Walking With Jesus

Problems?

“During those dark times, it was not safe to travel. Problems troubled the people of every land. Nation fought against nation, and city against city, for God was troubling them with every kind of problem. But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.” (2 Chronicles 15:5-7 NLT)

In the early years of King Asa’s reign over Israel he made a lot of positive changes, but it was not easy, and he was forced to face armies that were much larger and stronger than his. It occurred to me that the way he handled the massive odds stacked against him can guide us in the problems that entangle us from day to day.

The truth is, though Satan is a defeated foe, he can build a very strong case against us, so much so that we often feel defeated before we begin. So, how do we face our problems in a way that honors the Lord and enables us to stand strong against the enemy of our soul?

2 Chronicles 14:9-11 says: “Once an Ethiopian named Zerah attacked Judah with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots. They advanced to the town of Mareshah, so Asa deployed his armies of battle in the valley north of Mareshah. Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God. ‘O Lord, no one but You can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You alone. It is in Your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, You are our God; do not let mere men prevail against You!” Then verse 12 says: “So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled.”

Don’t you love that! God is more powerful than any problem Satan can throw at us, we just need to make sure our theology is strong enough to defeat them. What do I mean? King Asa didn’t defeat his enemy with his army until he defeated them in prayer.

What’s our “knee jerk” response to many of our problems? What are the first words out of our mouths? “O God!” followed shortly thereafter with: “What am I going to do?” With emphasis on the I! Francis Chan wrote in the context of marriage: “Most marriage problems are not really marriage problems, they are God problems. They can be traced back to … a faulty understanding of Him. An accurate picture of God is vital to a healthy marriage.”

That’s true regardless of the origin of any problem. It can be money, children, work-related, physical, mental – whatever category it falls under, the source of the resources to overcome that problem must begin with God. Simply put, bad theology creates bad problems, because what we think about comes about. And what we think about impacts our attitude and our subsequent actions

If we’re so focused on the size of our problem that it morphs the size of our God, we’re defeated before we begin. A solution to our problems begins with a right understanding of who God is, and the only way to formulate a right understanding of God is to be grounded in His Word.

Justin Talbert wrote in a Family Life devotional, again, in the context of marriage: “As our knowledge of the real, biblical Jesus increases, so does our day-by-day holiness. And that directly impacts the life of our spouse―and our marriage altogether. This question, then, becomes imminently important: What are you doing today to fortify your theology, your accurate belief and practice of who God is? There’s more than we realize on the line!”

So, do YOU have a problem? What are YOU going to do about it?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

You Display God’s Splendor

“They will be called … a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.” (Isaiah 61:3)

*On the 15th of each month I devote a day to share with you a devotional by Sylvia Gunter. Please read these words slowly and attentively as you allow the Holy Spirit to speak through her to your heart. Blessings, Ed (used with permission)

Listen to the Word of God for you in Isaiah 61:3. “They will be called … a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

Jesus quoted Isaiah 61:1-2 as he announced his purpose statement. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, to set captives free, to open blind eyes, to open prison doors, and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” That’s not the end of the sentence in Isaiah 61. Isaiah continues that He wants to make a holy exchange with you: His comfort for grief, His crown instead of ashes, His gladness for mourning, and His praise instead of despair. It continues, “You will be an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord,” and the weight of the entire passage falls on the next words: “for the display of his splendor.”

Jesus came to earth to heal you, set you free, and restore you for a purpose: so that you will display His splendor. You live to show forth His glory; you are called to this. This defines you. God’s appointment in you is that people see, feel, and respond to the weight and strength of your life, as you live in the splendor, strength, and weight of the glory of Jesus.

This is the true meaning of your life. Jesus said to His Father in John 17:22, “I have given them the glory that you gave me.” That glory of Jesus is who you are. Your life is shining His light, the manifold wisdom of God in you. You are on a journey further into that identity, legitimacy, freedom, and confident hope. It is true of you now, and it is becoming more true of you.

God says in Psalm 8:5 that He crowned you with glory (splendor), honor, and majesty that is unique to you. Shine your unique testimony to the greatness of God. Christ died to bring out the richness of your life as you show forth His radiance. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” You are blessed as you receive the light of Jesus shining in you to shine out of you, so that His beauty and truth will touch and warm the spirit of others.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that the god of this age has a strategy: to blind your mind to keep you from seeing the light of the glory of Christ. Satan is trying to put out your light. He battles to stop you from displaying Jesus in all His glory.

