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Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4
It wasn’t enough to watch from heaven. Your car died. Your kids have just told you that they don’t believe in God. You just lost your job. You can’t sing in church anymore. It’s not that the music is bad. In fact you like the music. You just can’t sing the words anymore. They’ve become hollow syllables, empty letters, and meaningless chatter.
You’ve tried to get the feeling back. You’ve prayed. You think about reading the Bible every day. It’s hard to know if it’s your own failure that has driven you to this point, or if it’s the pain that others have inflicted on you. You’ve been scolded one too many times. You’ve been reminded once too often that you’ve failed.
“Is it worth another try?” you ask yourself as you lay on your back staring at the ceiling and hoping that sleep will come soon to give your mind some rest. The same situations keep replaying themselves over and over in your head. What if you’d made a different choice? What if he didn’t hit you that last time? What if you’d told her she couldn’t go to the party? What if…?
The loneliness and despair surround you like the darkness of your night. You hope sleep comes but fear the dawn because you know the problems will still be there and you aren’t sure where you will get the courage and strength to go one more day.
Then a still small voice comes from the dark corners of your troubled mind. It’s a verse…no a phrase really. You don’t remember where it’s from. It was part of a Sunday School lesson years ago. “I’ll never leave you or forsake you.” That was it, right. He’ll never leave. He promised to be with me…always.
As sleep finally begins to creep in the words keep reminding you, consoling you, healing you. It wasn’t enough for him to watch from heaven. It wasn’t enough for him to ‘understand’ your plight. He knew that the best way he could help you was to come to live with you.
Jesus has felt the pain of every broken relationship. He’s cried with you each time you’ve been lied to. He’s worked through the feelings you have had of failure even though he himself never failed.
That’s what grace is about. It’s about the son of God coming to earth to feel your pain. To endure your failures. To feel your loneliness. He did all of this because he loves you and desperately yearns for a relationship with you. Jesus is passionate about you! It wasn’t enough to watch with sympathy from heaven. Jesus loves you so much he came to earth to experience the pain you feel in life.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I don’t understand how you, as the Son of God, can feel all the feelings I feel. I don’t understand how you can love someone like me who seems to find new ways to fail every day. I don’t understand it. But I like it! Thank you for understanding me. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for loving me so much that you came to earth to show me how to live in the midst of this struggle we call life. Amen.
LORD, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells. Psalm 26:8
Shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 there was a huge spike in church attendance. People that hadn’t been to church in years walked through the doors to heal, to comfort one another, to pray for our nation.
When the earthquake hit Haiti, the hurricanes hit New Orleans, the Tsunami hit Southeast Asia people sent food, money and teams to the affected areas to heal (emotionally and medically) comfort one another and provide housing or whatever else was needed to lift the survivors of these natural disasters to their feet again.
Throughout history the ravages of war and the pain of natural disasters has awakened in us the desire to help. Our hearts melt at the sight of starving orphans. Suddenly we find an extra $10.00 to send through our cell phone bill to help people we never have met.
What is it within us that drives those feelings of compassion and assistance? It’s the realization that we are needed and that we need each other. Deep inside each of us there is a desire to feel like the action you take, no matter how small, will somehow make a difference in the lives of others. Suddenly it doesn’t matter what social class you are in or what the color of your skin is. Sexual orientation isn’t as important as making sure a cardboard shack is replaced by suitable housing and clean water. Enemies set aside their differences at least long enough to meet the needs of those affected by the disaster.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that success in meeting these challenges requires teamwork. One person going to Haiti would have accomplished nothing. One fireman going into the flaming towers would have been fruitless. One $10.00 gift to help the famine ravaged parts of the world would be a ridiculous attempt to help.
Why is it then that when it comes to Spiritual warfare we Christ-followers think we can wage battle alone? We divide ourselves according to denominational affiliation. We camp out on issues about how to worship or how and when to baptize. Some of us are so tired of the bickering that we give up on getting together with other Christ-followers all together. The statement, “I can be a Christian without going to church” is absolutely correct. You can also go to battle alone, but you won’t last long.
Before he went to the cross to die for you Jesus only asked his Father for one thing: UNITY. He knew that in order for us to live strong lives that withstand the forces of evil we would need each other. The body of Christ isn’t a building or a denomination or a set of rules. The body of Christ is a living organism that needs the nourishment of fellowshipping with each other to grow strong.
As Christ-followers we need to make sure that our ‘churches’ show the grace and love of our Lord Jesus to every person that enters our doors. We need to be an active part of our community by being a ‘church without walls’ and doing all we do in the name of Christ (not our church!).
We need each other. We need each other for our own physical, emotional and spiritual strength. The people around us need to see the love of Jesus by the things we do and say to draw them into relationship with the one who can comfort and heal for eternity.
PRAYER: Father, I love to come to your house to worship and learn from your word. I confess to you that often times I look more for what I can gain from the experience that what I can do for others and for you. Forgive me for selfishly looking for my own comfort at the expense of others. Empower me with your Spirit to begin today to make my church a place where all people feel welcome. I need you and they need me. In your name I pray, Amen.
“…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
There are some who preach a gospel that says Jesus came to give us a life of comfort and prosperity. While God blesses us in many ways when we live in relationship with him, financial blessing isn’t the most important, or the most common way of blessing. In fact the Bible speaks about the difficulty of ‘rich’ people entering the Kingdom and the danger of putting money, power, and social status above our relationship with God.
Jesus’ focus while he was on earth was to tend to the needs of those around him. That was his only purpose in life. There were plenty of times in his ministry that he could have set up his own little church and settled in Can’t you see it now?
“Jesus Healing and Providing Service”, or JHPS for short. His tag line could have been “Bring me your sick, your disabled your blind and your dead. I’ll heal them for you and you’ll live happily ever after!”
