Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” – Hebrews 10:14

You are not forgiven for your sins, made acceptable in God’s eyes, or declared holy because of anything you DO. There is nothing you can DO to make yourself worthy of God’s love. No amount of hard work, self-discipline, personal sacrifice, clean living, philanthropy, good deeds, or moral behavior can ever perfect you, because you aren’t perfect. You aren’t (and neither is anyone else). However, there is one sacrifice by which you are made perfect in God’s eyes – the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross!

When the sinless, eternal Son of God died on a cross and rose from the dead, He made a single, once-for-all offering to pay the penalty for human sin. When we put our faith in Him, embracing this Good News for ourselves, we are made perfect in God’s eyes. Our sin, guilt, and shame are all washed away. We are sealed and indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. We are made new creations in Christ.

By God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are adopted by God, loved by God, embraced by God, and perfected by God. Not that we are actually perfect on this side of heaven, but God sees Christ’s perfection in us. By His Spirit, God then empowers us to be sanctified – to engage in a lifelong process (and struggle) to grow toward the perfection God already sees in us, a perfection that will be completed when we enter God’s presence forever. Praise Jesus, Whose offering has perfected for all time those being sanctified by God’s grace!!!

“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” – Ezekiel 18:23

God is absolutely just. He will deal justly with those who rebel against Him and reject Him by sinning against Him (which is all of us). However, God takes no pleasure in sinners experiencing the wrath they’ve chosen and earned for themselves by their sinful rejection of His authority and good design. God will dispense justice, but He takes no pleasure in a sinner’s damnation. God would much rather each person repent of their sins and turn toward Him in faith. God longs to adopt each person as a beloved child, embracing them in love.

In His grace and mercy, God provided a means for all our sins to be dealt with justly. He sent His beloved eternal Son Jesus into the world to live the sinless life we can’t and to die on a cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, God made it possible for us to turn from our evil ways and live forever by believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

When anyone puts his or her faith in Jesus, they receive new life. They become new creation. Their sins are forgiven and God’s justice is satisfied. God’s pleasure can then abundantly overflow into their life and it certainly does! Such repentance and renewal, freely offered to even the worst and most undeserving of people, is what gives the Almighty God of the Universe great pleasure. Embrace God’s grace and pleasure – turn from your sins and embrace Jesus for yourself!

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
– Proverbs 27:6

We’ve reached a point in our cultural moment in which absolute agreement and enthusiastic endorsement of everything we say or do has become the only defining mark of friendship. Anyone who agrees with and applauds us is a true friend. Anyone who disagrees with or corrects us in the slightest detail obviously hates us, fears us, and must be immediately shunned as an evil enemy. This perspective has become pervasive throughout every political and cultural tribe in this country and it’s at the root of all the anger and division that’s tearing our society apart.

This perspective is also foolish and unbiblical! So, if you’re a Christian, stop thinking like that! Just because someone disagrees with you in some way doesn’t mean they’re automatically the enemy. Just because someone routinely “likes” and “shares” us doesn’t mean they’re the kind of friend we should be cultivating. The Bible tells us that our friends and relationships should be like iron sharpening iron. Such sharpening doesn’t happen through continual praise and agreement (that just makes us softer and duller). Sharpening comes through pushing back on flawed or shallow thinking. Sharpening comes through confronting and rebuking sinful or foolish behavior. Such correction isn’t necessarily the mark of an enemy, but could be the indicator of a true friend who wants what’s truly best for us.

It’s time to grow into maturity! Not everyone who cheers you on is your friend. Not everyone who hurts your feelings is your enemy. Is that person pointing you toward Christ? Is that person pointing you toward greater personal holiness? Is that person applying Scripture to your blind spots? If so, they certainly sound more like a friend than an enemy, no matter how much your pride was wounded!

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.” – Hebrews 6:19

Our circumstances, situations, fortunes, and moods can quickly shift from day to day and moment to moment. We can swiftly move from the highest of heights to the deepest depths of the soul. Things we thought would never fail us can indeed betray us. As our world is shaken and tossed to and fro, we can easily be overwhelmed by it all. Our storm-tossed world changes around us daily and the pace of that change only seems to be accelerating. How do we survive this? How can we thrive in this?

By recognizing and holding firm to the one sure, steadfast, unchanging anchor available to our souls: Jesus Christ! Our Lord and Savior is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Lamb Who was slain for our sins rose from the dead and reigns in heaven while living within each of His followers. Jesus is our great high priest Who entered the holiest place behind the curtain to intercede for us. He is our hope Who will never fail us, our guarantee of God’s love and eternal life.

A casual commitment to Christ won’t hold you steady when the storms come. Ships with a casual commitment to their anchor eventually float away on the waves. Likewise with Jesus when life gets hard. Simply liking Jesus won’t provide the steadfast anchoring for your soul that’s able to withstand the hurricanes, floods, and tides of this crazy world. You must fully embrace Jesus.

Jesus can’t just be your friend, He must be your Lord, with authority over every aspect of your life. It’s then that He can stabilize your soul in an unstable world. It isn’t enough to visit Jesus on Sundays – that won’t anchor your soul. We’re called to deny ourselves, take up our crosses each day, and truly follow Him. We’re to imitate Him. We’re to do what He did, care about what He cared out, and think like Him – all by the power of His Spirit within us. It’s only by grabbing firmly ahold of Jesus and committing fully that we find the stable, steady, sure, steadfast anchor our soul desperately needs.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” – Hebrews 5:12-14

Surely this isn’t true of you! Nonetheless, it’s a helpful reminder that for every follower of Jesus, there’s an expectation to engage the mind and grow in the knowledge and understanding of the faith, the Bible, and the doctrines we believe. Not every Christian will excel or enjoy such studies equally, but every Christian can and should engage their mind throughout their entire life learn ever more about what the Bible teaches and Christ commands.

We aren’t merely called to love God with all our heart and soul. We’re also called to love Him with all our mind. Christianity is meant to be a thoughtful, intelligent, and discerning faith. Emotion and experience are wonderful, but so is learning and knowledge. That means we should not only be interested in asking hard questions, but in doing the hard work to read, study, and understand the answers that have been articulated across twenty centuries.

Too many Christians are content to let leaders and teachers do all the thinking and studying. That isn’t how it’s supposed to be! Every Christian is called to learn continuously and become more discerning between good and evil. This is particularly important in our topsy-turvy world that increasingly confuses and reverses them.

You may be correct that you aren’t a scholar, but that doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t expect you to engage your mind, study your Bible, and participate in every learning opportunity you can!