Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” – James 4:15

We’ve all been vividly reminded of how little control we actually have over the world and even over our lives! There is actually wonderful blessing in this. It’s so easy, as followers of Jesus, to accidentally live lives that are virtually indistinguishable from those of atheists. We make our plans, pursue our dreams, and build our empires, as if we were in complete control. If we pray about them at all, our prayers mainly ask God to bless whatever we’ve already decided to do.

2020 has been a clear reminder that God is in charge. He’s the leader. We’re the followers. Nothing about this year has taken Him by surprise. He’s filled this year with Kingdom opportunities to serve and glorify Him if we’re willing to make His plans and priorities more important than ours. Thus, we’re slowly being forced to learn to begin our grand plans with, “If the Lord wills…”

This is a great first step toward really submitting our plans, dreams, and goals to those of God and to really living a life of adventure that follows God rather than running ahead of Him. We’re learning, painfully, to be more flexible and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We’re learning to hold onto our plans loosely and our Lord tightly. We’re learning not to take many things for granted, but instead to treasure our God Who is our ever present help. What a wonderful and unexpected blessing of a year like no other!

“But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” – James 3:8-10

The tongue is truly a restless evil! The evidence of this is everywhere in our social media, news outlets, and even casual conversations. We see it in our leaders, in our movements, and in the breaking down of our civil culture. From the sound and fury, it would appear that the United States has divided into two groups that each sincerely desires for the other group to be swallowed by the earth. That isn’t sustainable! Our political discourse has moved from principled disagreement to absolute negation of those on the other side as unacceptably monstrous. This path leads to utter destruction as the deadly poison of millions of tongues spreads and destroys this nation.

As Christians we can’t be responsible for anyone else’s tongue, but we must be responsible for our own! A Christian cannot be cursing, denigrating, dehumanizing, or insulting another human. Period. Ever. We simply can’t. We must never sink to that level, because when we speak we represent Jesus Christ! If you’re praising God on Sunday, you better not be cursing people on Monday!

We must learn to live by the Holy Spirit and let Him teach us how to disagree with a person, policy, party, or position without attacking that person as a human being. We must discipline ourselves in the Spirit to reject and resist false or sinful perspectives without speaking evil ourselves. In the power of the Spirit, we must learn not to respond to the poisonous words of others with poisonous words of our own. As Christians, we need to speak words of life and renewal, even as we firmly and boldly proclaim the truth of the Gospel and the goodness of God’s design for human flourishing.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” – James 2:14

We are saved from our sins by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. For this we give thanks! Indeed, our hearts should overflow with gratitude at this wonderful news that we don’t need to earn our salvation by good works. This is profoundly good news, because we could never possibly earn fellowship with the perfect and holy God of the universe by good works since He is perfect and we aren’t!

HOWEVER…any faith in Christ that is sufficient to save us will reveal itself by the fruit of a changed and changing heart. It will become clear to us by new and holy desires (for worship, for the Word, for the church) and new love for God and His people. Saving faith will also be revealed by good works – acts of love and charity toward those in need. Though we’ll never be perfect, if we’ve truly embraced Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, then we’ll begin to invest our time, energy, and financial resources in doing the work of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus was abundantly clear that the visible fruit of our lives reveals our inner spiritual condition. If the fruit is good and we’re doing good works in increasing number, then we can be confident in our faith. If our fruit is bad and there’s little evidence of a renewed heart, we should reflect and pray about our faith, asking God to help us understand this disconnect.

We aren’t meant to live in great uncertainty about our salvation. Nonetheless, Scripture is clear that there are certain marks of saving faith in our life that if we aren’t seeing, we should return to the cross and make sure we’ve truly given our heart to King Jesus.

“When I tell the righteous person that he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and acts unjustly, then none of his righteousness will be remembered, and he will die because of the injustice he has committed.” – Ezekiel 33:13

This warning from God is a good news / bad news situation for Christians. The good news is that while we’re never righteous in ourselves, for all who are truly in Christ, we’re made righteous by God’s grace. The better news is that for all who are truly in Christ, we will persevere in that state of righteousness to the end.

However, what does it mean to truly be in Christ, to have saving faith in Jesus? Clearly it requires much more than a single decision to walk an aisle or raise our hand, because the Apostle Paul commands every Christian to examine ourselves to see if we’re in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Being in Christ is about far more than regular weekly church attendance (either in-person or online).

Are we truly following Jesus? Is our heart being increasingly shaped like His and caring about what He cares about? The Bible teaches that God is deeply concerned about widows, orphans, the poor, the immigrants living among us, fair business practices, and just legal systems. The heart of Jesus is bent toward saving the lost and caring for the hurting and vulnerable.

A Christian who casually dismisses concerns about injustice, who has little care for those in need, who can’t weep with those who weep when they look or sound different from them is probably not in Christ. A pattern of injustice or unconcern about injustice represents a life that is not likely in Christ. For those who are in Christ and come to recognize this unjust pattern in their life, it should be the source of deep concern, genuine repentance, and radical life change.

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” – Hebrews 12:3

Jesus gives us the only role model and inspiration we need when we grow exhausted, afraid, or anxious about continuing to do the right thing in a distressing world. Jesus perfectly did His Father’s will at all times. He did so in the face of ever-increasing opposition. He boldly preached, taught, and ministered knowing it would lead to His death on the cross. He suffered, He died, and He rose from the dead.

Now for all who follow Jesus, we’re called to take up our cross daily, deny ourselves (not indulge ourselves), and truly follow Him. How do we do that? How does thinking about Jesus help us stay energized and bold when all we sometimes want to do is curl up in a ball in our bedroom with the lights off?

First, we know that because He did what He did, we who believe in Him will also rise from the dead. Nobody can threaten a Christian with death because death is the doorway to glorious eternity with God. Death is the enemy of the unbeliever and the friend of the Christian.

Second, we know that the very same Jesus is united with us – we are one with Him. This was His prayer and our reality. When we’re weary, He invites us to yoke ourselves to Him and let Him do the heavy work to keep going (Matthew 11:28-30).

Third, we know that the Spirit of Christ lives within us. The same Spirit of boldness and faithfulness to God’s will lives in the heart of every single Christian. The same Spirit! We must rely on that Spirit rather than our own timid spirits.

This is a matter of inspiration, prayer, and empowerment in Christ. Look to Jesus and don’t grow weary or afraid!