merittmusings

Saved by the Name

www.bible.com/1713/act.2.21.csb

On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. I will even pour out My Spirit on My male and female slaves in those days, and they will prophesy. I will display wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and a cloud of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and remarkable Day of the Lord comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Act 2:16-21, HCSB)

The verse of the day from Youversion was a good one, but incomplete. If I were to take that single verse and make it the conditions for salvation, I would be offering a false teaching. In fact, the context of this verse isn’t offering a plan of salvation at all. It is a quote from Joel 2:32.

After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. I will even pour out My Spirit on the male and female slaves in those days. I will display wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awe-inspiring Day of the LORD comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the LORD promised, among the survivors the LORD calls.
(Joe 2:28-32, HCSB)

Joel himself localized salvation only for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. But Peter expands that idea to include all who follow the Lord in faith and upon whom the Spirit falls. Note that in context, Peter quotes this on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit fell upon many who then spoke in tongues.

Paul also uses this passage in Romans 10.

Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Rom 10:11-13, HCSB)

So both Peter and Paul use Joel 2:32 to emphasize what they know to be true in the Christian dispensation. Only by the name of the Lord can anyone could be saved. The sign of the Spirit falling in Jerusalem was Peter’s sign to the people. Paul expanded this even more to say the promise isn’t just to the Jews but also to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. Their emphasis isn’t upon the plan of salvation, for they explain that elsewhere (Peter in Acts 2:32 and Paul in Romans 6). but they are both certain that salvation comes only through the Name of the Lord.

Jesus tells us about this Name in Matthew 28:18-20. He says we are to be baptized in the one Name which is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Joel says this name is Yahweh. Jesus says that the Name, which the ancients transcribed as “Lord” instead of the Divine Name is the Name of Triunity of God in His three Persons.

As I’ve mentioned before, we become a little tone deaf when it comes to salvation, since we often aren’t sure what the salvation is from. Our physical situation does not change. We remain the same person we were. Our name doesn’t change. In fact, the only change we feel is entirely subjective. When we “call on the Name of the Lord” by faith through baptism, we feel different. Our ability to endure challenges and even suffering changes. We are more directed, more hopeful, more possessed of purpose and meaning than we were before. These may not be changes we were expecting, but these are evidence of a new Presence living in us, the Presence of the Holy Spirit, the seal of our inheritance and the hope of heaven resting upon us.

Salvation is found in no on else but in the Name of the Lord. If this is something you want today, I encourage you to make that decision and become apart of your local church. If you don’t have a local church, I encourage you to find one or found one. Don’t try to go this alone. Let this hope and this salvation be yours today.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Repent of your sins and confess them before Him in prayer.

Confess the Name fo Jesus before others as witnesses to your Faith that, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God! He is my Lord and my Savior!”

Offer yourself to Christian baptism by allowing yourself to be immersed in water so that you may receive 1) cleansing from and the forgiveness of the eternal penalty of sins, 2) the free gift of eternal and abundant life, and 3) the most important gift of all, the Person of the Holy Spirit to take up residence in you.

If this is something you would desire today, call a local church or at the very least leave a comment here and I would gladly help in any way that I can. God bless you on your decision to follow Jesus!

In the Name of Jesus Alone

www.bible.com/1713/act.4.12.csb

At the risk of being exclusivist, the name of Jesus alone is the only way anyone can be saved. Now it is important to remember what kind of salvation we are talking about here. Because some people will get the wrong idea.

Some years ago I worked with a young man at chicken hatchery plant. He and I spent hours talking about religion and matters of the day, because I was in my first ministry and was still feeling out what that was like. Yes, I was both working part-time in ministry and working for a local chicken company. That was life then.

One thing that my young co-worker struggled with was his relationship to his girlfriend, that he said lately had run aground. He said they weren’t getting along and as an older, married man, wanted to know if I had any advice for him. So we talked about Jesus. He was not a Christian, but was curious if Jesus could help him in his dilemma. He really loved this girl, but she just didn’t like some of the things he was doing. We talked about faith in Christ and the kinds of changes it could and would bring into his life. He liked what he heard. After several discussions, he agreed he needed to be baptized, and he was the first and only baptism I had in that ministry. After his baptism, I never heard from his again, as he moved on and I left the position at the hatchery.

