“Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;”
– Psalm 41:1

God has a great heart and love for the poor. He has always called His people to be generous and caring for those in financial need. We are the means He has given to care for the financially vulnerable.

This is particularly true during this current season of suffering. In the past two weeks alone, 10 million people have filed initial claims for unemployment in the U.S. Yes, there are government benefits and stimulus coming. No doubt they will be helpful. Ultimately they will be insufficient to deal with the short-to-medium term financial pain that is likely to be experienced by millions. It simply isn’t sufficient for followers of Christ to point to the government and say, “They’ve got it covered.” We’re called to be sacrificially generous to those in need.

If you’re financial situation is comparatively secure: your job continues and your income remains relatively steady then be generous to a much greater degree than ever before! Give to organizations in your community operating food pantries and providing services and care to the financially vulnerable. Check in with your typical service providers who are no longer able to work and pay them for services they can’t currently provide anyway. Support local restaurants you care about to the extent that you can. And tip your food and product deliveries generously!

Be intentional, thoughtful, and creative in loving your neighbor if God has blessed you with the means to do so!

“As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!’” – Luke 9:34-35

As the cloud presence of God, so familiar from the Old Testament, envelops Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John, God the Father speaks. As He did as His baptism, God affirms Jesus as His Son, the Messiah, chosen to bring redemption to the world. He tells the confused and overwhelmed disciples simply to listen to Jesus.

It would be easy to just read that as a generic affirmation of listening to anything Jesus said, and there is truth to that. But we must also read carefully in context. At that time, Jesus was specifically emphasizing two crucial topics they (and we) need to listen to:

1. The necessity of His own death and resurrection. We must listen, understand, and never lose sight of the centrality of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Every aspect of our faith is built on this. His sacrifice was necessary to pay the penalty for our sins. It was necessary to crush the power of sin and death, so that all who put their faith in Him, turning from their sinful ways, will likewise rise from the dead. It was necessary to reconcile sinful man to our holy God. This is the central pivot point of all history, as the Kingdom of God was inaugurated in the power of Christ’s resurrection.

2. The significant cost of following Jesus. Followers of Jesus, both then and now, consistently misunderstand the cost of following Jesus. As incredible as the benefits of the Gospel are for us, following Jesus is not a matter of convenience and comfort. It is a call to ongoing, daily sacrifice to serve and obey Him. It is glorious and delightful, filled with rich significance as we fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. However, it is also a call to reject the natural self-centeredness of life we love and replace every aspect of it with a Christ-centeredness that calls us out of the comfortable and the familiar and into devoted and delighted sacrifice, suffering, and persecution.

This is Jesus, the Son of God. Listen to Him!!!

“On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.” – Luke 9:10

After a busy season of life and ministry, Jesus led His disciples away from the crowds and the busyness to rest, recover, and simply be near to Him. That particular retreat didn’t exactly work out for the disciples (they wound up feeding 5000 instead), but the pattern was set and faithful followers of Christ have long recognized the need to periodically step away from the hustle and bustle of life, retreat to a quiet location, and simply be near Him.

For many of us today, we have received exactly this invitation. Billions of people around the world are now required to slow down, ease off the busyness, clear our calendars, withdraw from public life for a season, and be at home. Rather than lament this, let’s consider it an invitation to withdraw from our usual craziness of life, to be still for while, and to draw near to Christ. Rather than fight, fuss, and fret, let us read (the Bible), pray, and worship in our homes. Find refreshment for your soul and rest for your body. Draw near to the Lord and be filled with His Spirit daily.

Let us come out of this time of forced retreat a changed people, with corrected priorities, clarity about what matters, richer spiritual lives, and a love and passion for the God who met us at home these many weeks!

“I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he turned to me and heard my cry for help.”
– Psalm 40:1

We’re certainly getting ample opportunity to develop patience! Allow God to do a work in you during this time of “stay-at-home”. Seek Him faithfully, daily, and increasingly through Bible study, prayer, meditation, and private worship. Call on Him with your needs, concerns, fears, and anxieties. Wait patiently in the confidence that God hears the prayers of His people, but answers in His perfect timing. Trust in the Lord and be patient with His timing.

Understand that patience isn’t something we force on ourselves through self-discipline. Rather, patience comes as part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in us through those very same means of grace – Bible study, prayer, meditation, and private worship. We experience the fruit of the Spirit as we walk in line with the Spirit. This is an incredible time to really learn to walk in step with the Spirit, because most of us suddenly have fewer distractions and plenty of time to seek God! Redeem this time for the glory of God!

“O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!”
– Psalm 39:4

There is great value in being reminded that our days are limited on this earth! We may not like to contemplate our own death, but its inevitability forces us to reflect on our priorities and how we live our lives. Our typical modern American life is so comfortable that we easily assume it will continue, as is, pretty much forever. But it won’t. This false assumption leads us to live our lives for ourselves, for the moment, and for the trivial. It allows the urgent to dominate the important, because we imagine we’ll get to the important “tomorrow”.

“Tomorrow” is never guaranteed. Our lives are but a brief blink of an eye in the span of eternity. Reminders of mortality remind us that we need to refocus on what truly matters and use this time well. While our earthly lives are brief (at most 70-100 years), we will live forever. That forever (billions and trillion of years worth) will either be spent in God’s presence, enjoy the rewards of a life of faithful service to Him, or separated forever from God in a Christ-less eternity called hell, where we will experience the suffering due a wasted life of rebellion and selfishness.

The difference in our destination is determined not by our own good works, because they’ll never be good enough to climb back into the presence of a perfect God. The difference will be determined entirely by our faith in Jesus Christ, who sacrificed His perfect life to carry us into God’s presence. Once you embrace Christ, you change your forever destination. However, this must increase the urgency of living this brief life well, growing continuously in your relationship with God, and serving and glorifying Him every day. Reminders of death, such as we see all around us now, bless us by focusing our attention on the work God has prepared for us to do rather than our personal bucket list of fun things we want to check off before passing into God’s presence.