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I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
Sometimes I think we as Christ-followers have a warped view of our Bible heroes. Take the Apostle Paul for example. We lift him up as a man we all want to emulate. After all, he wrote most of the New Testament, was responsible for starting many, many churches and, among other things had the wisdom and chutzpa to stand up to Peter and get into his face on a couple of occasions. What a guy!
But I appreciate Paul for more than his godly wisdom and spiritual insight. I admire more the many times in Scripture when he speaks candidly about his own failures. I think Paul would scream in horror if he heard and saw how we elevate him sometimes.
Take for example his letter to the Philippians. Three times in the first few verses of chapter three it’s as if Paul is saying, “I haven’t reached perfection yet. I still fail. I struggle with the same old sins. I battle temptation constantly. Sometimes I win. Sometimes I lose. But, I press on to the higher standard God has called me to in Christ Jesus.”
Isn’t that the way each of us feel when we are honest with ourselves? We aren’t called to perfection. We’re called to battle. We aren’t expected to win every battle with temptation, but we are encouraged to fight each battle with determination and will.
Sometimes that means giving up our ‘rights’. Sometimes we’ll be misunderstood or wrongfully accused. Sometimes we’ll just plain fail. Jesus is more interested in the direction you are heading than how many battles you win. He’s more excited about how hard you fight than your win-loss record. He knows you’ll lose some battles. He knows he’s already won the war.
Don’t get discouraged when it seems the old life has too much power over you. You have been called to battle with Jesus at your side. Don’t give up on yourself. Sometimes you’ll win the big battles; sometimes you’ll lose the small ones. Either way, pick yourself up, brush the dirt from your clothes and press on knowing the Jesus is running alongside cheering you on to victory and comforting you in defeat.
PRAYER: Jesus, there are so many times I’ve failed you. I get up in the morning determined to win and climb back in bed hours later battered, bruised and embarrassed by my weakness. Forgive me for my failure. Empower me to press on. In your name, Amen.
He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds Titus 2:14 (NLT)
Freedom. It’s something that every one of us wants to have. It means so many things to so many people. To the child freedom means ice cream for every meal and the absence of fruits and vegetables for every meal.
To the political activist freedom means rules and government involvement to a minimum. Religion defines freedom by a list of rules and dogmas that must be followed in order to, someday, attain freedom. Every war, every political party, every religion has freedom as a basic tenant.
As a human race we’ve never done well with freedom. From the first day, when Adam and Eve set foot in the garden God gave them freedom. “Do anything you want. Anything at all. Just don’t eat from that one single tree.” We failed to handle the complete freedom God gave us in the garden and have been struggling to regain it ever since.
The real tragedy in our quest for freedom is that in Jesus we already have it. God saw that man would never, in his own power, be able to be completely free. That’s why he sent Jesus. Jesus death and resurrection gives us the freedom to be everything we were created to be.
So what keeps you from living in that freedom? Is it addiction? Is it lust for the things you want in your old self, the flesh? Is it the daily reminders sent from the enemy that you are a failure and always will be? It is the exhaustion from trying to please a bunch of outdated religious rules? Is it the fatigue encountered by trying to please others or the futility of placing your value on the size of your bank account or the depth of a human relationship? Is it anger, hate or bitterness from being hurt?
Jesus tells each of us, “You don’t need to struggle anymore. Rest in me. I can take the guilt away. My only rule is to love me and get to know me more. Church won’t do that. Rules, relationship and resources won’t do that. Only faith in me will give you true freedom. His freedom gives you permission to be you.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I want to be free. I want to be free of worry, hate, guilt, anger, my desire for things and a whole list of other things that have held me captive. Religion hasn’t done it for me. People have failed me. I’ve failed myself. Empower me by your Spirit to live in the freedom you came to give me. Give me wisdom to grow in relationship to you so that I know how that freedom looks in my life. In your name I pray, Amen.
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Romans 8:33 (NLT)
A friend of mine, I’ll call him John, tells this story:
John was a pastor of a small church in a quaint village out east. This was the type of town where everyone knew everyone and would give a hand when necessary to help those in need. When my friend arrived in town the small church was in its last stages of life. The congregation was small and largely made up of elderly people. It was considered by some to be ministerial suicide because many a pastor had left defeated and maligned by this demanding congregation. My friend was, in a sense, the last ditch effort to keep the struggling ministry alive.
Although the ministry was hard and progress was slow, things began to change in the small church. Word got out that there was a ‘new guy’ at ‘FirstChurch’ and gave it a try. They stayed on and helped with some of the much needed changes and upkeep in the ministry.
One Sunday morning a new couple came through the doors. The pastor was informed of this and warned. “They are nothing but trouble pastor. He is a drunk and has made quite a spectacle of himself on several occasions. She is suspected of beating the children and their oldest claims to worship Satan! We can’t let them stay. They’ll destroy the reputation of our church!”
John tucked the information away in his mind but did nothing. The couple attended off and on for a time but soon became more regular. The kids rarely came and rumors had it that the kids were threatening evil to the church. There was evidence of an attempted break-in one night, but nothing could be proven. John continued to accept the couple in and often smelled alcohol on their breath as they left Sunday mornings.
One day the husband came to John and asked if he could be the listener for the Bible Club on Wednesday night. His job would simply be to listen to children recite verses. Against the warning of some of the people in his church, John accepted the offer. About six months after this story began both the husband and wife accepted Christ as Savior.
John was at that small church for seven years before moving on. The ministry was growing spiritually and physically when John was called to another ministry in another state. It was a tough decision to leave, but one that John knew was right.