Something that has always bothered me about his conversion was his motivation. I was certain at the time he possessed saving faith and so I encouraged his baptism. But did this motivation come from a genuine desire to be saved from his sins and serve the Risen Savior, or to get back in good with his girlfriend, a far more immediate need? I hope I will get to meet him again, especially in heaven, so I can ask him.

Salvation is not a panacea. You cannot make it mean whatever you want it to mean. I preached a message a few years ago based on an issue I had with Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” film, in which she depicted her father coming to faith in Christ at their country church because he didn’t want to die and not be with his family. I made the point then that we cling to what brings us to Jesus. If it is something as fickle as the preacher who preached to us the gospel, will we still be Christians if the preacher moves on to a different church? Would Dolly’s father still be a Christian if there is a rift in the family and he stops going to church? If we are led to faith by a girlfriend or wife, and then stop dating that person or we end up divorced, are we still in love with Jesus?

Salvation is not a cure-all for domestic issues, problem family members and the like. Salvation doesn’t take the pain away from childhood abuse, or family trauma. Salvation in Jesus isn’t salvation from poverty or challenging circumstances. Salvation in Jesus is salvation from sin and the renewal of the heart. It is the equipping ministry of the Holy Spirit to help us deal with challenging circumstances. It is the promise and guarantee of eternal life beyond this one, where all of our struggles and tribulations will be repaid in glory. We cannot expect or demand that salvation in Jesus will solve all of our problems. But it helps.

For my young friend above, I hope that even if things did not work out with your girlfriend, you found in Jesus a greater friend above all, so that when you met the next girl she found you to be a godly man. My hope for Dolly’s father was his growing faith in Jesus Christ led to a transformation of his whole family. Seeing a father making Jesus a priority is transformative, so that when the next crisis hits, he doesn’t hit the bottle but he falls to his knees.

Salvation in the Name of Jesus is a tool, but it is the most powerful tool we possess to engage in the struggles of life. Through Him we have hope, that even in the midst of crisis, we know the best is yet to come. We know this is not all there is. We know we have a heavenly Father who lives and exists to teach us and guide us and show us wisdom and order in the midst of chaos. We are not alone.

May I encourage you today to seek this salvation for yourself. Don’t be “married” to a religion or to a physical person or an ideology. These will not save you. Only the Name of Jesus, faith in His life-saving power, His resurrection glory, His surpassing authority, His love for us, all that we could ever hope for, the cross, the burial and the resurrection, the touchstones of our faith in Him, only He can save us truly.

Dear Lord, forgive me where I have failed You, failed to broadcast the wholeness of Your truth and power to others. Father where I have encouraged some to salvation in Christ based on lesser goals, based on lesser needs, please forgive me. For You alone Jesus are enough. You are sufficient for all my needs, all I could ever want. Anything else I have today in relationships and blessings are given only because You love me and know me better than I know myself. Please afford me the grace and mercy today that I may improve my calling and reach out to more who need You. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

Earth Day Redux

www.bible.com/1713/psa.24.1-2.csb

Earth Day brings to mind the ideas of looking at the world around us and remembering how important it is to live on the planet we live on. We hardly have any perspective on this however. What other planet have we lived on? If we lived on the moon or on Mars, we might have a much greater appreciation for the planet earth. Recently I have been watching the Expanse on Amazon, trying to catch up over the last few seasons. One of the characters, Bobbie, is a Martian marine who comes to earth for the first time. her first impressions are that 1) it’s too bright, I have to wear sunglasses, 2) I don’t have to worry about breathing because there is plenty of air, and 3) gravity, ouch. Her character gives me a bit of perspective about the world I live on. I take for granted every day that I have air to breathe. I never give it a second thought. There is always plenty of air. I don’t have to worry about the air recycling system because it always works on this planet. I could be exploring in the deepest parts of the earth and I don’t have to worry about wearing scuba gear, because even in the caves of the earth, there is air.

