Empty lives

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (I Peter 1:18-19)

I was reading this passage today and really began to focus in on the words 'the empty life you inherited from your ancestors'. If you have just skipped over those words, like I have so many times, you may not have even realized what this passage points out so vividly. Our life, prior to asking Christ to take control of it, was merely an empty shell that required his intervention in order to be what it was created to become. That empty shell might not have seemed like much to any onlooker but to God, because of his intense love for his creation, it required a 'ransom' in order to redeem it from the emptiness it had inherited.

If you have not heard the truth that man is a 'tri-part being', made up of body, soul, and spirit, then you may not realize that there is a part of you that was created to actually 'house' the presence of God - your spirit. That place within each life is empty until Christ's presence fills it. The 'ransom' has been paid, but there still needs to be an invitation for him to 'enter in'. That may seem a little counter-intuitive according to man's standards of 'doing business'. If a 'ransom price' was established and paid, then the one doing the 'ransoming' has full rights to that which he ransomed, does he not? In terms of your life, there must still be a willingness to receive the gift of that freedom!

God paid the ransom. He has the right to claim us as his own. Yet, he gives us the choice. We can choose to be free, living more than an empty life, or we can choose to continue in our emptiness and wandering. It is indeed a privilege to invite his presence into our lives, but he will not force himself upon us. Some may argue with me today and tell me their life is far from empty, even though they have not invited Christ to fill that spot created just for his presence, but the truth is that they may just not realize that spot is empty yet. God will create a time and a place for them to realize the emptiness of their lives. When he does, the choice is still theirs entirely. They can continue to live empty lives, or be filled to overflowing with his love, grace, and presence. The choice for me was simple. Just sayin!

Welcome the light

The more we experience light, the harder it becomes to tolerate darkness. This is true in every area of our lives. Get up in the middle of the night, when darkness abounds, then try to avoid hitting your toe on the furniture if there is not even one hint of light to guide your way. You stumble around, hands held outward groping for something to guide the way. Then there comes a bit of light - it settles our anxiety, helps us make out what has been hidden, and helps us 'navigate' with safety. Light is perhaps not essential, but the more we experience it, the more essential it becomes!

God is light, and in him there is no darkness. So if we say that we share in life with God, but we continue living in darkness, we are liars, who don’t follow the truth. We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean. If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. If we say that we have not sinned, we are saying that God is a liar and that we don’t accept his true teaching. (I John 1:5-10)

When that light is Jesus, the more we experience his light, the more essential our relationship with him becomes! Darkness isn't going to thrill us any longer - we won't desire to tolerate the things we once found we could 'grope our way through'. We will want light to be shed, perhaps only dimly at first, but then with the full brightness of his presence. Why do we desire to be free of darkness? It holds things that harm us. It creates a sense of fear within us. It creates 'images' out of lurking 'darker things' that we don't fully comprehend. So, we desire light.

Light sets things right. It dispels the myth that what 'lurks' in the darkness will harm us. When light comes into our spirit, the things that once hid in the darkness no longer have a hiding place. They are exposed for what they really are. In the night hours, that looming bookcase may take on the image of a giant monster, but in the light of day we see it for what it really is - a home for books. Light helps make the things that we imagine to be real evident for what they really are. When we trust God enough to give us the light we need, we are relying upon a light that will never go out. 

Light brings hope, dispels fear, opens our understanding. When we welcome light into our lives, we are actually asking darkness to flee. Just sayin!

The Best Tact

The Lord made a gourd plant grow quickly over Jonah. This made a cool place for Jonah to sit and helped him to be more comfortable. He was very happy because of this plant. The next morning, God sent a worm to eat part of the plant. The worm began eating the plant, and the plant died. After the sun was high in the sky, God caused a hot east wind to blow. The sun became very hot on Jonah’s head, and he became very weak. He asked God to let him die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you think it is right for you to be angry just because this plant died?” Jonah answered, “Yes, it is right for me to be angry! I am angry enough to die!” And the Lord said, “You did nothing for that plant. You did not make it grow. It grew up in the night, and the next day it died. And now you are sad about it. If you can get upset over a plant, surely I can feel sorry for a big city like Nineveh. There are many people and animals in that city. There are more than 120,000 people there who did not know they were doing wrong.” (Jonah 4:6-11)

The reaction of Jonah to God's movement of grace: go outside the city and pout under a shelter he made with his own hands, waiting to see what will happen next. We don't get any impression that Jonah fully grasped what God had sent him to do in Ninevah, nor God's response to the people. What we do see is that Jonah was still trying to do things in his own power. He made the shelter. He wasn't 'comfortable' in what he had 'done himself'. We rarely are! We usually feel a bit relieved, but just as the sun beat down on Jonah under that shelter, we find our actions are 'insufficient' to bring us true satisfaction, peace, and comfort. God's actions are always amazing - he provided a swift growing gourd plant to cover the shelter and bring relief to Jonah. We should never be surprised when God takes the flimsy thing we accomplish and adds his blessing to it. 

The plant quickly died, leaving Jonah in a barren place, scorched by the sun. We should never be surprised when what appeared as a blessing doesn't 'last' as long as we'd hope. It is God we should focus on, never the blessing. He is the giver of the gift, but we sometimes become more excited about the gift than we are about the giver. Perhaps God was trying to show Jonah there was more than a little root of pride in his heart, or that he struggled with anger as a result. We don't know exactly what God is doing in our lives at times, because it seems 'contrary' to what we know about God when the blessing doesn't last. What he may be doing in the things we don't understand is working on the depths of our own heart. I doubt Jonah expected to go to Ninevah so God could purify HIS heart. He thought only of the 'mission' to share the message of God's judgment, not that he was struggling with obedience, pride, anger, or mistrust. God won't let us live long in a place of 'comfort' while there is still stuff in our heart that he needs to work on.

