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Relationship with Christ

Never Enough!

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Life is full of a lot of questions. I have learned that there is only One person who gives me the right answers to my questions. He is the One who has a Look of Love in His eyes.

When I ask Him: “Lord, why are You allowing all these natural disasters? Tens of thousands of lives lost. . .more are homeless and hopeless. . .Lord, You could do something. Why?” I see the Look of Love in His eyes as He says: “I AM the helper of the fatherless. . .the defender of the oppressed. I am still in control. My ways are not your ways. Trust Me when your questions are not answered.”

Some days I’m just exhausted. . .I don’t feel like I can handle any more. . .there are too many demands from my ministry. . .from my family. . .from my friends. . .from those in need. He gently picks me up in His strong arms. . .lets me put my head down on His chest. I listen to His heartbeat and I see the Look of Love in His eyes as He says: “I love you. Come to Me whenever you are weary and tired. I will give you rest.”

When I blow it and go to Him to confess my sin. . .again. With shame in my eyes I don’t want to look into His eyes. But, He gently cups my chin in His hand, lifts my eyes to His and I see the Look of Love in His eyes as He says: “You are forgiven. As far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your transgressions. Go and walk in the newness of life.”

When I have been falsely accused. . .my reputation questioned. . .my ministry attacked. I see the Look of Love in His eyes as He says: “I understand. I’ve been there. You are blessed if you are insulted because of My Name. Repay evil with blessing. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. . .Trust Me.”

When life gets too hard and I go to Him and say: “It’s not worth it. It’s too hard to live this Christian life.” He gazes at me with Look of Love in His eyes and says: “O My Child, My Beloved. . . every bit of pain and agony I went through on the cross was worth it to have you in eternity with Me. Fix your eyes on Me, the author and perfecter of your faith. It is I who endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You have a wonderful future. I know. I have prepared a place for you.”

I have experienced that Look of Love in His eyes over and over again and I can’t get enough of it! I have heard Him speak to me through His Word again and again and I can’t get enough of it! How about you?

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Plowing Through Life

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But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (NAS) Luke 9:62

Have you done any good plowing lately? Well let’s put our hands down on the plow handles for a moment and visualize plowing up a field, preparing the soil for seed that will be sown and produce (hopefully) a huge harvest! But, what happens when you look back? The plow goes crooked! No neat rows, but a hodgepodge of lines dug up in the field.

How do you look back? Do you look back longing for an old way of life? Do you look back with regrets over past sins? Do you look back trying to relive past accomplishments? How are you looking back?

Other times we may not be looking back into our pasts, but instead looking side to side at what’s around us? Again the plow will go crooked if we’re not looking straight ahead. What distracts you from looking straight ahead, focusing your attention on Christ? Is it relationships? The pursuit of becoming comfortable? The attractiveness of what society has to offer? Ambition? Self-indulgence? Competition? Desiring what your friends and neighbors have? What’s turning your focus away from purpose ahead of you?

Jesus didn’t allow distractions in His life. He put His hands down on the plow with a fixed purpose and completed His task. Jesus doesn’t want followers who are half-hearted or lukewarm. . . He doesn’t want followers with a distracted or divided focus! How’s your plowing? What needs to change so you can plow straight ahead and follow Jesus?

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What Do You Do When You Fail A Friend?

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“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” 35 But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

74 Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly. (NIV) Matthew 26:34-35, 26:74-75

What do you do when you fail a friend? You go to him or her to apologize, ask for forgiveness, and restore the relationship. But, what if for various reasons you can’t go to that friend? It leaves an incredible void in your soul when you are unable to make things right. I believe that that is how Peter felt after he had denied Christ three times.

Peter had confidently declared his allegiance to Jesus before He went to the cross. Yet, when the chips were down, Peter denied Him 3 times. His reaction, Peter wept bitterly. He knew he had failed the One that had been a Friend like no other. But, Jesus was dead. . .Peter saw no hope in ever being able to apologize to Him. Can you imagine the remorse that Peter lived with for 3 days as he relived his denial of Christ. But then, the impossible happened. . .Jesus arose from the dead! Peter responds to the news by running to Jesus’ tomb only to find it empty. Had he been hopeful that he could finally apologize to Jesus? Did he want to be reassured that Jesus hadn’t given up on him?