Have you ever thought that the earth is so ideally suited to our needs, and that it always has been so, maybe it was designed that way? There is an idea floating around in astronomy that all of the universe was suited ideally to our species, a kind of androcentrism. That you changed the laws of physics or the rules of matter even a little bit, you would not have human life. It’s like we were meant to be after all.

If you read the Christian Bible you find that this is central to the creation story. Man is created last, but seniority apparently isn’t important, because it is God’s last creation who is to be in charge of the former, “to have dominion” over the whole earth and be its steward, God’s manager. God alone has ownership over the earth. While we as human beings may run things down here, God is the owner.

So what is the earth? Should it be something that we celebrate or even honor? Or should we simply be grateful that our heavenly Father created for us an ideal place to live, especially suited for our life, which we have found nowhere else in the universe? We have looked and examined alternate places to live, like life on Mars or the Moon. Scientists keep looking for earth-like environments elsewhere in the galaxy, but we are simply unable to find any. All the while, we continue to breathe without worry or thought for it.

If earth day is to be anything, it ought be a day where we are grateful to the Lord above for making us such a magnificent home. We need not worry about air, which we depend on constantly. And we can also thank Him for the other blessings we receive through the planet He has created, like the physical beauty He has built into it. Consider that He could have made the whole world a wasteland (with plenty of breathable air), but He didn’t. He created a whole host of environments to which different people have found pleasing and desire to live in. I love beaches, long stretches of sand and shore and the many variations God has created on that theme. I also appreciate mountains, plains, valleys, skies and seas. I am thankful for each one.

Thank You Lord for everything.

Need a Reminder?

www.bible.com/1713/rom.8.1.csb

As human beings we faced with a terrible problem. We have a sin problem. All of the other problems we possess are minor by comparison. You may differ on this point. And you would be right to, saying we have much greater issues to deal with, like war, poverty, hunger, lack of basic health-care, income inequality and so forth. Those are real problems as well, but at their roots lay sin.

What causes war? Injustice, land grabs, disagreements that cannot be resolved because of pride. You name it, there is a sin cause.

What causes poverty? Indolence, laziness sure, but also greed, avarice, the desire to take from others what is not rightly yours. Sounds like sin again.

What causes hunger? Because the fact that people become hungry, you might as well couple this to the same causes for poverty.

What causes the lack of basic health care? Let’s talk about the needs for basic health care. Why do people need health care? Because we live in a broken world. It has been broken by man’s sin. Because Adam sinned in the garden, the world now faces horrific natural phenomena and disease. And then there is people’s own indifference to their own health needs, by eating too much, drinking too much, abusing drugs, exercising too little, etc. Where does the fault lie with “lack of basic health care”? Certainly there are areas that are underserved, but even in Applachia where I work, folks are only 30 minutes away from the nearest Emergency Room. No one is turned away.

Are there other problems? Certainly. Can they be traced in one way or another back to sin, man’s inhumanity to man, to something similar? Almost certainly. Because what we consider evil in this world always leads back to sin. So is sin the worst problem that we face? Yes.

So how do we solve the sin problem? Before I proceed, you need to know that sin and its effects did not become what they are today overnight. While sin is almost always at the root of the evil we see in this world, even pulling out the sin by the root will take some time to take effect in the larger scheme. Sin has caused very complex problems. Simply removing one man’s sin from the equation will not solve the problem.

Let me give you a case in point: When the four men brought their friend to Jesus to be healed, they let him down through the roof of Peter’s house, because there were too many people present. When they finally got the man in front of Jesus, Jesus accounted that the man’s sin was forgiven. The man was not immediately healed. In fact, there was some argument (from the Pharisees and their pride) about whether Jesus had the power to forgive sin. After some discussion, the man’s illness was healed. My point is that even though the man’s sin problem was solved initially, it took time for the physical healing to take place. It was not immediate. Jesus can heal immediately, but I think this story is important by way of illustration. You can heal the sin problem today, but still have to deal with the consequences of the sin problem a little while longer.

