2 Kings 4:1-7 “The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."
A few observations:
I. She had nothing “except a little oil”.
How much oil are we working with? Working on ‘overload’, trying to do it all, making sure all bases are covered? Bound by perfection? Have a zillion lists and checking them off like a crazy person?
Do we run on ‘just a little oil’ and then wonder why God is not using us the way we think he should?
When we renew our mind (Phil 4:8-9; Romans 12:2; and re-prioritize our “lists”, bring them into alignment with God’s priorities, we then will be able to say, “If all I have is a little _______, then I want you, God, to use the little that I have to multiply it for your kingdom. My life is yours!
All God needs to work in our lives is “a little oil”.
II. Empty jars, not just a few but gather many then pour oil in them.
Empty jars attract dust and bugs. Unless used strictly as a decoration, empty jars are not ‘usable jars.’ God is not calling us to be decorations left on a shelf to look good or be reminded how “useful we once were”. Fruit left on a tree will eventually drop and rot, it won’t provide nourishment for anyone. Left uninhabited by the Holy Spirit our lives will eventually return to what we left behind, unnourished and rotted.
We will never experience the “springs of living water” that will yield the abundant life He has promised us if we don’t first empty those ‘things’ in our jars that are crowding God out. What needs to be emptied from the jar of your life before God can use you? Perhaps:
Guilt over a situation…
Disappointment in how others may view or treat you…
Consequences resulting from choices made by you or someone else’s choices that have affected you…
Living in disillusionment that your life was suppose to be_________by now.
Living in the past…
Jesus Christ has promised to cleanse our ‘jars’ from sin daily and fill them instead with the presence and power, the oil of the Holy Spirit. This can only come through daily communion with Father God (John 15).
This cleansing and communion also prepares His people, you and me, for works of service (not to add one more thing to our ‘to-do’ list) so the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:12-14).
What is the ‘fullness of Christ’? His character displayed in our daily lives…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control to which there is NO LIMIT (Galatians 5:22-24).
I love the fact that she was told to gather “not a few but as many as you can”. We limit ourselves so much when we can’t see the potential God sees in us.
Surround yourself with people willing to challenge you to see the potential in your life that God sees. Potential that can be used for greatness in God’s kingdom. God is the Potter we are the clay. He has molded us to be used for His Kingdom (Romans 9:20-21).
God may use our jars in different ways and at different times in our lives.
We are not empty jars. God has been with us and has seen everything that has come through our jars even before we were born (Psalm 139).
When we allow Him to use heartaches, sickness and pain that have come into our lives then His Glory can be seen to those around us. (Romans 5:1-8)
Without purpose in life we will always be unsure and never have a sense of fulfillment.
"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. (The Message Mt. 5)
If we truly want to live a powerful and purposeful life, then we must allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with his oil…his power…his life…his joy.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Crop failure or bountiful harvest?
Spring, summer and fall are my favorite seasons. The first sight of green in the spring renews hope of life and of warmer and longer days; the aroma of the first grass cutting; the brilliant colors in the blooming flowers and trees; planting of spring onions, lettuce and broccoli (along with the “oh my aching back!” proclamations); harvesting asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, squash, corn-on-the cob….my mouth is watering!! My parents always planted a veggie garden. In fact, up to the summer before my dad died he always planted and harvested the best tomatoes!
We plant our gardens with the expectation of producing beautiful flowers or delicious fruit and veggies. None of us plant expecting crop rot, bug infestations or “critter” invasion to destroy the hard labor and love put into our gardens.
God has planted His fruit in us with the same expectations, a bountiful harvest…not plant failure. He has planted the perfect Seed (Jesus Christ), sent the perfect Gardener (the Holy Spirit) to tend our garden and produce the perfect harvest (fruit of the Spirit). But at times we allow the soil of our hearts to be tainted thereby affecting the quality of the harvest.
Luke instructs us in Luke 3:8 to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
The proof of sincere repentance will always be a change in actions or conduct (Acts 26:20).
Repentance is the “weeding” (Galatians 5:19) of our gardens which is the result of the “remaining” Jesus spoke about in John 15. He promised if we remain in Him we would bear fruit (Galatians 5:22-25). When we allow His pruning in our lives (part of the weeding process) we will then bear “more fruit.”
God’s Word combined with repentance is like the spreading of Miracle Grow on the fertile soil of our hearts so that “much fruit” can be yielded from the “investment” God has made in our gardens.