God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in you to give you the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). God in you is bigger than any assault to deaden your heart and your desire, to shut down the glory in your life, to keep you from affirming the splendor that is your inheritance.

Your splendor is seen in the small details of your life … a hug, a smile, a card you write, a phone call, a kindness. God put you right where you are, in the family, in the marriage, in the valley of decision where you are. He placed you there to let His splendor be seen, to shine the light of His glory through you.

In your Father you have something deep, beautiful, authentic, and powerful for yourself and others. God created you for this very time in your life. It is never too late to accomplish the purpose for which God created you. Your times are in God’s hands. Jesus is at work in you to fill your place in pleasing His heart and to fill the place in the world He designed for you to display Him in the blessing of His presence and strength.

God is doing something in you that is wonderful and unique, something that bonds you to Him with everlasting cords of love.

Be blessed in the name of Jesus who is the Splendor revealed in you (Ps. 145:5).

Click here to learn more and order. An archive of past devotionals is available at www.thefathersbusiness.com

Apathy and Passion

“Then His disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: ‘Passion for God’s house will consume Me.’” (John 2:17 NLT)

Passion is a multidimensional issue. There are those in our world today who are very passionate about evil, and it’s no wonder. Satan is extremely motivated to take as many people to hell with him as possible. Yet, we can never lose sight of the passion of the Lord Jesus, who relentlessly chased evil to the Cross to open a way to God that not even Satan can close.

The word translated “Passion” in the verse above is the Greek word “zelos” (dzay’-los) and is the word from which comes our English word “zeal.” It speaks to the fierceness with which ideas and their resultant behavior grip our lives and seem to force us to move in a given direction.

We see it in sports, in politics, in demonic habits, and yes, in religion, as evidenced in what’s taking place in Israel as I write. We should love and serve Jesus with passion, with holy zeal, but not to the extreme that we hurt people in the process. Our love and passion for Jesus should translate into compassionate concern and caring, coupled with appropriate efforts to point those in our spheres of influence to eternal life that is found only in Jesus.

Unfortunately, in our efforts to please the Lord we tend to lean in one of two opposite directions: we can become obnoxious in our desire to make Christ known or, on the other hand, we can become apathetic, believing “surely, someone else will tell my friends and loved ones about Jesus.”

So, where’s the balance? Is there a middle lane on which we can travel as earnest and sincere Jesus followers? For me it’s a daily battle. There are days I could lay around all day and accomplish nothing of eternal value if I let myself, but as Pastor Craig Groeschel wrote: “Apathy makes excuses. Passion finds a way.” So, the question then becomes: “How passionate am I for Jesus?”

It’s hard to imagine how we got this way, but our world is coming apart at the seams. People aren’t getting better, but worse. The innumerable ways people invent to do evil can be very discouraging and there’s a part of each of us that wants to give up and just let everyone fend for themselves. Then I read Isaiah 59 and it was as if the Lord spoke to me with a neon sign!

The world since the fall of man has always been heading in a very wrong direction. That’s why the pathway to hell is wide and the pathway to heaven is narrow. But it’s also the reason we, as Jesus followers, should determine that as long as our lungs have breath, we will share Jesus with whomever will listen.

Please don’t be discouraged as you read about or listen to all the things going on, even in our own neighborhoods. Neither should you bury your head in the sand, but in God’s holy Word. Drench your spirit with the passionate words of our Savior, the words of the writers of the Bible across the centuries, determined to make a difference in their generation.

And above all else, spend time sitting, kneeling, walking – in whatever manner works best for you – in the presence of your heavenly Father and listen carefully as He guides you into passionately giving every ounce of your being in service to Him.

I’m reminded of the poem by C. T. Studd that includes the lines: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be, If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Just As I Am!

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NLT)

*I read this on one of my friend’s Facebook posts and couldn’t resist sharing with you. I hope it speaks to you, especially if you’re burdened with the thought of your own uselessness to God. I assure you, God will use you, if you’ll let Him! Blessings, Ed 😊

On September 22, 1871, an elderly British lady, 82 years young, was ushered into her heavenly reward. Earlier in her life, in 1835, her frustration at being an invalid left her feeling useless and questioning her very salvation. What she did next would echo through history.

As a young woman, Charlotte Elliot was not sure of her relationship with Christ, not sure of how to be saved, even though she had been raised a minister’s daughter, and the probing question of a Swiss evangelist, “Are you at peace with God?”, would not leave her mind. When she saw the evangelist a few weeks later, she mentioned that she could not shake his question. But, she protested, what could she possibly bring to God? When he replied that she need not bring anything but herself, she gladly accepted Christ.

