Category Archives: The Bible

Unwrap Music

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The mysterious thing about gift wrapping paper is it slows time to a crawl.  After I wrap a gift, I can hardly wait, and frequently fail to wait, until the moment the gift is first unwrapped.  The more special the gift, the slower goes the time.  It’s not just me, it’s a rule, a law of physics.  Which means angels in heaven must have had a very hard time waiting for Jesus to be “unwrapped.”

Think about it from their perspective:  In heaven, you hear about God’s plan to have His Son become a human and be born on earth.  Earth is a sphere that spins around some tiny speck of light way out in the universe.  Humans are creatures God made to live on that sphere.  And Almighty God has decided to send His Son there as a human! You can hardly imagine it, let alone understand it.  More amazing than if the Orkin man decided to become a termite.  And after Jesus has been “wrapped” in Mary, so to speak, imagine the gathering anticipation for the reveal.  Imagine how slowly those nine months would pass, worse than waiting at the DMV.  And how excited you would be to witness this miracle.  You would be ready to explode!

So now, God comes and says, “We’re getting a choir together to celebrate it when Jesus is born.  What do you think, would you be interested?”  “Are You kidding?  Of course I’m interested; I can’t wait!”  And after Gabriel is done setting the stage for the shepherds and gives the cue to the angelic choir director, how enthusiastic would your singing be?  This is probably a vast understatement:

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  (Luke 2:13-14)

Jesus is going to come again, this time not as a baby but as the King of Kings!  Time is creeping at an agonizing pace.  But, as we wait, you don’t have to try to contain your excitement.  You can get ready to pump your fist and sing!

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…”

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.

The Trick with Puzzles

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The most obvious solution for a puzzle is wrong and leads you astray.  The one that works is counter-intuitive.  You think you should slide the ring over the post, but in reality, doing so actually makes the puzzle harder to solve.  Life here on earth is like that.  The most obvious solutions to our problems often make the problems worse.  Just ask the Hatfields and the McCoys.  Their feud could have been avoided if they had responded to each other in ways that, at first, would have seemed crazy to them.

That’s the principle behind this well known teaching of Jesus: “… the truth will set you free.”  That phrase is often quoted, but what came before it is less well known or understood.  Here is the whole thing:

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Jesus’ “word” is not simply a collection of Scrabble letters, it is the Greek word, “logos,” from which we get our word, logic.  It means the whole way in which one understands reality and interacts with it.  For example,  You see a gathering of people and don’t think much about them.  But if you understand their logos, realize they all served in the same outfit in WWII, then your understanding and interaction with them is changed by that logos.  Jesus invites us to do more than simply know His logos, He invites us to “abide” in it, to make our permanent residence within His way of understanding and interacting with reality.  It is only when we abide in His logos, that we then know the truth that will set us free.

The Sermon on the Mount is full of counter-intuitive teaching that lines up with Jesus’ logos. Such as, forgiveness solves interpersonal problems when the most obvious solution seems to be revenge.  It is only when we makes our home within Jesus’ way of seeing reality that His teaching,  “… if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well”  (Matthew 5:40), makes sense.  But, as happens with frustrating puzzles, once you try the counter-intuitive solution, it seems easy.  It sets you free.

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.

Constant Blessing

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Have you ever had a love grow cold?  Was it your fault?  You probably didn’t mean to mess it up.  Maybe you didn’t even know and got blindsided with, “It’s over; I don’t love you anymore…”  Remember how empty that felt?  Helpless, maybe?

Here’s some good news.  That’s not going to happen between you and God.  No matter what.

1 Praise the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever. (Psalms 106:1)

Whatever else you celebrate at Thanksgiving, remember that promise, consider the implications it has for someone like you and be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I’m grateful for your interest.

What do You Know?

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Nick was a wimp, and yet more courageous than the others.  Consider what these verses tell us about Nicodemus:

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  (John 3:1-2)

He was a ruler, a man of extraordinary power and authority.  Moreover, he was not alone in that position but was one of a group of rulers (he said “we…”).  This group of “rulers” knew that Jesus came from God, they saw the evidence of it.  Pharisees were highly educated experts on the Scriptures.  Presumably, what they saw and “knew,” corresponded to what they had studied in Scripture.  And this group of powerful “rulers” had come to a consensus.  They knew Jesus had come from God.  And yet, when they wanted to know more, they sent Nick, under the cover of darkness, so no one would see, no one would know.  Nick at night.  Why such a wimpy approach?

Perhaps they thought experts should already know all the answers and didn’t want to show their confusion and curiosity.  Maybe they were afraid to lend credibility to Jesus thereby weakening their positions of authority.  We can’t be sure why he went at night.  But, of this we can be sure: This powerful group of experts, who knew Jesus was from God, eventually conspired to eliminate Him.  Despite what they knew.

As we find ourselves drawn to Jesus, perhaps curious, confused or genuinely interested, we may also feel pressure to hide our interest from our peers.  We may fear ridicule or rejection.  We may creep to Jesus under the cloak of darkness.  But eventually, what we know must direct what we do.  There are many reasons people suppress what they know at this point.  But don’t wimp out; to do so is eternally dangerous.

 

P.S.  Because Nicodemus helped prepare Jesus’ body for burial, it is likely he had a change of heart.

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.

The Good Stuff

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Can you imagine the laughter back in the kitchen?  When Jesus turned water into wine the only people who were in on the secret were the servants.  They knew because they had taken the foot-washing pots and filled them up with water, as instructed.

When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”  (John 2:9-10)
How they must have laughed.  But it is worth noting that the only people who got to experience the power of Jesus were the ones who humbly worked with Him, doing what He said to do.  The others got to taste the wine, but they missed the good stuff.