PAID

How could four BIG RED LETTERS – ALL CAPS – stamped in the center of a yellow legal-sized document bring so much joy? How could one small word bring so much relief? The word was “PAID” and the document was a loan contract.

In the fall of 1990, I bought my first car – my money, my responsibility, my payments, my car. It was a 1991 Chevrolet Cavalier, but you would have thought it was a Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, or some other exotic sports car. I paid it off in four years even though I added the cost of an engagement ring to the note. I had my car and my sweetie all tied up in one tidy little bank note. I still have the sweetie, but the car has long been gone. Oh, I drove the wheels off of it – almost 200,000 miles over 12 years. We finally gave it away to one of those charities that come and get your car, give you a donation credit, then fix up the car and resell it.

When I had made that 48^th payment, the bank sent me their copy of the loan contract with PAID stamped on it to signify that I was released from my debt, my obligation had been met, and to signify that I was the owner free and clear, they also sent me the titled signed over to me with their lien signed off. I was able to enjoy the car so much more after that loan was satisfied.

Just before Jesus breathed His last human-bound breath, He cried out with a loud voice:

IT IS FINISHED! – John 19:30

“Finished.” Sounds like an ending doesn’t it? But in this case it was a beginning, a shout of victory. The word translated finished was actually a common commercial word of the day that literally translated is “it has been paid.” Just like that bank note, Jesus was declaring the end of our obligation to sin and the beginning of a new and free life only possible because of His sacrificial death on our behalf.

But do we live in that reality on a daily basis? Or do we allow the devil – or even our own selves – to falsely sell us on the idea that our sins are still hanging around our necks; that we still have several payments to make before our debt is satisfied and God looks favorably on us? NO, NO, NO, a thousand times NO!!!! When Jesus declared “it is finished,” He was declaring for all of the universe to hear that once and for all the payment for every sin had been remitted. Provision had finally been made to satisfy sin’s debt and to appease God’s wrath. Brothers and sisters, if you have received Jesus as your Savior you are absolutely and totally free and clear. You are the proud honor of a brand spanking new life. Take it for a spin, drive it around, it's yours. Those olds sins of the past are gone. God has removed them as far from you as the East is from the West.

Right now, declare your freedom from fear, guilt, low self-worth, and every other lie the devil has told you. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, your debt has been paid and you are FORGIVEN. Quit moping about defeated by your failures (past or present) and debilitated by your fears (present or future). Jesus has freed you from sin’s punishment, He has freed you from sin’s power, and soon He will free us all from sin’s presence, PRAISE HIS NAME. You are no longer a debt holder, you are FREE.

Dehydrated

“I am thirsty.”

I love water. Sometimes when I am working out or working in the yard, the only thing that will quench my thirst is an ice cold bottle of Dasani® water. I like to put it in the freezer and then drink it when the ice crystals first start to form. When I have been working hard and I develop a tremendous thirst, NOTHING quenches my thirst like that cold bottle of water.

Rewind almost 2000 years ago to a rocky hill just outside the city gates of Jerusalem. The One who was the creative force behind water, now hung suspended between heaven and earth totally dehydrated. The One who promised that anyone who drank from the water He offered would never thirst again was now asking for something to quench His thirst. Fortunately some compassionate soul put a sponge on the end of a long stick, dipped it in what some translations read “sour wine,” and placed it on the parched lips of the Lord of Glory. How could something like this happen?

Last time, we looked at the effect sin had on God. When He saw the sins of all of mankind borne on the shoulders of His precious Son, the sight was so hideous that He had to turn away. With this passage today, we see the effect of sin on the human life.

Sin promises great pleasure, loads of fun, and ultimate satisfaction, but in fact it delivers emptiness, guilt, and a very empty and dry feeling. That is the nature of the beast . . . literally. The devil is a liar, the father of lies the Bible says. While he may promise to bring fulfillment and satisfaction if we give into him, he only uses us up and leaves us physically, emotionally, and spiritually dried up. Scripture is replete with examples of good men and women who in a moment of weakness gave into temptation only to find the devil deals in false advertising.

Just as bearing the weight of the sin of all mankind was thirst inducing labor to Jesus, we also labor under a yoke of bondage to our sin. For some that yoke is the self-effort of trying to do enough good things to outweigh the bad in hopes that God will be appeased and look favorably on them when life on this side of eternity comes to a close. They struggle constantly between doing what they know is wrong but feels so right and trying to do what they know is right but comes with great sacrifice and effort. Thirsty work indeed.

