Walking With Jesus

Nothing Compares

“All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.” (Acts 4:32-33 NLT)

The closer we get to Christ the less we tend to hold on to what we think is ours, at least materially. The more my love for and devotion to the Savior grows, the less I need materially. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m very grateful for shelter, food, a comfortable bed, dependable transportation, clothes, and other material things that make my life so satisfying. But even as I type that list, I realize that a very large percentage of the earth’s population doesn’t enjoy those luxuries.

Ideally, if there was ever a group on earth that should never experience want, it’s the Church, the Body of Christ, not simply because we’re God’s children, but because we’re family and we have each other’s back. That’s one of the reasons God’s design doesn’t include “Lone Ranger” believers. God’s call is always to enter into community, but more specifically, the Community of Christ through fellowship with a local body of believers.

Early in my ministry I read a book by Reuben Welch entitled “We Really Do Need Each Other,” which changed the trajectory of my ministry. It opened my eyes to see my need of other believers, not simply to guide me in my walk with the Lord, but that we might be partners in addressing needs that were too big for any one person or even one group of persons to meet on their own.

But even beyond that, the greatest draw to me to the Body of Christ, the Church, is the fellowship I enjoy with likeminded believers. No, of course, we may not agree on every point of doctrine or how they should be applied in our daily lives, but we agree that Jesus is Lord and should be followed, revered, and given rulership over our lives, lives that belong to Him.

When Jesus is Lord and we are living in His eternal fellowship, growing daily in our love for Him and for each other, there is no greater comradery, friendship, or fellowship on earth. Dr. Eric Mason wrote: “When the church is being the church there is no community that can compare to the church.” It’s sad that we, as Christians, have given the Church such a bad reputation over the years, but, by God’s grace and under His guidance, many cities are seeing a significant turnaround in their churches.

Sadly, part of the problem is the leadership, most notably the Pastors, if their focus is more on their denominational preferences and loyalties than they are on Biblical directives. The Bible’s message is the unity of God’s people with their focus on Him, not their distinctives. We can walk in unity and still not agree on every detail of doctrine and church polity as long as Jesus is our focal point and accomplishing His mission is our goal.

The point is, nothing compares with the fellowship of God’s people when we’re united in our love for Jesus and the accomplishment of His eternal purposes. A large part of those purposes is the salvation of our lost loved ones and friends, but another vital aspect of our love for others is having an eye for those in need.

With whom can you partner in your church to help someone in need. Maybe they need money, but more than money many may need someone to do yardwork, housework, childcare, help with shopping, or taking them to medical appointments. Whatever it is, the Lord will give you insight into who you can help and how if you’ll ask Him. When we’re invested in helping others is when nothing compares to the fellowship of God’s family.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Point of Grace

“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.” (Romans 6:20-22 NLT)

Grace is the free, unmerited favor of God afforded those who love God and are called to fulfill His eternal purposes. Paul explains earlier in chapter 6:14: “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” As David Wells explains: “Without the holiness of God, sin has no meaning and grace has no point.”

Holiness, purity, God’s set apart purposes for us that can’t be accomplished without the Spirit’s empowerment are the context of grace. We can’t accomplish the plans of God for our life without the grace of God sustaining, strengthening, and enabling us to walk in constant dependence upon the Lord. God’s grace opens our eyes to our need of Him, then seeks to keep them open in our ever-growing need of Him as we make our way along the paths of obedience to His holy directives.

Photo by Agung Pandit Wiguna on Pexels.com

If you think about it, grace would have no place if it weren’t for the Lord. Grace took on a whole new dimension of meaning and significance once Jesus entered the picture, sacrificed His life, and opened the door of opportunity for us to know Him and have eternal hope in and through Him. Grace sustains us, motivates us, enables us to find strength, guidance and giftedness to continue our journey with purpose.

Each day when we open our eyes and see the light of a new day, if we’re in tune with the Spirit, we’ll breathe a “Thank You, Lord!” for the grace of a new day. God’s gifts to His children, while broad in scope, also have very limited and personal application. Yes, of course, the gift of a new day is offered to everyone, but not everyone will be tuned to recognize Who the Author of that new day is.

The gift of recognition is a grace-gift preserved for those who are looking for and expecting the Lord to show up and present Himself in bold and apparent ways. Too often even His children fail to see Him as He seeks to make Himself known in unfamiliar territory. Accidents, illnesses, tragedies, losses, and other circumstances that tend to cloud His presence can prevent us from sensing and knowing the Lord is with us, but grace, like the opening of the blinds on a sunny day, can allow the floodlight of the Lord’s comforting, healing presence to shine upon us, strengthening, informing, and assuring us in ways that no human voice can.