Some twelve years later, in 1835, crippled by illness and constant fatigue, she felt saddened by her inability to help a local church’s cause. Remembering her conversion, she took out pen and paper and wrote a poem to encourage others who felt perhaps they too had nothing to give. . .

“Just As I Am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, Oh, Lamb of God, I come…”

Her poem was published and she was inundated with requests for it. She was gladdened to discover later that some copies were being sold to raise money for the very cause she felt helpless to assist!

After her death, thousands of letters were found in her home, written by people whose lives had been transformed by her words.

Her song has been translated into hundreds of languages, published in more than 1600 hymnals, and has reached billions around the world, and continues to bring people to Christ even today.

Sixty years later, on this date, in 1931, a 31-year-old man riding in the sidecar of his brother’s motorcycle in England finally came to the end of his internal struggle against whether Christ was indeed the Son of God. He finally knew in his soul that indeed Jesus was just who He said He was! He realized that God calls us to Him “just as we are”.

When C.S. Lewis stepped out of the sidecar, he was a new man, saved by grace!

Ninety-nine years after Charlotte Elliott penned her words, and 3 years after Lewis’ conversion, the 16-year-old son of a dairy farmer listened intently as he heard the message of salvation preached at a revival service in Charlotte, NC. When the song, “Just As I Am,” was sung at the end, young Billy Graham went forward to accept Christ.

Twenty years later, Billy Graham had become a successful evangelist and was invited to speak at Cambridge University in England. His nervousness over the event nearly led him to cancel it. But he was introduced to a kind man named C.S. Lewis who encouraged him to disregard the critics who had spoken out against him, and to continue with the revival.

Rev. Graham went on to speak to an overflow crowd of 2,000 each night of the revival, and when he returned to England in 1989, he addressed a crowd of 80,000 at England’s Wimbley Stadium! As always, he closed the event with the same song that brought him to Christ, “Just As I Am.”

Never think you have “nothing” to bring to Jesus! That is exactly what He wants you to bring… nothing! He wants you, just you, as you are! He can take frustration like Charlotte Elliot’s, skepticism like Lewis’, and nervousness like Billy Graham’s, and reach the world through you!

“Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”

*Please come to Him today – Just As You Are!

Too Strong to Be Stopped!

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry.” (Matthew 4:1-2 NLT)

How did Jesus become so strong in His faith? You may be thinking: “Duh! He was God!” Yes, He was and is, but He was also 100% man – human being. So? He had the capacity to fail in His walk with His heavenly Father the same as you and I do. He was tempted more severely than any of us, yet, stood strong. But how? How did He maintain His strength to defeat the power of Satan even in light of His severe physical, mental, and emotional weakness?

The two primary means through which the Lord Jesus became strong and maintained His spiritual strength, so much so He was able to pay the full penalty for our every sin, freeing us from the bondage of our sin and shame, were His testing and His pain.

The writer of the Hebrew letter wrote in 4:15: “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.” Why did God allow His only Son to be tormented and tested by temptation? For the same reason He allows us to be tempted. For the same reason athletes practice and train – to enable us to be the best we can be, strong in battle, and quick to recognize our areas of weakness.

After 40 days without eating, where would you suppose Jesus would be weak? Certainly, weak physically, but literally starving with hunger. So, where did Satan tempt Him first? “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

Satan’s obvious goal wasn’t simply to test Jesus’ physical endurance, but to cause Him to question who He was, thus, seeking to discredit why He was even born. That’s why testing is such a huge issue for you and me. If Satan can get us to focus on ourselves and our needs, we’ll quickly forget the Kingdom of God and our critical role in fulfilling our purpose in being a child of God.

That’s why pride and arrogance are such effective tools in Satan’s capable hands. When we’re so full of ourselves we can’t see past the end of our nose, he’s crippled our usefulness to the Lord in serving the needs of others. If Jesus had lost sight of who He was, He would have failed His mission before it began.

But testing is only part of the battle. Notice how hard Satan pressured Jesus at the beginning of His ministry and at the end. Remember the agony and anguish Jesus suffered in the garden shortly before His betrayal? In Matthew 26:38 Jesus said to Peter, James, and John: “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” Then what was His prayer? “Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from Me.”

