Walking With Jesus

Author of Life

“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. We do that by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT)

We tend to get so encumbered by life. We want to think, and often even say, that we love Jesus with our whole heart. Yet, even as the words cross our mind and/or lips we know, if we’re honest, that it’s a lie. Yes, of course, we want it to be true, and, in some rare moments, perhaps it is. But what’s holding us back? What’s keeping us from loving God with everything we are in every moment?

My daughter has run in a few marathons. She didn’t run them in a snow suit. Why not? What if it was a cold day? It doesn’t matter. Runners dress light, including their shoes, in order to not only maintain the highest speed, but maintain that speed the longest period of time possible.

Photo by Christopher Welsch Leveroni on Pexels.com

Even though more than 1700 athletes have now achieved the four-minute mile status, do you think it’s easy? Could you swing by the track after work and run a four-minute mile? Even if you were a seasoned runner, after a full day’s work, it would be highly unlikely. What’s my point? We want to spend minutes with Jesus and His Holy Word and expect to be a “super-Christian.”

First, “Super-Christian’s” don’t exist. There was only One and the mold was broken when He stepped out of the tomb. What we can be is the best possible person of God WE can be, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit, but it will cost us. Are you willing to pay the price? Are you sure?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could tell you: “Just do this, that, or the other and in 90 days (or 90 years) you’ll be like Jesus.” The truth is, “inch by inch anything’s a cinch.” (Robert Schuller) The first very important and irreplaceable step is to understand that Jesus is the Author of life. What does that mean? It means that there is no life except by and through Him. How do I know that? Because I read John 1:4 that says: “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.”

Let the words of Ray Majoran’s prayer challenge you as they challenged me to love the Lord, the Author of MY life and YOUR life, in unprecedented ways to His honor and fame.

“Glorious Father, You are the Author of Life, perfect in power and mighty in works. Each day, You lavish Your immeasurable greatness upon us, from the time we open our eyes to the moment we go to sleep. Every good gift comes from You, the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17).

Lord God, You reveal what is hidden — not only in the world around us, but in the quiet places of our own hearts (Daniel 2:22). Nothing escapes Your notice. Yet we often rush past the stillness where You do Your most profound work. We chase noise, fill the margins, and call it purpose, all while You wait — not demanding more effort, but inviting us to know You as You are. In silence, You refine our thinking. In waiting, You expose what we truly trust. And in the slow, unhurried moments, You show us that knowing You is worth more than anything we could ever accomplish.

Please tune our hearts to hear the silent symphony of Your presence — the steady, unshaken sound of Your voice speaking through the stillness. Disrupt the noise we’ve grown comfortable with. Remove our illusions of control, and confront our pride when we pretend to carry burdens You never asked us to hold. You are God, and we are not. Let us stop pretending otherwise.” (From Silent Symphony – 03-22-25)

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

A Good Father

“You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16 NLT)

With rare exception, who you are in your home is who you are. If you’re unkind to your wife/husband, children, and whomever else might be a regular part of your home environment, you’re not a good person, at least not in a Biblical sense. If there is ANYPLACE our “light” for Jesus should shine, it should be in our home, in our relationships with our family.

Having served in youth ministry for many years, my heart would break when one of my “kids” would say in reference to one or both of their parents: “I sure wish they treated me at home like they do here at church.” Or “I wish they were like they are at church, at home.”

Sometimes it’s easy to wear the proverbial mask when we’re out but feel like we can just “be ourselves” when we enter the door of our home. And there’s truth to that, as long as there’s not a huge difference in the two. To seek to act like Jesus when away from home, then become the proverbial “devil” when we’re with our family is not only wrong, it’s also sinful.

Dr. Billy Graham said, “A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” Mothers, without question, play a vital role in the upbringing of their children, but the best results are had when mothers and fathers stay true to the Lord, to one another and to their children. In the best scenarios, it provides the safest, healthiest, and most stable environment in which to raise children.

Years ago, so the story goes, a greeting card company decided to make Mother’s Day cards available to the male inmates of a particular prison who wanted them. It was an overwhelming success, the card company having to supply more cards to meet the demands of the inmates. The response was so positive the prison decided to also offer Father’s Day cards to their inmates. There were no responses. Not one inmate wanted to send a card to their father.

