Category Archives: Truth

On Belay

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You look at the yawning chasm, the thin rope bridge and think, “No way!” But, it turns out, there is a way. Rope courses are designed to show how much more you can do than you thought possible.  You can muster up the courage to try if you trust the safety harness.   They have you “on belay.” The instructor shouts, “Go ahead; I got you!  You can do it”  And if you trust him, you just might screw up your courage and give it a shot.  If you fall, the harness keeps you safe (hopefully…).

With that in mind, read this:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.  –  (1 Corinthians 10:13)

A big reason people fall from rope courses is their fear that they can’t make it.  When they trust the harness and step out in confidence, they discover they can make it. In a similar way, in our struggle against various temptations, frequently the belief that we will fail becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  But when you trust Jesus, His Holy Spirit lives within you. I’m a very real sense you are “on belay. ”  In that condition, God may allow you to experience temptation, but only in a measure you can withstand.  The trick is to trust His “harness” will truly keep you safe.  Trust Him, and with each step across the temptation, focus on how God has provided a way of escape.

Notice, the “escape” is not from the temptation, but from failing.  The “escape” allows you to withstand the temptation.  To endure it.  To not fall.

Next time you face that familiar temptation – the one that has come to your mind right now, the one that has caused you to fall so many times in the past – picture God calling out to you, “Go ahead; I’ve got you on belay.  You can do it!  Trust Me!”  Then screw up your courage and give it a shot…

Fisherman’s Tale

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This wasn’t about the one that got away but the ones that didn’t.

So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. (John 21:11)
Not “about 150” but “153.”  Why that exact number?  Fishermen always counted their catch because their next stop would be to sell them.  John said 153 because that is how many they caught.  And because he was there!  When you read the Gospel of John you are reading an eyewitness account written by a close personal friend of Jesus.  Friends know friends better than anyone else.  When John wrote his account of Jesus, he tagged it with these words, referring to himself in the third person:

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.  (John 21:24)
In the light of that, reflect on this other statement by John:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.  (John 20:30-31)

Ready for the Test

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Maybe you wouldn’t have participated, but Jesus said things that got Him killed.  They did not go down easy.  And maybe you still struggle with some of what He said.  Jesus’ teachings shake us up.  They challenge our normal way of thinking.  Before we can accept them, we have to know: Are they true?  Are they good?  Lot’s of people give out advice.  How can you decide between them?   With Jesus, there is an easy way because He said His words came directly from God.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  (John 14:10)

If what He said didn’t really come from God, then there’s no point in paying attention to them.  If He lied about that, He wasn’t speaking the truth.  But how can you know?  Here’s the test: You can ask God directly to show you whether or not Jesus spoke His truth.  Simply ask Him.  If you really want to know, God is fully capable of showing you what you need to know.  The kicker is whether you really want to know!

So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.  If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.  (John 7:16-17)

The way to test the authenticity of Jesus’ teachings is to ask God to show you.  But first, carefully assess your own motivations.  Do you sincerely desire to do what God wants?  Is it possible that you would prefer to argue, and prove your own ideas to be superior?  Or, perhaps you are afraid?  The only one who can answer these questions is you.  Which makes it tricky because we like to deceive ourselves.  As strange as it seems, it is possible for us to try to fool ourselves!  Astonishing, really…   But with the questions about wanting to do God’s will, it is important for us to be brutally frank.

When we stand in the place of really wanting to conform to God’s design and intention, we are completely humble and surrendered.  We let go, put down our own pride and ideas, standing defenseless before Him.  And it is there, Jesus said, in that condition, we will know if what He spoke was from God.

You ready?

Your Maker

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Have you seen the T-shirt that says, “There is a God” on the front?  On the back it reads, “You’re not Him!”  Good reminder.  But the Apostle John would give Jesus a T-shirt that read, “There is a God and I Am Him.”  Imagine how awkward it was for John to tell people he knew a guy who actually was Almighty God.  If you were accosted in the airport by someone telling you that, you’d immediately take your leave. Running.