What would have been the outcome if Jesus had stopped His prayer there? His mission would have been thwarted and we’d still be hopelessly lost in our sin. But gratefully, His prayer continued: “Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”

The only way you and I will ever become enough like Jesus to be too strong to be stopped in our life for Him is if we stop whining when we’re tempted and in the midst of our pain and suffering. Pain and suffering are our friends because they build our character and strengthen our resolve to be all in for Jesus. To give in to our weakness and pain is to abort the mission God called us to fulfill – to be Him in our families and in the lives of others in our spheres of influence.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Darkness and Light

“For when you see Me, you are seeing the One who sent Me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in Me will no longer remain in the dark.” (John 12:45-46 NLT)

Knowing there is a Light and walking in that Light are two very different things. Knowing about Jesus and hanging out with Him and His people is not the same as putting your trust in Him.

You’ve likely heard of the Great Blondin, who walked across Niagara Falls on a tight rope. The story is told that his manager asked the crowd: “Who believes the Great Blondin can push a wheelbarrow across the rope?” And the crowd erupted with enthusiastic applause and affirmation. Then he asked: “Who will be first to climb in?” And the crowd was silent.

Until our belief becomes personal it won’t become impactful. It’s easy to cheer for that which costs us nothing. It takes little effort to recognize and affirm the Light, the challenge is to make the decision to walk out of the crowd and climb into the wheelbarrow; to walk out of the darkness into the light of the only One who can change us and enable us to become the person God always envisioned we could become.

Light isn’t simply the absence of darkness, it’s the presence of opportunity to see and understand things – about ourselves, about Jesus, about the Bible, about life, and about a million others things that remain entombed in the darkness of our heart and mind until we allow the light of Christ to illuminate and inform us.

It’s interesting to me that darkness cannot stand in the presence of the sun. We may close our eyes or retreat to a dark place that blocks the light, but we can never destroy or eliminate the light. The light of Christ’s life is like that. We may close our mind to the Truth which He is – not just what He taught – but our spiritual blindness will never extinguish His presence, not only from the world, but even from ourselves.

There is an eternal relationship between light and darkness, not only figuratively, but literally. God has always existed. He is eternally present; thus, His light has become evident in everything He has created, including you and me. There exists in each of us the capacity to shine as light or darkness; good or evil; love or hate.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.“ Even on our best days, in those moments of seeming greatest clarity, we can still do, say, and think things that are completely contrary to who God made us to become.

We have a dark side that only the illumination of the love of Christ can dispel. And the irony is, unless and until the Holy Spirit resides in us and enables us to “tame” that dark side we are hopelessly lost and helpless to defeat it on our own. In our desperation we often turn to judging and criticizing others as a means of making ourselves look and feel better, but as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said so well: “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating.”

Are you walking in the Light of Christ’s life and love today? It never ceases to amaze me that Jesus died when I was at my worst, when I was helpless and hopeless to find my way out of the darkness of my own soul. One of the many values of the light of God’s Holy Spirit abiding in us and working through us as His son or daughter, is His relentless effort to show us the parts of our heart and mind that are still enshrouded in darkness. It’s a difficult journey to walk in the light, but one that will pay eternal dividends.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Peace and Purity

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT)

The role of the local church is clearly defined in Scripture, but because it’s governed by human beings, there are often conflicts that threaten its health. Two key elements must be present for any church body to be healthy and effective – peace and purity.

Peace doesn’t necessarily equate with everyone being on the same page, theologically, methodologically, or even philosophically, it mostly depends on how people perceive what is happening in the church and why. What does that mean? It means that if the leadership Is following Christ’s mandate, and is open and honest about the direction they’re seeking to lead the church, most of the time the people will follow their leadership.

The church of which I’m a part in this season of my life does an outstanding job of keeping people informed and giving us an open door to speak with the leaders about anything on our mind. They’re as Scripturally devoted and Spirit led as any pastoral team I’ve ever known. They are transparent and honest about every aspect of the budget; where the money is going and why; every direction in which they’re leading the church and why; and most importantly, they’re transparent about their own dependence upon Jesus and their need for our prayers and support.

Is it a perfect church? It is in my heart and mind, but I’m sure there are people who have issues with the way some things are done. But having seen a lot of church leaders’ function in a lot of churches, I praise God every day for the gift of my church. And just so you know, I’m not on staff and receive no compensation from the church except the joy of being a member.

So, a couple of questions – first, how do you preserve the peace of the church? And second, how do you preserve the purity of the church? Matthew Henry speaks to these issues when he wrote: “The way to preserve the peace of the church is to preserve the purity of it.”

