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The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Isaiah 58:11
Last spring we planted several trees in our yard. Unfortunately we had one of the driest summers on record. For the health and safety of our new trees, I watered them frequently to give them the best chance of survival.
One of the things I noticed after a few days was the green spots in our yard, around our new trees. While the rest of the yard was dry and brown, the area around the new trees was green because they benefitted from the water provided to the trees.
Life can be like that. The world around us can be dry with little growth, but if we put our roots deep down into the living water of Jesus we can be an oasis in the dryness of this world. A kind word, a smile, undeserved forgiveness, mercy, grace. All these can act as an oasis in the wilderness to those who are thirsty.
The deeper you grow in the living water of Jesus, the more you will be able to withstand the dryness of the wilderness and become an oasis to those who are thirsty.
He has paid a full ransom for his people. He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever. What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has! Psalms 111:9
You hear about it on the news all too often. A life is snatched from the street. Someone has been kidnapped. People kidnap others for a variety of reasons and none of them are good.
The brutal reality is that some are kidnapped and subsequently murdered after whatever evil intent the kidnapper had was satisfied. Some have been ‘captured’ and held as pets. Others have had a price put on their heads. Financial gain without concern for the victims is the attitude of these ruthless criminals.
The Psalmist reminds us that our ransom has been paid in full! In order to be ransomed I’d have to be kidnapped. Taken against my will by someone who intends to do me harm and doesn’t care about me.
Our great enemy, Satan, has kidnapped us through the sin nature each of us is born with. We are alive, shackled and in danger. A price has been put on our head. A price no one in this world has the amount to pay.
Make no mistake about it. Our kidnapper, Satan, knows his limits. He knows he has no power to take our lives, but he also knows he can make our lives miserable with broken relationships, fear, war, hate, disease, natural disasters and a variety of other painful experiences.
That’s how Jesus found us. But through his death and resurrection he paid for my release! Don’t allow the schemes of our ruthless kidnapper keep you from experiencing the freedom we have in Jesus! You don’t deserve this freedom, but he paid your ransom out of unconditional love!
I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. 1 Corinthians 10:33
It’s all about me. That seems to be the mantra our culture lives under. Yet Living for Christ means that I live for others. When you are watching TV and the accompanying commercials, take a look at how many times you can say ‘this is all about me’.
Every commercial screams at you to buy this toy, or eat this food, or engage in this activity to better YOU. Marketing experts have become experts at tugging at our heartstrings, of making us see the perfectly good phone in our hands as being obsolete or worthless because it doesn’t fold, or have as nice a camera, or, well, you get the ideal.
How utterly absurd to think you’d go out in public with that old phone, or drive that car that may have a rust spot! If others are blessed by our actions, that’s good, but the reality is, we want to feel good about ourselves.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to have nice things. It’s fun to engage in activities that make us feel good. But the Apostle Paul teaches us a different way.
In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul teaches about how we can live lives that reach out to others. We tend to be so afraid someone may have more than we do, so worried that others may have better toys, more money, or more advantages over us. But Paul’s efforts are to live in peace with everyone and to consistently and intentionally do things to make the lives of others better.
We may not be appreciated. Some may misunderstand our actions, but our goal should always be to show the love of Jesus in our actions, understanding and generosity.
So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world Lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.” Mark 10:42
We are a society that celebrates power. Strength is worshiped, weakness is looked down upon. Nothing has really changed from when Jesus walked on earth. He points out that worldly leaders ‘lord’ it over those under them.
To ‘lord’ it over others really means that we show them no value. The leader who ‘lords’ it over others sends a message that they are far more valuable than anyone else.
Not only do they show they don’t value others, but they aren’t shy about it! They use every opportunity to show everyone that THEY are in charge. They flaunt their position like a huge banner for everyone to see.
Worldly leaders claim the decisions they make on ‘our behalf’ will help us. Yet, it seems like their promises rarely come true or benefit us in the way we hope. Every political season we hear the promises of better times ahead and we rarely see results.
When Jesus says there is power in service it means that the decisions of a servant-leader always make decisions that benefit us. We may not see it at first, but time proves purpose. Jesus can use the bad we experience to bring about good things.
The Father and I are one. John 10:30
If you want to know what God is like, see Jesus.
Throughout history there has been an effort to define God. If you read through the Old Testament, and believe it to be the word of God, you may be inclined to see a God of anger and wrath, a God that warns that disobedience will bring swift and deadly consequences.
Yet if you read deeper into those passages you see that the times of ‘God’s wrath’ were natural consequences of human behavior or the refusal to heed God’s warnings.
Jesus not only came to die for our sins, he came to show us the Father. Jesus makes the statement in John 10:30 that he and the Father are one. Not that they are the same person, but the same in essence and purpose.
Want to see what God is like?
He’s the good shepherd that seeks you out when you have wandered off.
He’s the one person you can count on to get down in the dirt with you when you’ve been caught in adultery (or any other sin).
He’s the one that will reach out and touch you when society rejects you (as he did with the lepers of his day).
He’s the one that calls you to himself with the storm is raging around you, and lifts you up when the walk across the water is too much.
Want to see God? See Jesus!
What other pictures of the Father do you see in the life of Jesus?
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 