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www.bible.com/1713/1pe.4.8.csb

I have been thinking about how best to describe this. In my experience as a Chaplain, I have learned a few things about human nature. I find that people exist on three levels, or depths. Since I work in a healthcare setting, I find these three depths more pronounced that they might be under normal circumstances, so the seams are more obvious.

First, each person has a level of physicality, a dimension of their being that relies solely on what they can see, hear, taste, smell and touch. It is a reality that exists within the scope of their flesh, and the needs of their body. Basic needs like hunger and thirst, pain and pleasure, all manifest themselves in the body, and affect the mood in different ways. A person who arrives in physical pain can be very irritable, even angry. But when the physical pain is answered with chemicals, like pain-killers, their mood lightens. When hunger is met with food, the outlook brightens. Dealing with the physical self is actually the easiest of the three. And once you understand that it is only the physical self that is manifesting these bad behaviors, then you have an easier time of dealing with such a person. It’s not personal. They are just hungry. They’re just experiencing pain.

The second level is a bit more profound. This is the level of their mental being. It is much harder to find the causes and problems associated with this level, because it can only be discovered through language. You must talk and listen to the person to discover their mental state, to discover what pain and suffering they are enduring by what they say, and even how they say it. The most basic of these is body language, that use of the body to express mental condition. A body in a defensive posture (arms folded, legs crossed) points to a need to defend oneself from something, or someone who feels uncomfortable, or doesn’t agree with you. A body in an open posture (arms wife, legs splayed) is a mind that is open and receptive. But there are subtleties even here that only experience will tease out. But the mind is host to all sorts of needs, wants, desires that are always working, always flowing just underneath the surface of the body.

But the third, the spirit, is the most difficult to understand and reach. For below the flow of body and mind is the spirit, a moral compass (or lack thereof), a conscience that is either affirming or accusing. Here there is either peace (that comes from God) or an incessant stream of guilt. The level of the spirit can either be a place filled with light and grace, or a dark hollow place in the pit of the stomach. However, those whose spirits are filled with grace from peace with God tend to allow their spirits freer flow in their lives, while those whose spirits are guilt-ridden tend to bottle it up out of sight.

This is where today’s text comes into play. To reach that level of spirit, love must extend not just to the flesh (Hey, nice body!), or even into the mind (I love the way you think!) but into the soul, the innermost part of a person (I don’t care what you’ve done, I still love you.) To love deeply is to love as God loves us, that even when we were His enemies, He sent His Son to die on the cross for us, so that we would be reconciled to Him.

I would challenge you today to do the same. Consider every person you have contact with today a person who needs love, not just for how they look or the way they think, but for the soul that exists deep inside them. That’s where the image of God rests upon them. For God is spirit. And each of us are made in His image. If you love God, then you will love seeing His face in every person you meet, even if those images are marred by sin and suffering. There is still a glimmer of God’s handiwork in each person, and it is up to us to offer grace to each one in Jesus’ Name.

Lord, help me to see You in every person I meet today. You have made each person, each of us in Your image. It’s just hard for me to imagine this, because I’ve met alot of people who do not act like you. Please help me extend Your grace to everyone I meet. Because You are full of grace for each person. I just need to see it. Thank You for all You have done for me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/col.3.23-24.csb

You’ve probably heard the tired phrase, “working hard or hardly working?” or its close associate, “work smarter not harder.” But what about “work heartily as unto the Lord”? All three phrase embody a a different aspect of our being. To work hard is to employ your physical strength to your work, because the work requires you to apply your strength and stamina to a project. It doesn’t take intelligence so much as a willingness to work out the plan and a desire to complete it. All the intelligence is done up front. To work smarter is to work with devices or mechanisms that will make the same output, but with less physical effort, like using a lever instead of simple brute force. Or to make the plan in such a way that minimal physical effort is required.

But what about working heartily? Or working with all your heart? What does the heart have to do with work? Some jobs require so greater heart than you already provide, especially if you are passionate about what you do. My wife is the most passionate person I know when it comes to her work. She will spend long hours at the hospital to make sure her mommas and babies are the happiest and healthiest they can be as they in the process of being born. As a midwife, she found her passion early and has never let it go. I have always admired that about her.