Obviously, we can’t draw hard and fast conclusions based on something like that, but it’s at least safe to say those male prisoners had little or no respect for their fathers. I’m confident there are lots of reasons for those conclusions, but the verifiable point is, a father’s influence is a major factor in how children turn out.

To profess Jesus, yet not treat our children as the Bible instructs, is wrong and demands repentance. One of the primary ways we express love as a father is how we love our wives. Rearing godly children is a team effort, so, for a dad to love his children, yet ignore or demean his wife in front of his children, is wrong on all kinds of levels.

Loving others is fundamentally and foundationally a Christian virtue. How can we not make this a priority in our homes? Paul speaks of loving our wives sacrificially, but the whole of Jesus’ teaching emphasizes loving others as we love ourselves. Isn’t our goal to be like our Master, Jesus? No one was ever loved more by their Father and no one ever loved their Father more.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Illusion of Self-Sufficiency

“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of His new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6a NLT)

To believe we are sufficient in and of ourselves to accomplish anything of lasting spiritual significance is to misunderstand the nature of spiritual growth and development. Jesus makes this crystal clear in John 15:5 when He said: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” The word used in the original Greek is an absolute negative which basically means “Not a single thing, no exceptions!”

Self-sufficiency and Christ-dependency are mutually exclusive concepts. To have one excludes and eliminates the other. To be a Jesus follower and believe I can tie my own shoes is to misunderstand the nature of the relationship. Jesus is my source of EVERYTHING! Every breath, the ability to move every muscle, speak every word, think every thought, accomplish every task – there are no exceptions.

The longer I live and serve the Lord the more inclined I am to believe that ANYTHING I do without acknowledging my complete and utter dependence upon the Lord borders on blasphemy. You may not agree, and I’m not prepared to say, “Thus sayeth the Lord!” but hear my heart. As Jesus followers our heart’s aim and desire is to have oneness, intimacy, and complete unity with the Father. How is that accomplished?

Of course, it’s a process that isn’t completed until we close our eyes in death and open them in the presence of our Master, but the process includes acknowledging our dependency upon the Lord in every area of our lives. It’s not unlike the arena of trust. I don’t trust myself to do anything without the Lord’s help and guidance.

The point is, as a child of God, apart from Jesus we are nothing, but don’t misunderstand. That’s not how the Lord views us. He views us as His sacred prize, His “masterpiece,” a magnificent work that He is forming to be something unique and grand. That’s why, even in our failures, He’s encouraging and inviting us to get up and try again.

Not many are able to jump on a bike and ride away the first time without failing to keep our balance and falling, what seems to be, an endless number of times. But remember the first time you rode and didn’t fall? It was like a new world of opportunity was opening to you! In a similar way, we learn to “keep our balance” spiritually, when the Lord” “releases” His hand from the back of our “bike,” and allows us to make mistakes and fail spiritually.

It’s not that He’s left us, He’s nearer than the air we breathe, but He intentionally allows us to experience times when we realize that we really can’t do anything of spiritual significance without Him. Even people who don’t profess faith are literally dependent upon the Lord, they just haven’t realized it.

Our goal as a believer in Jesus is to be conformed to His likeness, but to begin that process we must do exactly what He did, submit to the full rulership and ownership of the Father. Notice the words of Jesus in John 14:30-31, when He said: “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over Me, but I will do what the Father requires of Me. so that the world will know that I love the Father.”

Self-sufficiency doesn’t “do what the Father requires of Me!” Only God dependency can do that!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

No Stranger to Thorns

“The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” (Matthew 13:22 NLT)

Do you ever worry? Do Pugs love to eat? Dumb question, huh? But I have a word from the Lord! Satan may hound you to worry, but you can be free from worry by placing your complete trust in Jesus. Worry is, at its core, a lack of trust in the Person or promises of God. To worry is to believe either that God isn’t Sovereign, or that you are. Both are lies from the pit of hell.

Thorns, as seen in the verse above, manifest themselves in our lives in essentially one of two primary ways: either we worry about things pertaining to our life – i.e. family, work, health, friends, the world, or a thousand other things. We NEVER have a shortage of things about which to worry. But another avenue of worry is “the lure of wealth.”

