirit to live life in the freedom only you can offer. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 