That It May Be Well With You

Hearing the voice of the LORD is one thing;
obeying the voice of the LORD is another.  

I've been reading Jeremiah and there is a clear message that the Lord is speaking and the people aren't listening.  He's longing for them to listen.  

The LORD isn't a tyrant of a master, He is a caring shepherd and loving Father who always desires the best for his children.  He wants people to have healthy relationships, meaningful work, abundance in provision, healthy bodies, and to care about their communities and the people in them.  

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat met.  For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.  But this is what I commanded them, saying 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people.  And walk in all the ways I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.'  JEREMIAH 7:21-23

When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he replied:

“The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”  MARK 12:29-31

It was the same command that the LORD had give to the Israelites as they were entering the promised land:

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. DEUTERONOMY 6:1-9

The LORD knows that we have temptations and distractions all around. 

He calls us back to focus on His good things, SO THAT it may be well with us. 

Take time to listen, and obey, so that it may be well with you!

I Confer on You a Kingdom

Maundy Thursday.
The night of the Last Supper.
Don't miss the point!

Jesus and his disciples share the Passover Meal together.  In recent days, Jesus has been talking about his death more frequently and I can just imagine the disciples confusion over the dinner conversation.  

After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. LUKE 22:17-20

Bread and Wine, Jesus body and blood.  He's been trying to help them understand, but this is really beyond their realm of experience and understanding.  This Holy One of God, so good, so kind, so wise...  How could what he is saying be true?

Then in what seems like the same breath, Jesus makes the statement that someone at the table will be the one to betray him.  The disciples begin to question themselves, wondering who it might be...

Then, in the next moment, they are arguing about who among them is the greatest!

Tonight, I'm trying to put myself in the midst of the scene.  I've been traveling with Jesus, he's been talking about these things, yet they are really beyond my full comprehension.  The evening moves from a sacred meal, to an accusation, to confusion, to quarreling, and then...

The Savior of the World picked up a towel and demonstrated his love for his disciples by washing their feet. Jesus words and actions speak wisdom and truth!

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:3-5 

But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. LUKE 22:26-27 

Maundy, shortened form of the Latin, mandatum 

(from which we get the English word, mandate).  

In the Upper Room, on the night he was betrayed, 

THIS is the mandate:

Serve one another, as I have served you.

Love one another, even as I have loved you.

And then Jesus says:

And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. LUKE 22:29-30 

Jesus Spoke the Word, 

Showed the Word, 

Taught the Word, and 

Served those in front of Him.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son,
who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  JOHN 1:14

Jesus conferred on them a Kingdom of love.  

He brought this kingdom to their feet.  

He humbled himself and lovingly served.  

We can think of this night and remember betrayal, a night of agony as Jesus prays.  Don't miss the point...  Jesus has conferred on those who love Him a Kingdom of Love.  Jesus clearly says, it's not about power and position, it's about love.

Be humble, serve people in love, and give them heaven!

Rights, Privileges, and Responsibilities

Graduation is an end and a beginning, that special moment when one holds all the preparation of the degree in their hands with the anticipation of how it will be utilized. 

It is much the same 

with the gift of faith from God!

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21

When a person graduates and receives an educational degree, 

the President of the University confers upon the graduates 

"all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities appertaining thereunto."  

In receiving that degree, the reality is that the graduate has almost no new rights nor privileges; however they do have a new status and with that the associated responsibilities that have been conferred.  At this moment of transfer, they are now challenged to live up to all the potential for which the degree has prepared them.

It is much the same when we receive the gift of faith.  

In the world around us we don’t have new rights or privileges; however, we do have a new status with God and the rights and privileges associated with the Kingdom of Heaven.  In the realm of the world, the person of faith doesn't have any new rights or privileges, but what she does have is the invitation and challenge of living up to the responsibilities of a person who is reconciled to God.  

God has called you and me to help others become reconciled to God also.

Paul implores us on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be son for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  

"Righteousness” is defined as “one who lives in accord with divine law.”  As we pray the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven," we can recognize that it is the Lord who has entrusted us demonstrate God's mercy and grace in this world and communicate the Good News of salvation through Jesus' redeeming work on the cross.   

So, enjoy your new status and exercise your new responsibilities well!

Restoring Hope

I remain confident of this: 
I will see the goodness of the LORD 
in the land of the living.  Psalm 27:13

Over the last three days, Baltimore has seen an explosive reaction that began in sanctioned protest and grew into an ugly display of of anger and destruction.

