Category Archives: Joy

Kindness

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The divers came upon a whale, tangled in an abandoned net, who would die if not released.  Trouble was, the whaled was freaked out and likely to injure or kill them if they got close enough to help.  But by their gentle and peaceful approach they gradually won her trust.  She allowed them to begin the tortuous task of cutting away the tough net to set her free.  Their gentleness, their kindness, convinced the whale she could trust them and submit to their rescue procedures.  I watched this amazing story with awe and will give you the link below.  But read this verse from Romans carefully and think about that principle:

4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?   (Romans 2:4)

God’s kindness was costly.  He accepted the risk of excruciating death in order to draw close enough to cut away the net that holds us captive.  Don’t dismiss that kindness or take it for granted.  Submit to what He is trying to do for you.  Let Him cut you free.

To watch the whale video, click HERE.  Make sure to watch all the way to the end to see a pretty good image of what Jesus meant by “life to the full.”

 

 

Finding Joy

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When you see the word “Joy!” on Christmas cards and decorations, do you flinch?  Do you ask, “Where’s the joy?”  So many do at this time of year.  Does holiday joy seem artificial, forced and frantic?  So many activities of the season hold the promise of joy but leave us feeling empty.

There is a reliable solution. But it’s not just for Christmas.  It is a prescription for joy that lasts beyond the season, revealed in this teaching of Jesus:

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:9-12)

Love is a primary ingredient, necessary for sustained joy.  If you know in your bones you are truly and unconditionally loved, it changes your mood from the bottom up.  Joy becomes possible despite circumstances that would otherwise sap it.  So Jesus begins His lesson with a reminder that you are loved by God – really!  The love Jesus extends to us is the same as the love God the Father extends to Him.  How much does The Father in Heaven, the One Who is love, love His One and Only Son?  That’s how much you are loved.   Really understanding that is step one.

Step two is learning to experience that constant love.  Jesus says if you keep His commands, you will “remain” in His love.  The word, remain, means to make your home in or dwell in the experience of His love as a constant reality.  Note that He did NOT say He wouldn’t love you if you didn’t do what He said.  He said you wouldn’t “remain” in the experience of being loved.  His love does not change based on what you do, your ability to experience this love changes.  Love must be known, it must feel real and deep in order to produce joy.  If you want to experience the love God has for you, get in step with how Jesus instructed us to live.

Jesus told us this for two astounding reasons.  He wants our joy to actually be His joy.   And, He wants for us to have joy that is complete.   Unadulterated.  Not faked for the season but bubbling up from within our souls in a sustained way.  That’s my wish for you, too.

“Joy to the World, the Lord is come…”

To the Full

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Black Friday just isn’t what it used to be.  They ruined all the fun by starting it, in some cases, back at the beginning of November. Not the way the pilgrims observed it. No more standing all night in line and then smashing and pushing to get in the door.  Maybe I’ll take up roller derby.  But speaking of getting in the door, consider this, somewhat more peaceful, analogy from Jesus:

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  (John 10:9-10)

The frenzy on Black Friday, I suspect, is largely driven by people who are desperate for life “to the full.”  If I can score that toaster oven at a ridiculously low price, then I’ll be really living.  Nothing wrong with a new toaster oven, but it is not the “gate” to a full life.

Life “to the full” comes only by having the life of the Holy Spirit in our souls.  The Spirit is given to all who, as Jesus says, “enter through Me,” by faith.  Those who find this full life, “come in and go out and find pasture.”  Their lives are not locked up in church but are lived out in the world, led by Jesus, to “pastures” for sustenance and rest.  Compare the peace of that image with the mindset of those who smash and push their way into Black Friday sales.  You can see how the “thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” the full life he falsely promises.

Making Jesus Angry

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Standing in line to visit the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem, a few of us began singing, “O come let us adore Him…”   Immediately, a frowny-faced priest in robes and a special hat descended upon us to put a stop to our singing.  Huh?  No singing praises to Jesus at His birthplace?  Why not?  The answer was clear and forceful:  It was against the rules.  I’ll bet Jesus got angry.

Like the time He got angry at the religious authorities who wanted to stop Him from healing a man on the Sabbath.  Their attitude was dumbfounding: “We can’t allow God to do any miracles to bless people here; this is a place of worship and a day for honoring God!”   Huh?  Here’s how Jesus handled it:

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. (Mark 3:4-5)

If they had answered His question truthfully, it would have revealed how twisted their position was.  But they remained silent rather than jeopardize their authority over the flock.  In the process, they found themselves working against God.

God’s commands were given to bless, not to hinder us.  When we tell our kids not to touch the wood stove, it’s not to hinder their enjoyment, but to bless them with safety.  Same thing with God’s commands.  When religious authorities use those commands to hinder someone from discovering God’s love and grace, they work against God.  Perhaps they do it out of ignorance.  Too often they do it to bolster their own authority.  Either way, I believe Jesus gets frustrated and angry.

Water of Life

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​Last year, the Atacama Desert, renowned as the driest place on earth, received an unusual amount of rain.  Seeds lying dormant in the sand for years suddenly sprang to life.  The empty landscape was transformed into a garden of astonishing beauty.

