Tag Archives: Bible

Just Ask

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There is a gas station (It’s the Adams 66) in Council Grove, Kansas where the owner runs out to fill your tank, wash your windshield and polish your mirrors.   Remember that?  I’ve become so accustomed to waiting in line inside a “convenience” store while a surly dropout finishes talking on the cell phone that this guy was a shock.  As I stood there, baffled by this flash from the past, he asked, “Anything else you need?  Check your oil? Tires okay?  Just ask…”

You think that’s amazing, check this out.  The Creator of the universe has said, “Just ask…”

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

It’s not that God is a genie in a bottle or a cosmic ATM.  It’s that God invites us to engage with Him in a relationship.  He invites us to ask.  He encourages us to seek and knock.  All these actions initiate a new experience in a relationship.  It’s the relationship Adam and Eve had before they hid from God in shame.  It’s the way God intended life to be.

Maybe you are reading this and thinking, “I’m not so sure there even is a God.”  I’ve been there, hiding behind a wall of suspicion, for fear of being fooled.  That is, until one day I asked and God responded.  That was an astonishing and life changing moment for me.  God knows it’s tough for us to engage with Someone we cannot see.  He knows it feels safer for us to only trust in ourselves.  That’s whats so cool about His invitation – ask, seek, knock.  You do that, He says, and you will have the door opened to an amazing, interactive, personal relationship.

Questions?  Just ask…

Not to Worry

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Terry Bolter escaped from the Gestapo by jumping across 6 feet of space to the roof of the adjacent building and then dropping down through a skylight.  He was a British WWII pilot, downed behind Nazi lines, who eventually made it back.  His journey ( It’s a hair raising tale; I’ll include the link below) was made possible by following guides from the Belgian resistance.  Throughout this perilous escape, Terry was constantly faced with a choice: worry or trust.  Worry would have paralyzed him.  Putting aside worry and trusting his guide gave him the ability to make it through each day’s dangerous obstacles.  Jesus taught the same principle in the Sermon on the Mount: Don’t worry; Trust.  He said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  (Matthew 6:25-34)

Worry, stressing over having enough food, clothing or money, can prevent us from entering into life – real life.  Instead of worrying, Jesus said, trust Him and follow His guidance.  Bobby McFerrin had it wrong when he sang “Don’t Worry; Be Happy,” which is a potentially dangerous exercise in wishful thinking.  Jesus said, “Don’t worry; trust God and follow Me, your guide.”  There is a big difference.

So, what did Jesus, our guide, tell us to do?  “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”  He didn’t say, “Clean up your act and do righteous things.”  He said, “Seek God’s righteousness, given to those who respond to Him as their King.”  It’s not the self-righteous who enter the kingdom of God, but rather, Jesus taught, it is the “poor in spirit,” who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:3&6).  In other words, it is those who know they cannot make it on their own, those who are ready to trust Him to guide them (“blessed are the meek” – Matthew 5:5).  Terry Bolter couldn’t rescue himself.  He was trapped in a building with the Gestapo hammering on the door.  His only hope for safety was to put aside worry and trust his guide.  That’s the situation we are in.  Jesus says, “Don’t worry; follow me, seeking God’s Kingdom and righteousness.”

Here’s the link to the rest of Terry’s story:  click here

 

 

By the Book

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Maybe it seems that because the Bible was written so long ago, and since we understand so much more today, that we should rewrite it, to bring it in line with modern customs and attitudes.  But not according to Jesus – and He knew what He was talking about when He said:

“I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”. (Matthew 5:18)

Jesus wasn’t being vague.  Even the tiniest mark was important and would not be changed until the end of the age.  You’ve heard how a comma can save lives: “Let’s eat, Grandma” is a lot different than “Let’s eat Grandma!” 

By Jesus’ clear meaning, it is dangerous for us to assume we can overhaul the Bible’s teachings.  When we changed the rules for sex, the consequences in divorce and children born to a single mother have been much greater than anyone would have predicted.  Now the definition of marriage has been rewritten.  Buckle up; get ready for a bumpy ride…

But, you may wonder, if Jesus meant what He said, why did He proclaim all foods okay to eat, why did He break the rules for the Sabbath and develop a reputation as a drunkard and glutton?

The answer has to do with what righteousness is.  The religious leaders defined righteousness as a list of rules (over 600!) that one must not break.  Jesus had a very different understanding of what righteousness is. 

We’ll chew on that next time.