This is something that seems to trap almost everyone at some point in our lives. It’s that desire to have “more,” whatever that may look like for each of us. More material things, more love, more opportunities, more pleasure, more excitement, more challenge, more ____________! It can be a trap because God’s desire is for us to have more. . . more of HIM!

That’s a familiar strategy of the enemy, to have us desire something that seems right, that seems that it might be something the Lord would want for us, but we’re so easily misled. We confuse what God wants for us for all the things we want for ourselves, most of which wouldn’t draw us closer to the Lord but push us further away.

The lure of wealth and the worries of life are among the many things that stir in our heart and mind that draw us inward to the satisfaction of our own desires, rather than to draw us ever more closely to the Lord. But in that seeming endless process of seeking self-satisfaction, we miss the joy of dependence upon and fulfillment in our relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Justin Talbert wrote: “Instead, joy is uncovered on the thorn-ridden trail of self-denial, self-forgetfulness, sacrificial love. When Jesus cements two sinners together, He says, ‘Your joy is now linked to theirs.’” So, God’s antidote to worry is “self-denial, self-forgetfulness, and sacrificial love,” among prayer, finding strength in God’s Word and in vital fellowship with others whose center and focus is also on the Lord Jesus.

Worry can be so worrisome because it can be couched in genuine concern but is revealed when our “concern” becomes more self-focused than God-focused. What does that mean? It means we begin to “count the cost” of what OUR concern is going to look like. We may have a sick child or spouse and, of course, we have concerns for them, but then OUR concern spills over into: “But when is he/she going to get back to work? We need their income!” Or “What if the insurance doesn’t cover all our expenses?” Or ___________________ and you can fill in the blank.

The reason the Lord allows the thorns in our lives isn’t to defeat or destroy us, but to turn our thoughts to Him, to help us learn to depend upon and trust Him, never to exasperate us to the point of a mental breakdown.

Our loving Shepherd knows our every need before we ask. He anticipates EVERY need before He allows the “thorn” in the first place. He shapes and designs everything that touches our life to help us grow in exactly the way or ways we need to grow in order to see Him more clearly, love Him more deeply, and serve Him more fruitfully and effectively.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Contending?

“Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to His holy people.” (Jude 1:3 NLT)

To see sin in the church and not, in some appropriate manner, do something about it, is sin. Now, the logical question then becomes, what’s appropriate? Prayer is always appropriate and should be our first course of action. Prayer is the platform upon which the Lord will instruct us to: 1) mind our own business or 2) pursue another course of action.

To contend essentially means to strive against or defend and can be understood in the context of war. To contend against an enemy may mean to fortify a position or take pro-active efforts to stop an attack already in progress. But it can also mean gathering enemy intel that may warn of future plans to attack or infiltrate.

We must understand that to be a believer in the Lord Jesus and not be at war with the enemy of our soul is to be either blind or naïve. Following Jesus is not a leisurely activity, like a vacation to the beach or to a favorite State or National Park. It’s to be commissioned by the Commander-in-Chief of Heaven’s Army, the Lord Jesus Himself. What might that look like?

In Scripture an expression used to identify the people of God is the “Bride of Christ”. If my wife and I were close to another couple and either of us heard rumors regarding their marriage, who should we first and foremost contact to express our concern? We should go to the source, right? And please understand, the “source” is not the one spreading the potentially harmful information, it’s the couple themselves.

They need to know that we heard something from this person. Why is that important? For two reasons. First, the couple needs to know we have their backs. Before we would whisper a word of what we heard to someone else (that’s gossip) we go straight to them. But the second reason is, if they told this other couple something in confidence, they need to know they should be very careful about sharing anything else with them. Do we risk hurting our relationship with the couple? Possibly, but not if the bonds of friendship are long-standing and strong.

In the Church gossip is rampant and we have to fight the temptation to simply forward what may have become grounded in a lie, as truth. That’s why it’s critical we go to the source. So, if we hear something about an issue in the church, we go to a Pastor or leader, we don’t perpetuate the possible “lie” by sharing it with others. And, even if we know it’s the truth, who do we benefit by spreading negative press about anyone?