But John was dead serious.  Jesus, he said, is God!”  The God.  Think of the implications.  One, in John’s words, is this:

All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  (John 1:3 (NASB95))

Where I live, 14,000 foot mountains dominate the western horizon.  They pulsate with dawn’s first luminescence, sparkle with ice and snow throughout the day and, at dusk, are silhouetted by astonishingly beautiful sunsets.  If John was right, Jesus designed all that beauty.  Look down at your hand: Consider the intricate workings of each of your fingers.  Jesus did that.  Think about your what makes you unique, your likes and dislikes, the sound of your voice and your special skills.  Ponder the fact that you can hear and see.  “Nothing came into being apart from Him.”  That means He made you.  Jesus.

I know adoptees who yearn to one day meet their natural parents.  What if you could actually meet the One Who designed you and created you; would that interest you?

You can, you know…

The Right Word

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The reason things seem so divisive these days, and it seems to be so difficult to accomplish common understanding, has to do with words.  if a Democrat talks about “helping the middle class” it usually means something very different from what a Republican means by those same words.  It is very difficult to draw people together from very different ways of seeing the world when the words used are “heard” in such different ways.

That’s what makes the first line of the Gospel of John so masterful.  John wrote:

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1 (NIV84))

John was setting out to tell two very different kinds of people, with distinctly different views of the world, about Jesus.  So he called Him “the Word.”

  • When the Jewish people read that word (the Greek word, logos), they immediately associated it with God.  Jews believed it was sacrilegious to pronounce or write the Name of God.  In those days, sometimes they substituted the word, Logos, or Word.  The first line of their scripture read, “In the beginning, G-d….”   So when they read John’s opening phrase they naturally thought, “God.”
  • The people in the Greek culture who read John’s letter, however, interpreted logos in a very different way.  Following the ideas of some of their famous philosophers, they used logos, or word, to refer to the divine active principle that governed all of reality.  Kind of like how the “operating system” in a computer controls how all the programs work, people in the Greek culture thought of the logos as the overarching “operating system” for the universe.  In short, the mind of God.

So, with one word, logos, John drew those two, very different, groups together in understanding the identity of Jesus.  Next, he used a strong word to say Jesus was “with” God, not just nearby, but in close, intimate association and correspondence with God.  Lest anyone miss the point, John followed up with, “He was God.”  Jesus existed as God “in the beginning,” before time and space were created.

Today, when someone says, “Jesus,” he might be expressing disgust or frustration.  Someone else might be talking about a “good man” or a “prophet.”  But John?  He was talking about a Man he knew as a friend, Who had revealed Himself to be Almighty God.

Not God

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The guy sitting next to me on the plane tried to tell me about God. I responded, “I could never believe in God unless I could fully understand him.”   His response became a turning point in my spiritual journey. He said, “Buddy, if you completely understand him, he isn’t God, he’s a figment of your imagination.”

Although i didn’t at the time, I had to admit he was right. If there is a God and He is all powerful and all knowing then it is ridiculous for me to insist He fit within the confines of my limited understanding.  If we have the right to insist that he act according to our wishes or sense of morality and always do what we think is right, then he is not God.  It would be foolish to surrender ourselves to that sort of God.  We’d be chasing out tails.

I wonder if that guy reads my blog. If so, I’m grateful to you. You tore down a roadblock on my path to finding the real God.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (Isaiah 55:8 -9)

Closer than You Think

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Where is God?   Cartoons show Him floating on a cloud, with one hand on the lightning bolt lever.  People reach up or look up in worship or prayer.  Nothing wrong with that – Jesus looked up in prayer – but does God reside “up there?”  Praise songs invite Him to “come.”  We call special church rooms “sanctuaries,” and design some of them as though God lived within them..  But where is He really?  According to the apostle Paul, the question might better be asked, where are we? Check this out:

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, … that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for  “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; …  (Act 17:26 — Act 17:28 excerpts)

As we used to say in the 60’s, “Heavy!”  God made us and designed us so that we would “feel our way toward him” and yet, it is “in Him we live and move and have our being.”  Although it seems to us that He is “up there” or “out there,” in reality, we exist “in Him.”  Makes my head swim, but then so does much of what I hear and read about quantum mechanics.