How is YOUR garden growing?
We plant our gardens with the expectation of producing beautiful flowers or delicious fruit and veggies. None of us plant expecting crop rot, bug infestations or “critter” invasion to destroy the hard labor and love put into our gardens.
God has planted His fruit in us with the same expectations, a bountiful harvest…not plant failure. He has planted the perfect Seed (Jesus Christ), sent the perfect Gardener (the Holy Spirit) to tend our garden and produce the perfect harvest (fruit of the Spirit). But at times we allow the soil of our hearts to be tainted thereby affecting the quality of the harvest.
Luke instructs us in Luke 3:8 to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
The proof of sincere repentance will always be a change in actions or conduct (Acts 26:20).
Repentance is the “weeding” (Galatians 5:19) of our gardens which is the result of the “remaining” Jesus spoke about in John 15. He promised if we remain in Him we would bear fruit (Galatians 5:22-25). When we allow His pruning in our lives (part of the weeding process) we will then bear “more fruit.”
God’s Word combined with repentance is like the spreading of Miracle Grow on the fertile soil of our hearts so that “much fruit” can be yielded from the “investment” God has made in our gardens.
How is YOUR garden growing?
Monday, June 1, 2009
In God's sight
“Now the earth was corrupt IN GOD’S SIGHT and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.” (Gen 6:11)
I am so very thankful God bases His judgments and observations according to His unchanging standards, not what man says. Likewise, I need to see through God’s eyes, not according to man’s popular opinion, from which to arrive at truth.
The last verse of the book of Judges (21:25) seems very fitting when we don’t follow God’s standard, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did AS HE SAW FIT.”
It is a sad day when we are ruled by what we “see as fit”. That ruling will always result in the easy, unaccountable and most self-satisfying way. But in the end our display of rebellion will never deliver the peace, contentment, acceptance and assurance we so desperately desire and search for.
God has always desired to be personal and intimate with His creation; has always desired to walk and talk directly with us as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden before their fall. This is why God’s fulfillment of a Redeemer in Jesus Christ, as he first pronounced in Gen 3:15, had to be carried out.
It wasn’t with hatred and revenge God banished they from the Garden but with a heart that was filled with grief and pain (Gen 6:6). God’s heart continues to be filled with grief and pain over our choices today, and as with Adam and Eve, he has given us the wonderful gift of choice. What we do with that gift determines life or death…hope or despair…a future reunion with Him, or one of eternal separation and darkness.
I have personally discovered that God can be trusted with everything and everyone I hold dear. Since He can be trusted with my past and my future, then I can trust Him with my “today”. He has proven Himself over and over again in my life that His Word is truth and His way is ultimately the best!
So what will you choose today, “God’s sight” or “as you see fit”?
“There is a way that SEEMS right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desire of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23
I am so very thankful God bases His judgments and observations according to His unchanging standards, not what man says. Likewise, I need to see through God’s eyes, not according to man’s popular opinion, from which to arrive at truth.
The last verse of the book of Judges (21:25) seems very fitting when we don’t follow God’s standard, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did AS HE SAW FIT.”
It is a sad day when we are ruled by what we “see as fit”. That ruling will always result in the easy, unaccountable and most self-satisfying way. But in the end our display of rebellion will never deliver the peace, contentment, acceptance and assurance we so desperately desire and search for.
God has always desired to be personal and intimate with His creation; has always desired to walk and talk directly with us as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden before their fall. This is why God’s fulfillment of a Redeemer in Jesus Christ, as he first pronounced in Gen 3:15, had to be carried out.
It wasn’t with hatred and revenge God banished they from the Garden but with a heart that was filled with grief and pain (Gen 6:6). God’s heart continues to be filled with grief and pain over our choices today, and as with Adam and Eve, he has given us the wonderful gift of choice. What we do with that gift determines life or death…hope or despair…a future reunion with Him, or one of eternal separation and darkness.
I have personally discovered that God can be trusted with everything and everyone I hold dear. Since He can be trusted with my past and my future, then I can trust Him with my “today”. He has proven Himself over and over again in my life that His Word is truth and His way is ultimately the best!
So what will you choose today, “God’s sight” or “as you see fit”?
“There is a way that SEEMS right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desire of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Lover of my heart!