In the same way, when I am preaching or teaching, I have a fire in me that won’t easily let go. I too have a passion for what I do. For these its easy to work heartily. If you have a passion for your work, this one is a no-brainer for you. If you have a passion for it.

And that’s where the problem comes in. If you don’t have a passion for your work, that makes it hard work. If it’s hard physical work to being with, well, “your heart just isn’t in it.” But according to today’s text, that’s not an option for a Christian. For the believer, in everything we do, we heartily, as unto the Lord. It’s not just a job. It’s a witness. It’s not just a task, it’s an opportunity. Only rarely do we work alone. There are always people around to see how we do the things we do. When they see us working cheerily at a task others consider depressing, they will wonder, and they will be curious about the joy we have within us.

It is hard to “keep up appearances” when there’s no joy within. So how do we keep that up? Pray while you work. Praise while you work. Make God a part of your daily grind, and it won’t be so much of a grind. At the risk of sounding “racist”, I might remind you of the teams of planters and harvesters in the Old South, that company of slaves who went to work the fields. If you were to visit the team on that back-breaking effort, you might find them singing, employing the rhythm of their music to assist them in keeping the work. And what would they sing? We call them “spirituals” but you might just as well call them praise. Even in the midst of their slavery, and that is the worst form of work, they praised the Lord. We might learn something from this.

I don’t know what you do to earn bread for your table, but may I encourage you, instead of simply working harder, or smarter, work with all your heart. When your heart is full, the work is not do hard, but it is a blessing to you and others. Remember even in this, God has called you to be His witness to the world.

Dear Father, thank You for the blessing of work. Without it, I can’t imagine what my life would be. Lord help me use my work today to bless others, to be a witness to Your peace in me, Your grace in me, that I may glorify Your holy Name wherever I am. Thank You Jesus for this marvelous salvation. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/isa.6.8.csb

Are you ready for some real responsibility today? If you went to Church yesterday, or were imparted some nugget of spiritual truth, you are now responsible for it. You can no longer plead ignorance. In your hands is the key that will unlock someone’s life today. Will you jealously hold onto it as if it is your own? Did you invent this truth? Did it come to you by inspiration? Is it truly yours? No, you were taught it yesterday by someone else who received it from God’s Word. Now you are responsible for sharing it with someone else.

As Isaiah stood in his vision of the Lord’s Temple, he heard the Lord reasoning within Himself, asking who will go to the people of Israel and tell them of His great plans for them. Seeing no one else around, Isaiah volunteered. “Here am I. Send me.” I fear we are far more likely to see others, point to them, and say, “There’s somebody. Tell them to go. I’m too busy.” That may have been true surrounded by Christians, fellow believers and worshippers, but what about today? Who will convey God’s message to the people in your workplace? Who will tell others at the store or the shop? Look around you. Is there anyone else? God today is saying, “I have great plans for the people of the world. Who will go and tell them?” What will you say?

“Here am I. Send me. I will tell them.”

You are sent. Go and tell.

Lord Jesus help me today to remember my commission as a child of God. I have been sent to tell the world of Your majesty, Your holiness, Your judgment, and Your mercy and grace through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help me remember what I need to say to those that need to hear it, because I bear the greatest message in the world. Help me tell them about Jesus. In His Name I pray, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/1jn.1.9.csb

While God is faithful is forgive us our sins (if we ask, since He has already paid for them by the blood of Jesus), it seems hardly “just”. It is probably the most unjust thing for God to do. Because our sins are the very epitome of injustice. Every sin we commit is an act of rebellion against a holy God. Every sin, blatantly committed to His face, even though we know better, is an affront to His Being and Love. Would you spit in the face of one you love? And yet this we do time and again when we sin.

No, to me it hardly seems just that such a God would both forgive and be just in His forgiveness, but He is. For He has already paid the price for such an affront by expressing His love for us in this: He sent His Son, Jesus, to live among, to teach us a new Way, and to give His life for us, not just because He willingly laid it down, but that we willingly took it from Him.