The answer to the sin problem is Jesus of course. Saving faith in Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection, being baptized for forgiveness of sin and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then seeing that faith reflected in your daily activities is really the proof of that salvation. Seeing that kind of life transformation is what changes things. But the effects of a life lived in sin may take longer to work out. A father who didn’t raise his kids as Christians, who then comes to faith in Christ, will not see his kids suddenly become Christians too. Life has consequences. A man jailed for murder, who then becomes a Christian in prison, does not undo the murder that was committed. He must still pay the penalty for his act of evil.

So if salvation doesn’t fix the problem, why do we bother trying it? Because it is the only solution to the problem. Psychology does not transform the way salvation does. Social programs cannot change the heart of a man. Only God can do that. And the problem of sin lies in the human heart. As some have said, we have to “trust the process.” God will work out His will among men in His time. We can only do what only we can do, and that is put our faith in Jesus and trust Him for the outcome.

We know that in this world we will have trouble. The poor we will always have with us. But we aren’t really hoping to live forever in this world, are we? This is why we work on the sin problem, because there will come a time when we will stand before God and must give an account. If we have placed our faith in Jesus, there will be no condemnation for in Him, we are justified because of our faith. That’s how you solve the sin problem.

Lord help me today to walk by faith, to work out that sin problem in my own life by working on my faith, that it be not mere mental assent to the truth of Jesus, but it be lived out in my life. Help me show the world that I am a believer, a disciple, and faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His Name I pray, Amen.

No Delight in Evil

www.bible.com/1713/1co.13.6.csb

Love, Evil and Truth are depicted in this verse as people who could potentially hang out together. I get the feeling that Evil tries to impress Love and fascinate her. Evil tries to make her feel good with all of his little contrivances and dalliances. But Love is not impressed. Love sees all that evil has to offer and takes no delight in any of it. She sees nothing there that she wants.

However, when Love sees truth, Truth is a completely different story. Truth tells her all the things he knows and she rejoices with him. She looks forward to meeting with Truth because Truth makes her happy. She would rather spend her time with Truth than with Evil.

Truth and Evil are not the opposites we expect. We expect Good to be the opposite of Evil and Lie to be the opposite of Truth. But neither of those characters is here. Rather, we get the end of Lie, which is Evil, and the end of Good, which is Truth. Love rejoices with Truth, but does not delight in Evil.

This little parable is intended to show us as Christians where we should spend our time. We should not delight in anything Evil has to offer. We are not Evil, because we represent Love. We were bought and paid for by Love, and practice Love as our chief commandments (love God, love Neighbor, love One Another). Our Love has no business hanging out with Evil, and should not delight in Evil things, deception, or pride.

Rather, Love rejoices with Truth. What is Truth? You know who He is. He will never lie to us. He will always be honest and straightforward with us. And there are times when Truth is more honest with us that we desire. Even when Truth exposes us, we rejoice because we have been found again. Truth can be harsh, but is only cruel when coupled with Evil. As Christians we speak the Truth in Love, intending for Truth to be restorative, not destructive. We ought to build one another up by Truth, because it is sure and lasting, far more than deception and lies.

In your speech and in your thoughts today, let Truth reign in you. Let Love speak with Truth and rejoice with Him. Let Love shun Evil and take no delight in Him. These are admittedly rather broad strokes on the canvas of our lives, but I encourage to work on the finer strokes yourself. See where Truth and Love take you today. Remember that Truth is God’s Truth, not one that we invent. Love is God’s Love, not one that works to satisfy itself.

Dear Lord, I pray for the guidance today to shoe me where Truth and Love meet and rejoice together. Help me realize Paul’s words in my own life. And help me shun the delights of Evil. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

Jilted Jedi

www.bible.com/1713/1pe.1.3.csb

So let me give you some context. I was watching my preacher this morning talk about Peter the Apostle and his story through the gospels. Some of the information my preacher was sharing was new, stuff I had not heard before, but I was sure was probably well sourced if I would take the time to look it up. I have no trouble with my pastor’s conclusions, we all need Jesus to be saved, and we are better following Him than following the Church.