Lisa Victoria asked a pertinent question: “You are not contending for the faith if you don’t love the people you are attempting to correct?” Contending implies working for the benefit of, so, if the questions I’m asking or the statements I’m making about a fellow believer aren’t being asked directly of them or a person in authority over them, assuming they’re holding an office in the Church, then I’m not contending, I’m simply spreading gossip.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Mistakes

“Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.” (Proverbs 19:2-3 NLT)

We can get very excited about things that have no eternal value. We can expend energy and waste seasons of our lives pursuing hobbies and activities that may not be bad in and of themselves but distract us from or prevent us from being invested in the Kingdom of God.

Some of you know that my daughter gave me a 2012 Mustang GTCS for my 65^th birthday. It was brand new and was the apple of my eye for many years. It was a treasure, not simply because it was a very nice car, but because of the sacrifice my daughter made to give it to me. To say I “babied” that car would be an understatement. Nothing but the best waxes, hand-buffed, serviced regularly, garaged-kept, wiped off nightly and only driven in nice weather.

Ultimately, I realized it had become “an idol,” of sorts. It demanded too much time and attention, and though it hurt me (and still does 😊), I had to let it go. After discussing it with my daughter and asking her permission, though she assured me it was completely my decision, I sold it. What’s my point?

It was not sinful or wrong that I loved my car. It became sinful and wrong when it demanded an inordinate amount of time and thought that prevented me from being able to use it in ways I needed to. What is your “golden calf?” What is it in your life that is drawing your attention away from the Lord or others? What is it that demands too much of your thought life and is distracting you from being all you can and should be for the Lord?

It’s a mistake not to allow the Lord to give you strength to deal with it now. Dan Reiland wrote: “Left unsolved, mistakes get bigger not better.” It’s a mistake not to be proactive in the development of your faith. Prayer can’t simply be “canned,” rehearsed, or rote, but must continually be sought for the purpose of personal edification and intimacy with the Lord, as well as continually addressing the needs of lost loved ones, friends and family.

And I understand that lifting the same people and/or needs to the Lord every day can seem monotonous and “rote,” but more importantly, the Lord knows our heart. It’s not the words we use, but the attitude of our heart that catches the Lord’s attention. Jesus’ story in Luke 18 of the two men praying caught my attention today. My sense is that Pharisee was “reciting” his “prayer,” while the tax collector was spilling out the concerns of his heart.

To use the same, even repetitive words (i.e. The Lord’s Prayer; Psalm 23, etc.) as we have conversations with the Lord is not only not wrong but can be very helpful. We can make a mistake when we assume familiar words are not helpful to use in our prayers. The Lord never tires of us telling Him we love, adore, need, desire, and worship Him for who He is. He understands that our vocabulary fails when trying to describe what He means to us and how much we appreciate His unfathomable investment in us in the person of His Son.

My sense is He basks in our efforts, yes, even our repetitive efforts to give expression to our love for and dependence upon Him. Continually seek His holy face and share with Him the needs and desires of your heart to know Him better, love and serve Him more effectively. If we’re going to make mistakes in our efforts to grow in our life in Jesus, let us make them risking saying the same things too often, rather than not often enough.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

A Shapeless Lump of Clay

“Well then, you might say, ‘Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what He makes them do?’ No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?” (Romans 9:19-21 NLT)

One could assume a rather dismal frame of reference after reading the verses above, if it were not for one very vital aspect of the equation. Yes, of course, we can bemoan our poor state of existence: “Why didn’t God make me smarter, prettier, taller, shorter, an athlete, a scholar!” Or “Why didn’t the Lord let me live in ___________ instead of where I live?” “Why is my house the smallest in the neighborhood?” Why did I have to have that person for my parent, child, teacher, boss…” The questions continue ad infinitum.

Our questions will never stop until we come to grips with the fact the Lord made us exactly as He did for a very specific reason. He knew before the brilliance of the sun was ever allowed to shine that you would be who you are, where you are, why you are! You are not an accident! You and I were made very much on purpose to be God’s instruments where He has “planted” us.

Ron Hutchcraft wrote (See How God Makes You a Masterpiece – 02-09-23): “We’re all that shapeless lump of clay until we put ourselves in the hands of the Master Potter. Only the One who gave you your life can shape your life into what it was created to be.” There’s an extensive process that we go through to become everything the Lord desires us to be, but it’s completely voluntary.

