Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’” – Mark 8:15

This warning from Jesus remains extremely relevant even though the Pharisees and Herod are long gone. Jesus often used the image of leaven (or yeast) mixed into dough to illustrate the powerful effect even small things can have on the whole. It doesn’t take much leaven to turn plain old flour and water into excellent dough for bread. A little leaven has an enormous and transformative impact. That includes the leaven of sinful mindsets that easily infect the followers of Jesus.

The leaven of the Pharisees is the temptation to add man-made rules and the mandatory following of human traditions to the practice of our faith. It’s the temptation to take back control over salvation from God’s limitless grace and instead make ourselves feel self-righteous through “good” behavior while relentlessly finding fault in others for their “bad” behavior. This is a constant temptation for God’s people! As followers of Jesus, we’re called to live holy lives in obedience to God’s commands. But are we doing that out of love and gratitude for God’s grace which we’ve already received? Or do we secretly think we’re somehow making ourselves more acceptable to God, more loved by Him, and more deserving of His grace? The leaven of the Pharisees easily and invisibly infects the attitude behind the good things we do and the eyes with which we view other people as they struggle with sin in their lives. Take some time right now to prayerfully look for the leaven of the Pharisees in your heart and mind…

The leaven of Herod pulls us in the opposite direction. It’s about falling in line with the powers and culture of this fallen world. Herod was a political creature who knew how to work the system of the Roman Empire for power, influence, and wealth. Those aligned with Herod enjoyed the sinful delights of Greco-Roman life rather than the delights of holy lives devoted to God. This also easily infects followers of Jesus! When we become overly concerned with political power. When we’re willing to compromise the character and commands of Jesus to gain (or keep) influence or protect our prosperity or social standing. When we surrender to the sinful delights of a culture drunk on sex, money, cruelty, and endless entertainment. Take some time right now to prayerfully look for the leaven of Herod in your heart and mind… Then #FollowJesus

“For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.” – Romans 7:5

Knowing all the rules isn’t particularly helpful if you haven’t experienced the love, kindness, mercy, or grace of the One Who made them. Trying to be a really good person by doing all the right things doesn’t ultimately make anyone a good person. It makes them a frustrated person, a resentful person, a hypocritical person, a rebellious person, and/or an exhausted person. But not a good person.

Why? Because we can’t keep all the rules all the time. Nobody can. More than that, deep awareness of rules without the loving touch of the rule-maker drives us to break the rules. Just as an overly strict diet leaves us thinking only of how to break it without anyone noticing, when we’re burdened by rules and laws we’re stirred up to break them. The more we know what’s expected without knowing the love of the One setting the expectations, the more we resent them and eagerly want to rebel. Our minds and hearts become increasingly focused on what we shouldn’t have or do.

This is the dilemma of God’s Law, the covenant of Moses. The Law was given as a blessing but became a burden nobody could obey. It filled people with desire for what they couldn’t have. It fueled the hypocrisy of trying hard to appear holy while being utterly rotten inside. It caused God’s people to obsess over the failures of others while wallowing in their own secret failures. God’s blessing had become a kind of curse.

The way out of this dilemma isn’t more laws and rules. The answer is to experience God’s love and grace. It’s to be raised to new spiritual life through faith in Jesus Christ, not because you followed the rules and deserve it, but because He followed the rules perfectly and then died to give it to you. In Christ, we are made clean by His work, not ours. We are loved because He is love. We are welcomed and treasured by God because His Son lives in us. It’s only after we taste God’s grace that we’re freed and given power to pursue a life of true holiness. Though we won’t be perfect, in God’s grace we can truly desire and pursue a life pleasing to the Lord. Rather than being filled with resentment because of our failures, in Christ, we can be filled with delight because of God’s love, mercy, and grace. #FollowJesus

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” – Romans 6:6

It’s unpopular to say, but you were born a sinner. We all were. We’ve all repeatedly rebelled against God’s absolute authority and good design, standard, expectations, and rules for our lives. We simply can’t help ourselves! Left to our own devices, we will sin and sin corrupts every aspect of our being – body, mind, emotions, actions, attitudes, intentions, etc. That doesn’t mean we sin constantly but rather that we can’t help but sin by nature.

