Grace and Truth

Jesus warns us in the gospels to build our house upon the rock, and not upon the sand, because when the storms came the house built upon the sand was utterly destroyed, while the house upon the rock stood firm.

I wonder if our “house”, that is our live, our integrity, our relationships, our beliefs (I mean the things in which we put out trust: if we’re Christian, we “say” God… but is that where our trust really is?), really are built upon the rock.

Fortunately for us, God sends us building inspectors from time to time to probe us (with the help of supernatural tools that God provides).  Its not always who we think it should be.  Its not always in the way we think it should be done.  But no matter, God in his mercy probes away.

Like the dentist, he probes, pokes, grinds away the calcified buildup… and like the dentist, occassionally “YEOOCH” he hits something.  A crack.  Like a cracked tooth, God will send his building inspectors to find cracks in our foundation.

Sometimes it’s not who we would like (the wife or husband we like to blame for everything, since it’s never us). Sometimes its not in the way we would like (“Well… I just can’t believe that they would say that… well I never, well I’m just so offended…”)

But guess what, it is right and it is God.

Jesus says He is the way, the Truth and the life.

The way is to come to him.  The life only comes via the truth, and guess what, the truth is often painful.

God is so gracious, he comes to give us truth before its too late.  What to do when the truth comes crashing down?

Run to him.  Run to the throne of grace, to find mercy in our time of need.  And believe me, when we’ve had a dose of the truth it is definitely a time of need.

Treasure in Heaven

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.

Jesus promises us treasures in heaven and fruit that will last.  Paul reminds us we…get a crown that will last forever.  We are promised a great reward, if we faint not (do not give up).

I guess my reflection for today is this: do we realize just how great an inheritance is laid up for us in heaven, and have we allowed ourselves to get distracted from our primary goal in life, which is to lay hold of this inheritance, for which Christ laid a hold of us?

We talk a lot (in church) about “missing it”, but I wonder sometimes do we even get it at all, like even close? Do we understand—at all—what it is that God has for us, and do we understand how to get it?   I’ve talked about good old fashioned desperation, and  I second that (second myself…sheesh).  It’s time for some good old desperation to allow God to lead us to His inheritance for us.

Because I believe on the other side of eternity, the great beyond, the great gig in the sky, whatever, there is an inheritance that I either get or I get to see burned up.  Well, guess what?  I wanna get it, I don’t want to get to see it burned up (I’m not talking about salvation, I’m talking what makes it through the flame?)

How do we do this?

We get specific.  We get focused, and we engage our lives with everything that God has for us.

“I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.”

we pray, like men possessed (in the best possible way)

…The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name

And we get to know the Masters business.  To do so means forsaking our business and our busy-ness.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Above all, we’re normal.  Not wierd and religious, just people doing what we can, where we are with what we have. God has a way of intertwining His will with our lives, if we will just let Him (the letting Him is the issue here).

God, have your way in my life,  Lead me on Jesus and show me the inheritance you have laid up in heaven for me, and give me a passion to focus and engage so that I can grab a hold of it, for your sake Lord Jesus Amen!

Everlasting Love vs. Wasting time

A song on the bus impresses upon me the love of God:

Open up your eyes
Then you’ll realise
Here I stand with my
Everlasting love

Do we not realise how wide (all-encompassing—for everyone—even you), how long (everlasting), how high (beyond human comprehension), how deep (unfathomable—were we to have all eternity, there would still be more to search) is the Love of God.  As I sat in the bus this morning, I was impressed that God himself is singing this very song to humanity, this unrequited love song and invitation to marriage

Need you by my side
Girl to be my bride
You’ll never be denied
Everlasting Love

You’ll never be denied.  Gods promises are for everyone.  Come all who I thirsty and drink of the waters of life, says Jesus.  Come as you are, surrender your heart and be a part of me.

From the very start
Open up your heart
Be a lasting part of
Everlasting Love

When we surrender our hearts to Jesus, when we give him our lives and experience His everlasting love, which is freely given to all humanity, our lives have meaning and purpose as we allow Him to transform us by renewing our mind.

Contrast this to what life might be without Jesus (or without the daily renewal we need from the Holy Spirit, or what happens when we knowingly disobey God).

Another song on the bus:

Sitting in the morning sun
I’ll be sitting when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
And I watch ‘em roll away again

[Refrain]
Sitting on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
I’m just sitting on the dock of the bay
Wasting time

I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the ‘Frisco bay
‘Cause I had nothin to live for
And look like nothing’s gonna come my way

So I’m just…
[Refrain]

Look like nothing’s gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what ten people tell me to do
So I guess I’ll remain the same

Sittin here resting my bones
And this loneliness won’t leave me alone
It’s two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

“…Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty

The Archaic and the Eternal

I have heard it said, many a time, with respect to the truth of the gospel, the reality of sin and redemption, death and the resurrection, the eternal King Jesus and His defeated foe… that such concepts were so completely “archaic” that they “could not possibly” apply today.

The thought that crosses my mind is “Since when does eternal truth ever become outdated?” In this deluded, depressed, demoralized postmodern society that we live in,  we have the audacity to pigeon-hole centuries-old truth as “archaic”.

If the Truth has been outmoded, then with what exactly has it been replaced with? Surely we must have something infinitely better to show in our society now we have suddenly—at last—become released from the shackles of antiquity. What is it that is somehow much better than the Truth which motivated such as the American Revolutionaries, and those who were responsible for shutting down the slave trade, and the Reformers (many of whom paid with their lives simply so we could have access to God’s immutable word, the Bible, that “archaic” diatribe that it is), or in more recent times General Montgomery, whose pronouncement “The Lord mighty in Battle will give us the victory” preceeded the first military victory for the allies in World War II. Shall I go on? Are we to somehow ignore history?

Since when do we presume to have attained the intellectual superiority to dismiss the glorious truth that our forefathers lived and died for, the real platform upon which all of the freedoms which we now take foregranted, were actually built? So that now we discuss whether or not it is “relevant” to deign to pray before parliament sits, or before school or even at school at all, or in public ever? There is a reason why Christian society has been blessed in the past, and it behooves us to understand our past as it truly was, not how revisionist history might try to paint it.

God is not mocked. Let God be true and every man a liar. The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers.

And let Christians not forget God’s promise: “If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked [lit. bent] ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

Lord, heal our land!! Come and send revival!! We need you!!!