Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” – 1 Timothy 1:15

Do you embrace this statement as truth? Every word of it? Do you embrace it as truth about you personally or do you think of it as simply a flowery saying of Paul?

Do you truly believe the mission and purpose of Christ entering our world was to save sinners? Do you personally believe you are the foremost of sinners? You should!

As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace every part of it for ourselves. Much of the weakness and ineffectiveness of the church in North America stems from the failure of each individual Christian to make this truth their own.

When we embrace this truth, we don’t need to be angry, confused, cynical, or frustrated about the actions and statements of those who don’t yet know Jesus. Of course sinners are going to sin – that’s why Jesus came! We can lovingly embrace them as part of the purpose of Christ and our personal mission field.

We should be seeking to make friends with sinners not avoid them. We should listen to them and speak to them of Christ. And we should do so humbly and gently because of our deep awareness of just how awful our own sin and rebellion against God were.

When we embrace this truth, we fall deeply and madly in love with Jesus Who saved us though we surely didn’t deserve it. We become excited to tell people of the incredibly good thing that happened to us: that God loved us and sent His Son to die for us, rather than damning us as we deserved.

When we’re living this truth, we have no room left to hate or condemn sinners we meet. We’re left with the burning desire of one miraculously recovering patient to offer the cure to another dying patient.

“May the Lord direct your hearts to God’s love and Christ’s endurance.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Here’s a timely prayer for 2020! We have so little control over the challenging externals of our time: pandemic, election, civil breakdown, anger, injustice, recession, etc. However, in Christ we have access to all we need to not only endure the ups and downs of life, but to thrive, glorify God, and share Christ!

That won’t be our default human response. Our default human response will be to join in with those who are angry and hateful. It will be to succumb to resentment, frustration, and cynicism about “those people” (whoever we may think they are). Our default human response will be to become discouraged by the relentless tide of bad news and simply decide to give up. As Christians, we will still be tempted to indulge our human response – many Jesus-loving Christians have. But that isn’t what God wants for His people!

As followers of Jesus, we have access to the infinite riches and resources of God Himself! Through the Holy Spirit Who lives within every believer, our hearts can be filled with God’s love and Christ’s endurance regardless of our external circumstances. In Christ, we have the power to love others powerfully and deeply amidst a world full of anger and hatred. In Christ, we have the power to endure every curveball, setback, obstacle, and outright attack of this present moment.

To tap into these resources, we must walk daily with God, spending time with Him in prayer and in reading His Word. We must worship Him often, think of Him often, and serve Him often. As we do, we’ll discover that His mercy, grace, and provision are new every day and His love will fill us to overflowing.

“Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

We must always remember that God will permit people to indulge whatever is right in their own eyes for a time. He will turn a decadent culture over to its worst delusions and rebellion against His good design for human flourishing. He will allow them to declare what is false to be true and what is true to be false. He will allow them to redefine what is unrighteousness to be righteous and what is righteous to be us righteous.

None of that means God isn’t real, isn’t powerfully in control, isn’t aware of what’s going on, or isn’t active. Rather, He’s permitting people to heap greater condemnation upon themselves before the final reckoning.

We certainly don’t know all that’s happening in the spiritual realm during this strange and difficult time. However, in surveying the situation, it certainly seems like we may be seeing these verses fulfilled. For those committed to following Christ, holding firmly to the faith delivered once for all time, and pursuing personal righteousness, hold firm and don’t get discouraged!

Don’t doubt God’s presence, power, or standard. Don’t succumb to the false narratives, temptations, and pressures of our culture. Don’t compromise or contort the historic truths of the faith to suit the spirit of the times. Pursue Christ and know that God’s justice is eternal, ultimate, and unavoidable. Don’t give up in despair, persevere in Jesus Christ!

“…and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” – 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8

In case anyone needs a reminder of the importance of sharing the Gospel, here it is! When Jesus returns it won’t be the cuddly, gentle, “its-all-good” Jesus of popular imagination. It will be victorious Jesus crushing every enemy and ushering in God’s righteous wrath on all who have rejected Him and rebelled against His good design for human flourishing!

Every person is naturally under God’s condemnation when left to our own devices, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) – this terrifying imagery of flaming fire and mighty angels is what we’ve each earned by our selfish, cruel, and immoral choices.

But in His love and mercy, God gave us an alternative future. God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). The innocent Son of God, Jesus Christ, died for us to pay the penalty for ours sins. He was crucified on a cross, buried, and rose from the dead. His victory over sin and death gives confident hope to all who embrace and obey the gospel of Jesus. All anyone has to do to receive that hope is believe in Him, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved (Romans 10:9). If you don’t, the future is truly terrifying!

“House of David, this is what the Lord says:
Administer justice every morning,
and rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor,
or my anger will flare up like fire and burn unquenchably
because of your evil deeds.”
– Jeremiah 21:12

It’s a sad and sinful reality that many Christians today refuse to have a substantive and difficult conversation about justice. When the word justice is spoken, they deflect, reject, or shout down the speaker. This cannot be! Any Christian who doesn’t believe justice, in its many aspects, is relevant to the Gospel needs to spend more time reading the Old Testament prophets!

There are many aspects of justice relevant to our society: criminal, civil, rehabilitative, restorative, economic, political, racial, and more. Biblical justice must consider all of these because they all matter to God (He said so in the Bible!) There are many perspectives on justice. Like all human perspectives, they contain varying mixtures of truth and falsehood. As the people of God, we must not refuse to have conversations with people on these topics, especially people with whom we disagree, so that we can determine or develop a truly biblical approach to issues of injustice in our society.

Every follower of Jesus Christ needs to be deeply concerned about understanding and rectifying the injustices around them because Jesus is concerned about them. We must take seriously the cries and claims of those most vulnerable to injustice (God’s Word about injustice is invariably linked to caring for the poor, the vulnerable, and the immigrant). As challenging and uncomfortable as these conversations may be, they’re necessary. Any Christian who believes 2 Chronicles 7:14 applies to this country had better believe Jeremiah 21:12 applies!