Amid the violence, there was an army of clergy singing through the streets with a desire for good to prevail over evil.  Top religious leaders of Baltimore placed themselves in harms way to end the violence, at one point on their knees in prayer at the corner of North and Fulton.  Rev. Carter said “we must go back to the streets.”  

This action by clergy is reaching out to young people, in their streets, on their turf…  

A reporter said: 

“The clergy are commanding this moment.  
The clergy are going to where they can take charge."  

Over time, a sense of unity began to develop as some who may have been part of the violence joined the prayer group.  This is a generation that has lost its way, said one of the ministers.  This is what happens when a dream is deferred.  

Documented on video we hear the reporter saying: "What do you think of the state of emergency the governor has declared?"  

The clergy respond with compassion: "There has been a state of emergency way before tonight: an emergency of poverty, a lack of jobs, disenfranchisement from the political process. It's been a long time coming."  

The people of God see hope

we see potential

we see beyond the surface

to the despair that resides in the human heart 

Despair...  a lack of hope... comes out in ugly ways - anger, violence, murder.  

People of God, we can speak into lives of people in despair.  

Some are called to the front lines when there is a crisis

(Full video here: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/clergy-marches-against-violence/32606352)

Some are called to the rehabilitation efforts

And some are called to the process of long-term development

I'm not talking about excusing bad behavior and wrongdoing.  I'm talking about knowing that the one who stepped in for us, on the cross of Calvary, stepped in for THIS too!

The people of God know that our creator can recreate the worst offender into one who brings Him glory - just look at Paul, who was formerly Saul.  The process of repair and restoration comes through relationships that champion another person.  With God himself as our champion, we find the strength and the ways to champion another person.  It comes by being FOR another person, not being AGAINST them.  

When we know that we've all come broken and the LORD is the one who stepped in and restored us, we can have the heart posture to step into the brokenness of another person's life and be the light in their darkness.  

Where might the Lord be calling you to walk with another 

and help them become all that God created them to be?

The words of Isaiah 58:6-12 are resounding in my mind:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Advent, Waiting with Hope

Advent begins - the season of awaiting the coming of the Christ Child.  

This week focuses on HOPE. 

...not a wishful kind of hope, rather the certain kind of hope, anticipatory waiting for something known to take place.

I've heard it illustrated this way...
From the time many young girls go to their first wedding, they dream of that day for themselves.  It is a wishful kind of hope.  Then they meet the person they want to spend their lives with and love develops. One day there is a proposal of marriage with an engagement ring to symbolize the promise, and now the wishful hope turns into a certain hope of the day to come and the lifetime of life's journey together to begin.  

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  HEBREWS 11:1

As the days of our life unfold, we experience joy and sorrow, abundance and want, laughter and tears, there is good and bad.  

Jesus said to his disciples:
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 

In this week of Advent we focus on the certain hope of the Messiah, the Holy One, who became man, to live a sinless life in perfect obedience to the Father, and who gave himself as the sacrifice to redeem humanity.  By receiving God’s gift of grace, through faith in Jesus, there is life. Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  JOHN 10:10

...the Christ Child, Jesus, 

was born in a manger 

to make a way to the cross 

It is through the resurrection that we can have confidence and certainty in this kind of hope. 

My prayer for you is to experience this kind of hope knowing how deeply God loves you!

The song "He Made a Way in a Manger" says this beautifully!  Enjoy..

Set Apart for Sacred Use

www.kingjamesbibleonline.org

Over and over again, I return to John 17... my favorite chapter in the Gospels. As Jesus is praying to the Father on that final day, he is very clear about the meaning eternal life.

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  JOHN 17:3

Then he prays for those who will carry his message into all the world.  These words are timeless, spoken about the disciples at that time, and spoken for us at this time who are carrying the message.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.  JOHN 17:17-19

Have you imagined your life as set apart for sacred use?  

This is what Jesus is praying for his disciples then, and now!  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  The instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God.  As we read it, hear it, take it in and apply it...  Jesus goes on to pray:  

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message

JOHN 17:20

God's work of sanctification is not only for us, but for those whose lives we will impact with the grace that God is working in and through us.  The Lord is calling us to bear fruit that will last for eternity!

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  This is my command: Love each other.  John 15:15-17

Take in God's Word every day!

Not only will it be a blessing in your life,

but also in the lives of others you touch with God's love.