Grace is the overflow of the holiness of our loving Father who, while unseen by the human eye, can easily be detected by the eye of one’s heart who is tuned to His Spirit’s still, small voice. The point of grace is to reveal God’s holiness and to give His children confidence that there’s never a single second of our day that we’re beyond His care.

May you sense the Lord’s unfailing grace in every circumstance of your life as you grow in holiness and intimacy with your Savior.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The gospel of Satan

“Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ‘I will give it all to You,’ he said, ‘if You will kneel down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8-9 NLT)

Satan’s strategy is simple and very straightforward – he will give us what we want, he just won’t tell us what it’s going to cost us.

Jesus understood, as we must, that to accept his “gifts” is to accept his terms – to worship him! What does it mean to “worship” Satan? While there are those who actually worship and pay homage to Satan, most of those who are not walking with the Lord are “worshipping” Satan by ignoring Jesus. There’s a sense in which to not intentionally and purposefully give our allegiance to Jesus and worship Him is to open our lives to the influence and infiltration of Satan and his devilish influences.

Too many, even professing believers in Jesus, want to walk with one foot in the world and one foot in following Jesus. The only problem with that is it never works. Jesus clearly said in Mark 8:34-38: “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways (the ways of the world), take up your cross, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life (the things of this world), you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.”

Jesus goes on to make very clear that there’s nothing that Satan can offer, though he offer us, as he did Jesus, the whole world, nothing is worth more than our soul, our security in Jesus. Arthur Pink gives us insight when he writes: “The gospel of Satan aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed.”

Most lost people never give Jesus a thought because they have no felt need they perceive He can meet. Why is that? Largely because they’ve never had a meaningful relationship with anyone who loves Jesus and if they have, it’s had little, if any, impact on them. When the world is meeting all my needs, of what use do I have of Jesus.

When the world and the things of this world are my whole frame of reference; when I have no apparent need of anything beyond this world, I have no desire to change or make any decisions that would upset my perceived security. Like in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, he had no need of God until his “secure” life on earth ended. Then he had a very vivid awakening, but it was too late.

It’s interesting that even in hell his first thought was himself: “Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.” But over time his thoughts shifted: “Then the rich man said, ‘Please Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.”

Just as heaven is God’s plan for Jesus followers, hell is God’s plan for Satan and his followers. If we allow him, Satan will lull us to spiritual sleep as surely as he did the rich man in the Bible, resulting in our eternal punishment, the loss of our soul. We must be about our Father’s business of warning anyone who will allow us of what’s coming for those who ignore the claims of Christ.

We must not allow the gospel of Satan to prevail in the hearts and minds of those we know and love. As often as the Spirit prompts us, we must not only live Jesus before them but speak His eternal truth. Their eternal life may well depend on our witness to them.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Failures

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24 NLT)

Often our sense is that failures are fatal, and sometimes they are on some levels, but they’re never final for a child of God. My life and ministry looked a lot different after the failure of my marriage, but it became apparent over time the Lord may have altered my path, but He didn’t end my journey.

We tend to place too much emphasis on our inability to overcome defeat and failure and far too little on the power of God to work through the circumstances of our lives, not only to His glory and honor, but to our good. My relationship with the Lord has deepened and my ministry opportunities have broadened exponentially since my failure.

Yes, of course, the path has looked quite different and some of the experiences I’ve had I would never have chosen for myself. And sometimes the healing journey can be painful, humbling, but will pay rich dividends if we trust the Lord and stay the course. Dave Harvey nails it when he wrote: “Our failures are never big enough to interrupt God’s plans for us.”

The key is never running away from the Lord. While our tendency may be, as it was for me, to hide from the Lord in shame, disgust with ourselves, and an unwillingness to see any hope for our future, gratefully, God never sees it that way. In God’s way of thinking failure is just one step closer to success, if we’re willing to trust Him and allow Him to walk with us through the healing process.

Failure isn’t final unless we allow it to be. We must understand that the Lord saw this failure before He ever chose us. Like King David, He was chosen even though the Lord knew he would fall and fail miserably. But God wasn’t finished with David and He isn’t finished with me or you. Some of David’s most helpful and meaningful Psalms, like the one above, was written under the inspiration of the Spirit even in light of his failure.

