851. The Blood of the New Covenant
839. Forgiven and Delivered From the Power of Darkness
As we begin to understand that the knowledge of His will was to bring all of these good things to us as an inheritance, we can live within the light of Jesus Christ where the fruit of God abounds. His strength in us is what we reply upon, not our willpower. It’s all about Christ in us—the mystery revealed.
The Curse of Victimization
If you know me at all, you know that one of my favorite topics is my four grandsons, ages 2 to 7. They are a delight, and I am constantly learning by being with them.
Don’t Allow the Past to Rule Your Life
Recently, I have been reawakened to the human default mode of victimization as we work through the conflicts that arise among these young children. When confronted with accountability, we descendants of Adam tend toward blaming others and playing the victim.
One of them was drawing a picture for his mom while being slightly harassed by his brother. "Look what you did. You made me drool on Mom's picture." Now that is a stretch.
But it’s no greater a stretch than is common in our society, when grown adults are blaming people and events from centuries past for their irresponsible choices today. Of course, some really oppressive things happened. It has been that way since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, there comes a time when all of us must stop the past from ruling us. It should not be given that much power.
Our future will not change just because we rail at the past, especially if we grant it the power to rule over us.
We are creations of God. He has bestowed on us the dignity of being his partners in world management. What we do with the present is what matters. Our future will not change just because we rail at the past, especially if we grant it the power to rule over us. Forgiveness is essential if you hope to move forward.
Taking Responsibility
Admittedly, some people are poor because of forces beyond their control. But some are poor because they are paralyzed by victimization. They refuse to work at jobs they consider beneath their dignity, and rail at those who are working at more prestigious jobs.
Their complaints might have more merit if others, who were in worse conditions, hadn't proven that circumstances can be overcome. People who took responsibility for where they were, and refused to believe that their circumstances made them victims.
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Some are not highly educated, but that does not prevent them from accessing the wisdom of God that is dispensed to all who say yes to his invitation. Some are physically limited compared to others, but that does not prevent them from managing the personal "garden" in front of them.
Embrace Your Redeemer
No one is forced to be a victim. It is a self-imposed captivity.
God sent his Son who gave his life to free us from all kinds of bondage, including victimization. He has taken the curse of injustice and granted heaven's blessings to those who trust him.
Deplorable circumstances are bad, and should be changed as soon as possible, but deplorable thinking will make angry slaves of anyone. No one has made you angry. You chose that. No one has made you jealous. You defaulted to that.
Rise up and embrace your Creator/Redeemer. He enables his redeemed to live in victory in all circumstances.
Jesus Doesn’t Need a Tent. He Has the Cross
On his way to the Cross, Jesus took three of his closest followers with him onto a mountain where he was transfigured. (Metamorphosis comes from this word.) His glory was evident as he was clothed with unspeakable bright light. He was on his way to be treated as a criminal and a moral scourge. The disciples needed to know his true nature.
Moses and Elijah were also present. These heroes of the Law and Prophets made the event even more dramatic. Peter was moved to do something significant. He suggested they build a tent for each of those three great men, but his ignorance was exposed. Moses and Elijah were important but they were not on the same level as Jesus. He in fact was the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets. He alone stands at the center of God's universe.
His physical body was the tent he lived in while on earth, and now His people serve as his temple.
See Jesus for Who He Is
Until we see him for who he is, we, like Peter, will be trying to fit Jesus into our own stories of reality. Yes, he played with the little children, but he was not childish. He humbled himself, but he was not weak. He was crucified but no one took his life.
He stands uncontested as the Lord of life and death. We don't have to try to make him relevant, by reducing him to the level of other religious leaders. We don't have to make him acceptable by defining him as a social worker and avoiding talk of his blood. He is the Lord of creation and redemption. He is the judge of all men. He will sum up all things in heaven and earth in himself.
He brings all things together that sin separated. He takes sin upon himself and absorbs its wrath so that we can take his righteousness and enjoy God's eternal favor. He doesn't need a man-made tent for us to have a God we can be close to. His physical body was the tent he lived in while on earth, and now his people serve as his temple that is universally accessible to all people -- without distinction.
Later in the biblical story, we see his glory being revealed in even greater measure as he lays his life down for us. This is the mystery that baffles the secularists. It is the majesty that angels long to behold. It is the day of the Lord when righteousness is vindicated and wickedness is forever judged. It is the reason that Paul the apostle chose to make all his preaching revolve around the Cross of Christ.
The vision is available for you now! Look to him. Look at him. He is beyond the treasured Law of Moses. He is the fulfillment of the great promises of the prophets. The angels adore him. The demons run from him. Death and Hell lose their threat in his presence. A vision of him will tranquilize the mind, pacify the conscience, purify the heart and transform the character.
