Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“My life is down in the dust; give me life through your word.” – Psalm 119:25

As creatures of dust, we often find ourselves in the dust. Low. Dry. Dusty. Grimy. Discouraged. Seeing dust in every direction and unable to see anything beyond more dust.

God breathes life into us through His Word. Through His Word made flesh, Jesus the Christ, Who came, lived, died, and rose from the died to make us new creation when we believe in Him. Through Christ, God makes us righteous, forgiven, redeemed, adopted, beloved.

For those in Christ, God breathes daily grace and mercy, refreshment and renewal, life and perspective through the daily reading of and meditation on His Word, the Bible. Verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph, day by day, God raises our perspective from our dusty view to His lofty view, from our short-sighted fixation on this moment to His eternal timeline, from death to life. He reveals our sin through His Word. He reveals His glory through His Word. He transforms our hearts and minds through His Word. He transforms our life through His Word. But we must be in His Word to experience these blessings. This is the enduring theme and message of the marvelous Psalm 119.

Do you know the Word made flesh? Do you spend time each day with the Word, the revealed truth of God?

“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:8

If you’re a follower of Jesus, then you ARE a child of light, a child of the day. With that wonderful truth comes a challenging reality: you must navigate and represent Jesus in a dark world full of temptation, discouragement, opposition, and deceit. The world would like to knock you off course. It would like to condemn you or discourage you from sharing good news and hope. It would like to make you doubt yourself and your Savior. It would like to confuse you about what is good and what is evil.

This is why you must maintain your self-control and self-discipline. Protect yourself for the spiritual battle that is everyday life! In this verse, Paul specifically highlights the spiritual armor that protects your heart (the breastplate of faith and love) and your mind (the helmet of the hope of salvation).

Our minds are protected by our confidence in our eternal salvation. We protect our minds from doubt and distraction by regularly reading God’s Word and thinking often of God’s Son, the Word made flesh, Who suffered and died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead, and today reigns in heaven. We remind ourselves that in Christ there is no condemnation for us. Our guilt and shame have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. We repeat to ourselves the truths of our heavenly citizenship and our eternal inheritance in God’s presence. We eagerly look forward to God’s ultimate judgment and justice. We anticipate the renewal of creation.

Our hearts and their fickle emotions are protected when we intentionally cultivate, meditate, celebrate, and radiate faith and love. We should read and remind ourselves of God’s great works throughout history. We should walk with God and talk with Him in prayer daily. We should meditate on His wondrous attributes and marvel at His grace, mercy, kindness, and love that was poured out at the cross. Confident in our faith, we’re able to love when the world wants us to hate and to stay rooted in God’s love even when we feel utterly discouraged and defeated.

“For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

Here Paul highlights a good news, bad news, good news situation regarding your salvation…

GOOD NEWS: In Christ, you are made clean, holy, and pure. When you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord Savior your sins are forgiven, your guilt and shame are ALL washed away, and you’re set apart for God’s love and service. You are truly holy in Christ and God sees you in that way!

BAD NEWS: Now you need to live like you’re holy. You need to dedicate your life to becoming more like Jesus. You must reject the casual sins and temptations that continue to surround and plague you. You are to live intentionally different from the mainstream of our culture and instead represent Jesus as His ambassador in the world. If you don’t care about holiness, don’t pursue holiness, or reject the idea of holiness altogether, then you are rejecting God Himself!

GOOD NEWS: God has given you the necessary power to pursue, grow in, and live out the holiness He already sees in you. God gives every follower of Jesus His Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit Who enables you to change and changes you over time to become more and like Jesus. This change doesn’t happen automatically – there is work you must do. You must battle those sins and temptations. You must pursue God through precious means like prayer, Bible study, meditation, worship, Christian community, service, and sharing the Gospel.

Embrace who you are: HOLY. Embrace what you’re called to do: PURSUE HOLINESS. Embrace the power to succeed in that pursuit: THE HOLY SPIRIT!

“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?”
– Jeremiah 17:9

Our culture tells us from a very early age to follow our heart, trust our heart, and be true to our heart. From the videos we show our youngest children to the constant reinforcement on social media as adults, we have come to define truth based on what we feel. “You do you”. “Live your truth.” Our culture has defined morality entirely based on what pleases the heart. We have defined reality based on our emotional experience. And yet, our heart isn’t true to us! It’s lying! It’s sick!

Your heart lies to you. Sometimes your heart lies and tells you you’re much better, more justified, and more righteous than you really are. Sometimes your heart lies and tells you you’re much worse, worthless, and unlovable than you really are. These are all lies!

We must not “be true to our hearts” for they betray us regularly. We must be true to God and what He says about us. We must let His truth guide and redirect our hearts when they lies. When we’re apart from Christ, God is clear: He loves us, but we’ve separated ourselves from Him by sin and our heart impulses inevitably lead us to even more sin. When we’re in Christ, He is also clear: He loves us, forgives us, adopts us, and sees Christ’s righteousness in us, having given us the power to successfully resist sin.

Friends, don’t trust in your heart. Instead, trust in the Lord your God WITH all your heart!

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” – Colossians 3:1-2

For those who’ve embraced Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you have indeed been raised to new life in and with Jesus Christ! That glorious reality means that you need to change the focus of your thinking. As important as earthly matters are, your heavenly residence and the Kingdom you have joined is even more important (and more wonderful).

You must set your mind on the things above: the wonders, works, and attributes of God, the beauty and work of Christ, the exaltation of our salvation, the advance of Christ’s Kingdom, the making of disciples, the transforming of your character into Christ’s likeness, and so much more.

That doesn’t mean you should ignore earthly affairs altogether, just that they shouldn’t be the first and last things you think about each day. We’re commanded to provide for our families, so work matters. We’re called to wisely manage the resources God provides to us on His behalf. That includes taking care of our bodies, wisely managing our time, talent, and treasure, and caring for the world around us. We’re called to do the work of God’s Kingdom on earth by being concerned for the poor and vulnerable, working for justice, and proclaiming the Gospel.

However, in all these things, your thoughts, emotions, meditations, and delights must first and foremost be in the heavenly realities in which you participate. This is a wonderful command! In this world full of bad news, discouragement, disease, disability, and death it’s easy to become consumed with thoughts and emotions of deep brokenness. However, setting your mind on the goodness above helps you to rise above this mess below and be increasingly effective for the Lord here on earth. So where is your mind today – above or below?