Perhaps you’re in the midst of a crippling failure right now or know someone who is. The outcome is directly linked to where we are with the Lord. Failure as a child of God gives us a resource of strength, encouragement and an unfolding path to recovery through our relationship with the Lord, while those without a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus have no such resource.

Of course, the Lord is available and is always open to anyone who will repent, turn from their sin, shame, and cycle of failure and turn to Him for forgiveness, wholeness, and a new life led and governed by the Holy Spirit. If you’ve never opened your life to the Lord, please visit Ron Hutchcraft’s The Bridge to God by clicking on the highlighted link.

It may seem to us that our failures re-route, derail, or delay God’s plans in our lives, but the truth is, they’re all part of His plan. Having known before the beginning of time that we’d fail, He worked it all out exactly as He’d planned, knitting our failure as part of the threads He’s using to create the tapestry of our lives.

Failure is never final when we give it to the Lord. He will always use every detail of our life for our good and His glory if we’ll leave the choice to Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Forgetfulness

“Can those in the grave declare Your unfailing love? Can they proclaim Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Can the darkness speak of Your wonderful deeds? Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about Your righteousness?” (Psalm 88:11-12 NLT)

The term translated “forgetfulness” in the above verse can also be translated “oblivion” and often refers to those in shock, grief, or states of concern that block their remembrance of or attention to the presence and power of God. Tragic circumstances can fill our hearts and minds with darkness that overshadow the light of God’s loving concern.

It’s like God has no place in our thoughts; He’s been pushed to the outer edges of our considerations. Satan fills our minds with so many negative scenarios the Lord has no room, and we have no conscious desire to reach out to Him. When this happens, it opens our lives to many unpleasant and spiritually defiling options.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Without the active presence of the living God guiding our thoughts and actions, we can make decisions that have long-term negative effects. And please don’t misunderstand, it’s not that the Spirit leaves us, it’s only that our pain, activated and elevated by our negative circumstances, redirects our attention to place more credence in MORE bad happening than any consideration of good that can come from the bad. It’s a normal human response.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer reminds us: “Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.” Thoughts are choices and while many things enter our mind, ultimately, we choose that upon which we’ll think, ponder, or consider. The Psalmist in Psalm 139 invites the Lord to search his thoughts and to know his heart. What’s the implication? The Lord will not invade our heart and mind forcing us to have Him evaluate our thoughts.

If we want the Lord to guide our thoughts, we must ask Him. He’s a gentleman and, unlike Satan, will not seek to persuade us to think His thoughts or even walk in His ways. Yes, of course, He’s given us His Word and His Holy Spirit will lead us and teach us upon our request, but He will never violate our will to get us to do what He wants.

The term “remember” is used 144 times in the KJV of the Bible, often reminding us to remember something significant the Lord has done on our behalf. That’s a major purpose of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, to remind us of the sacrifice of our Savior and to cause us to pause to ponder the richness of His love that has been released into our lives as a result of what He did for us on the Cross.

Yes, of course, it’s easy in the face of unexpected events to forget things, but as followers of the Lord Jesus, we must train our heart and mind to never, not for one second, ever, forget Who is Lord, Who loves us, Who is ALWAYS with us, and Who WILL NEVER LEAVE US!

If these are troubling days for you, please know you are not alone. I understand what it means to feel alone, but I also know how it feels when the Lord makes Himself known and gives assurance of His presence with and for us. While I don’t know many of you personally who read these words, I do pray for you and am believing the Lord’s presence to strengthen and sustain you.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Light Right In Front of You

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, and yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

*Each first of the month I’m featuring an article by someone I’ve come to love and appreciate. This month give your attention to Ron Hutchcraft and take to heart his words of wisdom. Blessings, Ed 😊

Our daughter’s got this thing about lighthouses. Thanks to her family indulging that passion at Christmas and birthday time, she’s got lighthouses all over her house. She’s got lighthouse stationery, lighthouse rugs, and lighthouse books; sad to say, even a lighthouse on the cover of her commode. In many places, real lighthouses are mostly reminders of the maritime past when lives actually depended on seeing the light that marked the shore and the rocks. Sometimes lives still depend on them, as in the case of a Greek ferry called the Express Samina.