But so what?  Paul spoke those things to people who superstitiously believed that to find God you needed to build Him a temple and then go there.  Or, make a statue and bring sacrifices to it.  You can read the rest of what he said in Acts 17.  But His point was this:  We don’t have to do anything, build anything, pay anything or go anywhere to find God.  He made us and gave us life.  He is the One Who designed into us the urge to find Him.  It is good to “feel our way toward Him.”  But here is a hint: He is closer than we think.

Good to know, even if we don’t fully understand it.

Who to Vote For

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Don’t pay much attention to what the candidates say they will do.  Most don’t or cannot do most of what they’ve promised.  They have no way to know the circumstances they will really face.  Instead, consider their character.  Leaders tend to lead in the direction of the path they have consistently taken in life.  When you vote for a new President, or any other government position, you vote to have the country resemble the character of that person.  At the time of this writing, our two front runners are known for dishonesty and greed – not character traits most of us hope will shape our nation’s reputation.

Want a list of character traits to avoid and ones to support?  Consider these two lists, taken from the letter to the Galatians in the Bible.  Paul contrasts those motivated by “the flesh”   –  by which he means those who operate by the rules and impulses of the world  –  and those who take their cues from God’s Spirit.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, …  

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; … (Galatians 5:19–23 – excerpts)

Which set of character traits do you want in those who lead our country?  Which candidates resemble the list you chose?  Vote for them.

Please join me in praying for wisdom to prevail among voters.

Not God’s Security but Yours

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I heard a comedian taking shots at the Ten Commandments recently.  He ridiculed them because the commandments don’t seem to begin with the most important issues.  In his opinion, “Don’t murder people” should have been the first one.  But the first one is “I am your God.”  And the second one is “Don’t go messing around with any other Gods.”   The third one says, “Don’t make up your own Gods and bow down to them (my paraphrase of Deuteronomy 5:6-10).  He said God must be insecure and have identity issues.  The crowd was in stitches and cheered wildly.  Hah, hah!  Look how stupid the Bible is…

But what if those first three commandments really were the most important?  What if it really was critical that we know Who created us and designed the world we live in?  And not go chasing after gods who really are figments of our own limited imaginations?  What if this was true?

“The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply…”.  Psalms 16:4a

When you buy a new computer, you get a little pamphlet with  a list of commandments.  The first one is “Read this first!” The second one is, “Plug your computer in to 120 volt, 60 Hz power.”  And, “Don’t ever plug your computer into a different source of power, or even into an unregulated generator.”  Number 1, make sure you are connected to a source of power.  Number 2?  Don’t use a different source of power because it will damage your computer.   The Ten Commandments start in the same way.  God, the only True God, is our source of life and power.  All others are false and will ultimately ruin us.  Once we have that straight, then we can go on to not murdering.  The chances are pretty good that God knew what He was doing when He handed Moses the Ten Commandments, more so than that stand up comedian…

What’s Your Response?

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Imagine a lush banquet with copious quantities of the best of food and drink.  That’s how God symbolically described the Kingdom He would establish.  Of course His people yearned for that Kingdom to arrive, especially since He also promised to wipe away tears and banish death forever.  If you are not familiar with that prophecy, I’ll print it below.  But in Jesus’ day, they knew it and yearned for it to be fulfilled.

So, when someone mentioned the Kingdom to Jesus, and He responded with a parable about a great banquet, the small hairs on the back of their necks stood to attention.  Making it more electrifying was the “servant” in the parable, who comes to tell people the banquet is ready.  One of Isaiah’s most common expressions for God’s Messiah was “the Servant.” (e.g. See Isaiah 42:1)

Here’s how He began the parable:

… “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’  (Luke 14:16b-18)

Those who had “ears to hear” sensed that Jesus was telling them He was the Messiah-Servant, sent by God to announce the Kingdom, proclaiming “everything is now ready.”  The tragedy was that most of those who had been waiting and yearning for that announcement then decided that the busyness of their regular lives was more pressing and important than the opportunity to join God in His Kingdom for eternal life.

Don’t compound the tragedy; Jesus still speaks those same words of invitation to each of us today.  “Come, for everything is now ready.”  What is your response?  Are you wanting to be excused?  Consider carefully.

Here’s Isaiah’s prophecy:
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever;and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 25:6-8)