Our sin had so separated us from the Lord Jesus, the One, perfect human being, that we would have hated Him. He is so righteous and so pure, that none of us would be able to stand Him. None of us would be able to look Him in the eye. And His very existence would be testimony against us. We would have gladly participated in His murder, because our sinful selves cannot abide holiness. Don’t imagine yourself to be any different. Sin and Holiness are mutually exclusive. You cannot have both. And every Christian alive today knows the careful line we straddle between the two, and the struggle to stay on the right side of it. Temptation reaches across often, and often snags and tears us from that pedestal of holiness. Again and again, Jesus reaches back across to rescue the lost sheep, the believer who has lost his way, telling him how much He loves him, and wants him back.

My friends if you have never experienced this kind of love, then you don’t know Jesus’ love. If you’ve never felt the overwhelming love that comes from Jesus who again and again loves us despite our sin, because He loves us so much that He gave His life for us, shed His blood for our souls. He will not lightly let us go. For Him, justice is to pay for our nonredeemable sins. We cannot pay for them. We can’t. No amount of good deeds will ever justify us. We cannot level the balance. No matter how hard we try or how good we are, we will always fall short of perfection. Nobody’s perfect? No, no one but Jesus. And because He was, no one else is good enough. God does not grade on a curve, but He gives grace through faith and trust in His Son.

And this is the promise He extends to you. He wants you to experience His love, peace (from not being in conflict with Him), and righteousness (something we can never achieve on our own, but He freely offers by His grace). He offers all of this to you if want it. He is faithful to keep His promises, and He us just, because has already paid the price for your admission.

Dear Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters who may not have felt this kind of love before, freely offered, at such great and terrible cost, just so that they come to belief and faith in Christ, and live eternally with You. There has never been anything so costly, and yet so personal. Please Lord, let all who read this take comfort in Your presence and grace today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/2co.5.17.csb

Have you ever been the new guy? When I transferred to Harney Elementary between semesters in my first grade year, I had to say goodbye to all my old friends and try to fit in to a new group. It was challenging, especially for someone like me who doesn’t make friends easily. I was “assigned” a friend by the teacher to help me out and show me the ropes at the new place, but it wasn’t the same. I did feel very much alone. Along the way, I did make some new friends, at least people I could sit with at lunch, but have always felt like the outsider.

And then about six years later, I converted to Christianity. Not that my parents weren’t Christians, but I took more time just because I was terrified of being drowned in baptism. Luckily, I made it. But something else was “wrong”. I wasn’t the same person. Oh I had the same body, the same eyes, still wore glasses and my clothes still fit, but my person was changed. it took time for that change to take effect, as I was only 12 and I wasn’t finished growing up yet, but began to see the world differently. Church started to make more sense. I became acutely aware of my sins and sinful desires.

You see, being a new person had nothing to do with the color of my skin, but the change in my heart. I intentionally chose the image above to make this point. We have brothers and sisters in Christ whose skin color doesn’t match our own. But it isn’t about the skin. It’s about the heart. When the heart has been changed, when we become that new person, we are brothers all the same.

I guess that’s all the point I have today. Just wanted to share that with you.

Lord, help me see past the skin, past the eyes and the cloak of racism that many are trying to cover us all with. Help me as a Christian to see others as You see them, for you do not look upon the outer man, but upon the heart. Help me hear the heart of my brothers and sisters. In Your Name I pray, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/psa.55.22.csb

How often do you get “shook”? I have to admit it’s not often, but it does happen. I am sometimes subject to stories that curl my toes and cause me to be thankful that I have my family and my wife. I hear some stories that make me question how people can be so cruel to each other. How do people go from one day to the next without God?

But I have also heard stories about the inhumanity of a church to a person, and wonder if the institution that I serve deserves the care and nurturing I offer it. I have seen some churches that dishonor the message of grace and should not call themselves Christian, and they are usually the ones that consider themselves blameless. I just don’t understand sometimes why some people think that the church is their personal power playground and that they ought to be able to do whatever they want without consequences. Should we not at least remember that the Church belongs to God?

