Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’” – John 11:40

What Jesus says to Martha as He’s about to raise her brother from the dead points to an interesting reality that can affect our own lives. Without faith, it’s possible to be completely blind to God’s glory, even when it’s in display all around us. When we have eyes of faith to see and the illumination of the Holy Spirit within us to understand spiritual matters, we’re able to see remarkable spiritual realities every day. We can see God’s workmanship, presence, power, and truth in nature, in events, in those around us, and in His Word. Without eyes of faith, we miss those things completely.

This is why one person can gaze upon the beauty of the Grand Canyon, snow-capped mountains, or the vast expanse of the ocean and fall deeply into worship of the extraordinary Creator Who made them while another speaks only of natural processes and random occurences. The glory of God is on full display all around us but it’s unseen by eyes blinded by a stubborn lack of willingness to see the most obvious and simplest explanation.

This is why one person can read through the Bible and repeatedly break out in praise, tears, song, prayer, awe, and wonder at God’s grace, mercy, love, and majesty that’s on display throughout and another person can read it only with anger, frustration, skepticism, or incomprehension. Without a willingness to believe, the glory of God is missed and His nature radically misunderstood.

When we shut our eyes of faith (which can happen even to professing Christians), we miss so much of God’s work in our world and our lives! We miss so many opportunities to enjoy and delight in God, to rejoice at His goodness and care, and to be confident in His presence. We easily become discouraged and feel abandoned. We aren’t and shouldn’t feel that way, but to see God’s glory and overcome those feelings, we must re-open our eyes of faith and believe.

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” – 1 John 3:16

Christ’s love for you isn’t some vague positive feeling. It isn’t a bumper sticker slogan or cheery greeting card. His love is an enduring, eternal reality He proved through His suffering and death on a cross. Christ’s love is real and sacrificial unto death! His broken body and shed blood testifies to how deeply and truly He loves you. His sacrifice is the very definition and example of true love for Christians.

That’s where things become challenging for us! Jesus invited and commanded us to follow Him. We are to love fellow Christians the same way Jesus loves us. We’re called to live sacrificially and generously toward ALL our brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re called to deny ourselves and our preferences for the good of our brothers and sisters, even the ones who might be difficult to love. This part isn’t optional – if we’re understanding and embracing Christ’s love, we must be willing to show that same love to fellow believers (and not just our friends within our church).

Would you willingly sacrifice and die for fellow believers? Not just abstract believers, but each and every face you know from church life, all the flawed, imperfect, and hypocritical people who comprise the beautiful bride of Christ. Do you love them enough to set down your preferences, conveniences, comforts, and status? Do you love them enough to suffer for them? Jesus did and He calls us to do the same!

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” – Ezekiel 36:25-26

God is in the ”fixer-upper” business! He renovates souls that have become filthy through sin, rebellion, selfishness, greed, cruelty, guilt, and shame. He renovates hearts that have been hardened by cynicism, pain, hurt, disappointment, and manipulation. He renovates minds numbed by failure, addiction, and the endless pursuit of false “ultimates”.

Have you been renovated? God performs this renovation through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus into this world to live a life of perfect cleanness, kindness, love, and wisdom before dying on a cross as a perfect sacrifice to pay off our accumulated sin debt. He died to deal with everything that’s made you filthy. Jesus was buried and rose from the dead, freely offering renovation to everyone who believes and trusts in Him as Lord.

Once you trust in Jesus, you are made clean. God’s gift of grace given through faith in Jesus Christ washes each believer clean of sin. God’s grace continues to wash us clean whenever we sin and confess that sin to God. Once you trust in Jesus, you immediately receive a new heart and spirit – the Holy Spirit of God comes to live within you and seals you as new creation belonging to God.

In Christ, those who were spiritually dead are made alive. Our hearts truly begin to beat for the first time. Then comes the great adventure of God’s ongoing renovation work! As you walk in obedience to Christ, worshiping Him, learning about Him, talking to Him in prayer, thinking deeply about Him, serving Him, and sharing Him with others, God continues the renovation work in your soul to make you increasingly like Jesus in how you think, speak, and act.

Has your renovation begun? If not, trust in Jesus as your Lord!

Is your renovation continuing to progress? If not, confess any sin, draw near to Christ, and truly follow Him!

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” – John 10:27-28

Everyone who trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior becomes a sheep in His flock. As His Spirit seals us, we are united with Him. We know Him and He knows us. If we truly are a sheep, we will follow Jesus. No perfectly, but persistently. Jesus gives us eternal life and the certainty that earthly death isn’t the end for us, it’s merely the beginning. These are beautiful truths and if Jesus, the risen Son of God, is your Lord, then these are true for you.

One truth within these verses that’s often overlooked is particularly precious as we navigate the confusing and discouraging ups and downs of life in a fallen world. “No one will snatch them out of my hand.” If Jesus is your Lord, then He holds you tenderly, yet firmly in His hand. He isn’t going to let go and nobody can force His hand open. No matter how hard your life becomes, no matter the opposition you may face, or the suffering you may endure, you WILL remain in the hand of Jesus.

The devil can’t make you and the devil can’t take you. He simply doesn’t have the power because Jesus came to earth to pillage the devil’s territory and then He crushed the head of that serpent on the cross. Hold tight to Jesus through difficult and dry seasons. Hold tight to Jesus when you feel like He’s very distant (He isn’t) or that God isn’t listening (He is).

Hold tight to Jesus in the face of terrible temptation. Hold tight to Jesus after you’ve failed Him. Hold tight to Jesus because He will NOT let go. His love for you is proven by His blood shed on the cross. His willingness and ability to forgive you and cleanse you from anything and everything was likewise proven there for all time. No one can or will snatch you out of the loving hand of Jesus, so rest in His hand no matter what comes your way!

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15

Jesus IS the good shepherd. He knows each and every sheep in His flock and we know Him. If you believe in Him – trusting that He is the Risen Son of God and your Lord, then you’re part of His flock and He is your Good Shepherd! If you haven’t yet put your trust in Him, then Jesus is inviting you to become part of His flock right now by believing in Him.

As your tender, kind, and loving Shepherd, Jesus cares for you, watches over you, protects you from the spiritual attacks of the enemy, guides you, directs you, corrects you, and nurtures you. He is intimately familiar with every detail of your life. He knows the good, the bad, and the ugly about you and He will love and shepherd you through it all.

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus already laid down His life for you. He suffered and died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins. In doing that, He bought your freedom from bondage to sin and death. He suffered God’s righteous wrath for sin so you won’t ever have to. He was condemned so that you won’t ever be. Jesus redeemed you from the curse of sin and its terrible spiritual consequences. Jesus set you free and made you new by His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection!