Category Archives: Righteousness

Ancient Paths

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Do you still use your “Veg-e-matic,” or have you gone back to your kitchen knife and cutting board?  There’s a reason you see so many infomercial products on garage sale tables.  The old, tried and true methods, generally work better.  They’ve stood the test of time.  It’s important to remember that when you consider whether to buy the next better mousetrap.  Or idea.

Our culture has majored in tearing down old, tried and true ideas.  We celebrate our freedom from them, proudly following new, contemporary ideas.  But history has seen many Veg-e-matic ideas tossed on the garage sale “free pile.”  There really is value in paying attention to the wisdom of generations past.  I’m not talking about ideas like the world is flat.  I’m specifically thinking about knowing the value of living with a deep respect for Almighty God, a responsiveness to His guidance.  People abandon that idea, thinking it will tangle them up in old superstitions.  But check it out:  that old idea is tried and true.  What it really does is bring peace:

This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.  (Jeremiah 6:16a)

Done

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Can you really forgive if you don’t forget?  God doesn’t think so.  When He forgives He forgets.  Speaking about all those who accept His forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus, He says:

12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.  (Hebrews 8:12)

So, this woman goes to her priest and says, “I have a word from God for you.”  “Oh no,” he replies, “we don’t do that in this church.”  She persists and he finally tells her to prove she really is in contact with God.  He tells her to ask God to tell her the last sin he owned up to in confession.  If she gets it right, he’ll listen to what she has to tell him.  When she comes back, the priest asks her what God told her was his last confessed sin.  She says, “God said He can’t remember…”

Of course, you could ask all sorts of logical questions about what could be impossible for an all-sovereign deity.  But the point is this:  once God has forgiven you, that is the end of it.  He will never bring it back up and hold it as leverage against you.  When you accept Jesus’ payment on the cross as a full payment for all  your sin, your account is paid in full.  It’s done.

Benchmark

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What makes a good president?  We are awash with opinions about the Obama presidency and prejudgments about what Trump might do.  But what are the standards by which those opinions are formed?  I don’t believe such standards should be based primarily on political preferences.  We’ve had great presidents from both sides of the aisle.  Let me suggest a benchmark taken from Psalm 89, a declaration of praise addressed to God.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.  (Psalms 89:14)

If I could have my “druthers,”  I’d like a president whose claim to leadership authority was based on a solid foundation of righteousness and justice, both of which preclude favoritism.  I’d like a president who was known for how sincerely he or she loved, one known for being absolutely faithful.  I’d like a president who bore the character of God.

Of course I understand we humans don’t measure up.  But more than party leanings, those are the benchmarks I measure by as I wait for the arrival of the King of Kings.  May God truly bless, guide and protect all of our leaders and develop a greater sense of understanding among all the people of this nation.

Night Light

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2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:2-7)

Merry Christmas!

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…”

Square Bidness

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Square bidness.  Translation?  I am telling you the absolute truth.  I learned that expression from New York slum street kids back in the 60’s.  Don’t know if they still say it, but God does.  Check this out:

18 For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
I declare what is right.  (Isaiah 45:18-19)

Sometimes I underline or highlight the main ideas in long Bible sentences, as I have done above.  That’s so I can hang on the main thrust of what is written.  In this passage, the main idea is that God, the only One Who is real, made the earth to be inhabited by us and has clearly told us in His Word how to find Him.  If we seek Him, He said, it won’t be in vain.

Think about how much effort around the world goes into the pursuit of God, most of it in vain because the method of seeking has been designed by what people have imagined would work.  But God said, “Look, if you want to truly find me you have to seek in the way I have clearly told you.  It’s not some secret knowledge but is clearly laid out in My Word.  Seek Me in that true way and it won’t be in vain.”

And Jesus added,

45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.”  (John 6:45-48)

Square bidness.

To Know Better

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We’ve known each other for years, but just the other day, over hot coffee and breakfast burritos, down at Janie’s Cafe, I got to know him better.  Mack (not his real name) is a guy I can talk naturally with – no pretense.  Breakfast at Janie’s was a rich time.

Paul writes that one of the things he strives for most is to know Jesus better.

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord... (Philippians 3:8a)

10 that I may know him…  (Philippians 3:10)

He probably knew Jesus better than most, but not well enough for his own satisfaction:

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:12)

This morning, after reading those lines, I asked Jesus to show me something about Himself that I didn’t understand well enough.  Kind of looking forward to how He answers that request…

In Spirit and Truth

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Tucked in among all the junk mail in the box is an actual letter.  It’s rare enough these days that it warrants special treatment: another cup of tea, some jazz on the stereo and a yank on the recliner lever.  My old friend writes, “Here’s something that made me think of you…”  His words reawaken memories of our friendship. Some people stimulate the best of who you are and he was one of those.  I reread…

Jesus said God isn’t interested in regligious ritual.  He doesn’t care for mumbo jumbo.  What He wants is people who worship Him in “spirit and truth” (John 4:23).  Think of His Spirit, given to you personally, as a living letter.  When you read it, so to speak, when you pause to pay close attention to what He says to you, it reawakens your appreciation of His amazing character and personality.  And makes you really wish you could be closer. It nudges the best of who you are.

I think that’s sort of what Jesus had in mind.

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.

With God on Our Side

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God is on our side.  Says who?  Says God.  And who, exactly, is referred to by the word, “our?”  You.  Me.  Everybody.  He’s on our side.  Chile, Vietnam, Belgium.  God’s plan is to bring peace throughout the world.  I’ll bet your first thought is, “Yeah, right; I’m sure that’s going to happen.”  But peace looked no more likely when God sent that promise (repeatedly) than it does today.  And He was serious.  Be honest: Wouldn’t you really rather have a world filled with peace?  Isn’t there a part of you that yearns for that?  God does, too; He’s on our side.  And He is already working to bring it about.  The reason it looks dubious from our vantage point is because God is not in a hurry.  He exists beyond the strictures of time.  His work is done thoroughly, not necessarily suddenly.

So, how do we know He is actually working on it?   One of His promises to bring world peace, given through Isaiah, specified that He would do it through the work of a “Chosen Servant.”  The Servant would be born to Israel in the line of David.  He would be rejected and eventually killed by being “pierced.”   Nevertheless, this “Servant” would then “see the light of life.”  His work on earth, which would look at first to have failed, would be accomplished in a quiet but relentless way.  And God promised:

he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:3b-4

Seven hundred years later, Jesus fulfilled those prophesies of the Servant.  As unlikely as it would seem, this impoverished, homeless guy, who lived a short and relatively obscure life in a conquered land, has had His Name and teaching gradually spread across the entire globe.  Quietly and yet relentlessly.  God says His work will continue until all nations live by it.  He got the first part right; I believe He’s right about the endgame.

So what is our part in all this?  It is to recognize that God is on our side and shut up!  Except God said it in a nicer way:

He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:9-10

People used to say, “God is on our side; fight harder!”  God says, “I’m on your side, stop fighting.”  When nations understand that, peace will come.  If you truly yearn for that, join Jesus in praying, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”