But that’s kind of the point to this verse, isn’t it? We ought to cast these kinds of burdens upon the Lord. We know that trusting in His solid foundation we will never be shaken. And that is where we should all be. We can and should never trust in a preacher, or a church. Those, as good as they are, are based on men. They are only as good as their trust in God goes. But when pride enters the picture, well, pride goes before destruction.

I guess I need to speak from humility this morning and remind myself that it’s not about me. It’s not about what I want, or how I want things done. I need to remind myself that this is God’s plan. This is God’s work. And God will put the men and women in the place he sees fit to accomplish His purposes. Some will appear to be greatly successful, but like a turtle on a fencepost, no one gets there because of their own greatness, but by the grace of God. If there is anyone great within the church, anyone of note, it is because God has put them there. And sometimes they need to be reminded. And yes it is a humbling thing to be a pastor.

God help me today to resist shaking by putting my trust and foundation in You. I have no more sure place to establish myself than in Your promises. Thank You Lord for Your grace, and reminding today that all that I am I am in You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/gal.6.7.csb

If there is a command is Scripture we need to heed today it is this one: “Don’t Be Deceived!” Now I could go on about reaping what you sow, but I don’t think that is as important here as the first. I certainly believe you will reap what you sow, and don’t think you won’t If you sow corruption, you will receive corruption. If you sow resentment, you will receive it back in kind. But if you sow love, grace, and encouragement, these things will also come back to you. If you sow the gospel, I can’t imagine the reward that you will receive in heaven.

But first things first. Do not be deceived, which also means, know the truth. Don’t be gullible. Don’t go with the first witness, but carefully examine all the witnesses you can before you come to an conclusion. I cannot stress this enough with the Corona Virus. We have been indundated with witnesses, both scientists, doctors, medical professionals, politicians, news pundits, etc., etc. about how best to deal with the “outbreak”. Do not be deceived. Do not be hoodwinked. Listen for truth. Coonsider that God does sometimes send these things along to chastise nations, and we have certainly been chastised as a nation. I believe families have been brought together in ways during all of this that God approves.

But I also know that this is an election year. The Democrats, despite having a field of 20 something candidates, came down to a predictable few, and those just don’t have what it takes. I’m sorry if you are a Democrat, but neither Biden nor Sanders just don’t feel presidential. What happened to the noble statesman? Why are we always talking about scandals? Where are the noble policies to motivate Americans to do better, to be better than we are, instead of all of this class conflict and racism?

Being an election year, and knowing that we have had deadly illnesses in the recent past given no more than a column in the paper, I have to wonder if we are being deliberately deceived? Just a few years ago, Ebola was in the news. Our hospital prepared for it, wrote our special protocols, and some Americans were affected by it. We did not lock down the nation. That idea never came up. Who was president at that time? President Obama.

Ebola was a far more serious and dangerous disease than Corona Virus 19, including hemorrhagic fever, a horrible term of illness, and possible death. No one mentioned lockdown. No one even talked about quarantining the nation, or closing schools or businesses. Life went on as normal.

But now we have COVID-19 (ooh scary!) and it’s like the comet is coming to destroy the earth. Are there parts of the country having a horrible time of it? Certainly. Is the entire country having an equal bad time of it. Absolutely not! Therefore you do not need to treat the whole country in the same way. Do not be deceived.

How many people have you been to talk about Jesus to since you entered quarantine? More or less? How many times have you been able to gather with believers? To fellowship and worship? Has an invisible virus kept you from an Almighty God? I hope not.

As Christians, we are to be vigilant. The Devil goes around seeking who He may devour. Without our fellow Christians and accountability, have we been as strong “alone together” as we ought to be together?

Thanks for reading. Keep your eyes open. Don’t give up.

