Category Archives: Faith

Just One

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If you had to pick just one rule to live by, one rule to teach your kids, which one would you choose?  Jesus picked this one:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.  (Matthew 22:37-38)

God is not emotionally needy; He is not hurt or impoverished by our failure to love Him.  So what’s the deal?  Why is this the most important one?  Let’s start with this: If we could truly wrap our minds around the reality that we have personally been created by an infinitely superior Being, Who designed and created the universe, Who knows us, cares for us and loves us, if we could hold that truth present in our consciousness, our natural response would be wholehearted love for Him.  Anything less would be petulant rebellion.  

Presumably, as we obey the command to love God with our all, it has the effect of bringing us closer to the full realization of Who He is and how He loves us.  Aligned with that truth, we are more in tune with the rest of His design.

But how would such love be expressed?  A Hallmark moment wouldn’t suffice. As we are drawn into a closer relationship of love with God, it spills over and is naturally expressed in our love for others.  That is why Jesus added this:

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  (Matthew 22:39-40)

Simply put, if you could truly obey the first command, you would find yourself obeying the second, and would not need to worry about all the others.  

Free to Believe

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ... (1st amendment to the Constitution – excerpt)

It is a rare and precious privilege to live in a country with that freedom.  Ask anyone who lives under Sharia law, or in a nation where religion is prohibited.  I fear Congress has begun to erode this freedom.  No law should prohibit anyone from conducting their business according to their sincere, religious beliefs.  What I believe guides everything I do, not just how I worship.

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 4:18-20

Let Go and Jump

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Here’s a riddle:

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.   (Matthew 16:25)

Jesus spoke that riddle as an explanation for an equally tough statement:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  (Matthew 16:24)

But what may seem unreasonable and harsh, is actually an invitation to wild adventure.  The thing about adventure, however, is it is unavailable to those afraid to leave the house.  You can’t experience adventure by watching it on TV.  You must leave the trappings of security behind and dare to trust your guide.

A monk named Brother Charles understood this best and wrote this prayer:

My God, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will.  Whatever you may do, I thank you; I am ready for all, I accept all.  Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures – I wish no more than this, O Lord.  Into your hands I commend my soul; I offer it to you with all the love of my heart, for I love you Lord, and so need to give myself, to surrender myself into your hands, without reserve, and with boundless confidence, for you are my God.

I get the image of a tandem skydive, holding on to Jesus.  You gotta jump…

Infants of Faith

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Hold up a baby so his feet just barely touch and he makes little walking motions that anticipate the day when he will walk and run.  I believe our capacity for faith is immature and poorly formed like that.  One day, with the coming of a new, perfect heaven and earth, we will use faith as naturally and effectively as we use our other senses.  We will go from being held aloft and coaxed to sprinting and dancing.

Faced with His disciples inability to help a demon-possessed boy, Jesus said,

… “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? ….”   (Matthew 17:17b)

I think Jesus’ expression of frustration was due to His full awareness of how poorly formed and limited our capacity for faith is in this corrupted world.  When asked why they couldn’t do what He did to help the boy,

He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”  (Matthew 17:20)

Jesus, I believe, was yearning for the day when His followers would apply faith as naturally and powerfully as He. For now, although our attempts are comparatively immature and weak, we are meant to keep at it, gradually strengthening our “faith muscles.”  As we do, our Father holds us up.  He smiles and dreams of the day we will walk and run by faith.

Clean Hands, Dirty Heart

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Where was this Bible verse when I was growing up?

“to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”  (Matthew 15:20b)

If I had only known.  Jesus said it; it must be true.  Gospel truth, no less.  I could have had that verse memorized and ready to quote at opportune moments.  Alas…   Of course, now I know better.  Jesus wasn’t giving hygiene instructions for little boys.  He was challenging hypocritical religious leaders, the ones who wanted to control others with nit-picky rules.  Jesus’ point was that righteousness (or the lack thereof) is determined by what is in our hearts and not by what may be smudging our hands.

“Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:17-20)

Wash all you want and you cannot cleanse corruption of the heart.  Only the Holy Spirit, living within can pull that off.  Happily, that is exactly what God promises to do.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

(Isaiah 1:18)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:9)

Time with Dad

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My dad’s time was stretched pretty thin, what with six kids, bills to pay and a constant and growing list of repair projects (everything from a stuck disposal to a tangled slinky).  As a result, personal time with Dad was a rare and precious thing.  I treasured those few times when we had a chance to hang out and talk things over in a casual way.  Priceless.