So as I began my investigation into some of these novel pieces of Peter’s background, I was excited at this new dimension of the Apostle, a man perhaps denied the opportunity to become a learned man and later a Rabbi because of a presumed 1) lack of opportunity (due to family misfortune, i.e., death of his father), b) lack of scholarly aptitude, or perhaps c) lack of financial resources in the family. I envisioned a bitter, yet committed family man, not unlike a George Bailey from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Simon (Peter) seemed a man resigned to his fate as a fisherman. He wanted to go off to college, but had to support his family. He was smart, world-wise, and a leader among his peers, but bitter because life had passed him by. And the true greatness he desired would never be his. He is like the high school football star that never left town and works at the Seven Eleven.

However, as my preacher explained this scenario, he hinged it on an understanding necessary to this conclusion, that all Jewish boys undertake a similar educational path. This path was described briefly as an elementary education ending at 12, where most kids get off the education train to learn a trade. Smarter kids are selected to continue to age 16, where only the brightest pursue a career following a rabbi, kind of like a Master-Padawan relationship in Star Wars. However, this was presented without a source, forcing me to delve into the internet for possible support for this idea. The idea of Peter jilted at the spiritual altar was emotionally appealing to me, as was the second chance offered by Jesus to “Follow Me” and become the spiritual leader he wanted to be.

In the Mishnah, Avot 5:21, Rabbi Judah ben Toma (presumably 2nd cent.) formulated a similar pattern of education, without reference to Rabbis and mentoring.

“He used to say: At five years of age the study of Scripture; At ten the study of Mishnah; At thirteen subject to the commandments; At fifteen the study of Talmud; At eighteen the bridal canopy; At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel; At sixty old age; At seventy fullness of years; At eighty the age of “strength”; At ninety a bent body; At one hundred, as good as dead and gone completely out of the world.” (https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.5.21?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en)

While not exactly the same, it seemed to fit the general pattern presented by my pastor. But when I did some more digging, I found that this scheme had been modified to fit what my pastor had taught this morning by a Michigan pastor, Ray Vander Laan of “That the World May Know Ministries” as his source for how Rabbis selected their students and how students advance in their faith. (https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/rabbi-and-talmidim).

Of even greater interest, I heard my pastor speak of Peter’s intention to become like his Rabbi Jesus when it came to walking on the water. He said that walking on the water was Peter’s attempt to be more like his Master. He also said that Jews believed the water was the abyss, the home of the dead, so that Jewish people would not have been surprised to see a ghost walking on the water. I had heard of neither of these ideas before, yet, when looking at Vander laan’s website, I found both of these ideas in this article: https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/when-storms-come-article.

Is that a problem? Perhaps, because Vander laan is often quoted as saying that Jewish culture and thought have to be understood before we can understand the Bible, i.e., we need secret, specialized knowledge to understand Scripture (see source below). That’s a form of Gnosticsm, an ancient second century heresy among the early Christian Churches. This one is a bit more insidious, since the information sounds biblical. Worse that in order for you to understand it correctly, you have to take Vander Laan’s word on it, since he doesn’t correctly cite his sources.

I am troubled that my understanding of the text requires knowledge of first century rabbinical instruction to be understood correctly. I don’t mind such knowledge being available to inform my understanding, however, when it is crucial to understanding a text, but that makes the Bible insufficient for faith and practice, does it not?

There are more strong echoes of Vander laan (and even Rob Bell) in this teaching. In addition to Peter’s reasoning for walking on the water, Vander laan is also known for teaching that all the disciples were teenagers, except for Peter, who was likely 20. This idea can be found here: https://www.thattheworldmayknow.com/to-be-a-talmid The fact that this repeated by my pastor this morning made me question where he was getting his sources. I don’t fault the man, it just makes me question the veracity of some of the background information he digs up. Like I said before, I agree with His conclusions, just not how he gets there.