Ann Jean "A.J." Mitchell slipped into eternity on March 28, 2002. Of all the earthly belongings left behind by this wife, mother and grandmother the most treasured were letters sent to her more than sixty years ago. The letters would serve as a reminder of a love that could only be separated by distance. They echoed whispers of love from an era gone by. A heartbeat that only grew stronger as time marched on. They were sent from her husband Sylvester Chris Mitchell (“Mitch”) who captured and won her heart more than 60 years earlier. Their love would never let go. For the first time in fifty three years AJ had to surrender him not to a war, but to a heart attack. Death would become the final separator. The letters told that story.
(www.cbn.com/special/WW2letters/index.aspx)
Just as Mitch’s letters reminded A.J. of his love for her, God has sent his “love letters” (His Word) to remind us that He is coming back again, that He loves and longs for us. He has sent His “Friend”, the Holy Spirit, to watch over us and remind us about our Lover until we are reunited with Him.
God, the creator, lover and pursuer of my soul longs for an intimate relationship with you and me. God KNOWS the most private and intimate parts of our hearts, our emotions, and He pursues us in spite of the fact we often turn our backs on Him and deny Him the love He longs to have from us.
What can we give God, the creator of all? Our heart, of which He created for love; first and foremost His love and then for the love of His children.
Isaiah 30 describes a romance gone sour. The pursued have rejected the pursuer and YET…“the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion (30:18).” The Pursuer of my heart NEVER gives up!!
No wonder Paul could say in Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
How was he convinced? Because Paul knew the love of God, he knew Jesus Christ intimately. Since Paul knew God would never lie or never change His mind (Numbers 23:19), he then knew what He said could be trusted as Truth. This allowed him to proclaim with all assurance, “NOTHING will be able to keep the Pursuer of our hearts away from us…NOTHING.”
Thank you God my circumstances will never dictate how you love me or even IF you love me. You will never stop pursuing me. You, my God, are the ULTIMATE lover of my heart!
(www.cbn.com/special/WW2letters/index.aspx)
Just as Mitch’s letters reminded A.J. of his love for her, God has sent his “love letters” (His Word) to remind us that He is coming back again, that He loves and longs for us. He has sent His “Friend”, the Holy Spirit, to watch over us and remind us about our Lover until we are reunited with Him.
God, the creator, lover and pursuer of my soul longs for an intimate relationship with you and me. God KNOWS the most private and intimate parts of our hearts, our emotions, and He pursues us in spite of the fact we often turn our backs on Him and deny Him the love He longs to have from us.
What can we give God, the creator of all? Our heart, of which He created for love; first and foremost His love and then for the love of His children.
Isaiah 30 describes a romance gone sour. The pursued have rejected the pursuer and YET…“the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion (30:18).” The Pursuer of my heart NEVER gives up!!
No wonder Paul could say in Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
How was he convinced? Because Paul knew the love of God, he knew Jesus Christ intimately. Since Paul knew God would never lie or never change His mind (Numbers 23:19), he then knew what He said could be trusted as Truth. This allowed him to proclaim with all assurance, “NOTHING will be able to keep the Pursuer of our hearts away from us…NOTHING.”
Thank you God my circumstances will never dictate how you love me or even IF you love me. You will never stop pursuing me. You, my God, are the ULTIMATE lover of my heart!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Living off God's Interest
My husband is a whiz at doing any kind of math in his head. His eyes light up like the keypads of a cell phone…I can just envision fiber optic lines just buzzing in his mind calculating the answer. He can calculate gross profit of anything in mere seconds. I, however, have developed brain paralysis! And it is all because of a love affair. Yes, it is true I have had an ongoing love affair with a machine ever since my senior year in high school. Prior to my love affair, I was pretty decent at calculating figures in my head. Now I cannot even do the simplest division without my lover! The object of my affair is…a calculator.
You are probably thinking, “What does a calculator have to do with how I perceive God’s view of me?” What is the purpose of a calculator (besides trying to increase our check book balance when clearly we should be subtracting!)? It helps find or place value or worth of something with the information given to it.
The past 24 months has been a roller coaster with investments in the stock market and real estate market. Values that were ballooned have burst and the hot air completely drained out of these markets. Investors are left holding worthless papers; retirees are left with empty accounts that they thought would provide for them in their later years; home owners’ struggling to make mortgage payments on homes that now are sometimes below the value of those mortgages. What changed? What calculator is being used that no longer adds or multiplies…but only divides and subtracts?
On a recent morning, I awoke to the thought, “banking and living off the investment.” I started thinking, “What am I placing value on, what am I “storing up” and will that to which I am spending time and energy hold its value in order to return a dividend?