All that changes the moment we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord! Not only are our sins forgiven by God’s grace, we’re set free from sin’s iron grip on our souls! When we’re made clean in Christ, united with Christ, and sealed by God’s Holy Spirit through Christ, we become a new creation. We’re raised to new spiritual life and that new life has the power to resist and reject sin. We’re no longer slaves to sin, fighting a battle we can’t win. We have Christ in us to defeat sin’s temptations.

That means that if you’re a follower of Jesus, it’s no longer acceptable to excuse sin by saying, “that’s just how I am” or “that’s my nature”. Your old nature might have been sinful but your new nature in Christ is holy! Be holy! If you’re a Christian, you must not embrace the sin that continues to tempt you. Whether it’s a lustful heart, a hateful or filthy mouth, a vicious temper, or a favorite addiction, it isn’t OK for a Christian to refuse to fight that sin in the power of Christ. It doesn’t matter how you were “made”. It doesn’t matter what your “nature” is. You’re now a supernatural being, born again in Jesus Christ!

Don’t settle for what’s natural. Fight to live supernaturally! You will almost certainly stumble and fall into sin from time to time, but you have the freedom and power to resist. Fight for your holiness. Repent and be forgiven when you fail. Don’t accept slavery to sin any longer – you are free! #FollowJesus

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” – Romans 3:21

Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God’s righteousness. He is the one the Old Testament Law and prophets spoke of often and consistently pointed toward. In Him, all of God’s sinless holiness, grace, mercy, love, patience, faithfulness, kindness, and justice are made visible to the world. We see and better understand God and His nature when we read about Jesus in the Bible. Not only does Jesus perfectly display God’s righteousness, He makes that righteousness available to everyone who believes in Him.

Paul goes on to explain how everyone who entrusts his or her life to Jesus as Lord is declared to be not guilty by God. Because Jesus took all the guilt and endured all the righteous punishment for our sins on the cross, when we put our faith in Him, His perfect righteousness is declared to belong to us. Furthermore, Paul explains there is no other way to be made righteous apart from faith in Jesus. No…other…way!!!

Take time to meditate on Jesus today. He isn’t just an amazing person full of profound wisdom and performing extraordinary miracles. He is the righteousness of God become flesh and made visible for everyone to see. Moreover, He is the only path to righteousness for anyone on earth. If you are in Him, you are truly righteous and clean in the eyes of God. However, many around you probably haven’t yet made that decision of faith and been made righteous. Pray for them, then be intentional about inviting them to #FollowJesus

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— ‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.’” – Mark 2:10-11

Once again, the miracles of Jesus serve the purpose of authenticating the message of Jesus. Jesus had already told this man that because of his faith, his sins had been forgiven. However, people rightly questioned the power of Jesus to forgive sins. So, Jesus did what they thought impossible, instantly healing the man’s paralysis. Why? To prove by his physical healing that Jesus had already performed the more important spiritual healing he desperately needed. Through faith in Jesus, his sins had indeed been forgiven.

Jesus was crystal clear – His earthly mission was to seek and save the lost, to rescue sinful mankind from the consequences of our sin and reconcile us to our Creator as a gift of grace. To experience that rescue, people must take the words of Jesus seriously. They must hear and accept His invitation to repent of their sins, believe in Him, and follow Him as Lord. The miracles authenticated this message.

As you go through life, hopefully loving and blessing everyone you encounter, are you sharing the words of life with them? Are you inviting others to have their sins forgiven through faith in Jesus? If not, you’re missing the point of so much of what Jesus did, taught, and has now given responsibility for to His followers. Whose spiritual healing are you praying for today? Who do you hope to introduce to Jesus this week? #FollowJesus