So in essence, for this reconstruction of Peter’s life to be fleshed out, I must take this secret knowledge to gain a better understanding. Now it may be true. But sadly, I don’t have enough solid support to make it so. In fact, the education and literacy of children in first century Galilee is still a matter of debate, and under much discussion. Archaeology is only now corroborating some of this information, and only sparingly.

If I want to believe that Peter was a Rabbi school reject, that’s on me. If I teach that, then I cross into dangerous territory. I can’t prove it, only suggest it. All of that to say this: I think we know more about Peter than any other disciple. We can speculate about his life experiences all we want, but none of that changes this one fact: Peter witnessed a risen Lord, a resurrected Jesus, and that changes everything for him.

Today, we may observe that one week after Easter, Jesus appeared to Thomas, removing all doubts he had about the Lord. Something Jesus said that say ought to resound in us, “Blessed are those who do not see, yet believe.”

God help my eyes to see the risen, living Lord, not with eyes of flesh, but eyes of faith. Help me to be emboldened as Peter was to glorify the name of Christ and lift Him up wherever I am. Thank You Jesus for saving me. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

A couple articles I found of interest on this subject, the first describing Ray Vander laan and some of his false teachings, the second a concise form of this rabbinic education both taught by my pastor this morning and by Vander laan.

https://relationalconcepts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/VLPDF12609.pdf

https://cldibillings.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/myrabbi.pdf

In Our Own Way

www.bible.com/1713/isa.53.6.csb

Have you ever gotten in your own way? I mean, have you ever caught yourself sabotaging your own needs and desires? That may sound odd, but people do it all the time. They sabotage their happiness, their joy, even their wants, but especially their needs. Often we do this for unselfish reasons. We will give up what we want to satisfy what someone else wants. Mothers and fathers do this often for the sake of their children. Friends and siblings do this for one another.

But a darker form of this occurs when you know you ought to do the right thing, and the right things would be much better for you (like taking medication for a health issue) but you sabotage yourself and ignore it, or ignore the visit to the doctor, or eat sweets )as a diabetic) or take another drink (as an alcoholic), etc. Your temporary pleasure sabotages your well-being.

I want you to consider this now on a spiritual scale. Since this is what Isaiah is after this morning. How do you sabotage yourself spiritually? Isaiah says each of us has gone his own way. And I’m afraid, we have gotten in our own way, that is we have sabotaged our own well-being by bad behaviors, namely sin. Thus the Lord has punished Him, our Savior Jesus Christ, for the iniquity of us all. God’s attempt to rescue us from our own self-sabotage is to send His Son, with a message of hope and faith, but to suffer in Himself the penalty for our sins. All this in the hope we will get out of our own way and into His. We are lost. We have been lost ever since we seized the map of our lives and tried to interpret it for ourselves. There is no GPS or self-help manual that will help us be found again. We have to call upon the name of the Lord, the One who wrote the map, from wherever we are if we will be found.

If this has helped you on a Saturday morning, then I hope it has encouraged you to find your way back to the Lord, the Master and Director. May He guide you to His way today, and help to find others that are lost.

Dear Father, I know each of us has worked hard to wander. Like the alcoholic, the diabetic, we have continued to do those things we know are wrong, and not good for us, seduced by the siren song of sin. But Lord, I am grateful You came all those years ago to show us a new path, the way home. Praise be to the Lord of Heaven and Earth. May Your name be praised forevermore. In that Name we pray today, Amen.

So That’s What He Meant

www.bible.com/1713/isa.25.8.csb

It should be no surprise that the Lord means exactly what He says, but we may not know exactly what He means when He says it. As a case in point, we see this passage in Isaiah, where He promises to destroy death. No doubt some saw this as saying no one would ever physically die again. That’s reasonable. But He meant they through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, no one who suffer eternal death who embraced Jesus and put their faith in Him.

These promises made her are dependent upon faith in Christ. The destruction of death and the wiping of tears depend upon the Christian faith. The removal of disgrace may not even be realized thus side of heaven, but again, God is a eternal being. The short span of life we consider our whole lives is but a heartbeat to Him. What we consider our whole world is but labor pains to Him heralding our birth into immortality. How we choose to react and live in these scant fee years determines how we will live forever.