So, let’s look briefly at how to preserve the purity of the church. In my opinion, purity has to be rooted in Jesus and led by the Holy Spirit. How is that accomplished corporately? Primarily through prayer – individually, as each member holds the church as a body up to the Lord each day. Those in leadership bring the Body together specifically to pray for the guidance of the Spirit in leading the pastors and other leaders in the ways they should go – individually and corporately.

My responsibility as a part of this specific church family is to pray for them every day. We have several pastors who lead ministries in and through our church. I’m trying to learn their names so I can pray for them and their families by name every morning. Why do I do that? Because without the guidance of the Holy Spirit none of them can do anything of eternal value.

One of the pastors with whom I’m close asked me to pray for his purity, which I do every day, not only for his, but for each of the pastors. Why? Because for anyone to lead others in the ways of the Lord without purity of heart, mind, soul, and body is to be limited in their effectiveness. That’s why purity is so key to peace, not only in the church as a whole, but in our individual lives.

To seek to walk closely with the Lord while harboring wicked, evil, or impure thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors is to cripple our effectiveness in not only being at peace ourselves, but in helping others maintain any semblance of peace and purity.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Don’t Waste Your Grief

“I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.” (Psalm 6-7 NLT)

The pain and trauma of grief is multidimensional in its crippling effects on us. Grief primarily is associated with some form of loss, be it the loss of a loved one, friend, or pet in death; the loss of a job or significant role in which we felt the part we played was important; the loss of stature or prestige we once treasured; or the loss of a physical, mental, emotional, financial, or relational position.

Whatever grief means to you the result is or can be crippling. It can rob us of the potential we once thought we had or would have had if the loss hadn’t occurred. As is often the case, the battlefield upon which we engage our grief is between our ears. Yes, of course, our emotions take their cues from our thoughts and engage virtually every avenue of our lives, but how we think about our grief is critical.

Satan’s primary weapon of choice is discouragement, and he uses that tool powerfully at a time of loss in our lives. Depending on the nature of our loss, it’s not uncommon to blame ourselves in part or in whole for the loss. When I went through my divorce it became clear to me that if I’d been a better husband my wife wouldn’t have left, and that may well have been true, but it’s never the whole story.

We can always find ways we could have been better, more attentive, more conscientious, more _______ and you can fill in the blank. But none of that explains why we incurred the loss, and none of it will change the outcome. So, what do we do? We must determine not to waste our grief! But how?

As a Jesus follower we need to understand that God never wastes a problem and there’s always purpose in pain. God’s primary goal for each of His children is to enable us to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. One of the most mind-boggling verses in Scripture to me is found in Hebrews 5:8: “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered.”

The verses following the one above describe how God qualified Him to be the Savior and “perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.” How does that contribute to our understanding in an effort to not waste our grief?

No one has ever suffered to the degree that Jesus suffered. A human being can’t even begin to imagine what it was like for Him to bear the weight of the world’s sin as He hung on the Cross. To bear the hell of every person who would one day yield their lives to Him is incomprehensible. There’s no way to measure the agony He endured, yet that’s what qualified Him to become our Savior.

In a similar way, the agony we endure in our grief will, if we submit to the Lord and allow Him to teach us through it, will one day qualify us to participate in something sacred. It can lead to something God-honoring, helpful to others, and enduring, not only for us, but for those whose lives are touched through our suffering.

By God’s grace I’m learning that pain can be my “friend,” alerting me to areas of need in my life. Without physical pain I can seriously injure myself, but not be aware. I can continue with damaging habits that have the potential to literally cripple me unless I seek the help needed to correct my course.

Similarly, we can learn lessons through grief that can equip us to be useful to others who are going through similar things that we endured, primarily, to learn to trust God’s wisdom and to walk faithfully with Him despite our pain. Through my pain I’ve learned that the God of the Bible is trustworthy and, as He promised, will never leave, or forsake me. That He is, and will always be, a very present help in my times of need…and yours!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Our Past

“You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil – the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” (Ephesians 2:2-3 NLT)

You may want to sit down before you read this next line. You ready? We all have a past! Yep, told you! Staggering! But the irony is, we often go to extreme lengths to not share that part of our walk with others – often to our own demise!

As Jesus followers there are three primary ways we deal with our past. First, we try to avoid disclosing it at all costs. We’re so ashamed of who we were, we’re concerned if anyone really knew what kind of person we were, they’d shun, forsake, ridicule, label, or deny us the privilege of being embraced as a brother or sister. Never stopping to consider we’re all – every single one of us – sinners saved by grace.