Jesus took the initiative to go to Peter. “He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve” (1 Corinthians 15:5). We can only surmise the gist of His conversation, but I believe that when Peter looked into his Savior’s eyes he saw forgiveness, mercy, grace and love. Later, the risen Lord appeared to Peter and gave him a special commission: “Tend My Lambs. . .shepherd My sheep. . .and tend My sheep” (John 21:1-17). Jesus re-established Peter’s role of leadership.

Peter became a transformed man. He quickly became the leader and spokesman for the early disciples. His name heads every list of the Twelve in the New Testament. His preaching in the early days of the church (Acts 1-10) shows his great ability. The first 11 chapters of Acts revolve around the activity of Peter. He was busy. . . Peter was the spokesman at Pentecost. . .he healed the lame man at the temple. . .he defied the Sanhedrin, refusing to be silent about Jesus. . .he presided over the grim task of dealing with Annanias and Sapphira. . .and he dealt with the deceit of Simon the magician. Peter was the one chosen to reach out to Cornelius, a Gentile, after God revealed to him that the gospel would be extended to Jew and Gentile alike. Peter played a key role at the Council of Jerusalem which decided in favor of granting church membership to Gentiles. Not bad for one who denied Christ.

Peter failed Jesus, but Jesus never failed Peter. Jesus prayed for Peter when he is weak and He prays for us. Jesus picked Peter up when he was down and He picks us up. Jesus forgave Peter when he failed and He forgives us. Jesus healed Peter’s painful memory of denial and He heals us. Jesus believed in Peter and He believes in us. Jesus died for Peter and died for us. Jesus loved Peter and loves us. Jesus is our faithful Friend who sticks closer to us than a brother.

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Who Are You, Sir?

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Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. (NIV) Acts 9:1

In his own words, Paul said: “… I went after the Christians mercilessly, hunting them down and doing my best to get rid of them all” (Galatians 1:13). Threats and slaughter become the very breath of Saul.  His fury included the arrest, imprisonment and death of Christians. Paul was “breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1-2). As if no disciples of importance in Jerusalem, Paul focuses on pursuing those, beyond Judea. He goes to Damascus to determine if are any Christian believers there so that he might persecute them.

Damascus had become a dominant trading and transportation center. Perhaps, strategically Paul wants to keep the lies from spreading to other areas of the world. His objective is to search out all those of the Way – the phrase that’s a scornful label for the early Christian movement used by their enemies. Paul set out for Damascus as an aggressive persecutor of the disciples of Jesus, but will becomes a champion of their cause.

Damascus was about 135 miles from Jerusalem or a journey that would take at least a week using donkeys or mules for transportation. As Paul neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him in his native language of Aramaic: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Paul responds by saying “Who are you, sir?” To his surprise the answer is: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Paul’s conversion is due to the personal appearance of the risen Lord, who appeared as literally as He did when He appeared to the disciples for 40 days before He ascended to Heaven. It is not a mere vision. It is not a figment of Paul’s imagination. It is not a dream, but a manifestation of the risen Lord.

Paul saw Jesus Christ, “risen, living, speaking, and His face shining with light above the brightness of the sun.” When have you seen the risen Christ with the eyes of your heart?

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Settle for Nothing Less!

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Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (NIV) Isaiah 6:8

God asks Isaiah, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”. Without hesitating, Isaiah answers, “Here am I. Send me!” God tells him to go, go to the people with His message.

A personal encounter with God permanently changed Isaiah’s life. God is the same today as He was yesterday. For every believer who has left Him, God desires that each turn back, encounter Him, and be revived. A revived person is one who has a deep desire to spend time with Him in prayer, to dig deep into the riches of His Word, and to share the reality of a relationship with Jesus Christ with anyone that he encounters.

God may or may not send revival to the church in our lifetime, but every believer can experience personal revival. I am determined to settle for nothing less in my own life. Will you join me?

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Our Defense Attorney

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My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense– Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (NIV) 1 John 2:1

John writes so that they will not sin. How incredible! The reality though is that we will sin. But, there is hope. Fortunately, God knows we will never be perfect, at least not in this lifetime. God knows we will sin. He expects us to sin, that’s why He sent Christ. It says in 1 John 2:1: “we have” – the verb tense is in the present. We have an advocate or a mediator. One who represents us before the Father and is our defense. One who can perfectly represent both man and God. Jesus is our Advocate. He is in an eternal face-to-face relationship with the Father. He sits at the right hand of God,  pleading on behalf of all believers. He lives to intercede for us.

The picture of this comes from Zechariah 3:1-7 in the Old Testament where Joshua, the high priest, has returned from captivity in Babylon. He stands before God and Satan in filthy garments. Joshua represents the sinful people. God is there to judge him. Satan is there to accuse him. Satan is like the prosecuting attorney with a seemingly open and shut case. But, Joshua has an advocate, Jesus Christ, acting as his defense attorney. Jesus stands at God’s right hand, and silences all the accusations of Satan.

The Son of God has already served the sentence for the people’s sinfulness. Instead of condemnation, God removes the filthy clothes, symbolizing Joshua’s sinful nature, and replaces them with clean, rich garments. Joshua is made clean.

This is what Jesus Christ does for us when we believe in Him and confess our sins to God. He has already paid the price for our sins on the cross. He removes our filthy garments of sin and clothes us in His righteousness. Have you replaced your filthy clothes with Christ’s righteousness? If not, why not put on a fresh set of clothes today?

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Forgiveness

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As Isaiah encountered the glory, majesty and holiness of the Almighty God, he immediately became aware of his own unworthiness, his own sinfulness. But, God offered atonement for Isaiah’s sins. “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'” (Isaiah 6:6-7)

Just as He offered forgiveness for Isaiah, God offers forgiveness to us through faith in Jesus Christ. But, we still need to confess our sins to Him. 1 John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The result of confessing our sins to God is that God is faithful. He is true to His word and forgives us. He cleanses us of our own unrighteousness. Satan no longer has grounds to accuse us.

There’s another picture of God’s forgiveness found in Zechariah 3:1-7. Here’s my paraphrase of the passage: Joshua the high priest, has returned from captivity in Babylon. He stands before God and Satan in filthy garments. Joshua was there representing the sinful people. Satan was there to accuse him. God was there to judge him. Satan is the prosecuting attorney with a seemingly open and shut case, but Joshua had an advocate. The Advocate, Christ, stood at God’s right hand and silenced all the accusations of Satan. Instead of condemnation, God removed the filthy clothes, representing his sinful nature, and replaced them with clean rich garments. (7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements) This is what Jesus Christ does for us when we confess our sins.

Have you experienced Christ’s forgiveness? If not, why not today?

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Worth the Wait!

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Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NIV) Hebrews 12:2

Hope in the future:
O Lord You are my hope and my salvation. I envision You standing at the finish line of my race. . .not back in the crowd. . .but right at the line waiting for me with a big smile on Your face. . . Your arms stretched out waiting for me to fall into Your embrace. And Your eyes are glowing. . . radiating the love You have for me. . .communicating, “Everything I went through, the shame, the suffering of the cross, the frustration, it was worth it to have you with Me.”

I stumble into Your arms and am embraced with Your nail scarred hands, kissed by the face that was beaten. I am with love eternal, love overflowing, love overwhelming, love sufficient, love without fail. I am with the One who loves me more than life itself. I am with my Beloved Jesus. O what a day it will be! What an eternity it will be!

A Prayer to Pray:
O dear Jesus, I need that embracing love today. I know You are with me, but I need to feel Your arms around me, be filled with Your presence, and to know that I am protected.

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