Are we living off the interest of what someone else has invested in us? Are we placing our value, our worth in what others think and speak into our lives? And is what they are investing in us “bottoming out” or yielding a “high rate” of return? If we try to live off a “ballooned” interest others place on us, make no mistake we will eventually go bankrupt. However, if we are living off the interest of what God has said we are worth, the value God has placed on us then we will yield a high rate of return in investing in others.
Our value is not based on this world’s economic system, but on a heavenly banking system.
The value system the world uses to determine our worth is ever changing because it is based on the latest guru, religion, ideas or philosophies (Col 2:8-10)
These two systems are so far apart. The world system says, “I AM #1..it is all about me” and the heavenly system says, “He must increase, while I must decrease.”
Lies and deceit are behind the world’s value system, while truth and love are the standard for the heavenly value system.
In Rick Warren’s book, “The Purpose Driven Life” he says,
“God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have?
Eph 1:5, ‘Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.’”
Our value and worth is not determined by how others view us but rather KNOWING how God views and values us:
· God chose us…BEFORE the creation of the world! (Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 1:4)
·God pursues me; He knows me; He protects me; He guides me; He holds onto me; He uniquely created me; He knows the number of hairs on my head and has established the number of days of my life (Psalm 139)
· God has a plan specifically designed just for me (Jeremiah 29:11)
· God determined to give His Son as a ransom to purchase my freedom from the chains of Satan’s death chambers before I was even born. (Romans 5:8)
· God takes great delight in me even to the point of singing over me! (Zephaniah 3:17)
· God doesn’t treat me according to my sins (1 John 1:9; Psalm 103:10)
· God is preparing a home for me so I will be with Him…FOREVER! (John 14:1-4)
· God gives me peace in the midst of my troubles (John 16:33)
· God has engraved me in the palm of His hand…He will NEVER forget me! (Isaiah 49:16)
· God has given me everything I need to live (Philippians 4:19; 2 Peter 1:3-11)
Nothing..ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will turn God’s love and affections away from us...NOTHING!! He has placed such high value in us that He gave His very best for us, His Son Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:31-39).
When we understand and accept the value God has placed in us, then we truly will be able to “re-invest” that value in others.
You are probably thinking, “What does a calculator have to do with how I perceive God’s view of me?” What is the purpose of a calculator (besides trying to increase our check book balance when clearly we should be subtracting!)? It helps find or place value or worth of something with the information given to it.
The past 24 months has been a roller coaster with investments in the stock market and real estate market. Values that were ballooned have burst and the hot air completely drained out of these markets. Investors are left holding worthless papers; retirees are left with empty accounts that they thought would provide for them in their later years; home owners’ struggling to make mortgage payments on homes that now are sometimes below the value of those mortgages. What changed? What calculator is being used that no longer adds or multiplies…but only divides and subtracts?
On a recent morning, I awoke to the thought, “banking and living off the investment.” I started thinking, “What am I placing value on, what am I “storing up” and will that to which I am spending time and energy hold its value in order to return a dividend?
Are we living off the interest of what someone else has invested in us? Are we placing our value, our worth in what others think and speak into our lives? And is what they are investing in us “bottoming out” or yielding a “high rate” of return? If we try to live off a “ballooned” interest others place on us, make no mistake we will eventually go bankrupt. However, if we are living off the interest of what God has said we are worth, the value God has placed on us then we will yield a high rate of return in investing in others.
Our value is not based on this world’s economic system, but on a heavenly banking system.
The value system the world uses to determine our worth is ever changing because it is based on the latest guru, religion, ideas or philosophies (Col 2:8-10)
These two systems are so far apart. The world system says, “I AM #1..it is all about me” and the heavenly system says, “He must increase, while I must decrease.”
Lies and deceit are behind the world’s value system, while truth and love are the standard for the heavenly value system.
In Rick Warren’s book, “The Purpose Driven Life” he says,
“God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have?
Eph 1:5, ‘Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.’”