The Rinse Cycle

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Babies lie.  They learn very early that it pays off to deceive.  You’ve seen it – the fake crying, the pretending to be hurt, followed by furtive glances to see who is paying attention.  It’s not long before babies learn to covet.  And steal.

Which, of course, means that before we are out of diapers, we are already breaking the 10 commandments in pretty routine way.  I said “we” because those babies grow up to be us, complete with twisted spaghetti strands of mixed motives, woven through our hearts.  The most prolific writer of the New Testament called himself the worst of all sinners, and said even in his best moments, sin was right there with him, messing everything up.

But Jesus said,

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  (Matthew 5:8)

Not, “the pretty good,” but “the pure.”  How you doin’?  Me?  I’ve got a long way to go before “pure” is even on the horizon.  So what does this mean for us?  How is this teaching supposed to encourage us?

If you have been following these posts about the Sermon on the Mount (They start HERE), you won’t be surprised to know that, again, this teaching points us to the gift Jesus gives to those who trust Him – the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Here’s how He describes the impact of receiving the Spirit:

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  (John 7:38)

Years ago, a woodsman took me on a hike and showed me how to find a spring.  When he found a likely place, he cleared away the twigs and rotting leaves, digging down into the dirt and mud, until a small trickle of water emerged.  He said, “Now we have to wait and keep cleaning out this pool.”  As the water continued to flow, the small pool he’d dug began to change from dark, thick mud, to  muddy water, eventually looking much clearer.  It became like a fine lens, allowing us to clearly see the pebbles below.  And still we waited.  And waited.  But the time came when we submerged our faces into the pool and drank deeply.  The water was clean and cool.  It was refreshing.  It was pure.

It takes a lifetime, but that is what happens to the heart of the one who surrenders to Jesus.  The Spirit flows through them, gradually transforming them and cleansing them.  The day is coming when our hearts will be pure, the day when we will see God.

Cool New Stuff

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When you update an app, you expect it to work better, right?  Sometimes you don’t notice any difference but sometimes your updated app does cool new stuff.  When you trust Jesus, you get more than an update. You get a whole new operating system – the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit definitely comes with cool new stuff.

Like mercy.  We humans are not naturally wired to extend mercy, but God is.  When He described Who He was and what He was like to Moses, God started out with mercy:

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…  (Exodus 34:6)

Mercy is the character of God, 101.  Bob Dylan writes songs; God extends mercy.  So, when a person receives God’s Spirit, Who begins to transform how he operates, one cool new result is an increased capacity for mercy – to give it and receive it.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus began by  preaching hope for those who knew they were spiritually bankrupt, for those who mourned their condition and hungered for a soul that worked right (See the previous 4 posts).  He told them they would be comforted and filled, hinting that He would give them the Holy Spirit.  But then Jesus switched gears and began to speak of what happens in a person who is comforted and filled by His Spirit – what the cool new stuff is.  He said:

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  (Matthew 5:7)

That’s cool new stuff 101.  Those who have the Holy Spirit notice a growing capacity for mercy – to give it and receive it.

It’s not that being merciful earns us mercy from God.  Being merciful in a genuine way shows that God’s Spirit is living in us.  In that condition, we are enabled to receive God’s mercy.  This mystery is repeated often in Jesus’  teaching.  The unmerciful are unable to receive God’s mercy.  The unforgiving are unable to receive His forgiveness.  It’s not that they don’t deserve it; nobody deserves mercy and forgiveness.  If we are deserving, it’s not mercy or forgiveness.  It’s that our souls are unable to receive God’s forgiveness and mercy, to really accept them in a settled way, unless they have been brought to spiritual life by His Spirit.  When we receive mercy, we naturally extend it.  And vice versa.

It’s cool new stuff from our new operating system.

Hungry and Thirsty No More

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When you pass a wreck, why do you look?  Why do people gather around a fight?  Why do we think the way we do?  Perhaps you have had times when your inability to think about or do the things you know are right has led you to despair.  Perhaps you have felt as though you were drowning in your own wickedness.  If so, Jesus understands and has good news:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  (Matthew 5:6)

Remember the scene in “Lawrence of Arabia” when they open the canteen and there’s barely a drop left?  Middle of the desert, in the blazing heat?  That’s thirsty.  Actually, two days later is thirsty, but you get the idea.  What’s hungry?  No, strike that.  What is it to hunger?   That’s worse than being hungry.   

Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is the end result of knowing your spiritual poverty and mourning about it, knowing you cannot fix it.  Jesus says that’s the kind of person the Kingdom of Heaven is for.  That’s the kind of person who is ready to listen and ready to cooperate in an attempt to be healed.  That’s the kind of person who feels morally starved and parched.

Jesus said those who would trust Him, would cross from death to life, because He would give His Holy Spirit to live in their dead souls.  They would experience a “newness of life” as they are fully reconciled to God.  In this teaching He says those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be filled.  He used the word for eating your fill, the word they used to talk about fattening cattle.  Imagine being that full of His Spirit, that full of righteousness.

That’s the promise.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  (John 6:35)

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  (John 7:37-38)

Be Meek

Be Meek

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Google is looking for failures.  Well, not exactly; they look for people who have failed and who, through the experience of failing, have developed a certain humility and grace about how they learn and respond.  The NFL is looking for men who don’t know how to play football.  Well, not exactly; they are looking for players with lots of raw talent but who are willing to learn from a coach.  In every type of endeavor there are hotshots and superstars who flame out because they think they have all the answers.  They get replaced by people who are willing to learn and grow.

That’s the principle behind this next saying of Jesus:

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  (Matthew 5:5)

Jesus didn’t say a timid milquetoast; He said the “meek,” which means teachable.  When used to describe a horse, ‘meek’ means gentled and trainable, responsive to the commands of its trainer.  A meek person is not a doormat.  Rather, he or she is responsive, in this case to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus described Himself as meek:

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle (literally, ‘meek’) and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.   (Matthew 11:29)

Meekness, in this teaching, follows spiritual emptiness (poor in spirit), and grief (those who mourn).  Jesus promised to comfort those who mourn their spiritual bankruptcy.  How?  By giving them the Holy Spirit (also called The Comforter in John 14:16) to live in their souls forever. (See: Don’t Take the Fire Escape!) But the Holy Spirit does no good for the person who is not meek, who does not listen and respond.

The promise for the meek, however, is that they will inherit the earth.  This promise, is in the future tense because it will become a reality one day.  It’s ultimate fulfillment will come at the end of the age, when God creates a new, perfect heaven and earth.

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.  (2 Peter 3:13)

What will a perfect earth be like?  I cannot imagine it.  But you don’t want to miss it.  Be meek.

Don’t Take the Fire Escape!

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You are startled awake by the loud blaring of the fire alarm.  You can already smell the smoke and you hurry from your room on an upper floor of the hotel.  Rushing down to the fire escape, you discover that it is about to be overcome by flames. So you turn around and head back the other direction.  You have to fight your way through a stampede of hotel guests who are trying to reach the fire escape.  “No!” you say, “Turn around; you will die if you keep going that way.”  Most of them don’t believe you.  Some call you an idiot for ignoring the fire escape sign.  Those few who decide to trust you, turn around and follow you in the “wrong” direction.  They live.

Jesus was in a situation like that.  He knew we were thundering toward death.  He urged us to turn around and head the “wrong” way, in order to find eternal life.  That is why so much of what He said seems up-side-down.  Like this:

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  (Matthew 5:4 )

He didn’t say that those who grieve are happy.  He said they would one day be comforted and therefore are blessed.  This statement follows the previous one about realizing our spiritual poverty.  The kind of mourning Jesus was referring to was the desire to be spiritually full, spiritually rich, without being able to change one’s spiritual bankruptcy.

Jesus said people in that condition would be comforted.  He wasn’t talking about someone who would feel sorry for them and say soothing things.  He was talking about a total reversal in their spiritual bank account.  Here’s how I know:  Jesus said,

‘If ye love me, my commands keep, and I will ask the Father, and another Comforter He will give to you, that he may remain with you—to the age; the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it doth not behold him, nor know him, and ye know him, because he doth remain with you, and shall be in you. ( John 14:15-17 Young’s’ Literal Translation)

I used that old fashioned sounding translation because they gave the literal translation of the word Jesus called the Holy Spirit – Comforter.  It is the same root word He used when He said those who mourn “will be comforted.”  The people who are spiritually bankrupt and who mourn their condition, who are unable to be good enough or spiritual enough to change it, will be comforted.  How?  They will receive the Holy Spirit, Who will “remain” (live)  in their souls forever.  This is eternal life.

Ok, but what’s all this business about “if you love me and keep my commands?”   Those are like the folks in the hotel hallway who turn around and head in the opposite direction because they trusted you.  That’s what happens when you trust and love Jesus.  You turn around, you follow, you live.