Fifteen years after he left he happened to run into the man who’d taken his place. In the course of conversation he asked about this man and woman. A smile came to the face of the pastor as he told John that even though they had moved out of town, their legacy of faith and caring lived on. Just the week before the couple’s daughter had returned to the small church and asked forgiveness for things she’d done as a youth. She had accepted Jesus as her savior and wanted to be restored to fellowship!
John had tears in his eyes as he told this story. Then he looked at me and said, “What would have happened if I’d listened to those who’d so quickly judged?”
Every day you and I rub shoulders with people who have already been judged because of their economic standing, addictions, sexual orientation or a whole list of standards. As Christ-followers we stand at a crossroad. Will we accept them and risk our reputations in order to offer Christ’s forgiveness or will we stand on ‘principle’ and send them away? John reached out to others in the same way that Jesus did and the results were lives changed for eternity. Many people don’t feel like they measure up because of past or present circumstances. As Christ-followers we are called to reach out to all people with his love.
PRAYER: Father God, it’s so hard to accept people who are different than me. Especially those who drag your name in the mud, and mock my faith. I find myself avoiding the very situations and people that your Son sought out. Empower me by your Spirit to reach out to those who need you the most and not judge them. In your name, Amen.
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. John 1:46
By today’s standards it was nothing more than a wide spot in the road. It wouldn’t even have merited a “Speed Reduced Ahead” sign. No tourist attractions or antique malls here. Most likely, were you to drive through at night, you wouldn’t even have realized you just drove through a town! That was Nazareth.
It’s no wonder then that Nathanael asked if there were anything good that could come from that place. It was barely a blimp on a GPS! But don’t be too hard on Nathanael. We do the same thing today. We ask, and sometimes not so graciously,
- Can anything good come from him/her? He/she is divorced you know.
- He’s a [insert your least liked political party here] you know. And you know what ‘they’ are like!
- They go to that church down the street. They can’t be good Christians and go there. Everyone knows that.
- Why, he can’t even speak the language. What good can he be?
- Humph. Don’t tell me they are Christians. They are living together you know.
- They teach at that ‘liberal’ school. They can’t be good Christians and teach there? Can they?
- Once an addict, always an addict. You can’t trust them. Can you?
- You know they did [insert the sin you think is most horrific here]. They can’t be used in any spiritual leadership position now. Can they?
And the list goes on and on. You know it does. You’ve heard the lines yourself. Maybe you’ve even said them on occasion. But Jesus has an answer for each question and the answer is yes. Yes the person struggling with sin, tainted by divorce, victims of abuse or addictions, haunted by the past can be used mightily by God. Good can come from anything and anyone if Jesus has come into their lives. He can forgive the ugliest of sins, repair the most damaged heart, and cleanse the dirtiest conscience. All you have to do to answer the questions above is to look at the nail pierced hand and the scar in his side to know that.
Philip didn’t bother to argue with Nathanael. He simply said ‘come and see’. And so it is with each of us. Before we make judgments about if or how or when Jesus can use damaged people we need only come and see! There is nothing we can do in our lives to be disqualified from Jesus’ forgiveness.
PRAYER: Father God, I confess to you that far too often I judge others on external things and not the heart. I label people by race, religion or political persuasion. I question how you can use people who have done such horrific things to others. Then I look at me and realize that it’s only by your grace I am where I am. Forgive me for not accepting others as you do. Empower me to be more patient and accepting of those who are different than me. In Jesus name, Amen.
I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. John 13:15 (NLT)
“And Jesus had compassion…”
Those words spring up throughout the ministry of Jesus while he was on earth. He had compassion on the woman caught red-handed in bed with a man she wasn’t married to.
He had compassion on the parent whose child had just died or was very sick.
He had compassion on the rich young ruler who, tried as he might, just couldn’t do what was necessary to receive the gift of eternal life. He just couldn’t let go.
He had compassion on the traitor who sold out to the enemy and, as a result, was a social outcast.
He had compassion on the person so steeped in religion that he couldn’t comprehend the simple steps it took to receive eternal life.
He had compassion on those who were his closest friends and yet were more concerned about their own status than they were their brother.
He had compassion on the guard that beat him nearly to death and then pounded huge spikes into his already pain-filled flesh.
“He had compassion….”
Why did Jesus have compassion on so many people that rejected him, either openly, or unintentionally? What drove him so such lengths to give his very life for the very people who thought they took it from him?
Jesus had compassion because he knew the Father and knew that the Father was, in his very essence, compassion. That is what drove Jesus to reach out to the weak, the frail, the sick and the rebellious. And that’s what drives Jesus to reach out to you. Not a single deserved the touch of Jesus compassion. Not a single person can repay him for what he did. Neither can you.
Jesus says to us, “Follow my example”, and when he does so he is asking…commanding us rather, to show compassion in the same way that he did.
Our reaction to those around us is a reflection of our view of God. If we see a god of revenge we will seek justice rather than mercy. If we see a god of anger we will respond to those who have hurt us in anger. If we see an unforgiving god we will refuse to forgive those who have hurt us. But if we see a God of compassion, we will respond to those around us as Jesus did.
PRAYER: Father, once again I am humbled as I approach your throne today. I confess that it is easy to show compassion to those I don’t know, or those who are like me and who are kind to me. It’s hard to show compassion to the ‘bad people’ around me, yet that is what you would do. Fill me today with the power from your Spirit to show compassion to those who need it the most. Thank you for the example you gave us in Jesus. In his name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 