Your sin may have looked different than mine, but it all separated us from Jesus and seeks to continue to separate us from one another.

The second way we seek to deal with our past is to use it as a crutch or excuse for who we are. My sense is this is the person who doesn’t really want to walk with Jesus, they just don’t want to go to hell. They continue in a lifestyle of sin but use their past as an “explanation.” “I can’t help but __________, because that’s just ‘who I am!’”

That’s what Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 6:11 when, after sharing a long list of sins in the earlier verses, he writes: “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.”

The Bible doesn’t teach repentance to enable us to stay the same, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. When we learn to think differently, we’ll learn to act differently. We want to follow our feelings that lead us straight to hell, rather than discipline our mind to know God’s Word and apply it to our lives through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

Crawford Loritts wrote: “Your past may explain you but it doesn’t excuse you.” To be born again of the Spirit of God is to be put on a new life’s track. To profess faith in Christ and continue to live in habitual sin is to deny the power of the Spirit who cleansed us and freed us from sin’s grip.

That relates to the third path that can enable us to deal with our past – by God’s grace and with the help of His powerful Spirit – we share our struggles and learn together, with dependence upon one another and God’s Spirit, to live a life of victory over our past. None of us is perfect, except in the eyes of our heavenly Father who views us through His perfect Son’s robe of righteousness.

We all struggle to walk in holiness and faithfulness to our Savior, but to the degree we share openly our need for help and support, to that extent we’re able to walk, not only in nearness to our brothers/sisters, but also nearness to our Father in heaven.

Just as two very imperfect people will never unite to make a perfect marriage, so in the Body of Christ, when people who are seeking with all their heart to please God, but too often fail, join with others who are in the same boat, by some miraculous, transforming act of God, He makes us a family who can love one another, sharing our lives and working together to glorify and honor our Savior.

That’s why I love the Church, the Body of Christ, to whom every blood-bought soul belongs, and with whom every one of us can let the past be past! “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future!”

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Partners of Competitors?

“This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13 NLT)

Does it bother you that many who profess “maturity” in their faith hold such rigid standards it only leads to further division, not unity? It seems if others can’t live up to the measure of maturity they have created for themselves, there’s no basis for unity. And what’s troubling to me is that that isn’t what Jesus taught.

And please don’t misunderstand, the Lord set very high standards for us to pursue while in this body, but the fact we’ll never achieve full maturity in our faith this side of heaven should encourage us to be more open to each other, not less open. Realizing that none of us have it completely “right” should open lines of communication, not close them.

To believe I have mastered all truth is to essentially say I’ve become completely like Christ in every way. That’s not only ludicrous, it’s also blasphemous. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating.” As followers of Christ, we’re not only compelled by our commission to love one another, but to work cooperatively with one another.

It’s interesting to me that denominational lines get blurred very quickly when you travel to overseas missions. Missionaries work together across denominational lines, not to make one another believe like they do, but to help those whom they’re seeking to reach love the Jesus they both love and are seeking to serve. Does it seem strange that Jesus followers who love well work well together? It shouldn’t, because that’s the Lord’s plan.

Thom Rainer nailed it when he wrote: “Other local churches are your ministry partners, not your ministry competitors.” Not many lost people care what the shingle over the door says if they can find acceptance, love, and guidance in finding their way through the frightening circumstances we’re now experiencing.

Having said that, I’m well aware of counterfeit groups who use similar terminology, but with completely different meaning, that are leading people away from the God of the Bible. Pray for them and seek to build bridges of communication in an effort to reach them, but don’t follow their theology.

Open lines of communication with those of different denominational preferences who are walking faithfully with the Christ of the Bible, because they are our partners in ministry, not our enemy. If we’re willing to sit together and pray together, we’ll likely find that we have far more in common than we’ve allowed ourselves to realize.

When I was active in pastoral ministry my closest friends and co-laborers we’re brothers and sisters who pastored churches who may have emphasized different teachings from the Bible, but whose hearts and minds were centered squarely on Jesus. We often worked together to reach our community for the Savior.

The sad reality is, especially in small churches, there’s a fear that if we cooperate with other churches in our community “my” people might like that other church (or pastor) better than me and “my” church. Even more frustrating is when a pastor would deliberately seek to draw the members of another church to theirs, but, gratefully, in my experience, that was extremely rare.

So, what’s the bottom line? Get to know believers who believe differently than you. Listen to one another without judgment or a critical spirit and allow the Lord to melt your hearts with love for those who love the same Jesus you love, but maybe in a little different way.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