Seeing him in his glory will prepare us for the days of trial. Don't get so busy building him a place in your culture that you miss seeing him in his glory.
579. God With Us: Merry Christmas
Who Named You?
Who named you? Pastor Alan Wright, discussing Peter's confession of Jesus at Caesarea (Matt. 16:13-20), makes the point that the power to name a person is huge, for that power belongs to whoever or whatever is most important to you.
Peter recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah of Israel and the Lord of creation. When Jesus named him Peter (he had been "Simon" until then) it was settled. Peter means "rock." Though Peter had to walk through some tough lessons, he was indeed the rock that Jesus said he was. He gave the key address at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-42) and was a recognized leader in the early church. He was most honored by being martyred for his faith.
In our neo-polytheistic culture, it is no wonder that so many are confused as to their identity. With the proliferation of gods giving out names to people, the fog of confused self-identity has settled on the land. Money is a favorite god dispensing names. Those who value it most are named by it and spend their lives running from poverty and trying vainly to accumulate enough of it to be significant. They measure their standing based on the symbols of wealth like houses, land, possessions, and the friends to whom those metrics are important. Many of these people (God called them fools in Luke 12:13-21) are so sad while trying desperately to be happy.
Another popular god is sex. When this god is given the right to rule it names people based on their various lusts and desires. While this is spun to look like freedom of expression, in reality it reduces humans to the level of animals, which are primarily defined biologically. Content or even proud to be identified by sexual preferences and practices, some conclude that they have no option but to be named by this criteria, but they have yet to hear that God has a better name for them.
We could go on identifying the gods of this culture that are eager to name people. For instance, those who value peer approval above all will be named by that cruel tyrant. They will live each day for secondhand pleasure. Not able to enjoy what they are doing because they are concerned what others think of it, they are slaves to approval and affirmation. The list is long and growing as other gods crowd into the mix, but you get the point. Who should name you?
There is only one who has the right to name us. He created us with a gracious plan for our lives. We are His by creation. After Adam and Eve chose to disobey Him, Satan began his long habit of accusing the race and assigning names based on criteria other than God's word. But God's plan was permanent and gracious. He sent His Son to be sin on our behalf so that we could be called the sons of God. We are His by redemption.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Gal. 4:7 (ESV)
This identity makes all other roles we play work in harmony. Living in a false identity guarantees disharmony and dissatisfaction. When God is most important to us we listen when He names us. We refuse to allow any of the cultural gods to have that power. They did not create us nor redeem us. They just want to conform us. They don't have that right.
Nothing is Wasted With God
All of us have gone through hard times, suffered loss and tragedy, and at times even made some really costly mistakes. Many times we think that we have hit the end of the road. We wonder how things can be salvaged out of the mess that has been created.
What’s really frustrating, to me anyway, is when the mess I am in was created by someone else. It’s one thing to suffer at the hands of my own stupid decisions and choices. It’s another thing, and much more aggravating, to suffer due to someone else’s poor decisions and choices.
But, I serve a God that is able to make all things new, turn whatever mess I am in into a message of redemption and take every test and trial and turn them into a testimony of victory. I don’t know how He does it but He does.
With God, nothing is wasted. No trial, mess, tear, stupid decision or consequence is wasted with God. He can take everything good and bad in your life and use it for your benefit, the benefit of others and ultimately, His glory.
Right now, I am in a transitional season in my life. I have been going down a path that I did not choose for myself. Based on the decisions of others, I find myself in a place that I don’t really want to be. I have often wondered, “is this the best that it’s going to get?”
Have you ever been there? It’s so frustrating. Deep down I know that God is preparing me for something greater (or at least, most days, I am hoping so). Deep down I know that He is faithful and will not neglect me nor has He ever forgotten me. Deep down, I know these things to be true.
Unfortunately, there are days that I don’t live deep down! There are some days when I live in the shallow pit of my emotions. There are some days that I allow my thoughts to get carried away and I lose sight of the fact that NOTHING IS WASTED WITH GOD!
Everything that I have been through, God will use to grow me and to help me understand what others are going through. You cannot understand someone’s story unless you have a similar one. I will never know what it’s like to be addicted to drugs because I have never been addicted to drugs. For those that have, and have been delivered, God will use that to help someone else. It’s not been wasted.
Even though I don’t know what it’s like to be addicted, I have my own stories. I have my own issues. I have my own messes. On the days that I find myself swimming in the shallow end of self-pity and bad moods, I have to remind myself that nothing is wasted with God. Everything I am experiencing right now will be used for a greater purpose.