Little Word; Big Difference

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JFK will be remembered for saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you…”  FDR is remembered in the words, “… a date that will live in infamy.”   For Ronald Reagan, it was, “…tear down this wall!”   For Bill Clinton: “It depends on what the meaning of the word, is, is.”   Doesn’t quite rise to the same level of dignity and inspiration, but Bill was on to something.  There are times when a tiny word makes a huge difference.  Like the word, “is” in this quote from Jesus:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (Matthew 5:3)

In the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus holds out eight promises.  Mourners will be comforted, the merciful will be shown mercy, etc.  But the first and last promises aren’t “will be” promises, they are “is” promises.  Which means, at least in some measure, they matter right now!  

The first promise is for those who are “poor in spirit” (For more about what that means, see: Winning in Last Place).  Those who are spiritually bankrupt and who know it, who come to Jesus with nothing to offer, are promised the kingdom of heaven now.  In the present tense.

Which means, most of what people know about heaven is wrong.

1.   Heaven is not merely that “better place” Aunt Sally went to be after her terrible accident at the car wash.  The kingdom of heaven is available now.

2.   Entrance to heaven is not determined by how good you have been.  The kingdom of heaven is open to those who are “poor in spirit.”

Here’s the not-so-fine print:  By definition, a kingdom has a king.  People in kingdoms have submitted to the king.  In this case, the King is Jesus.  Once you understand that Jesus is Almighty God, that He loved you so much, He lowered Himself to come for you in human form and die to pay for your sin – once you really grasp that reality – it is logical to acknowledge that He is your King.

People who think they can join the kingdom because they have been good, are not “poor in spirit,” and don’t understand that a kingdom only has one king.

However, those who enter the kingdom of heaven now have not yet experienced the full measure of how wonderful it will be one day.  People who surrender to King Jesus, are blessed now in His kingdom, and receive the Holy Spirit, living eternally in their souls – all right now.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  (John 14:16-17)

But they still live in this darkened, corrupted world where they will have trouble.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)

The “poor in spirit,” who submit to King Jesus, have the kingdom of heaven “already but not yet.”   The full experience and glory of the Kingdom of Heaven will not be realized until Jesus is universally accepted as the King.  We yearn for that day but cannot begin to fully imagine what it will be like.  We are like children born in refugee camps who have no way to imagine life on a cruise ship.  We have no capacity to imagine the full experience of heaven.  Not yet.

However, right now,  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Winning in Last Place

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She knew what people thought of her.  Whores have eyes; she could see the looks on their faces.  She put on a posture and look that said, “Screw you; I don’t care what you think…”  But down deep, inside the hard crust that surrounded her heart, she was much harder on herself than they were.  Because she knew the worst of what she was really like.  And when she came face to face with Jesus, she lost it.  She collapsed in tears, clinging to His feet.  Imagine her embarrassment to see a mixture of her tears and drool and snot, splattered on His feet.  Desperately, she wiped them with her hair…

Jesus had people like  her in mind when He said,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:3)

How can that really be true?  People who are spiritually bankrupt are blessed?  Seriously?

It’s because we live with illusions of reality that are upside down from Jesus’ understanding.  When Jesus says “Blessed,” He means, “If you could see what is real and true from My perspective, you would realize that this kind of person is ultimately in a better place.”  Sounds ridiculous to us, but when Jesus compared that devastated hooker to a man who was known for being very religious, He held her up as a better example.  He was trying to shock people out of their upside down illusions.

Think of it like this:  If you are in a race to see who is the fastest and the best, and you are going in the wrong direction, if it looks like you are winning the race, in reality you are losing.  Those who have stopped and turned back the other way are the ones who are actually ahead.  Jesus knows that people who feel self-righteous, people who think they are doing better than others, are heading in the wrong direction.  Turning around spiritually, begins with recognizing how poor in spirit you really are.  It amounts to admitting that, on your own, you are in deep trouble.  Turning around means recognizing you need Jesus.

Is this really true?  Who do you think is most likely to qualify for the kingdom of heaven? Perhaps Billy Graham?  What do you think: Is Billy Graham “poor in spirit?”  Is he spiritually bankrupt?  Most of us would say no, he is rich in spirit.  But, if you asked Billy – the guy who knows Billy Graham in his worst moments – he would tell you that there is a good reason that one of his favorite songs is “Just as I am, without one plea…”