Walking With Jesus

What Does Salvation Mean?

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 NLT)

In yesterday’s post we looked at a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, that Jesus healed, yet who was obviously not in a right relationship with Jesus.

It caused me to look at myself and many others who attend church regularly, serve in various positions, and jump through all the proverbial “hoops” of living a so-called “Christian” life, yet their life bears little, if any fruit. The man in yesterday’s post (see John 5) had a miraculous experience with Jesus, yet his heart was obviously unchanged.

What does it mean to be saved? What evidence is there that illustrates in and through my life that my heart, mind, and spirit are being transformed by the living God? I’m concerned that many have a long-standing or an emotional experience with God but fail to grasp the far-reaching implications of having an ongoing relationship with Him.

“Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

Like the man at the pool of Bethesda who had laid there for thirty-eight years, then miraculously been healed by Jesus, many today have an “experience” with Christ that is unforgettable and, on some levels even “miraculous,” yet doesn’t result in the transformation of life and character that should accompany a salvation experience with Jesus. Others seem to believe that their walk with Jesus happened through osmosis. What does that mean?

Often, when I ask how long someone has walked with the Lord, they say something like: “I’ve always believed. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been attending church.” That’s admirable but believing and attending don’t necessarily lead to repentance and submission to the authority of Christ in our lives, which are critical for salvation.

One of my Seminary Professors often said: “A text taken out of context becomes a pretext.” What does that mean? It essentially means that we can take a portion of Scripture and make it say most anything we want it to say if we separate it from the context of the whole of Scripture.

In the verse at the top of the page Paul uses confession and believing as the essential ingredients of salvation. Then in 2 Corinthians 7:10 he writes: “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”

We are saved “from” sin “to” righteousness. What does that look like? Repentance, as I’ve often stated, means to turn from sin, not continue to dabble in sin. Yes, of course, as long as we’re in the flesh, we’ll have the capacity to sin, but our heart’s desire and determination is to pursue holiness and purity, realizing God’s goal for us is to not sin.

There’s a phrase I’ve heard across the years that continues to baffle me. “We sin more or less every day.” And my question is – why? It’s like saying: “I cheat on my wife more or less every day.” Or, “I steal from my company more or less every day.” It just doesn’t make sense. If my mindset is cheating, stealing, or sinning every day, how will I ever make the shift to pursuing Christ with my whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. You can’t have it both ways.

Being saved is a miraculous transformation initiated by God whereby we leave our old life of sin and shame and embrace our new life of pursuing Christlikeness. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun!”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Why Sin Matters!

“But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, ‘Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.’” (John 5:14 NLT)

The man to whom Jesus spoke in the above verse had been lying by the pool of Bethesda, hoping to be able to get into the pool and be healed, for thirty-eight years. Let that sink in for a few minutes.

It was believed that the first person who entered the pool when the water began to bubble would be healed. There were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, or paralyzed – all laying as near to the pool as possible, hoping to be first when the opportunity presented itself.

This man was obviously lame and would have had to pull himself with his arms, but for thirty-eight years had not been able to get into the pool first. There’s no indication as to how many times a day the pool bubbled but suffice it to say that he’d tried thousands of times, to no avail.

Then Jesus, knowing how long he’d been there, asked him: “Would you like to get well?” Seems a strange question, wouldn’t you think? But listen to his answer: “I can’t, sir, for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

As I read his response I’m wondering: “Then why are you there? Why have you stayed there for thirty-eight years? But thankfully, Jesus isn’t me and knew the man’s heart and simply said to him: “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” And the Bible says that instantly the man was healed, rolled up his mat and began walking!

It was the Sabbath when Jesus healed him, so the Jewish leaders objected to the man’s carrying his sleeping mat on the Sabbath, but rather than take the heat, he shifted the blame to Jesus and told them: “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

That’s the context of the verse at the top of the page, yet rather than be thankful he was healed and keep moving forward in gratitude to Jesus, the man went back to the Jewish leaders and reported to them that it was Jesus who healed him, thus adding fuel to the proverbial fire of the Jewish leader’s harassment of Jesus, and determination to kill Him.

Hills and Mountains “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

Okay, let’s take a panoramic view of what’s happened. Jesus healed a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, who reported Him to the Jewish leaders, so Jesus tells him to stop sinning, or something worse would happen to him! I’ve got to ask myself: “How much worse could it possibly get for the guy?”

Then I think of my life and the lives of countless others that I’ve met over the years, who have spurned the grace of God and continued in sin after learning who Jesus is and being invited to “Stand up and walk” with Him. It’s like the man at the pool thinking “Who does He think He is? He can’t tell me what I can or cannot do! It’s my life and I’ll live it however I want to! Just because He healed me doesn’t give Him the right to rule my life!” And He’s exactly right.

You see, healing the man’s physical body doesn’t constitute healing of his heart and life. Jesus didn’t tell this man, as He’d told others, “Your sins are forgiven.” It’s quite evident that the man’s heart wasn’t in tune with the heart of God, evidenced by his attitude and actions.

So, when Jesus told him to stop sinning or something worse would happen, Jesus was likely thinking about the eternal consequences of continued sin. Thirty-eight years of being lame is nothing compared to an eternity of separation from the Lord in hell.

I’d like to look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Do Lost People Care Jesus Died to Rescue Them from Eternal Death? (Part 2)

“Some of you were once like that.” (1 Corinthians 6:11a NLT)

The laws of God were very important to Jesus when He walked the pathways of this earth.

Jesus said: “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

What’s my point? Jesus didn’t minimize the law, He compounded it. He didn’t try to make it easier to obey, but more difficult. Why? In order that we might understand what a tremendous gift He was offering us in meeting the demands of the law on our behalf.

If I don’t understand how hopeless I am to meet the demands of a holy God on my own, I’ll never understand why I’m helpless to earn my way into heaven or pay the penalty for my own sin. Unless I can see that I have a debt I can’t pay, I’ll never appreciate the fact that Jesus has paid the debt on my behalf. As long as Satan can have me convinced that I’m a good person and my sin doesn’t really matter because of the grace of God, I’ll miss heaven by default.

Believing wrongly about something is not an excuse that God will accept, any more than a righteous judge on earth will. If you’re caught with an open container of alcohol in your car, when the car is turned off and you’re not even behind the wheel, you’re still in violation of the law. And to stand before the judge and your only defense is: “I didn’t know it was against the law,” you’ll still be found guilty.

We’ve got to help people in our spheres of influence understand it’s not simply an issue of our behavior, it’s a matter of being disobedient to the laws of God. We’ve got to help them understand the love of God will not save them from the death penalty their sin demands because they’re ignorant of what His laws are.

Bad behavior is the outward manifestation of inward disobedience to and no regard for the laws of God. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or are abusive, or cheat people – none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

This, of course, isn’t an exhaustive list of sins we can commit, but the point is, unless and until we understand that it’s not our outward manifestations of sin alone that condemn us, we’ll continue to seek to correct the outward behavior without seeking Jesus who is the only One who can give us a new heart. Even seeming “righteous” behavior lived with the wrong motives or desires, reveals a heart that is far from God.

Photo by Serkan Gu00f6ktay on Pexels.com

Psalm 51:17 says: “The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Righteousness is not contrived or rehearsed, it’s a gift from the Spirit that enables us to live under the constant rule and reign of the Spirit who indwells us as children of God. One of the most beautiful lines in Scripture to me is the first few words of 1 Corinthians 6:11 (above) when Paul wrote: “Some of you were once like that.”

We all have a past. Every child of God was once a blatant sinner who was clearly disobeying the laws of God, but who is now saved by grace. We must focus, not on what we once were, but what we now are – a repentant, blood-bought, forgiven child of God, who was rescued by our only eternal source of hope. Then share the hope we’ve found in Jesus with those we love who are still living in violation of God’s laws.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Do Lost People Care Jesus Died to Rescue Them from Eternal Death?

“And the Son of Man came to save those who are lost.” (Matthew 18:11 NLT)

Imagine, as Ray Comfort suggests in his ebook freewonderfulbook.com, that you are given the opportunity to go back in time to September 10, 2001. You’re speaking to everyone who will be in the Twin Towers the next day. You know most will die in the attack in less than 24 hours. Do you dare tell them that God has a wonderful plan for their lives? How do you prepare them for the fact that this, in all probability, will be their last chance to find eternal hope in Jesus? Will they even care?

The truth is, this may be our last day on planet Earth, yet, most people, even those who profess faith in Jesus, are more concerned about “What’s for dinner?” or “Am I going to get that raise I’ve been promised?” than “Am I ready to stand before the eternal God and give an account of my life?”

The sad and heartbreaking reality is that most people don’t give a thought to what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. Why should they? Few are sounding a clarion call “to repent and turn to God!” Why should they? They don’t see anything wrong with how they’re living. Sure, they could be more thoughtful, kind, or caring, but everyone has a bad day, right?

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

What if you had a court date in two weeks and you were facing the death penalty for murder? Do you think you’d give any thought to how that trial would go? Yet, every person on the planet will one day stand before the eternal God to give an account of their life on earth. Most people in America don’t have a clue what’s waiting for them when they close their eyes in death. And worse, they don’t care.

They can’t be concerned that Jesus died to rescue them from their sin. That He died to pay the debt they owe that even if they had an eternity, could never pay. They don’t think of themselves as having a sin debt. Unlike the person who committed murder and is going to trial, most Americans see themselves as “good” people, and all most of them have heard about God is that He is loving and kind. “How could a loving God allow a good person like me to go to hell?”

The fact that Jesus came to rescue them from an eternal death doesn’t make sense, because they don’t understand that they’ve broken the laws of God, who is not only loving, but just. And one day, sooner than they can imagine, they’ll stand before that loving God to give an account of their life. And like the ill-dressed man at the wedding feast in Matthew 21, they’ll face an eternity of separation from God. But why? Because they’ve believed the lies of Satan that the Holy God will ignore their sins because He loves them.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:18: “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.” And what is the purpose of the law? Paul writes in Romans 7:12-13: “But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.”

What does that mean? It means a lot, but for our purposes, it means essentially two things. First, perfect obedience to God’s laws is humanly impossible. Jesus alone met the demands of the law, and by so doing, was able, through His sacrificial death on the Cross, to free us from the certain death of trying to be good enough to deserve a place in heaven with God. But secondly, the law created a tangible target, enabling us to see what we were doing wrong and how our sins were clearly in defiance of God’s laws.

We’ll pick this up in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Do Lost People Really Care God Loves Them?

“For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NLT)

“Lost” for purposes of this post means to not know Jesus; to not be born again of the Spirit; to not have repented of sin and received forgiveness and newness of life in Jesus; to not have an ongoing love relationship with Jesus. In the Bible “lost” means “to perish, destroy, to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to, ruin.” (Strong’s) That’s the eternal end for those who are lost.

Who comes to mind when you read the above definitions? Family? Friends? Co-Workers? Neighbors? Those with whom you serve at church? The one staring back from the mirror?

Like faith, lostness has very little to do with feelings. We tend to wrongly believe that a major motivation to come to Christ is unhappiness or problems, but to present Jesus simply as a means of happiness or as a problem solver is to miss the point of salvation.

Before we meet Jesus, we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior. We don’t have problems because we’re lost, we have problems because we’re human beings. Yes, of course, we DO have a major problem, but it’s not that I just learned I have cancer, or I totaled my car and I don’t have insurance, it’s that I’ve broken the laws of a holy God and I have no means of paying the penalty for my sin-debt, which is eternal death.

To be a “brand new species of being,” of which Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 5:17, isn’t a promise of a care-free life. It’s a promise of a new heart and a new mind that gives us God’s perspective in the midst of trials, that Jesus promises we’d have in this life.

To me, happiness is far overrated. Honestly, I rarely think of whether I’m “happy.” I choose rather to focus on contentment, peace, or the fact that I have the promise of an eternal home in heaven, which fills me with appreciation and a sense of joy-filled worship.

Do we understand that people can be very happy without Jesus? That they can experience love and hope and forgiveness and a myriad of other positive emotions that we tend to attribute solely to our relationship with Jesus? These are human emotions, not necessarily Christian emotions.

Ray Comfort wrote in his ebook (www.freewonderfulbook.com/): “Prior to my conversion, I was very happy, satisfied, thankful, and joyful. At the age of twenty I was a successful businessman with my own house, a beautiful wife, a car, money, and, being self-employed, the freedom to enjoy it all. I was loving life and living it to the fullest. Therefore, I was not a candidate for the modern gospel. I wasn’t hurting in the slightest. I had a wonderful life without Jesus. However, when I was confronted with the biblical gospel and understood that ‘riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death’ (Proverbs 11:4), I saw my need for the Savior. Let me repeat: Because of the erroneous belief that the chief end of the gospel is man’s happiness on earth rather than righteousness, many fail to see its God-given intention. They think the gospel is only for those who lack money, those who are brokenhearted by life’s difficulties, those who are the problem people in society. The belief is further perpetuated through popular worship choruses that have splendid melodies, but carry this message: ‘Heartaches, broken people, ruined lives are why You died on Calvary.’ How often do we therefore neglect to share the gospel with those whose lives are going well, because we know they won’t be interested in the “wonderful plan” message? We may wait for a crisis to come their way—and in fact, secretly hope that it does—so their ‘heartaches’ will then make them receptive to our offer of a better life.” Pgs 34-35

The truth is, most lost people think very little about God’s love because they’re more focused on their individual needs and desires, not realizing they’re on a one way road to destruction.

Blessings, Ed 😊

God’s Masterpiece

“For we are God’s masterpiece…” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

*Please read carefully and be attentive to the Holy Spirit as you read this devotional by Sylvia Gunter. This was just too good not to share. Blessings, Ed 😊 Used with permission.

With your spirit receive God’s Word for you from Proverbs 8:30-31. “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.” And in Ephesians 2:10 NLT. “For we are God’s masterpiece…”

God delights in how He made you. You are one of His masterpieces. You are His song to be sung in a key of music that is unique to you, in a rhythm, a harmony, and an orchestration that God rejoices to sing inside of you. The music of heaven graces your life as others see and hear and touch who you are, so that they receive from Him the awesome display of His delight in you.

Appreciate the delightful work of God’s hands that you are. God designed what you do to be built on the foundation of who you are in Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

You are not a tool designed to function to do good works because the world needs them done. God has given you the authority and compassion to be a part of meeting needs, but higher than that, you are beautiful and complete like the portrait that God painted in 1 Samuel 16:18 of a man after His own heart. You are a worshiper who sings back to Him the songs of heaven. You are brave with holy boldness, kept by the One who stands strong in you. You are a warrior who fights the right battles because you listen to your Commander. You have wise and gracious words that come from the wellspring of a righteous heart. You are fine-looking as you reflect the image of Jesus. You possess the signature that the Lord is with you. He “signed off on you.” Receive the seal of His signature on you.

In your spirit you are blessed to live in the beauty of being well-pleasing to your Father. You are beautiful, dressed in royal robes designed to express the position and privilege of being the King’s heir. You have royal inheritance of authority and privilege. You are a display of His splendor from His throne room. Be blessed with fulfillment in the grace and beauty of heaven seen in you. Be blessed with the peace and joy of heaven about you. You are blessed with the perfume of heaven about you. You are blessed with the color and light of heaven reflected upon you.

God is investing in you, caring for you, nurturing you. Be blessed with becoming everything He has called you to be and being all He has designed you to become so that all of heaven rejoices. Receive the delight of Jesus in His creation: you!

Be blessed in the name of the One who rejoices in His works (Ps. 104:31).

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God’s Commands

“You are My friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14 NLT)

My wife and I have two dogs – a full-blooded Pug and a “Heinz 57” rescue. Zoe, our Pug, is very “food-oriented.” What does that mean? It means she lives to eat. She’ll do most anything I ask as long as I give her a treat. Whoever said “dogs love unconditionally” never owned a Pug. She loves food and getting her belly rubbed. My wife and I come in somewhere below that.

Scout, on the other hand, is very compliant and will do most anything we ask him to do whether we give him a treat or not. He’s easily frightened and can be very needy when he’s afraid, but all in all he’s a very good dog.

What does any of this have to do with God’s commands? Nothing, I just like to talk about my dogs – no, I’m just kidding. Quite a lot actually.

As Christ followers we can be very bull-headed (like Zoe) or very compliant like Scout. We can “love” Jesus for what He’s done and is doing for us, or we can love Him because of who He is and because we depend on Him for our sustenance.

In a recent Turning Point devotional Dr. David Jeremiah wrote: “Dog trainers can teach their animals scores of tricks and commands, but most trainers say three commands are important enough to become lifesavers. The first is ‘Down, Stay.’ If a dog is running toward the road, for example, his life may depend on his instant obedience. The second vital command is ‘Drop It.’ Dogs put their teeth into all kinds of things. One of the greatest hazards for dogs in America is swallowing human prescription medication. A dog that understands ‘Drop It’ may live longer for it. The third command is ‘Come!’ A dog that runs away from its owner won’t last long.”

See any parallels? There’s a very good reason most “pet-friendly” places require that pets be on leashes. Because, like humans, dogs are very likely to chase after things that appeal to them. There’s also a very good reason Jesus connected “remaining in His love” with “obeying His commandments.” (John 15:9-10)

Most of us humans tend to want our own way. Whether our “trigger” is food, money, sex, or _______________, we want what we want, when we want it. It takes time for God to “break” us and “train” us to be sensitive to His voice and submissive to His commands. But, like dogs, we must be willing to be “taught.”

Our tendency is to chase after whatever Satan dangles in front of us, because, unfortunately, he knows what we like. God doesn’t tempt us with evil, He trains us with love, eventually, helping us to desire Him more than other things. If we can learn “Down, Stay” it can literally save our lives. “Drop it,” while hard at times, can prevent a lot of heartache and suffering. And “Come” can be, over time, the most satisfying command to obey.

God’s desire in “commanding” us, is to fill us with joy. The longer I walk with the Lord, the more satisfying our relationship becomes. The closer I draw to Him, the closer I want to be; the quieter His voice, the more attentive I want to be; the more obedient I am, the more submissive to His authority I want to be. Why?

Because His love is worth it. I understand I can’t earn or deserve His love. It’s not that my obedience “earns” anything. My obedience gives visibility to the fact I already have and enjoy the riches of His leadership in my life.

I’m beginning to finally understand what Jesus meant when He said: “Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

Blessings, Ed 😊

Keeping Our Focus on Jesus

“And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NLT)

Endurance demands training and training demands discipline, neither of which the average professing believer in America has or even desires. How do I know that? The main way is through conversations with those who claim they want to be Christ’s “disciple,” but take very little incentive and have virtually no follow through. Part of the problem stems from their lack of focus.

What do you think of when you read that word “focus?” It literally means “adjustment (as of eyes or eyeglasses) that gives clear vision.” Think of the chair in the Eye Doctor’s office and his questions: “Which is clearer position A or B,” etc.

But keeping focus doesn’t necessarily mean focusing on only one thing. Part of the training I received as a School Bus Driver demanded that we move our attention every three seconds. Windshield, side mirrors, inside mirror, back to windshield, etc. Why? It keeps us alert and sensitive to what’s going on around us. What generally happens if you try to focus on one object too long? At best it gets blurred, and, at worst, we go to sleep.

How does this apply to following Jesus? Don’t we just do what He says to do? For the most part, yes. But how do we know what He wants us to do? The primary ways are through reading and studying the Bible, and through prayer, both of which require discipline and focus.

Some people are very disciplined and can learn new things easily and quickly; however, most Americans have very little discipline. They’re like a stick floating down a river or stream. G.K. Chesterton made an interesting observation. He said: “A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.”

Which are you? Living or dead? If you’re reading this you may assume that you’re alive, but a pulse does not an alive person make! There are millions, likely billions of people with a pulse walking planet earth who are dead in their trespasses and sin, many professing faith in the living God. Profession is easy, following Jesus and keeping your focus on Him, not so much.

Keeping our focus on Jesus requires a willingness to die to our old self – the self who loves “stuff;” the self who loves having it’s own way; the self that doesn’t take orders from anyone, etc. It requires repentance. What’s that?

Repentance is a Biblical term that means “a change of mind,” but it’s much more comprehensive than that. It’s a military term and can be illustrated by an “about face.” A soldier is marching in one direction, but upon command, spins and begins walking in the opposite direction. It’s a change of direction brought about by a realignment of our heart and mind with the will of God.

It’s a submission to the authority of God, given visibility by the new direction of our life. We’re no longer tyrannized by the things of the world but driven by our faith in and love for Jesus. Giving expression to our love for Jesus governs every avenue of our lives and motivates every new discipline required to carry out His will.

Pleasing God must override our desire to please ourselves. Discipline and focus grow out of obedience, which is a decision, that once made, will be reinforced, and enabled by the Holy Spirit. But it requires our willingness to submit to the Spirit’s leadership.

Keeping our focus on Jesus is the adventure of a lifetime and is well worth the effort.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Perfection

“But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 NLT)

The only two people I’ve ever known who are perfect are Jesus and my wife. Jesus is God, so that explains why He’s perfect in every way. My wife is perfect to me because she was God’s choice for me, and He never makes a mistake. I’ve always known God was perfect. My wife’s perfection was a mystery for a while, but in this season of our lives, has become crystal clear.

Of course, perfect can be thought of in many ways. We think of clothing that is a perfect match. Or furniture that fits perfectly in a room. Or someone may get a perfect score on an exam or in a game. But when it comes to human beings, perfection is something that has escaped us all.

Yet, even though none of us are perfect in the same sense as Jesus – flawless, sinless, completely holy, and above reproach in every detail of His life – because of the grace and mercy of God, we can still be perfect in the sense of forgiven and made completely useful in the carrying out of His eternal purposes.

