All is calm…

Christmas has traditions for most families. We do the usual stockings stuffed with small surprises, gifts under a decorated tree, turkey and all that goes with it, and much joy that Jesus came. But one traditions is odd. Our daughter lives more than 3000 km from here but we and her brother get on the phone and play Boggle, amid a lot of laughter and threats of cheating. This year, our granddaughter got a day pass and spent twelve hours with us on boxing day. Part of that was helping her granddad begin a 3600 piece Lego castle. In all this, the joy of Jesus kept my heart lifted in the energy of His grace. 

Today I read and identified with these words: “I rejoiced greatly to find some of our children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father” (2 John 4) and “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” (3 John 4)

I tend to focus more on bad news than good news, so this passage also popped out:

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 17–23)

The last few lines give me a sense of what God wants from me, but the Lord would not let me linger there. He gave me this to keep the joy flowing:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)

And then this as if Jude needed an exclamation mark:

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, (1 Corinthians 1:30)

PRAY: Jesus, you have become wisdom from God for me. This is why I must boast only in you and not in myself or my so-called wisdom. Please reveal more and more of your glory and grace to my heart. I want to bow before You quicker, lower, and with more joy than ever before. You are my majestic and merciful King. Open the eyes of my heart a bit wider to behold the great hope to which you’ve called me in the gospel. Deepen my adoration of you, Jesus, and loosen my grip on my so-called treasures. What do I have that you have not given me? 

I praise You for coming into a world where everything is broken, but You came to make all things new, even me. I look forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that You are Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It’s going to be a loud and large day. This Christmas I’m thankful I could say, “Be still, my soul” . . . and experience Your calm glory and quiet mercy, and worship You with quiet certainty that Your will is being done. This I pray in Your wise and worthy name. Amen.

The Power of Salvation

God reminds me today of all that He has done and is doing in my life. Because of His faithfulness I live in His mercy which is “new every morning.” As we age, forgetfulness is common, yet the  only sign of amnesia in the Lord is that He forgets to remember my sins against Him! These thoughts fill me with peace, joy, and hope. His words of truth keep changing my life. 

He tells me to “Count it all joy… when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4) 

Joy in trials once seemed impossible, but as He shows His goodness, then I start to see it, even before the trials are over.

He bids me to ask for wisdom, trusting Him. If I cannot do both He patiently keeps showing me that He is the source of wisdom and His wisdom can be trusted. 

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” not from me, not from the kindness of others. He is the first source, the origin of goodness and this produces humility and thankfulness. 

When I watch the congregation go forward to participate in communion, I see that partiality is foolish. We all stand before Him, saved sinners remembering what He has done for us. There is no rich or poor, only family — together to thank and glorify our Savior. 

He also reminds me that the praying field is level; “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” No little/big sins. It is just sin that we fight — and salvation by faith that we share. Yet this salvation is not mere talk. If it is real, it show up:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 

Faith without works is only talk, not saving faith. Saving faith changes lives. God says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?… For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” 

One example of faith is tongue control. The Bible says it is “a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”  So I need the grace of God and the power of God to know when to speak and when to shut up. I also need His wisdom: 

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
God also points out the reason some of my prayers bounce off the ceiling: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” and He tells me what to do about it — in this order: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. . . . Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, I will live and do this or that.” As it is, “You boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So if you know the right thing to do and fail to do it, for you it is sin.” 

He tells me of His patience and this changes my ’I want it now’ focus. He tells me of His healing power and I pray for the sick and for those who sin, but also confess my own, and more easily see that prayers coupled with simple obedience have great power. Yet as Piper says, the promises God made to Abraham and the prayer prayed through Mary all found their fulfillment in Jesus. My prayers are answered only because of Him.

PRAY: My Lord and God, I praise you for your grace and your mercy, and Your incredible power to speak to a sinful person and change their life, my life. Thank you for sending Jesus and making such miracles happen. 

God makes wise the simple . . .

 

God’s ways are not our ways. I used to look down on people with low IQ (this is a polite way to say it) and God had to show me how wrong I was. He started with these verses:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)

At first this felt like a slap in the face, however He kept verifying this truth:

Behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:14)

Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” (Matthew 11:25)

I began to realize that what I knew about God was solely due to His revelation of Himself and had nothing to do with my so-called IQ. He says:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple . . .  (Psalm 19:7)

Even the disciples who experienced Jesus and walked with Him realized that His Word to them was more powerful and confirming that what they had experienced of Him!

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:16–21, italics mine)

This truth was also presented to two disciples on the Emmaus Road. Jesus prevented them from recognizing Him, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27) showing how their faith and ministry needed to be based on Scripture, not merely on their firsthand experiences, no matter how profound those experiences may have been.

God’s Word makes the simple wise. It teaches undiscerning, ignorant, and gullible people profound truth from God applies to their lives and gives skill in godly living. As the psalmist wrote and as the Apostle Paul and others prayed:

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. (Psalm 119:98–100)

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9–10)

PRAY: Jesus, You tell us to humble ourselves. These truths are humbling and help me “not to think of myself more highly than I ought to think, but to think with sober judgment” and every gift and ability I have is from You. Each day calls for wisdom and I’m glad that when I lack wisdom, I can ask You and You “give generously to all without reproach, and it will be given” to me — through Your Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit. (James 1:5) I’m very thankful.

PONDER Luke 24:13–35, noting the difference between how the disciples’ ‘wisdom’ interpreted things and how Jesus showed them the truth of what had happened.