Category: Thoughts and Meditations

“So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.” – Joshua 6:20

We live in an age that routinely sits in judgment on the plans of God, the revealed will of God, and the nature of God Himself. We think it right, necessary, and appropriate to determine which parts of God’s Word, will, and plan “make sense” to us, which seem appropriate for our image of a God of the Universe, and which are “still relevant”. Anything we don’t agree with personally we explain away or rationalize ignoring. Even people who claim to love God tend to pick and choose from God’s Word like someone walking down a long buffet line.

Enough! As we see in the story of the fall of Jericho, our responsibility and right isn’t to question God’s plan and decide whether He makes sense from our perspective. Our responsibility is to respond in faith, simple, childlike faith, and actually do what He says. Sometimes God’s plan makes no sense to us. There may well be aspects of His design with which we disagree. But He is the sovereign Creator of the universe and He operates at a completely different level of understanding than we do!

We need to embrace Him as Lord and when we do, that means actually embracing His design for our lives rather than constantly questioning it. The Israelites had to think God’s plan to bring down the city wall was crazy. But they followed it anyway. Faithful, joyful, confident obedience when we don’t understand is often the test the refines and strengthens our faith. When we obey in faith, rather than constantly critically judging God in reason, we are likely to ultimately realize the wisdom of God and catch a glimpse of His glory. When we obey despite not understanding or agreeing, we will be blessed!

“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” – Luke 22:19

When Jesus established what we call the Lord’s Supper, He made clear what He was about to give up for our benefit: everything. Through His miracles, wisdom, and sin-free life, Jesus made clear that He was the eternal Son of God. Then He prepared to surrender His body to abuse, torture, and excruciating death, for our sake. His body, given for us.

His body would be broken and His innocent blood spilled for our benefit. By this sacrifice Jesus would establish an entirely new covenant between sinful man and our holy God. This would not be a covenant of laws, rules, do-this, don’t-do-that, self-discipline, good works, or animal sacrifice. This new covenant, long prophesied and anticipated, was a covenant of grace – of God’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor, blessing, love, and forgiveness for His sinful people through faith in Jesus Christ His Son.

Forgiveness, cleanness, and eternal life were given to us through a holy body broken for our sake. Thus Jesus commanded us to remember His sacrifice. By doing so, we remember that we’re saved not by our own goodness but by His. We’re reminded that we’re saved not because of what do, but because of what He did once for all of us. We give humble thanks for the willing sacrifice of our glorious Savior!

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.”
– Proverbs 10:11

We live in an age of outrage that substitutes volume and venom for wit and wisdom. Research indicates that being negative gives the appearance of being smarter and many today have embraced that “intelligence”. Then we lament why everything is so messed up (actually we don’t, we just blame someone else)!

Proverbs 10 has a great deal to say about what we say, the words that come out of our mouths. If Christians read Proverbs 10 and took it to heart, the world would begin to be a better place! For those who are truly in Christ, our words should and will be life-giving, nurturing, and nourishing to the hurting and wounded that surround us. We always should be sharing words of hope, comfort, welcome, encouragement, and loving correction. Always. Solomon says that for those who are wicked, words are lies and weapons, tools of deception and destruction. Sadly this has become the norm today. Thus we stand at a point where our culture is more about scoring points and firing up our friends and allies than coming together to actually deal with hard problems.

Jesus is quite clear in Matthew 15:17-20 – the words that come out of your mouth reflects the actual content of your heart. This should challenge each person who calls themself a follower of Christ. What words flow out of your mouth in public, in private, and online and what do they say about your heart?

“For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others.”
– Psalm 49:10

The material abundance that some in this country have enjoyed in recent decades has fooled many, including Christians and churches, into finding their strength in financial resources. This was always an illusion, as the job losses and market upheavals of recent weeks has revealed. Money has its uses but as a source of strength and foundation for life, it’s fool’s gold. People and churches too often carry large bank balances to the grave while utterly missing the point of existence. Even those untouched by financial disaster will one day leave their money behind and discover that in the scheme of eternity it was unimportant.

We must find our identity, strength, and courage in Christ, who is the solid and unchanging Rock, and the work of His Kingdom. Not in dollars, numbers, or apparent success as the world measures it. All that is fleeting – it will inevitably distract or disappoint. Our foundation must be the living God who owns all the wealth of the world regardless of whether He chooses to give us a large or small portion of that. Likewise, our goal with money should not be to pile it higher, but to put it to use for God’s Kingdom and purposes. Only then does it serve its true purpose and only then do we find ourselves in right relationship with it to enjoy being faithful stewards of whatever God gives us for this season before we enjoy His presence forever.

“So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’” – Luke 19:6-8

This is what it looks like to put your faith in Jesus:

• You joyfully and urgently receive Jesus into every aspect of your life
• Your past, ugly as it might be, becomes irrelevant, because you are a new creation in Christ
• Your profession, reputation, and people’s opinion about you become irrelevant, because Christ is in you
• You are deeply aware of all that you’ve done wrong and profoundly sorry for it, asking God’s forgiveness
• You actively seek to make amends for what you’ve done wrong in the past, because you know you’re already forgiven by God
• The things you used to be passionate about (i.e. money in Zaccheus’s case) no longer hold so much power over you
• You are instead excited about Jesus Christ in your life and what He has done, is doing, and will do for and in you

If you identify as a Christian, but have never experienced these things, Scripture says to examine yourself and your faith to make sure you have truly believed in Jesus as your Lord and Savior by His sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection on your behalf. If you discover you have not, then take that step of faith today and commit your life to Jesus. If you have but your passion has waned, resolve to pursue your relationship with Christ more intentionally every day, because the life of every follower of Christ should bear these signs of conversion like Zaccheus.