To say Jesus had a tough day would be understating it, somewhat.  His cousin had been beheaded and, when He tried to get away to grieve, mobs of people swarmed around Him, seeking His help.  Then they ran out of food and He was called upon for some on-the-spot catering.  Finally, when all the dust had settled, the people fed and tucked in for the night, the disciples off, crossing the lake,

Matthew 14:23b
“… he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,…”

Jesus went up by Himself to talk things over with His Dad.  Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know how that conversation went?  I’m quite sure the net effect was restful and restorative.  No distractions, no specific agenda, just Jesus and His Dad, talking things over.

Sound good?  Better.  And get this: You have been invited to do it too.  Your Heavenly Father has time for you, whenever it would feel good.  That’s one of the amazing benefits of a trust relationship with Jesus.  He opens the door to the One He called, “My Father and your Father.”  Need a break? Leave behind everything that might distract (people, cell phones!) and just go hang out with “Dad.” 

For Roger, Too

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Maybe you’ve seen the quotes from the Baptist pastor, Roger Jimenez, who seemed glad about the shootings in Orlando.  He claims to represent Jesus and preaches in a church named “Verity” that claims to stand for truth.  Neither claim is in line with Jesus’ teachings.  It is true the Bible teaches homosexual practice is out of sync with God’s design.  But so is heterosexual lust for someone not your spouse.  And greed, gossip, and coveting something not your own.  Jesus taught the inclination of our hearts in the wrong direction is just as serious as the worst act of that inclination.  For example, anger against your brother is akin to murder, He said, and just as bad.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.  (Matthew 5:21-22)

Every one  of us is equally guilty in the eyes of God when it comes to doing, or even thinking about doing, things out of sync with His design.  To point fingers with a judgmental, holier-than-thou attitude is as serious before God as pulling the trigger.  Roger Jimenez should have known that.  He also should know Jesus did not come for those who considered themselves to be morally pure.  He came for those who know they are not.

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  (Matthew 9:11-13)

Fact is, God loves the Orlando victims and sent His Son, Jesus to save them.  He came for Roger, too, if he can get over himself and see it…

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  (John 3:17)

Like Peter’s Mom

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And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. (Matthew 8:14-15)

I wonder if Peter’s mother instantly felt 100%.  Maybe, after Jesus healed her fever, she still had lingering side effects.  If so, maybe, taking Him at His word, she began to act with full assurance those lingering side effects would go away.  If that was the case, she is a model for us.

Since I trusted Jesus, even though I experience the amazing rush of new life, there are still lingering side effects of my old, dead style of existence.  You too?  Probably.  Jesus intends for us to imitate Peter’s mom, trusting Him for the full fix in due time. Get up and serve Him now.

Howzat?

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There’s something funny going on here and I don’t find it funny. Tell her to drive up the drive.

You probably understand those two sentences even though the word, funny, and the word, drive, are used in two different ways.  But sometimes word meanings are more ambiguous. Such is the case with the word, faith.

The word, faith, can refer to a set of beliefs: Keep the faith. The same word can refer to a personal decision to trust: Have faith. If you told me that you were a surgeon I may have faith that you are telling me the truth. If I need surgery, and trust you to cut me open to make changes inside me, that’s a different kind of faith..

The Christian faith is a body of beliefs.  You can casually subscribe to this set of beliefs with no big change in your life. But when someone decides to surrender to Jesus, he or she is exercising the second kind of faith. It is this type of faith that comes with new, eternal life, the life of the Holy Spirit.

This active kind of faith was in mind when Paul wrote:

For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.” ( 1 Thessalonians 3:5 )

But then, after acknowledging that their faith is in good shape, that they are truly alive in Christ, he adds this thought:

“… we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?”
.. ( 1 Thessalonians 3:10 )

Which makes no sense unless he is talking about the body of their beliefs that make up the faith.

I know, maybe you weren’t really worried about that this morning. But my prayer is you have faith.  And keep the faith.

All the Difference

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Nobody told us. Five minutes later and the hospital would not have billed us for that whole day. But saving money was the furthest thing from our minds as we prepared for the birth of our first child. When our daughter was born, nothing could have diminished our joy and thankfulness, not even being billed a whole day for 5 minutes. There was new life in our family and new hope.

Thankfulness changes the game. Instead of focusing on the bad stuff, your thoughts are filtered through appreciation for what’s good. It’s the old “half-full” instead of “half-empty” attitude.

For those who follow Jesus, it is no mere mental trick. Our thankfulness is grounded in the new life born in us, the very life of Jesus.  New life comes with absolute confidence for the long haul.  Our cups, more than half-full, run over!

Here’s the whole quote we have considered in three posts. God’s desire is for you to enjoy each of these.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  (1Thessalonians 5:16-18)