Still others, even those who have been forgiven by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, choose to dabble in sin and find the result to be a parched soul. Trying to live life in both worlds – the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self – is thirst-inducing work as well.

When we allow sin to go unconfessed, when we entertain those attitudes, affections, and actions that we know run contrary to God’s precepts, when we choose to give in to what feels best to us and suits us best, the result is always SPIRITUAL DEHYDRATION.

The remedy? First of all, if you are trying by your own effort to DO enough good for God to look favorably at you . . . give up. It’ll never happen. The Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and come up short of the standard that God set (Romans 3:23). Quit trying to DO enough and realize that Jesus has already DONE everything necessary for your sin to be forgiven and for you to find favor with God. Accept that you are never going to be good enough on your own, believe that Jesus did everything necessary for you on Calvary’s cross, and call out to Him, asking Him to forgive you and to take control of your life. Then, and only then, God looks at you and rather than seeing your sin, He sees the blood of His Son and He accepts you into His family.

If that is a decision you have already made yet you find your life drying up more and more everyday, do some spiritual spring cleaning. Pray and ask God to point out where you have allowed sinful thoughts and actions to go unchecked in your life. Recognize that because of what Jesus did on the cross – because He was thirsty – you never have to go thirsty again. Admit your sin, then understand that the blood of Christ has already paid for and when you admit and confess your sins, God erases them from the slate.

A bottle of Dasani® can never cure the spiritual dehydration caused by sin in our lives, but the Blood of Jesus provides spiritual refreshment that leaves us never thirsting again. What kind of dehydrating sins are you holding onto today? Place them at the foot of the cross, leave them behind and take a long, cold drink from the thirst quenching grace of God.

The Darkest Day in Human History

“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” – Matthew 27:46

Have you ever wondered if sin effects God? At the darkest moment in earth’s history, because of our sin, God had to turn away from His Son – the Son about Whom earlier He had said, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I a well pleased.”

What changed from the time of Jesus’ baptism until His crucifixion? Consider these Scriptures:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, the we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21

And even more graphically:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” – Isaiah 53:6

Jesus’ shoulders, that is what changed. At His baptism, those shoulders, dripping with water from the Jordan River, bore the pristine, holy glory of Almighty God, as John stated in His gospel, “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of God full of grace and truth.” But on the cross those shoulders that once shone with the glory of God now carried the stench and stain of every sin – past, present, and future – of every human being who had lived, was living, or ever would live.

And the effect that sin had on God? He had to look away. The ugliness of sin was so repulsive that God could not even look at His own Son. That is the sickening effect of sin on God. Make no mistake about it, God loved His Son, but because of His essential holiness He could not even look at His Son at this most agonizing time.

So the next time you are tempted to excuse sin – in yourself or others – think about the reaction of God to sin. The next time you want to rationalize, explain away, or even turn a blind eye to sin, picture the darkest day in human history. The next time some calls it a “lifestyle choice,” remember what that choice did to God that day at Calvary. “Don’t ask – don’t tell” did not cover the atrocity of sin that day at Calvary.

When we think of what our sin did to God that day at Calvary, and how it breaks His heart to see us give in so easily to sin from which we have been redeemed and delivered, it should give us pause. Christ’s blood was precious, priceless, pure blood shed for our forgiveness. The heart of God was broken that day at Calvary by the very actions, attitudes, and affections in which we find amusement and entertainment today.

Let’s take sin more seriously, shall we? God does.

Standing By

“…He said to His mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
John 19:26-27

What a tender moment. Even as His life was drop by drop dripping from Him, Jesus had the wherewithal to make provisions for the care of His mother, Mary. As He looked around, the scene must have broken His heart even more so. There were the women who had faithfully supported His ministry the last three years. There stood The Marys – his mother, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdelene – a woman whose life was radically changed for the good by Jesus’ grace and forgiveness. His aunt was there as well.