When I think about all the different characters in the Bible, I realize that 1) God can and will use anybody, and 2) our mistakes and messes don’t thwart Him a bit. Just reading the genealogy of Jesus shows us that God can and will use anyone. God’s not afraid of our messes or mistakes.
God uses the situations in our lives to mold us into better human beings that have greater empathy for those around us. That’s why I love Hebrews 4:15-16 so much.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Because Jesus knows the weaknesses and frailties of humanity, He gives us grace and mercy. He understands the messes that we get ourselves into. He gives us grace and mercy to get out of those messes with a message of hope, love and forgiveness.
He takes all of our issues, problems, mistakes, messes, tragedies, disappointments, and failures, runs them through His grace and somehow, some way, something amazingly beautiful comes out of it all. The scripture is true that declares, “He gives beauty for ashes.” (Isaiah 61:3)
I have a dear friend that has just started blogging. Her blog is about her life’s story. In her blog, she shares about a lot of the messes that she has found herself in. And yet, God, her loving Father, is taking every single one of those messes and is turning them into an amazing tapestry that others will look at and see as beautiful. My friend is just one shining example of how nothing is wasted with God.
What about you? Have you ever felt that some decisions you made in life were wasted? Have you ever felt insignificant? Have you ever felt that things were too bad for God to redeem? I know that I have had my fair share of seemingly hopeless issues. I have to always remind myself that, with God, nothing is wasted.
Introducing God — The Story
DUDLEY HALL -- All good stories begin by introducing the main characters. Much of the plot is involved in getting to know the characters as the narrative moves along. The big story of the Bible follows this pattern. "In the beginning, God ..." alerts us to the central character. He is the creator of all things. He obviously has some design in mind as he goes about putting it all together.
The crown of his creation is man. Adam is introduced as the next main character of the story. But he is alone, and so the creator makes him a companion who is like him but with distinctions. They are given the shared assignment to cooperate with God in managing the creation.
Together, they are God's partners in his overall plan to make the earth flourish. Soon, a third character is introduced. He is the antagonist. He persuasively offers the pair an alternative means to fulfill their desires, and they yield. This introduces the conflict that will be an issue throughout the story.
Because of their rebellion Adam and Eve chose to hide. This reaction made it clear they really didn't know God that well yet. Why would those cared for and created by God want to hide from him? The couple experienced shame because of their choice. They saw themselves as bad, and they did know that God was good. They perceived that he would want to distance himself from them once they had rebelled against him. But God came looking for them. They feared exposure, because they thought it would condemn them. God came to expose them, so he could cover them. This theme is central to the continuing narrative as told by God through his storytellers.
God is not hiding from sinful people. He loves his creation and longs to share all that he has with them like a father does with his children. Not only did God come to Adam and Eve when they were behind the bush, but later he came to Noah when the world was corrupted and needed to start over. Then God sought out Abram who was confused about divine-human relationships and revealed himself as a covenant-keeping God, changing Abram's name to Abraham.
Though 400 years went by as Abraham's descendents lived in Egypt, God came to them to deliver them from slavery and make them a nation of prominence. By his own initiation, God revealed the design of the tabernacle where he would meet with his people. More of his character is revealed as he identifies with them by coming to live in a tent just like they have. Other religions had gods who lived in the heavens, the mountains, the plains or the seas, but Israel's God lived with them.
He showed them how sinful people could relate to sinless God. It was by a substitutionary animal sacrifice. Blood was shed to show that sin could not be dealt with without death. Sin could not be overlooked, ignored, tolerated, denied or redefined. The substitute must die in order for God's children to enjoy life with him again. In beautiful yet bloody foreshadowing, animals died to show this picture and point to a time when a perfect substitute would die and not only pay the penalty of sin, but condemn it.
That day came when Jesus was born. In Jesus, God was again coming to sinful man to cover him. Jesus lived as Adam and Eve were designed to live. He died as the representative of their descendents. His blood was sufficient to satisfy all justice and redeem all who are held in sin's slavery. Before his final hours, Jesus told his disciples that he was going to prepare for them a place where they could enjoy the Father just like he did. He knew they would miss him, but told them that he would come again and he would send the person of the Holy Spirit who would explain what they needed to know about how to live as God's redeemed and reconciled children.
It happened just like he said. Today we have the privilege of living in fellowship with God without fear of shame -- because God is not hiding from sinners. He is coming to them.
It is time for all of us who are hiding from God to step out of our shame by stepping into his arms. He has been looking for you. Step forward. There is no condemnation in him for those who trust his Son.