Thank you Jesus for calling us to truth.

www.bible.com/1713/act.1.9.csb

A little celebrated day on the church calendar probably deserves more attention that we give it. It’s called Ascension Day, and it is the day 40 days after Easter (Resurrection Sunday) that we remember the last day of Jesus. For forty days after His resurrection, our Lord made several appearances to His disciples, and while only a few are recorded in the final pages of the gospels, we are led to believe that there were longer visits in Galilee after the first couple of weeks. During these extended visits, we might surmise that he offered additional teaching to them, teaching which they then explained to us. For example, the sacrificial purposes of His crucifixion were probably explained to them, something which He had only touched on before. He might have explained the Scriptures to them showing them (like the disciples on the way to Emmaus) how the Old Testament and His new revelation fit together, which explains how Peter and the others so readily quoted Old Testament passages in Acts. Of course this is all speculation, because all we really know is that He spent that time with His disciples. But I have no doubt that would have been a master class of preparation for them as they were prepared to build the church on Jesus’ message and life.

For us, most of us anyway, have had to spend these 40 days in quarantine, and only this month have started to see some things open up. So I hope you all have had plenty of time preparing your heart and soul for when things open back up again. There is a sense in which the church itself is going to be reborn, rebirthed from its cocoon of stay-at-home orders and social distancing. In the coming weeks we will need to do some ascending, rising from our homes on Sunday mornings and making our way to the churches to rejoin one another in spirit and song.

My hope for you is that you have been healthy, and that you have been working on your spirit as much as your flesh. We all want to be healthy in body, but it will have been for nothing if our spirit is not also healthy. I want to encourage you, if you haven’t already, get into the word. Get into prayer. Get into a local church where you are fed. Please don’t depend solely on the dollup of truth you get in these blogs. Pursue truth. Pursue God’s Work in your life and others. Never be content with what you already know, but always be seeking.

One day I hope we all ascend to meet Him in the air. Until then, always be ready. God bless you today!

www.bible.com/1713/rev.3.20.csb

When I was in college, I stayed in the dorm. Two guys to a room, down a long hallway lined with similar doors. I felt like a sardine in a can. I hated having the door closed, because it made the confined space feel so much smaller, so I left the door open as much as possible. I liked being able to see who was walking past, just to let me know that my world was a little bigger.

I still like to keep the door open. I like my privacy, but I like feeling part of that larger world, that I am not alone. It also reminds me that if I even think about being up to no good, someone could walk in at any moment. And that keeps me safe, knowing that I am accountable to others for my behavior. A lot of bad things happen behind closed doors.

So when Jesus comes and knocks on the door, what do you do? Inherent in the question is that the door is closed. As good a person as I may be, there are some things I don’t want Jesus to find. Like unexpected visitors, you have to quickly clean and hide stuff to allow them inside. I don’t keep the cleanest of houses, and there’s always something that needs cleaning. To have an unexpected visitor drop by is challenging. To have Jesus knock on the door is downright terrifying.

But knock He does. Behind your closed door, what do you do? Do you tell Him to come back later when you have time? Do you tell Him to wait a minute while you get your life cleaned up so He has a place to sit? Do you crack the door open and ask Him, “What do you want?” Do you let Him in?

Because Jesus walks in, He will not be content to stay in your front room. He will want not only to clean, but also make improvements. He will want to see every room in the house, including the closets. Jesus is a carpenter. He will be taking your measure. He has plans for your house than you cannot imagine. But only if you let Him in.

Jesus I hear you knocking at my door. I know that opening at door and letting You in will change my life. Help me have the courage to open. I need you in my house. In Your Name, Amen.

www.bible.com/1713/rom.1.16.csb

What does shame look like? Is shame quiet in the face of mocking and persecution? Is it going along with a joke when it is convenient? Or is it quietly agreeing with someone mocking our Savior because you can’t or you won’t disagree? Have you ever been ashamed to share the gospel?

I know I’ve been in those situations. It is uncomfortable, not only because its awkward, but because this verse is running through your mind. It is one feeling I hate, I dread, because it happens just often enough to remind me of who I am supposed to be.

Yes there are times I feel bullied, and feel I have to shut up lest I endure mocking and ridicule I don’t think anyone enjoys that. I freely admit that I have been less that I should be. Often. And yes, there have been times I have been ashamed to speak His name. My only prayer is that the Lord will understand my circumstances and forgive me.

Thanks for reading today.