The Lord doesn’t force us to become what He created us to be, but He stands ready to shape, mold, and equip us to be exactly what He has in mind for us to become, when we’re ready to yield our lives to Him. My experience has been that people do a lot of whining and complaining when they’re trying to rule their own lives, but when someone turns the reigns of control over to Jesus, their complaining turns to praise and they’re given the life they never dreamed they could ever have.

A masterpiece is born out of suffering and pain, struggle and hardship, not out of an easy life. As a rule, we learn very little, if anything, when times are good and we’re coasting through life. Growth comes when a loved one leaves or dies; the lights are shut off; the doctor says, “It’s cancer!” or the boss says: “You’re fired!”

When life is out of our control and our only hope is to look up, that’s when the learning curve begins, and our life is molded into the masterpiece the Lord envisioned before time began. What we once thought were curses become the very blessings upon which our faith journey is built. Yes, there are tears! Yes, there are doubts and moments of despair, but when we see the face of Jesus, even through our tears, we’re still able to smile and say with genuine confidence: “Thank You, Lord!”

There’s nothing this world can offer to compare with intimacy with Jesus. It isn’t until we have what the world can’t take away that we begin to experience what only Jesus can give us. Closeness with the Lord has nothing to do with material things or even spiritual “gifts.” It has only to do with relaxing in the capable hands of the Potter and allowing Him to do what only He can do with, in, through, and for us.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Focus

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to Him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (Matthew 6:25-27 NLT)

Worry is a killer! The stress on our body brought about by anxiety is a billion-dollar industry for medicine alone, not to mention therapy and related costs. Why do we worry? Largely, I’m convinced, because we lose focus on Jesus.

How and why do we do that? Largely because we choose to live in a constant state of discontent. We won’t focus simply on the issues of today, we want to solve the problems of tomorrow, next week, and next month without certainty that any of what we fear COULD happen, ever will.

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Do you ever wonder why God gave us time? Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, etc.? One of the challenges we face is disciplining ourselves to focus on what’s in front of us to do in this moment. We have a slow draining sink, so our mind goes into overdrive, not on a strategy to evaluate the problem, but to ponder all the what ifs!

Before long, in our mind, we’re spending thousands of dollars on replumbing the whole house, when in reality, it likely won’t cost anything to remove the trap, clean it and be done with the problem. It may be more but take it a step at a time.

We have a misunderstanding with our spouse, and we’re heading to divorce court! NO! Our first course of action must be immediately stopping to pray, to seek the Lord’s counsel as to where to go from here. Do we just need a “time-out” to regain our composure before we re-address the issue? Do we need outside help – a trusted believing friend, Pastor or Counselor? Maybe, but why not focus on what’s in front of you right now – getting calm and relaxed so you can allow your mind to work positively and proactively as you seek the Lord to help you focus on the real problem.

Dr. David Jeremiah gives sound advice when he writes: “But we can minimize anxiety. One of the greatest techniques of peaceful people is learning to go about today’s business while leaving tomorrow in God’s hands. As you focus on what God has placed in front of you today, the giant of worry about the future will fade! God will take care of today and tomorrow.” (See Turning Point Horrors! – 02-07-23)

What’s troubling you today? Why not pause right now and lift it to the Lord. I’ve found if I take the time and make the effort to pray first, many potentially troubling issues can be resolved very quickly. Most often our worry is compounded by borrowing from the future. Corrie Ten Boom reminds us: “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength—carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

What’s got you weighted down today? Please allow the Lord to lighten your load by helping you refocus on the largeness of His capacity to provide everything you need, exactly when you need it. If He doesn’t give it, we don’t need it.

Food for thought.

Blessings Ed 😊

Feeling Low?

“Comfort, comfort My people,’ says your God. ‘Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.’ Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, ‘Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!’” (Isaiah 40:1-5 NLT)

King Hezikiah had served Israel admirably and done many good things for his people, but in the end he made a very foolish decision that, while it didn’t have ill-effect on him personally, cost his children and the children of Israel dearly.

There’s a lesson here for parents that the Lord has shown me in my own life. Though I have sought throughout my life to make good and right decisions, the ones that haunt me are the bad ones that have so dramatically affected my children spiritually. While my kids are good and doing well on many levels, they’re not walking with Jesus, which breaks my heart.

