Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.’” – Mark 13:2

In this verse Jesus gives a specific prophecy regarding the imminent destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. However, it should also serve as a reminder of the temporary nature of all grand earthly structures and priorities. Even the biggest, most impressive, and seemingly important and permanent things here on earth will eventually pass away.

It’s natural to invest our lives into building up things on earth – businesses, farms, churches, nations. We want to give our lives toward things which will outlive us. It’s a good thing to invest in that which is bigger than we are. However, we must recognize that these things aren’t permanent. They will be swept away in time.

From God’s perspective what’s truly permanent and eternal are human beings. Every human soul will last forever. Every human soul will wind up in one of two places – in God’s presence forever (Heaven) or forever separated from God’s presence (Hell). This reality needs to define our personal priorities. We’re free to invest in building up things of the world, but we should prioritize helping people connect to God through faith in Jesus. We must prioritize building people up as disciples of Jesus Christ who make disciples over building up buildings and institutions.

Buildings, businesses, and empires are temporary. Invest in them, but never grow too attached. They will end. People are eternal. Invest in them for all eternity!

“Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!”
– Psalm 105:4

If you believe in Jesus, then the Lord is always with you. This is wonderful and true, regardless of what you do. However, God also invites and commands you to seek Him continually. What does that mean?

God invites each of His beloved children to get to know Him better. To learn from Him and learn of Him. To talk with Him and enjoy a greater awareness and experience of His presence. To learn how to more fully rely on Him and His strength during difficult times and when serving Him. To know and do His will and experience His pleasure.

How do you do this? How do you continually seek God’s presence when He’s already present?

• Pray daily and throughout the day. This is simply about talking to God, speaking and listening.
• Read, listen to, and study the Bible. This is God’s Word and His primary message to His beloved children. Read and study for yourself, don’t just rely on others to pre-digest Scripture for you.
• Meditate on God’s Word. Think carefully about what it means and how it should apply to your life. Let this be the starting point for yet more prayer.
• Worship God regularly. Gather regularly with others to worship and worship privately on your own throughout the week.
• Serve God. He has prepared work for you to do. Hard work. Challenging work. Important work. Work you won’t be able to do apart from His strength and power. Do that work.
• Share Christ with others. He is very present as you do and it’s His strength that does that hard work of touching the hearts of those with whom you share.

“And the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’” – Mark 12:32-33

Of course Jesus is right! However, this unnamed scribe makes a vital point that drives home the truth of what Jesus just said. All the rule-following, self-discipline, religious practice, and appearances of holiness are worth nothing if we aren’t filled with, and consumed by, absolute love for God and love for others as we love ourselves!

In summarizing all of the Old Testament Law, Jesus makes clear that we need to be full of all-encompassing love for God. We need to love Him with every part of our being – all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Our brains, our hearts, our bodies must be fully devoted to love and worship of God. Knowledge, emotion, spirit, body – all devoted ceaselessly to loving God. Our love for God can’t just live in a single compartment of our lives (the church part), it must define our family life, work life, educational life, social life, and community life.

Our love for our neighbor must never be transactional or based on his or her worthiness of love. It can’t be based on how similar they are to us or whether they agree with us on matters of religion or politics. Our love for our neighbors must be endless, practical, and sacrificial – just as we love ourselves.

These two great loves (God and neighbor) are vastly more important to God than any of the outward practices of our faith. Do you live these loves every day and with greater zeal than you live pretty much anything else?

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” – 2 Corinthians 8:9

Think about it!!! Jesus, Who was present at Creation and through Whom all things were made, stepped out of the glory of the heavenly throne room into our messed up, ugly, hate-filled, broken world. Jesus set aside His exalted heavenly status to become an infant in Bethlehem. He left the glory and riches of heaven for the poverty of life on Earth. Jesus left perfection to experience hunger, thirst, heat, cold, life, death, love, betrayal, and pain firsthand. He did that for YOU!!!

Jesus exchanged His throne for a cross, so that by His sacrificial death and resurrection you could be rescued from the squalor of sin, spiritual poverty, separation from God, and inevitable damnation. Jesus become poor so that everyone who believes in Him could be exalted as beloved children of God, given an eternal inheritance, and raised above the angels we will one day judge. He did that for YOU!!!

All this was an act of extraordinary grace. Grace is a gift, something that isn’t earned or deserved. Jesus owed you nothing. You didn’t deserve to be raised out of our spiritual poverty. Your best efforts earned no favor in the eyes of a perfect and holy God. But Christ’s did. He gave Himself to the poverty of humanity to redeem you from your poverty. Not because of anything you’ve done to deserve it, but because He’s gracious, loving, and merciful. He did that for YOU!!! Praise our gracious Lord Jesus Christ!

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” – 2 Corinthians 7:1

As we stand in light of the glorious resurrection we celebrated yesterday, our minds should consider the practical question of how we should live in light of this wondrous truth and the promises we enjoy in Christ. As new creations in Christ, guaranteed eternal life, adopted by God, and having the Holy Spirit within us, how should our everyday life be different? In every way!

Our new life in Christ should be characterized by a determined effort to change from whatever we once were. Specifically, we should be making an ongoing, Spirit-empowered effort to live a holy life in imitation of Jesus and pleasing to God. In light of the cross and the resurrection, we must reject any sinfulness, any defilement, any immorality, and any dishonesty that lives within us. We must go to battle with the “little” sins and the “big” sins that attract our hearts and minds. We must crucify these sins (even that ones that “don’t hurt anyone”) for they’re all a rejection of God that make a mockery of Christ’s saving work.

We should live in awe and respect of the gracious God Who saved us by His own initiative in sending Jesus into this world to die for us. We should pursue the holiness of Jesus who walks with us every day. We must reject even those sins that the world says are “OK” because God despises them. This clean-up effort in our lives will never save us, but is the appropriate and necessary response to having been saved already as a gift of God’s grace.