But where were those twelve men who had been his close associates for the last three years? Where were the rugged fishermen, political zealots, testosterone-laced revolutionaries who had vowed to stick with Him to the bitter end? The Bible only accounts for three of them. The other nine are not mentioned until later when Jesus was resurrected and once again with them. Undoubtedly these men had overestimated the costs and the risks involved in being devoted followers. When the going got tough, these tough guys got going alright . . . going right off the scene, scurrying into hiding like startled rodents taking cover from a sudden light.

Of the three mentioned, two are not presented in a very good light – one ignobly so. Judas, the betrayer, discovered that the 30 pieces of silver that once seemed the solution to all of his problems now tormented his soul as well as his psyche and we find him ending it all by committing suicide. Peter, who last was seen bravely defending Jesus by trying to behead an arresting soldier (fortunately his aim was a bit off and only an ear was removed), “went out and wept bitterly” as the Bible says after fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy of turning from defender to denyer in just a few short hours. Maybe being among the unmentionable nine wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Then there was John – “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He, along with his brother James, and Peter formed an inner circle within the group of 12. They were on the discipleship fast track, kind of like getting a Masters’ Degree (literally from the Master Himself) in serving the Kingdom. All the others had faded from view, but there was John, faithful to the bitter end. And bitter it was. As Jesus hung there dying, it was John to whom He entrusted the responsibility of caring for His mother, an obligation he gladly accepted and faithfully executed.

Our question for thought today . . . where would we be in this picture? You see, we need not judge those disciples too harshly. They were under the threat of death themselves. At anytime those jealous Jewish leaders could extend the killing to include others in the movement that they considered a dangerous insurrection. For nine of them at least that threat was enough to make them stop. For Peter, he was oblivious for the moment to that threat. Instead his self-disappointment stopped Him. His failure shamed him even though the failure and its prescription had been forecast (see Luke 22:31-32, especially noticing the “when” not the “if”).

So let me ask you . . . what does it take to stop you? At what level do you say “ENOUGH.” There are several levels. There is inconvenience. Sometimes living for Jesus is more difficult than going with the flow, so we choose the path of least resistance.

Or maybe your level is frustration. You start out doing OK, but something goes wrong, maybe things don’t pan out the way you thought they did, maybe you are faced with the stark reality of your human frailty, but whatever the case, you get disappointed and rather than pick yourself up and start again, you wallow in the mud hole of self-pity.

Maybe your limit is ridicule. People begin to make fun of you, call you names, joke about your “religion.” But after awhile you tire of being the butt of their joke so you back off.

It could be that your limit is cost. You don’t mine staying on the fringe, watching from the crowd to see what all is going on with Jesus, but if a promotion at work is on the line or an opportunity to associate with “important” people presents itself you will do what is necessary to get what you have always wanted.

I am convinced that American Christians are a long way from experiencing persecution – the devil doesn’t need to go to that extreme to stop us. We give up WAY before that. We forfeit way before the stakes get that high.

So if the situation presented itself, would Jesus ask YOU to take care of His mother? Would you be there faithfully standing by even at such a bitter end? At what point to you bail out and run and hide? Could it be that we all need to pray that God would give us a fresh infusion of courage? Let’s pray that God will break our hearts and toughen our hides so that we will be the kind of people who will endure what comes our way just for the sake of standing with Him.

Paradise, Calvary Style

Isn’t it amazing how rapidly things change? Of course things can go from bad to worse in a heartbeat, but they can also move the other direction just as quickly. How long did it take Jesus to turn dirty hand-washing water into the best wine the wedding party had ever tasted? It was instantaneous. How long did it take for the five loaves and two fishes to make enough sandwiches to feed 5000 men and their families? The story seems to imply it was immediate.

With that in mind, consider this second statement of Jesus from Calvary’s cross found in Luke 23:43,

“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

This statement was made to one of Jesus’ co-sufferers. We do not know much about the two men crucified with Jesus, but from what we can gather they were quite a motley pair. They responded differently to their demise, however. While one of the men hardened and cursed his very life until the bitter end, the other softened and actually opened his heart to Jesus. Can you imagine what a message of hope it had to be for a man suffering a slow, agonizing death on a cruel Roman cross to hear those word “Assuredly . . . today . . . paradise.”

Essentially this word from the cross reminds us of the mission of Jesus and His ability to carry it out even at creation’s darkest hour. He came to seek and save the lost, and just as His death on the cross was the substitute that would forever pay for the sins of all mankind, it was also specifically that day the salvation for a man hanging with Him.

To those of us who have experienced His grace and know His salvation this word is a reminder for us in three tenses – past, present, and future.

For the past it is a reminder that the Lamb of God was slain for our sins. When we received His grace gift of forgiveness, we were forgiven of ALL our sins. When the devil tries to dig up our old past, all we need do is remind him that all of those past sins are under the blood, forgiven, and GONE! We can even forgive ourselves, after all God has forgiven us, why shouldn’t we afford ourselves the same grace?

For the present it is a reminder of Jesus’ ability to change our circumstances in a flash. Paul refers to such things as “light, momentary afflictions.” They may not feel light to us and they certainly may feel as though they have endured a long time, but when compared to eternity those hardships are but a puff of smoke. God can and does turn things around in our lives relatively rapidly. Your hurt and pain will pass, God will see to it. TODAY, you ARE delivered.

For the future, it is a reminder that this world is not our home. We have citizenship in heaven and we are homesick. I know I am. Imagine if you will the very best possible day here on earth. What would it be, what would you do, what would happen? How much joy would it bring you? Now multiply that 100 x 1,000,000,000^{1,000,000,000}. What you have there is the least exciting day in eternity. So, no matter how bad it gets, or even how good it gets, during our earthly visit, we still have heaven to look forward to and it is so much better than this. It’s PARADISE.

So, hang in there brothers and sisters. Our Savior has better things for us coming right up!

Clueless

With Easter on the way, I want to use the next seven blogs to take a devotional thought from each of the seven last sayings of Christ on the cross. I hope God will use these to both challenge and inspire as you spend this Easter season contemplating His suffering, death, burial, and resurrection on our behalf. We begin with Luke 23:34:

Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.

God has a way of using man’s evil intentions for His good and glory. Joseph is a fine example of this fact. When his brothers, who had sold him into slavery to get rid of him, unknowing stood before him seeking food during a time a famine, he revealed to them who he was, pronounced forgiveness to them, and told them that what they had meant for evil God has used for good. Only God is able to do that! And that is precisely the result Jesus announced on the cross. Like Joseph before Him, Jesus spoke a word of forgiveness to those mean souls who meant to destroy Him and annihilate Him. They wanted to be rid of Him and thought that now they had finally accomplished that feat. Surely His death would be the end of Him and His “trouble-making” revolutionary ways and teachings.

But Jesus understood that what they were doing was all a part of God’s plan. He HAD to die. He HAD to be the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. While his persecutors and enemies thought they were doing themselves a favor, they in fact were the unwitting agents of God accomplishing what in essence would be their own undoing. They meant it for evil, but in their act of crucifixion, God was working the ultimate act of good – He was providing for our salvation.

How do we respond to those who treat us unfairly and wickedly? How do we react and respond to their meanness and opposition? If we are to be like Jesus, we can respond to their hatred with love, to their evil with forgiveness and grace. We can do this because God IS USING their evil for HIS GOOD purpose. Let me suggest three “favors” our persecutors and enemies do for us.

First of all, they push us closer to God. In Psalm 27, David declares that when enemies come against him to destroy him, he will find is refuge in the presence of God. “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.” When others attack you, persecute you, and trouble you, let me encourage you to run to the presence of God for comfort and safety. Through prayer and worship, refresh yourself in His presence, find comfort and safety knowing that you are living for and serving Him. Let Him heal your wounds and recharge your flesh.

Secondly, our enemies strengthen our faith. James 1:3-4 we read, “Dear brothers, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.” Those who trouble us never realize that by persecuting us, they challenge our faith and thereby cause us to grow stronger. The more we are forces to rely on God, the more we find Him reliable. The more we find Him reliable the more trusting we become, the more we are willing to be stretched and the more productive we become in our Christian experience.

Finally, our enemies also confirm our position in Christ. In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus teaches us that

God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are My followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted too.

I have said often, that while I never really want to have enemies, sometimes I wear my enemies as a badge of honor. Some people oppose us for no other reason than we stand for what and Who is right and they don’t. If that be the case, I certainly don’t want to be in their camp. Let’s face it, being right, living right, and doing right will stir up the devil. You might say, if the devil isn’t trying to get you, maybe it’s because he already has you!!!