Our value and worth is not determined by how others view us but rather KNOWING how God views and values us:
· God chose us…BEFORE the creation of the world! (Jeremiah 1:5; Ephesians 1:4)
·God pursues me; He knows me; He protects me; He guides me; He holds onto me; He uniquely created me; He knows the number of hairs on my head and has established the number of days of my life (Psalm 139)
· God has a plan specifically designed just for me (Jeremiah 29:11)
· God determined to give His Son as a ransom to purchase my freedom from the chains of Satan’s death chambers before I was even born. (Romans 5:8)
· God takes great delight in me even to the point of singing over me! (Zephaniah 3:17)
· God doesn’t treat me according to my sins (1 John 1:9; Psalm 103:10)
· God is preparing a home for me so I will be with Him…FOREVER! (John 14:1-4)
· God gives me peace in the midst of my troubles (John 16:33)
· God has engraved me in the palm of His hand…He will NEVER forget me! (Isaiah 49:16)
· God has given me everything I need to live (Philippians 4:19; 2 Peter 1:3-11)
Nothing..ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will turn God’s love and affections away from us...NOTHING!! He has placed such high value in us that He gave His very best for us, His Son Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:31-39).
When we understand and accept the value God has placed in us, then we truly will be able to “re-invest” that value in others.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Opposites
I love to dig into the meaning of words and recently have been thinking about the word “opposite.” The English thesaurus lists, “conflicting, contradictory, reverse” as some of the adjectives defining this word. Easter Sunday is tomorrow and like a movie in my mind this word was playing out the events that lead to this significant day in our faith walk.
Without the manger we wouldn’t have the cross. And without the cross the manger meant nothing more than a sweet baby’s birth. The Manger and the Cross are two complete opposites of life.
Both represent hope…but only one would give eternal hope
Both represent life…but only one would give eternal life.
Both represent the sacrifice of surrender…the cross was the ultimate sacrifice of obedience.
Both represented a lamb…the cross demanded the only “pure and spotless lamb” ever to be born.
The manger was under the law…the cross brought fulfillment to that law.
A star gave direction to the manger…the cross gives direction to the Star.
The manger was surrounded by angelic hosts...the cross was surrounded by thieves.
The manger gave us a servant….the cross gave us our King.
It is easier to worship the manger than the cross.
It has been said, “the character of the worshiper will always be molded by the character of what he worships.”
The dictionary defines ‘character’ as:
1. A distinctive mark, trait, quality or nature
2. An engraving instrument
The cross became the engraving instrument by which the full character of God was displayed in and through Jesus Christ (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness...Galatians 5).
We bear His character today, OR do we?
Like Jesus, do we allow God’s character, His engraving instrument to carve His distinct mark, His distinct qualities deep within us? Troubles and pain come into our lives as an “engraving instrument” to produce God’s character within us. This will always require a surrender of self.
Romans 5:3-5 “We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.
Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter (completer) of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
As contradictory as the manger and cross are, without the Hope from the manger AND the Resurrection from the cross our Promise for the future would be futile.
Without the manger we wouldn’t have the cross. And without the cross the manger meant nothing more than a sweet baby’s birth. The Manger and the Cross are two complete opposites of life.
Both represent hope…but only one would give eternal hope
Both represent life…but only one would give eternal life.
Both represent the sacrifice of surrender…the cross was the ultimate sacrifice of obedience.
Both represented a lamb…the cross demanded the only “pure and spotless lamb” ever to be born.
The manger was under the law…the cross brought fulfillment to that law.
A star gave direction to the manger…the cross gives direction to the Star.
The manger was surrounded by angelic hosts...the cross was surrounded by thieves.
The manger gave us a servant….the cross gave us our King.
It is easier to worship the manger than the cross.
It has been said, “the character of the worshiper will always be molded by the character of what he worships.”
The dictionary defines ‘character’ as:
1. A distinctive mark, trait, quality or nature
2. An engraving instrument
The cross became the engraving instrument by which the full character of God was displayed in and through Jesus Christ (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness...Galatians 5).
We bear His character today, OR do we?
Like Jesus, do we allow God’s character, His engraving instrument to carve His distinct mark, His distinct qualities deep within us? Troubles and pain come into our lives as an “engraving instrument” to produce God’s character within us. This will always require a surrender of self.
Romans 5:3-5 “We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts.
Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter (completer) of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
As contradictory as the manger and cross are, without the Hope from the manger AND the Resurrection from the cross our Promise for the future would be futile.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Dead man walking
DEAD MAN…WALKING
John 11
This is Easter week. For some that means bunnies, egg hunts, new outfits, spring flowers, ham or lamb dinners, family gatherings, suffering, resurrection, hope, winters end and springs glorious colors…life.
Martha and Mary didn’t have the luxury of reminiscing about THE resurrection like we do today when they laid Lazarus in the tomb. Oh, they knew a resurrection was coming, just not the one they were about to experience.