Those sound like some significant choices.

Right now you have the choice go follow God, to trust Him based on the evidence you’ve been given, or to deny Him. Your choice today has eternal consequences. But God did not leave Himself without evidence. That is why He abolished death in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He set forth this single indisputable fact on the landscape of human history. Whether or not you choose to believe it is laid before you.

Lord Jesus I pray for every heart that reads this blog today. May they each consider their choice for eternity and choose to follow You. May fhey consider how much You love them and gave Your life, the life of Your son Christ Jesus, so that we wound live? Lord Jesus so move us to faith in Your holy, precious name, Amen.

Slavery to the Law

www.bible.com/1713/gal.5.1.csb

Anyone feel like slaves yet? Just this morning I came across a handful of stories about citizens rallying in their state capitols (my state being among them) to return to work and end the lockdown/ shutdown of the state sue to the Corona pandemic. I too reflect the sentiment of these citizens, since I have felt like in my area at least, the pandemic shutdown has been a bit excessive.

First, the pandemic shutdown was to prevent an overload of the healthcare system. I believe this was a good call. But now the healthcare system I work for has furloughed employees because the number of patients has been reduced. Let me repeat that. The healthcare system I work for has had to furlough employees and reduce the work hours of “essential” employees. We are not overrun. Far from it. In fact, I would like to see us overrun a little bit and get some folks who depend on their bi-weekly paychecks to live on get some work.

Second, in our area we have had one confirmed case. That one case has been safely excluded. Testing has been expanded, so that anyone else who feels they might have Corona can be safely quarantined. Treatments for Corona, though not scientifically proven, have shown promise, from drugs readily available, so that any new cases may potentially be treated with speed and efficiency. The threat that an overwhelmed health system will disrupt life as we know it has been overshadowed by a bigger threat, that our economy has already been disrupted far beyond what we imagined. Basic freedoms are being denied. Though important and significant to stem the initial outbreak, those common-sense measures are making less sense as time wears on. We may need to continue “social distancing” for a while yet, but closing businesses and disrupting livelihoods as we have is no longer tenable. If we have both accelerated testing and treatment, coupled with a low mortality rate (compared to similar diseases) then we ought to resume normal operations.

Three, this incident has become a tool for government overreach. In the name of “abundance of caution” and “unprecedented” our state governors have exercised power far beyond their mandate, even to the overrule of rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Again, those cautions made sense in the face of an unknown disease. But we know more now than we did four weeks ago. Being so educated, I think people will be more cautious with social interaction going forward. Even if we opened things back up to business as usual, I believe people will still have this pandemic mindset, which is exactly what we should do until this disease runs its course. But because of the mandate, many state and local governments have shown their true colors, to the closing of freedom to assembly (to protesters and churches), and freedom of religion, for which the Easter holiday was a severe test. Arresting people in parks for being with their families, taking license plate numbers in a church parking lot on Easter morning, even to arresting people who are standing off by themselves in the woods, just because they are not at home, these are all signs of a state in love with its own power, forgetting that it derives its power from the people, not the other way around. Our rights are not guaranteed by the state, they come from God. Man has the right to life, liberty, and property. When government steps in and overrules the individual, it treads the fine boundary between “safety” and tyranny. Consider also that now the lawmakers are calling for mail-in voting. If you want to have a voice in this coming election, you must fight for in-person voting. It is far too easy in our information age to generate millions of fake votes by mail or internet. We must insist on in-person voting if we are to keep our voice heard in the public square.