Viewed from God’s perspective, humankind is a dry desert, lacking the one essential ingredient for spiritual growth, His Holy Spirit.  But His plan, as announced through Isaiah would be to send “rain.”

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ another will call on the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.”  (Isaiah 44:3 -5)

As promised by Jesus, on the day of Pentacost, those “rains” came.  They are still falling, and are available to any “dry and dormant seed” who will trust Jesus. 

A Gift for You

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​A tree was planted in Israel in memory of my wife.  The words get blurry as I type that…  I received a notice in the mail about that wonderful gift and stood, transfixed, as I tried to imagine what sort of tree and where it was planted.  Then, who would one day find shade beneath it.  These days my mailbox is almost entirely stuffed with junk mail.  But that gift notice was a precious exception.

Here’s a gift notice for you, if you would like to have it.  It’s for everyone who follows Jesus in faith.  It’s not very long, but warrants spending a bit of time trying to imagine all the what, when and where implications.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.  (2 John 1:3)

Toss the envelope if you want, but hang on to the gift tag.  You’ll want to go back and reread it from time to time…

Daddy’s Shoes

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Little boy comes clomping around the corner with his tiny feet in Dad’s huge shoes.  It’s an unselfconscious act, cute, but with a profound heartbeat.  It says, “One day, I want to be just like Dad; when I get big I want to fit in his shoes.”  Same thing with girls and Mom.  
This pertains to a verse of Scripture that initially makes me recoil.

And everyone who thus hopes in him [Jesus] purifies himself as he is pure.  (1 John 3:3)

The word I most readily associate with purity is “boring.”  It reminds me of being forced as a child to wear an itchy wool suit and sit at the dinner table with my hands folded and my mouth shut. Why would I want to do that to myself now, as an adult?  Give me jeans and fire up that motorcycle…

The problem is twofold: 1) we don’t have a good understanding of what purity is, and, 2) we don’t understand the right motivation for purifying ourselves.  

Jesus modeled perfect purity but, as far as I’ve been able to determine, never wore a wool suit.  He was not One to follow pointless, restrictive rules derived from other people’s inhibitions, but lived with an easy and attractive “rightness.”  When you think purity, think about how comfortable Jesus was inside His own skin, how He effortlessly lived in harmony with God’s perfect design.

The verse that preceeds the one I quoted puts the motivation for purifying ourselves in the proper perspective.  John began his thought with these words:

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.   (1 John 3:2)

We tend to think of reluctantly struggling to be pure so God won’t be angry with us.  Instead, think about happily clomping around in Daddy’s shoes, with the childlike hope and trust that says, one day, I’ll be like Him.

Full Knowledge and Consent

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Who said, “…neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain…“?  Martin Luther King, Jr. He was quoting an amazing prophecy of Isaiah who had been given a peek at God’s endgame.  He saw the future we yearn for, the Day of no more tears, no disease or death.  The day when humans somehow can live in perfect harmony and peace.  

How, somehow?  Hear it straight from Isaiah as he received it from God:  

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.  (Isaiah 11:9)

Knowing, in Bible speak, is frequently a term for intercourse, the deepest and most intimate expression of a relationship of love. When we attain full knowledge of God, when we know Him fully, our hearts and actions will effortlessly resonate with His.  It will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  ​There will be real peace and joy.

Even though our capacity for knowing God, knowing Jesus, is limited, the day of full knowledge and consent is truly coming.  Isaiah saw a vision of it.  Martin Luther King, Jr. wept for it.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.  (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Knowing and Growing

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A child paints a face with simplicity, using a circle, black spots for eyes and one color for skin.  If that child matures and becomes an artist, she can more accurately portray that same face, using careful observation and a complex mixture of paints and pigments.  Peter describes a similar process as he writes about how to mature in our knowledge of Jesus (see “Knowing,” posted below).  The process involves a careful observation of the character of Jesus, followed by attempts to portray those same traits on the canvas our lives.  As we learn to do so more accurately and naturally, knowing Jesus becomes more fruitful.
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (2Peter 1:5 -8)

Instead of viewing that somewhat intimidating passage as an impossible to-do list, think of it as a pallet of colors that you will gradually learn to mix together to achieve a pleasing result.

Knowing

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Once, I met Bob Hope.  Shook his hand.  But I didn’t know him.  There is a big difference, one you want to pay attention to when it comes to Jesus.  If all you have done is meet Him, you are really missing out.

Peter wrote that through our knowledge of Him, grace and peace would be multiplied, provided in abundant and increasing measure.(2 Peter 1:2).  How would you like to have a reservoir of peace like that?  It comes through really knowing Jesus.

It gets better.  Peter continued to say:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  (2Peter 1:3-4)

All those astonishing gifts and promises are available to us “though our knowledge of Him“.  Take some time to reflect on that paragraph, considering how valuable they would be to you.  You may be moved to ask Jesus, “Lord, please show me how to know You better…”

Hint:  Peter gives some great advice about that in the next few verses.