Lazarus was everything to them; brother, provider, friend, safety….and now he was gone. Jesus had been a good friend to them, why didn’t he come when they first sent word of Lazarus illness? If he had, they would not be staring at a tomb holding their beloved brother. The death wails were ear piercing and heard for miles, had Jesus heard them? Tradition held that the spirit of Lazarus would hover over his body for three days listening to all those wailing for him. Would Lazarus realize his friend Jesus had not come in time to rescue him?
John 11
This is Easter week. For some that means bunnies, egg hunts, new outfits, spring flowers, ham or lamb dinners, family gatherings, suffering, resurrection, hope, winters end and springs glorious colors…life.
Martha and Mary didn’t have the luxury of reminiscing about THE resurrection like we do today when they laid Lazarus in the tomb. Oh, they knew a resurrection was coming, just not the one they were about to experience.
Lazarus was everything to them; brother, provider, friend, safety….and now he was gone. Jesus had been a good friend to them, why didn’t he come when they first sent word of Lazarus illness? If he had, they would not be staring at a tomb holding their beloved brother. The death wails were ear piercing and heard for miles, had Jesus heard them? Tradition held that the spirit of Lazarus would hover over his body for three days listening to all those wailing for him. Would Lazarus realize his friend Jesus had not come in time to rescue him?
THOUGHTS TO PONDER:
1. And then he came…"Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb."
Jesus is deeply moved when He comes to the “tombs” we live in today. He came to bring life, not death; freedom, not entombment (slavery); hope not despair. When we invite Jesus to deliver us from our tombs, He stands at the very entrance to Hell and proclaims, “I HAVE COME TO REMOVE THE STONE FROM THEIR TOMB AND TO BREAK THE CHAINS OF BONDAGE YOU HAVE ON THEIR LIVES. I HAVE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR THEIR FREEDOM.”
2. “Lord, he will stink!”
What is our odor to those around us today? Is it the “fragrance of life” or the stench of death? Will others long and crave after our scent? Or do we blend in so well with the world’s fragrance they don’t even realize we are different?
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.
3. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Lazarus walked out of the tomb with his “death clothes” still on. Had it been me, I would have felt like I was suffocating and would have ripped the grave clothes off while running out of the tomb! Until the graves clothes come off, the things of our past that bind us will prohibit us from walking in and experiencing “new life.”
4. The grave cloths only covered the hands, feet and face:
With our HANDS we receive, we give, we touch.
We ARE Christ’s hands extended to all…no matter the smell, the disease, or the social order.
With our FEET we go.
“Go into all the world”…we are to take His message of love, mercy, grace, and hope EVERYWHERE we go.
With our FACE we see and express emotions.
Do others see Jesus in our eyes and expressions or do they see the Grinch?
May we be the very hands, feet and face of Jesus to all we encounter today
Let’s be people walking in the aroma of Life…not death.
Jesus is deeply moved when He comes to the “tombs” we live in today. He came to bring life, not death; freedom, not entombment (slavery); hope not despair. When we invite Jesus to deliver us from our tombs, He stands at the very entrance to Hell and proclaims, “I HAVE COME TO REMOVE THE STONE FROM THEIR TOMB AND TO BREAK THE CHAINS OF BONDAGE YOU HAVE ON THEIR LIVES. I HAVE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR THEIR FREEDOM.”
2. “Lord, he will stink!”
What is our odor to those around us today? Is it the “fragrance of life” or the stench of death? Will others long and crave after our scent? Or do we blend in so well with the world’s fragrance they don’t even realize we are different?
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.
3. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
Lazarus walked out of the tomb with his “death clothes” still on. Had it been me, I would have felt like I was suffocating and would have ripped the grave clothes off while running out of the tomb! Until the graves clothes come off, the things of our past that bind us will prohibit us from walking in and experiencing “new life.”
4. The grave cloths only covered the hands, feet and face:
With our HANDS we receive, we give, we touch.
We ARE Christ’s hands extended to all…no matter the smell, the disease, or the social order.
With our FEET we go.
“Go into all the world”…we are to take His message of love, mercy, grace, and hope EVERYWHERE we go.
With our FACE we see and express emotions.
Do others see Jesus in our eyes and expressions or do they see the Grinch?
May we be the very hands, feet and face of Jesus to all we encounter today
Let’s be people walking in the aroma of Life…not death.
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