So, Christ’s words on the cross remind us that we should be prayerful for and merciful to our enemies. God is using them for a higher purpose than what they intend with their meanness. Be glad, rejoice, lift those meanies up in prayer. But most of all, follow the example of Jesus and forgive them. They really are clueless.

Who Has Your Back?

“The only One who really matters has your back!”

That closing line in an email from a church member, friend, and dear sister in Jesus picked me up and propped me up in a big way today. I began to realize God was lifting me out of a hole I have been in for a while now.

Psalm 137:1-4 says,

By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees, for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion." How can we sing the Lord's song on foreign soil?

While our captivity is not a physical one in Babylon, our hearts can yet be made to feel captive by even more formidable foes than Babylon – memories, failures, grief, disappointments, hurts, fear, bad health. While we remember better times when we were closer to God and filled with His joy, these tormentors and captors ridicule us, asking us why we aren’t singing those happy songs we used to sing. How can we sing those songs of joy we used to sing when these faceless enemies have taken our hearts and our spirits captive and led us off into a land of emotional exile? Sometimes it is just impossible to muster one of those old familiar songs.

Let me suggest 3 songs of Zion for you to sing when you feel you have been taken captive and tormented by that unseen enemy. First, try singing “How Great Thou Art.” Nothing makes our problems look smaller than when we compare them to the vast greatness of God. Jeremiah proclaimed “Ah, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!” (Jeremiah 32:17) Those emotions, circumstances, and issue that hold us in bondage are no match for the liberating power of God. As we begin to praise Him and declare His greatness, the shackles begin to disappear.

We can also sing “Victory in Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 15:57 reminds us “thanks be to God who gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.” Because of His sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, there is absolutely no foe that can defeat us, no power that can overcome us, no circumstance that can stop us. No, in fact, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

Let me also suggest singing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us, “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Your captors, whatever they may be, cannot prevent God from bringing to pass what He has planned for you. Philippians 1:6 reminds us that we can be confident that the One “who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

So take your lyre down out of the tree, tune it up, and start singing anyway . . . even if you don’t feel like it. In spite of your circumstances, the only One who really matters has your back!

Thanks, Em!

Snake Charmer

I’ll be happy soon. Spring should be springing anytime now. I really have no tolerance for cold weather; I am among the some who like it hot! Spring teases us with the fragrance of beautiful blossoms and the promise of longer warmer days. But before we officially welcome spring, we celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. Do you remember the childhood game involving St Pat’s day? If you didn’t wear green you might get pinched – or slapped if you pinched the wrong greenless female classmate. But that is another story for another day. Who was this guy, Saint Patrick?

The enduring legends of St. Patrick are that he used a shamrock to explain the Trinity and that he banished all snakes from Ireland. The true story of Patrick, however, survives not in his myths but in his work. Patrick was responsible for converting the people of Ireland to Christianity.

Patrick was born in Britain in the first half of the 5th century. At the age of 16 he was taken to Ireland by pirates and sold into slavery where he was sustained by his faith during his six years working as a herdsman. When Patrick escaped and returned to Britain, he had a vision of the Irish begging him to return to Ireland to spread his faith. Patrick recorded this call to his vocation in the Confessio, his spiritual autobiography and one of his two short writings that have survived.

After studying in continental monasteries, Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary. Despite a constant threat to his life, Patrick traveled widely, baptizing, confirming, preaching, and building churches, schools, and monasteries. Patrick succeeded in converting almost the entire population of the island.

Patrick’s story encourages us to examine what kind of influence we are having on the world around us. If one man could be largely responsible for the conversion of almost an entire island, what could we do in our little corner of the world? I believe three words explain the influence Patrick had on Ireland – he saw, he felt, he acted.

His vision and compassion for the people of Ireland compelled him to proactively involve himself in their lives. He did not merely cast a glance, he saw their need and he felt the call of God to be His partner in bringing them to faith. He did not just pity them, he rolled up his sleeves and went out among them preaching, sharing, and living his faith.

You and I can have that kind of impact in our community if we will slow down long enough to see beyond the faces in the crowd around us and compassionately perceive the needs in the lives of those with whom we come in contact every day. Then we can let our vision and compassion compel us to proactively be involved meeting needs, being a friends, lending a hand, all the while telling the good news of Jesus.

And while you’re at it . . . can you work on those snakes?