Four, since the kids have been home the last several weeks from school, I’ve noticed something peculiar. My kids are still getting an education without being exposed to drugs, excessive profanity, and the other filth that comes from public schooling. Its almost as if we don’t need the physical buildings that exorbitant amounts of money are spent on in order to accomplish the goal of educating our children. I suspect that my kids will be able to graduate this semester without riding a bus. How is this possible? Has this always been possible? And if so, shouldn’t this inform our decisions the next time school funding comes up? Oh, but think of all the things they are missing out on, like sports, theater, school trips, etc. Oh, you mean like the school trips to go see the latest movies, or to go the arcade or the bowling alley? But what if my kids excel at sports? I think there are important lessons to be learned in sports, and I grieve this loss as much as anyone, but do you need the rest of the school building, or even a special field just for the school to make it happen? Do I need to ask my history teachers (or others) to reduce their focus, or completely forget their teaching responsibilities because I want them to focus on coaching? I have had history teachers who are coaches, and it is obvious why they were hired, and it wasn’t for their knowledge of history.

Well, I’m sorry I didn’t have a very spiritual meditation today. But I do want to emphasize that as Christians, we are the most free, and as such, ought to advocate for freedom where we can. We do not want to take the path to slavery again, in any form. We live in the freest nation on earth. We should never tolerate any infringement on our freedoms, for any reason. And if we do, it needs to be very important, and very temporary. I feel we have done the first, but not the second.

I Have Been Crucified

www.bible.com/1713/gal.2.20.csb

I once was dead, but now I am alive. I once was lost, but now I’m found. I once had no purpose, no direction, and no point to my life, until I met Jesus. In Him is life, a better life than anything that I could have ever imagined. I owe it all to Christ, who gave His life for me. Since I have been crucified with Christ, I have also risen with Him. Since I have been baptized in Christ, I have been raised with Him. Though I may live in my flesh, I live by faith. I live by hope. I live by the promise of the Son who rose that I too will rise again when my flesh is no more.

Do you know what it’s like to feel loved like that? To be loved so much that someone is willing to give their whole life for you? Paul makes it personal in this verse. He does not remark “He died for us,” but “He died for me.” Paul knew what Jesus was like. He had met Him. Though some debate it, I believe Paul and Jesus had long conversations together outside of Damascus for three years, with Jesus teaching him personally. I believe Paul applied a unique understanding to this education through his vast intellect and education in the rabbinic schools. Of all the disciples, only Paul possessed this kind of education. It was because of this education that he became a zealot for persecution, and this was also his greatest shame. Like Peter before him, Paul needed that extra measure of time and attention from Jesus (“Peter, do you love Me?”) to turn his soul around. I see Jesus taking the necessary time to transform Saul to Paul, the raging anti-Christian zealot to the devoted follower of Jesus. Imagine the contrast Paul must have seen between the forgiving Christ and the Church he met in Jerusalem. They didn’t want him and were afraid of him. But he had seen and known Jesus. He loved and eventually overcame their insecurities to become a powerful evangelist and missionary due in part to Barnabas’ patience.

If you have ever been in need of motivation, I want you to take some encouragement from the Apostle Paul. Paul made it personal because it is personal. Jesus died for you. He died for all but He also died for you. Jesus made it personal when He came in the flesh and we discovered His name, Jesus. He was no longer the “Word” of God. He was God in flesh, flesh just like mine. He lived and breathed. He had a real human voice. He did this for me. He loves me so much, He not only had prophets predict His coming, but Apostles to ensure that His story would reach my ears. This is the love of a God who loves me above everything else. This is the God who saves, and saves me, even such a one as me.

It is helpful sometimes to consider that Jesus saves me, because sometimes I don’t feel very useful or important. But Christian don’t hold onto this as if it’s your very own, and only your own. This is a message that needs to be spread to all people, all the “me’s” out there who are desperate for purpose, for mission, for direction in their lives. Savor the personal nature of salvation, but don’t hold onto it. Share it! Savor it, but spread it! Let it motivate you to become a spokesman to someone else. Let the love of Christ so overflow the banks of your own heart as to fill someone else. The flow you receive will only grow stronger when it goes out to others.

Lord Jesus, help me to practice this faith, in my life and in my home. I need you today more than ever. Show me those today for whom I can pray and share my faith. Grant me the discernment not to throw my pearls before swine, but for hearts that have been prepared for Your message this day. For this I pray. Amen.