Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-2

This is a timely reminder from God’s Word that whether your favorites won or lost their elections this week, your responsibilities are the same. We must all pray for our elected leaders. You must pray for the ones you like and the ones you don’t like. Pray for the ones you agree with and the ones you don’t agree with. Pray for their salvation (if they’re unsaved). Pray for their spiritual growth if they are saved. Pray for wisdom and openness to the leading of God. Pray for blessing and a concern for freedom and justice. Pray they will serve all their constituents well and honor God in the way they lead. Pray that they would change their heart and mind if those are on the wrong path.

Once elections have passed, followers of Jesus must first and foremost pray. It’s both a command and our most powerful tool of influence. Pray for ALL your elected leaders. We pray for them so that whether they’re followers of Jesus or haters of Jesus, we can most effectively move forward with our gospel work in peace, freedom, and dignity. You can also certainly advocate, donate, petition, call, write, and protest. But you must always pray. #FollowJesus

“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” – 1 Timothy 1:5

What a perfect vision for all biblical teaching and study! As followers of Jesus our studies should always help us grow in our expression of Christ’s love. If we aren’t becoming more loving as we study, something is probably wrong! It’s critical our “love” isn’t about a false appearance of love stemming from wrong motivations or a desire to fit a certain image. As you study God’s Word your love should flow not out of guilt or fear but out of the three things Paul mentions in this verse…

1. A Pure Heart. As we study, learn, worship, and praise Jesus, God’s Word should be transforming our hearts. We should be growing in holiness and purity. Christ’s sacrifice has already made us holy in God’s eyes, but as Christians we should be actively working to crucify our sinful desires, flee whatever tempts us, and purify our hearts. Out of a heart made pure like that of Jesus will flow true love for God and neighbors.

2. A Good Conscience. As we navigate life in this fallen world we must constantly make decisions. Some are big, many are small. Some are public, most are private. As we’re transformed by God’s grace into the likeness of Jesus we should be increasingly making the same decisions He would. Even in situations the Bible doesn’t address directly, our ability to think like Jesus should help demonstrate love in a challenging world with a good conscience.

3. Sincere Faith. Our love won’t last if it’s coming from a place of fear, guilt, shame, box-checking, or rule-following. True, lasting, Christlike love must flow out of our sincere and saving faith in Jesus Christ. We must grow in our understanding and appreciation of God’s grace and His work in our lives. Our of our confident hope in our present and future state, we’re freed to pour out the love of Jesus wherever we go and on everyone we encounter.

#FollowJesus

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” – Titus 3:4-5

If Jesus is your Savior, never lose sight of what saved you. It wasn’t your righteousness. It was God the Father’s mercy and grace poured out upon you. It was God the Son’s loving kindness toward you. It was God the Spirit’s work of regeneration and renewal in you. God saved you as a gift. He didn’t save you because He owed you, but because he loved you. Through faith in Jesus, He has given you a gift of love, kindness, mercy, and grace.

You have been washed. You have been made new. You have been forgiven and welcomed into God’s family. God did all the work and you receive all the blessing and benefit. Praise the Father! Praise the Son! Praise the Spirit! Your 3-in-1 God has made you new creation! God sees you with eyes of love. He sees the righteousness of Jesus in you. He sees the seal of the Holy Spirit upon you. So He welcomes you into His throne room with your prayers, your praises, and your worship. Praise Him!

As nice as you might imagine it would be to be righteous enough to save yourself, it’s far nicer to be saved by the righteousness of Jesus! Because of His sacrifice, you’re free from the burden of legalistically trying to save yourself by following rules. You are free to respond to God’s grace. Free to live a righteous life because you’re already saved rather than burdened by trying to save yourself. You are free. You are loved. You are clean. #FollowJesus

“Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning” – Mark 13:35

Jesus is coming back, but nobody on Earth knows exactly when. Jesus made clear that His precise timing would be surprising, though there will be signs. For this reason, His people must always be ready. His return could be today or it could be thousands of years from now. That said, the current events of the world may be indicating His return will be sooner rather than later. Take these signs seriously! Regardless of when Jesus returns, today is certainly a day closer to His return than yesterday was. Are you prepared for your Master’s return? What will He say about how you’ve lived your life?

As followers of Jesus, we’ve been commanded and warned by our Lord to live lives that are always prepared for His return. What does that mean? It means being diligent about the work He’s given us. We must devote our time, talent, and treasure to making disciples of Jesus Christ. We must be living increasingly holy lives that reflect God’s saving grace transforming us. We must be sharing the truth and hope of Jesus Christ with those who haven’t heard. We must be teaching new believers how to follow Jesus. We must be helping established believers become more like Jesus. And we must be going and sending disciples out into God’s harvest fields from our neighborhood to the ends of the earth.

Currently, there are billions of people who have not yet had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel. Jesus has commanded us to go to them. As His followers, we must be mobilizing His people to go, to learn about, pray for, and support those who go, and to go ourselves, even if it’s just to our newly arrived neighbors from far away. As we await the return of Jesus, we should live our lives with joy, abundance, and devotion to Jesus. We must align our attitudes, words, and actions to the commands and example of Jesus. We must pursue holiness and walk without shame, confident in the Lord’s return. #FollowJesus

“So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” – John 12:10-11

If you’re a present day Christian and very familiar with the story of Lazarus, you can easily miss the significance of the miracle Jesus performed. Lazarus wasn’t just a little bit dead when Jesus raised him. Lazarus was four-days, rotting, decomposing, stinking, in the tomb dead!!! Bringing him back was understood to be impossible. Several prophets (and Jesus) had raised recently dead people back to life. That was good but not unimaginable. NOBODY reversed the natural process of decomposition and restored a man to full life and health after four days. Then Jesus did!

Many who saw or heard about this miracle knew what it meant. Jesus truly was the Messiah, the Christ. He was the anointed one of God come to establish the eternal kingdom of God on earth. He had power infinitely beyond any mere prophet. God had come in the flesh! The raising of Lazarus from the dead was the most important and persuasive miracle Jesus performed apart from His own resurrection. It was a whole other level beyond His previous miracles.

This miracle was so persuasive that crowds were making the short journey from Jerusalem to Bethany to see Lazarus. They met or talked with Lazarus and his sisters and they believed in Jesus. The possibility that Jesus really was Who the evidence of this miracle said He was absolutely intolerable to the religious leaders. They decided there was only one thing to do…. Destroy the evidence! They didn’t just want to kill Jesus to shut down this new movement. They wanted to kill Lazarus to keep people from believing the plain truth about Jesus that he represented.

Their love of their authority was so much stronger than their love of God. Their fear of change so entrenched in their hearts that they wanted to destroy God’s work to prevent people from being reconciled to Him. Those were some seriously hard hearts! Understand the significance of the Lazarus story. Embrace what it reveals about Jesus. Don’t let it merely be a really cool, fun Sunday School story. Jesus is the resurrection and the life! #FollowJesus