There were 540 passengers aboard that September evening, sailing from Athens to an Aegean Island. An hour out, the wind came up and the temperature suddenly dropped. Five hours into the voyage, passengers felt the ferry’s engines surge, and most of them assumed they were getting close to their destination. They were wrong. The crew was frantically trying to steer clear of this small, rocky island, two miles from their destination. Tragically, the ferry plowed right into those rocks. It took only thirty-eight minutes to sink. Rescue vessels got there quickly, but eighty people died that night, and you know, it didn’t have to happen. There was a functioning lighthouse, sitting atop that rock, warning vessels away. It could be seen for several miles around. For some reason, the ferry just kept heading straight for the rocks.

It’s possible to have the light right in front of you and miss it – with tragic results. It’s been happening to nice church folks for a long time. If you’re a nice church folk, it could happen to you. There are a lot of great things about growing up in a Christian environment, or of being a part of a church where you hear about Jesus a lot. But there are some dangers, too; like missing the light that’s right in front of you.

Jesus had some sobering things to say to some of the most religious people of His day. They are still sobering words for those of us who are Bible folks – church folks. Here are the words of Jesus from John 5:39-40, our word for today from the Word of God: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, and yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” You can have the light of the Bible, the light of the Gospel in front of you your whole life, and yet you could still miss Jesus. When you miss Jesus, you miss God and you miss heaven. Jesus made clear that many people who have lived for years in sight of the lighthouse will miss heaven’s destination and sail right into the rocks of eternal punishment for their sins.

The Bible describes eternal life as “the gift of God” (Romans 6:23). You can know all about a gift, you can appreciate a gift, and you can have the gift right in front of you and still miss the gift because you never took it for yourself. Could that be you? Somehow, there’s never been a time when you actually reached out and personally took Jesus into your life for yourself. For all you know, you don’t know Jesus. For all you’ve experienced, you’ve never experienced Him. Don’t you want to?

God, in His great love for you, has laid this on my heart so you could have this chance to know Him for real. It’s probably going to be hard to admit that you’ve missed Jesus all this time, but it’s not nearly as hard as an eternity without Him. Don’t let your pride, don’t let your self-deception make you miss heaven. Right where you are, tell Him, “Jesus, I’ve never actually put my trust in You to be my own Savior from my own sin. But today I am. Beginning this day, Jesus, I’m Yours.”

I want you to be sure beyond any shadow of a doubt that you belong to Jesus for now and for eternity. That’s why our website is there. Please go there today. It’s ANewStory.com.

You’ve seen the lighthouse, but maybe you’ve never changed your course. This time, turn to Jesus while there’s time.

Ron Hutchcraft

Guilt

“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.” (Hebrews 10:1-2 NLT)

While the term “guilt” doesn’t appear in the King James Version of the Bible, it is a theme that is clearly present in the Old and New Testaments. I think of King David after his sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, the woman caught in the very act of adultery, or the woman at the well to name a few in the New Testament.

How many of us have been wracked with pain and suffered long with the anguish of guilt over wrongdoing that we clearly understood was wrong but did it anyway. It’s not unusual for guilt to drive us from the very presence of the Lord, wrongly believing there’s no further forgiveness for such a blatant sin, but we’d be wrong in believing that.

Helen Thorne gives us insight when she writes: “You can’t cry guilt away. You need to give it away.” “But how” becomes the logical question. Who wants to help us carry or even listen to the stories of our baggage? Certainly, there are trained Counselors who would be glad to help us work through our guilt and shame, but, ironically, there are other weary travelers on this Christian journey who have found healing and strength to share with those of us who are struggling.

Counseling is certainly a viable option, but I caution you to choose a trained, practicing Christian Counselor who has a reputation for actually helping people, not only with their emotional needs, but in their walk with Jesus. In my mind it doesn’t matter how many letters they have after their name, if they don’t bathe their guidance in prayer and lean on the Spirit in every bit of counseling they give, they’re wasting our time.

Personally, I’ve gained greatly from professional Counselors but have also been helped by those who have walked in my shoes and have come out on the other side loving Jesus more and living well as a result. The answer to guilt isn’t simply forgiveness, it’s cleansing of the need to repeat what has caused the guilt in the first place.

If I’m an alcoholic, adulterer, chronic liar, gossip, or a hundred other types of habitual sinner who wants forgiveness, but don’t want to turn from my sin, I’m going down a dead-end path. There is no long-term forgiveness for sin that is not forsaken. The only “cure” for sin is repentance that involves turning from and leaving the life of sin that has us bound, but that can’t be accomplished in the energy of the flesh, it must be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 2:22 reminds us: “No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” The only freedom we’ll ever have is through the cleansing, life-transforming blood of our Savior. He alone forgives, cleanses, fills and empowers us to live free of the shackles of our past. Please put your whole trust in Him today.