Bad decisions have consequences, some of which may not seem to be hurting us but have the potential to decimate those in our spheres of influence, especially our children and grandchildren. That’s what brings me down.

When I think about the damage I’ve done and the people I’ve hurt over the years, it causes me to struggle. Because the Lord has laid this on my heart to share, my sense is, I’m not alone. I know the Lord has forgiven me and I believe my children have forgiven me, but the pain it still causes is something with which I wrestle.

It’s in this context that Corrie Ten Boom’s words lifted my heart and blessed my spirit when she wrote: “We are never so low that He is not beneath us.” Regardless of the tormenting thoughts that caused or are causing you to feel low, despondent, saddened by past or present behavior, relationships, or any other cause, know the Lord is with you.

We are undergirded by the strong arms of our Savior in every circumstance that causes us grief. I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:4: “God blesses those who mourn, for they WILL BE COMFORTED.” No “might’s” or “maybe’s,” only the assurance that our loving Heavenly Father WILL comfort and sustain us.

But another thought arises as I consider the Lord’s comforting presence. He never comforts us in order that we might stay the same. Comfort is for strength to return to the battle. Every day I seek to live the life of a Jesus Follower, not only in my circle of friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, but for the glory of God and the benefit of my kids.

It’s my heart’s desire, as my children age and make their own mistakes, that they may accept my failures in the context of my immaturity, not only as a believer, but as a father. I’ve offered my apologies and asked for and received their forgiveness, but to date they’re still not walking with the Lord.

Regardless of what is breaking your heart, don’t lose faith. Know the Lord is still on His throne and His Word promises us that He “…causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28 NLT) He’s still working. We must trust Him!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Carpenter to Washer of Feet

“Jesus knew that the Father had given Him authority over everything and that He had come from God and would return to God. So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.” (John 13:3-5 NLT)

For all His adult life Jesus had worked with His hands as a carpenter. Some suggest His work was exquisite and His services were in high demand. That’s not a hard scenario to believe when You consider who He was. But for Him to go from an “in-demand carpenter” to a washer of the feet of humble men seems a stretch, even for Jesus…or was it?

Ron Hutchcraft gives us insight when he writes: “You demonstrate your dignity, not by how many people do things for you, but how many people you do things for. That’s manhood! Jesus, the ultimate model of manhood – a muscular carpenter – can be a foot washer. The mighty Son of God can be a servant.”

Jesus was only modeling what He expects and demands of us. In Matthew 20:25ff Jesus said: “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

As a Pastor it amused, but also frustrated me, when someone wanted to be considered for a leadership position but never showed up on workdays; they wanted esteem in the sight of their fellow Jesus followers, but didn’t want to help clean the church bathrooms (among other parts of the church). My kids would sometimes ask me how I knew how to do so many things around the house. My answer was always the same: poverty! When you’re poor you learn to do whatever needs to be done or do without.

That mentality has followed me into my senior years. While a lot of things have far surpassed my ability to even understand, let alone repair, I still do things around the house that I can do. I did learn a valuable lesson when I was, let’s just say, “short on funds,” and that is, it’s still less expensive to hire someone to do a job, than it is to hire them to redo what I messed up. Sometimes a thin line 😊.

What’s my point? As Christ’s servants, He may call us to do something that, in our mind, is far below our “qualifications,” yet, if that’s what He’s asking us to do, who are we, regardless of how long we’ve walked with Him, to question His judgment? Some of the richest and most beneficial “services” I’ve provided to the Lord’s glory have been to visit someone in a hospital or Nursing Center in the last stages of their life.

Others are just as “qualified” or more so, than me to make those calls, yet the joy the Lord brings when we pray together is not something that can be dismissed or devalued. To sense the Lord’s closeness as questions are answered about eternal things, as family members are relieved to know their loved one is ready to meet the Lord; when questions with which they’ve wrestled for years are resolved, there’s almost no greater sense of fulfillment.

While in Peru on my first mission’s trip, I had the privilege of literally washing the feet of the poorest of the poor. I’ve never sensed the Lord’s closeness as richly as in that setting. The Lord is no respecter of persons, so, we should never risk thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. The only appropriate answer when the Lord asks us to do anything is a simple: “Yes, Master!”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