In the above verse, perhaps the best definition of “perfect” would be “complete, whole, mature,” all of which we can be through Christ our Lord. Another way “perfect” can be seen is “wanting nothing necessary to completeness.” As it relates to our relationship with Jesus, He is all we will ever need to be all He desires us to be.

While those of us who are in Christ are “perfect,” as we’re viewed through His royal robe of righteousness, gratefully, literal perfection is not God’s demand. What He does require is faithfulness. Hebrews 11:6 says: “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”

So, if you’re interested in pleasing God, which I am, you’ll want to know what “faith” is. Again, the author of the Hebrew letter explains in 11:1: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” The whole of Hebrews 11 gives vivid illustration to what faith looks like, through examples of many “heroes” of faith.

But what about me and you? What does faith look like for us? The author anticipated our question, so in chapter 12 he writes: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

What might that look like? “We do this be keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” How does He do that? The writer continues by talking about the discipline of the Lord. What does that mean? It essentially means we might fool everyone else with our pious opinion of ourselves, but if our eyes aren’t on Jesus, the Lord’s going to call us on it.

Keeping our eyes on Jesus speaks to attitude and attention. Attitude because we have to realize that without Jesus, we’re incapable of exercising faith that will please God. If we wrongly believe we can please God without keeping our focus on Jesus, we’re only fooling ourselves. Then attention because whatever holds our attention gives direction to our life.

We’ll look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What Is Your Choice?

“If by continuing to live I can do more worthwhile work, then I am not sure which I should choose. I am pulled in two directions. I want very much to leave this life and be with Christ, which is a far better thing; but for your sake it is much more important that I remain alive. I am sure of this, and so I know that I will stay. I will stay on with you all, to add to your progress and joy in the faith.” (Philippians 1:22-25 GNT)

Have you ever been in someone’s physical presence, but your mind was a million miles away? Perhaps you’ve heard the expression – “90% of life is showing up.” That’s the burden sometimes, isn’t it?

Having read Viktor Frankl’s book many years ago, it caught my attention when I read in a recent Rick Warren devotional: “I’ll never forget reading Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist who was taken to one of the death camps in Nazi Germany. All of his family and friends were gassed and murdered. He writes in his book about one day when he stood in front of the Gestapo, stark naked. They’d taken away the prisoners’ clothes and even Frankl’s wedding ring. As he stood there with nothing at all, he suddenly realized there was one thing the Nazis could not take away from him: his choice in how he would respond. You cannot totally control what other people do to you. You cannot control what other people do around you. But you can control how you respond. Choose to serve others, even when you are hurting. Choose to forgive. Choose to focus on God’s promises and not your circumstances. Those are the kind of choices that lead to greater faith. Then, your faith will produce greater joy.”

We can allow our imagination to run wild, surmising what we might do or how we might respond if we were in a situation like Frankl’s, but for all intent and purpose, it’s a waste of time. The real issue is – how will we respond today to the circumstances in which we find ourselves? How will we respond to our family, our co-workers, our friends, our enemies today! What will be our choice in how we respond to THEIR treatment of us?

They may love you or stab you in the back. You can’t control what anyone does to you, but you can control what you allow the Spirit to do through you!

Think of Jesus standing before the soldiers who would soon nail Him to a tree – silent! When the soldiers hit Him with their fists, spit on Him, formed a crown of thorns and put it on His head. When they took His clothes, mocked Him, ripped the skin from His holy body with a lead tipped whip, then nailed Him to a cross! It breaks my heart that He had to go through all of that for me . . . and you!

Knowing all He did for us, what’s our choice as it relates to Him?

As I’m nearing 75, my heart and mind tend to lean towards Paul’s desire to go be with Jesus, but the Spirit’s pull to continue to speak life and hope into people’s lives cements my feet to planet earth until such a time as the Lord comes or calls me home. My choice, in life and in death is Jesus.

In the face of all Jesus did to make it possible for me to know and love Him, He’s mine and I am His. I have little insight into what the future holds, only that Jesus is coming soon. I have no expectation that the world will improve, but like Viktor Frankl, I have a choice. We have a choice!

We can mutter and complain about the way things are, driving people away from us and the Jesus we claim to know and love. Or we can place our lives securely into the capable hands of our Savior and simply and faithfully walk in His steps. It may lead to suffering and heartache, as it did for Jesus, but wherever it leads, may our course never change and may our voices never falter as to our dying breath we lift praise, adoration, and honor to our living King.

That’s my choice! How about you?

Blessings, Ed 😊