Go to The Bridge to God and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through how you can place your life into the hands of the living Jesus today.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Evangelism

“But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” (2 Timothy 4:5 NLT)

Evangelism at its core is simply telling others the Good News of who Jesus is, what He has done and is doing for us and is willing to do for them. It seems we try to make it a lot more difficult than it is, but if we just shared consistently in simple, but straightforward ways, the Lord could use us very effectively. Yes, of course, there are things we can learn to make us more effective, but if we just continually allowed the Spirit to alert us to share when the opportunities presented themselves, we’d be champions.

One thing that has helped me, personally, is understanding that evangelism is much broader than what I do in my own life or even in and through the ministries of local churches and Mission’s organizations. Evangelism is a worldwide process that God has set in motion long before any of us were on the scene. The reality is, we’re given the privilege of being a very small part of what He has been doing for centuries but has opened the door of opportunity for us to be His witness in our spheres of influence today.

A question I ask myself and will share with you is simply this: How can I be more effective as Christ’s witness in and among the people with whom I rub shoulders from day to day? What if I’m the last person with whom they speak before they meet Jesus, will something I say point them to Him? Might I have been able to say something meaningful to draw their attention to eternity and help them to see their need of Jesus before it was eternally too late?

Dr. Eric Mason challenges us when he writes: “We don’t need a revival of missionary techniques in evangelism, we need a revival of fervent prayer in our evangelism!” Evangelism begins in prayer. Without prayer there will be no effective outreach or meaningful sharing. The only way we’ll ever be equipped and prepared for pointing anyone to Jesus is if we’re pointed to Him in our own lives, illustrated by our love for His Word and our commitment to daily fellowship with Him in prayer.

Yes, of course, there are those who are especially gifted in sharing the Lord with others, and we can certainly learn from them. Ray Comfort and his Living Waters ministry is filled with helpful and instructional tools and training in reaching our friends and loved ones with the Gospel. He has dozens of handouts and videos that can train and equip if we’re willing to take the time to take advantage of them.

To me what it boils down to is this: do we really care that our friends and loved ones who aren’t saved are dying and headed to a Christless eternity? If we do, we won’t let anything stand in our way of sharing the truth with them, even if it means they shut us out of their lives. My experience has been they won’t, especially if we’re sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, but that’s often the fear Satan puts in our mind that keeps us from sharing the Lord with them.

The point is simple – we have access to lost people. What are we doing about it? In my neighborhood there are 120 houses representing thousands of people. Every year I hand out invitations to Christmas and Easter services at our church, in addition to other specific notes that I compose telling them about Jesus and how they can personally know Him. I put my name and number on my notes and invite them to reach out to me.

We are without excuse, and I personally believe the Lord will hold us accountable for the people He puts in our spheres of influence. Isn’t it time to step up and hold ourselves accountable to make every effort we can to reach those in our family, our neighborhood, our school, our workplace, our workout centers, our places of recreation, those we meet on doctor’s appointments, and anyplace else the Lord puts us where we have an audience of anyone who might need Jesus?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Abide In Me

By Rick Cowan

*Today I’m devoting this space to a young photographer who partners with Ray Majoran to spread God’s Word and work through their beautiful photographs. Rick Cowan has shown a particular sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading in his writing today, so, I wanted to share it with you. Blessings, Ed 😊

“Every Friday, I (Ray Majoran) feature another person who is using their artistic talents to glorify God (1 Thessalonians 5:11). I ask them to provide me with an image, along with a paired title and Scripture verse. This week, I’d like to highlight the work of Rick Cowan, who I’ve featured several times before. He writes”:

In John 15, Jesus uses the vivid imagery of a vine and its branches to teach His disciples the kind of relationship He wants with them (John 15:1–5). This picture was not new, however. Jesus deliberately drew on a familiar Old Testament symbol to declare that everything was changing: with His coming, a new spiritual reality had arrived – one that His disciples (and every true believer since) are called to live in every day.

Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly described Israel as His vineyard or vine (Psalm 80:8–16; Isaiah 5:1–7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1–8; 17:5–10; 19:10–14; Hosea 10:1). Through the prophets He grieved Israel’s constant rebellion. He had acted as the perfect vinedresser: rescuing them from Egypt, planting them in a rich land, giving them His law, prophets, priesthood, and kings. He did everything possible to make them flourish. Yet the vine only produced wild, sour, worthless grapes (idolatry, injustice, and unfaithfulness), instead of faithfulness born out of love for him (Isaiah 5:2, 7; Jeremiah 2:21).

“Abide In Me” (Rick Cowan) “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

When Jesus stepped onto the scene, He came not only to die as the perfect sacrifice but to live as the perfect Israelite, the perfect Son, and the perfect worshipper (Matthew 5:17; Romans 5:19). Where national Israel failed again and again, Jesus obeyed perfectly. Where the old vine degenerated and was finally cut down and burned, Jesus, the true vine, bears abundant, lasting fruit in complete submission to His Father (John 15:1–2, 8).

Here is the staggering wonder of the new covenant: everyone who trusts Jesus is grafted into Him, the true vine (Romans 11:17–24; John 15:4–5). Old-covenant Israel stumbled because they tried to produce fruit in their own strength and repeatedly failed. New-covenant believers, however, are united to the One who never failed. His perfect obedience is credited to us; His life flows into us (Romans 8:3–4; Galatians 2:20). We do not strive to become the vine – Jesus already is. We simply remain in Him.

That is why our spiritual lives are now entirely the fruit of union with Christ. He has fulfilled the law for us (Matthew 5:17). He has pleased the Father perfectly on our behalf (John 8:29). He has defeated sin, death, and Satan where we never could (Colossians 2:15). His death atones for our sin; His obedient life now sustains our faith (Romans 5:19; Philippians 1:6). So His gentle command to every branch is the same: “Abide in Me” (John 15:4). Rest in Me. Draw every breath of spiritual life from Me. Stay connected, trust Me, obey Me, love through Me, and you will bear much fruit, the Father will be glorified, and your joy will be full (John 15:5, 8, 11).

Today, hear the voice of the true Vine: you don’t have to manufacture a perfect record – He already has one for you. Simply remain in Him. Abide. Rest. And watch His life produce in you what you could never produce on your own.

Rick Cowan

When Understanding is Hard

“Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.’ ‘Don’t you understand yet?’ Jesus asked. ‘Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart – that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.’” (Matthew 15:15-20 NLT)

If we’ve walked with the Lord for very long the words above seem common sense to us, but so many other words of Scripture continue to be a mystery. But life is compounded by things that happen in the world and in our lives that are literally beyond our comprehension. Where are the words that can possibly explain the senseless death of an 11-year-old boy due to road rage?

How can we stretch our hearts and minds to even begin to think God’s thoughts as he helps a parent to understand a loss of that magnitude? How could a parent or grandparent cope with such a profound loss? Is God to blame for allowing it to happen? How does anyone begin to gain understanding and a proper perspective?

As a rule we, as human beings, respond first with our emotions, then, often after much time has passed, we begin to use our minds to actually think through what happened and why. Is there ever justification for such actions? It’s doubtful, but at least when the proverbial “dust settles,” tempers are calmed, and facts gathered, then at least some measure of sense can be gleaned.

But what if no other human is involved? What if the storm that rocks our world is an accident, illness, or incident that is brought about by something we have done or by an act of God? Ray Majoran gives us insight when he prayed: “Please teach us to wait without fear, and to remember that faith is not built on what we understand but on who You are.” (See Home Beneath the Light – 11-03-25)

The fog of doubt and misunderstanding are never lifted until we remember who the Lord is and recognize that nothing happens without His knowledge and consent. So, the logical question then becomes, why would the Lord allow such senseless (at least to us) things to happen? And please understand that this is far beyond my ability to make sense of except as I know and understand who God is.

Everything He allows has purpose, thus, even something that seems completely random to us can have purpose for those who are directly involved and who are affected by the outcomes. What if one person, as a result of hearing of this senseless, road rage shooting decides to never let another driver’s inappropriate driving bother them.

Or what if someone decides it’s just not worth the risk to carry a gun in their car or otherwise; especially a young person who has very little emotional maturity with which to make wise decisions? What if a major loss like that opens the way for that family’s hearts and minds to be opened to the Lord in ways they’ve never been opened before? Or opens the door for Jesus-lovers to surround them with love, compassion, and kindness they’ve never experienced in their lives?

The Lord is not limited in the ways He can use tragedy for good, especially if His people will be alert and sensitive to His leading in these tragic occurrences.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