Sounds a little far-fetched doesn’t it? That’s because the last thing Jesus was concerned about was his retirement pension. 410K’s and second homes and foundations bearing his name were meaningless to him.
He spent his entire life working for others and never once did he ask for anything in return! He touched the diseased and stinking body of the leper. He sat men and women who had spent a lifetime taking from others. Jesus spent his times in the slums and ghettos of life, while most of us yearn for the suburbs and the quiet country-side.
The most amazing thing about Jesus is this. While he was walking down the dusty, hot and dry paths of Palestine, he looked down through the future and saw me and you. He saw the times we’ve taken him into moral darkness. He’s heard the words we’ve used to hurt others or mock his name. He’s seen our anger, our hatred, and our apathy.
Jesus knew that even though he would give everything for me, I would still be selfish and rebellious but he died for me anyway. He died for you too. Your past isn’t important. You don’t need to clean up anything or change anything. He’ll work with you on that. Jesus just wants you to come home to him so he can love you.
That’s leadership. Leadership Jesus’ way says your needs are more important than my comfort.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I confess to you that most of my life is really about making myself comfortable. The times I get angry are really the result of not getting my way. Forgive me for seeking my own comfort at the expense of others. Help me to be a servant-leader like you were when you were here on earth. In your name I pray, Amen.
“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. Zechariah 2:10
Rejoice! He has come to live among us. That babe in a manger, whose birth we celebrate with decorated trees and brightly colored packages. That babe in the manger who shows us how to live in the midst of trials and tribulation. That babe in the manger who heals us with the gentle touch of his hand. That babe in the manger that came for no other reason than to die so that we might live.
Have you ever thought about this? If you were the only one who needed a savior, he’d have still come for you. He didn’t come to save ‘masses’ of people, he came for you. He came to provide a way for you to find freedom from the burden of your own stupid choices. He came to provide comfort for you in the midst of the evil and abusive acts of others. He came to empower you to live victoriously over addictions. He came to lift you up when you fail. He came for you!
Notice something else. He came to live among us. There are many fine organizations around the world that provide opportunities for people to assist those who are down and out. You can pick from any number of places to help the homeless, to help feed the starving, to offer medical, physical and spiritual assistance to those who are desperately in need.
That’s not the same as living ‘among us’. Jesus didn’t come to visit the homeless. He came to be one of the homeless. He didn’t come to offer a hand to the leper, the addict, the social outcast, the poor or the starving. He came to live ‘among’ them. It’s not a temporary position. He holds the hand of the severely sick child, whispers in the ear of the elderly person whose foot is on the threshold of eternity; has his arm gently on the shoulder of the parent who has lost a child…or the child (of any age) who just lost mom or dad.
He never leaves you. Why should he? He lives with you. Your home is his home. He doesn’t have the cubicle next to you at the office…he’s got the desk in your corner. There is no place he has not been with you. There is no feeling that you have had that he isn’t aware of. He’s seen every tear, heard every laugh, felt every fear. He is among you. That’s grace. Grace sent Jesus from heaven to earth to live among you in every situation. Rejoice!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. Thank you for coming to earth for me. Thank you for showing me the way of life and forgiveness. Thank you for loving me and providing a way for me to escape my past and live for you. Most of all, I thank you for the promise that you don’t just live ‘with me’, you live ‘among me’ so that you see and feel everything I feel. Empower me with your Spirit to sense your presence in every place I go, word I speak and action I take. In your name I pray, Amen.
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Galatians 6:7 (NLT)
Have you ever had the chance to visit a greenhouse in the early spring? While most of us are just beginning to think about getting out to do the yard work, greenhouses and nurseries are busy preparing and planting the flowers and plants you will use to beautify your yards and gardens.
They are making sure the soil mixture is just right, adjusting the heat and moisture levels, and making sure that enough light is available for optimum growing of the plants. Not only that, but they make sure that the plants they are preparing will grow well in your area. It’s not important if they grow well in the regulated environment of the greenhouse. Each gardener must ask the question, “How will this plant do in the real world?”
One more thing the gardener makes sure of before they offer their plants to you. They make sure there are no weeds among the plants. Weeds are tricky little things because sometimes they look just like the real plant. An untrained eye can easily pull up a flower thinking it’s a weed or leave a weed intact thinking it’s a flower!
A trained gardener is never surprised by what comes up in the pot they’ve planted. The seed they place in the soil produces the exact plant they intended it to be. No turnips from marigold seeds. No rose bushes from pumpkin seeds. No oak trees from pine cones.
Life is the same way. In a sense we are gardeners and the world around us is the greenhouse. We plant seeds by the words we speak. We nourish plants by the actions we take and the attitudes we carry. When we plant understanding and acceptance, we gain understanding and acceptance in our own lives. When we plant love and mercy in the lives of others we receive love and mercy in return. When we cultivate our relationships with grace and forgiveness, we harvest grace and forgiveness in return.
What seeds are you planting in the lives of those around you? The Bible tells us that the things we instill in others by our actions and words are the exact things we will harvest. It’s true that sometimes we won’t see the results as soon as we’d like, but sometimes we need to prepare the soil by getting rid of the weeds and rocks and nourish it before the seed will actually take root.
Remember, we are responsible for preparing the soil and planting and nourishing the seed. It’s God who is ultimately responsible for the actual growth of the plant. The seeds you place in the lives of those around you will produce exactly what you plant, nothing more. Nothing less.
PRAYER: Father God, master gardener. I realize that you have made me exactly as you want me to be. I praise you for the wonder of my being and the privilege I have to be yours. I pray that I might be able to plant seeds in the lives of others that will bring forth the kind of harvest that is pleasing to you. Help me to sow seeds of love, grace, mercy and forgiveness in the lives of those around me today. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 