If God were to allow us to continue in our 'comfort' and never focus on what put us in that place, we'd never get beyond the struggles we have in our own heart. Jonah saw God as 'not doing what he said he'd do', all the while missing that God was doing bigger things in his own heart. We can find ourselves questioning what God is doing in or for others, often seeing them as 'contrary' to the way we thought God should act toward them, but we must never forget he is always focusing on our heart's condition. As much as we think someone might not 'deserve' the grace God gives, we must never lose sight of the need for grace we continue to need. God exposes more of our heart in our responses to someone else's blessings than we might realize. When he does, the best tact to take is to listen closely, act upon what he reveals about the condition of our heart, and then seek his plan for correction. It may not be 'comfortable', but it is necessary. Just saying!

Do you believe?

“I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)

Do you believe this? That is a very telling question, for all else in our life hinges on the answer. Anyone who believes - is that you? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life? Do you believe he made a way for you to be reconciled to God? Do you accept this free gift? These are the questions we must answer - if not today, then when?

First, we believe in his finished work on the Cross - then we live in him. What does that mean? We don't become puppets in his hand, but we do relinquish the right to live in control of our lives. We willingly lay down our control and allow him to take the reins. The free gift opens the way for us to live free of things we don't even know have us bound. So many claim they have no need of a Savior because they have lived 'good lives'. Is it possible to be 'good enough' to be reconciled to God apart from the work Christ has done on our behalf?

The answer is an absolute 'no' - nothing we can 'do' will ever reconcile us to God. We would have to be 'doing' and 'doing' all the time - yet never really achieving the end goal. The moment we stop 'doing' and begin 'trusting' is the moment of transition. We ask Christ to enter into our lives and do you know what he does? He gives us immeasurable peace, eternal hope, and freedom from having to always be 'doing' in order to be 'right'.

I am the resurrection - life is possible only through the one who has conquered death. I am the life - life is empty when we attempt to fill the space within our spirit that belongs to him alone. Anyone - that means all who will believe - will live - even after dying. Eternal life is guaranteed to all of us - either alongside Christ in the heavenly realms, or alongside Satan and his renegade band of demons in hell. I think I will choose the heavenly realms. How about you? Just askin...

Be thee humble?

Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful. (John Wooden)

Have you ever heard the quote from scripture that God takes care of the humble, but opposes the proud man? I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be on the 'opposing' side to God! I am not thinking that would end very well at all. 

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud. (Psalm 138:6)

God cares for the humble - the one who realizes how much they owe to the one who has redeemed their lives. I used to think a humble person was one who always went around kind of timid, shyly carrying on tasks behind the scenes. I have since discovered God actually has quite a few humble servants who aren't afraid to put themselves out there each and every day.

They value relationships and work hard to keep not only their relationships 'solid', but they are constantly seeking to see all relationships be on their best footing. They value what talents they have been given and are obedient to put them into use. They know the truth and aren't afraid to bring light into darkness by sharing that truth. You see - the humble aren't shy - they are bold in Christ.

Probably one of the most significant characteristics of a humble man or woman that I have observed over the years is this trait of always being grateful. They have a spirit of thankfulness that just exudes from them. It isn't 'mushy' or 'gushy' in anyway, but you can just sense that they are 'at peace' with their lives and are grateful for each blessing God has bestowed. 

God opposes the proud, but he gives grace upon grace to the humble. To the one who is willing to cultivate a spirit of obedience - God is more than willing to cultivate all the other characteristics of humility that we observe in the truly humble individual. I have never been obedient to what God asks me to do and then not been thankful in the end for what he helped me to see, avoid, or come into as a result of that obedience. 

The dictionary may define humility as the state of feeling a bit inferior to others. The very presence of God within our lives could never make us 'inferior' to anyone else - in fact, it makes us appreciate those around us, pray for their needs, and be there when they need a helping hand. Humble people aren't 'saints' - they are just obedient sinners redeemed by God's grace. Just sayin!

Just a 'stupid sin'

Are you a map or GPS user? Do you wing it based on the direction of the sun or other landmarks you recognize? I do a little bit of each of these - sometimes recognizing a landmark right off and knowing where I need to turn, while listening intently to the GPS or map's directions to know exactly where to exit a roadway for another. We all need directions - no one of us is able to continually know the right direction to follow all of the time. Things change around us in spite of every effort we might take to keep them the same - so we oftentimes need to have a new course set as those landmarks and way-finding points are no longer 'valid'. How will we find our way? The answer to that question is the most telling in regards to where it is we will likely end up!

There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. (Psalm 19:14)

I like the part in our passage today where our psalmist asks God to keep him from 'stupid sins' and from 'thinking he can take over God's work'. If there were two prayers I need to pray every single day - those are the two! I step out without seeking God's direction and fall into stupid pitfalls - avoidable completely if I had just waited for the wisdom of God to show me. I certainly get ahead of his plans, thinking I have them all figured out. So...I need to ask God to keep me from doing dumb stuff and to help me stay in step with him - how about you?

How do we start each day fresh? We ask God for a clean slate. We don't just live like we expected to 'play the fool' with a 'damb the torpedos, full speed ahead' kind of attitude the day before. We need to ask God each day for the wisdom to live as we should and if we slip up a bit, ask for a clean slate each day so we don't carry yesterday's mess ups into days possibilities. Clean slates happen because someone takes the time to remove every grimy reminder of the thing that was there before. God is the only one who can remove EVERY reminder - so bring your good and bad parts of the day to him - let him do what he does best. He will magnify the good and clean away the bad.

All sin is 'stupid', but there are some sins we know very will we are not to engage in and we do them anyway. Those are the ones I kind of label as 'stupid' - because if we knew not to engage in them and did it anyway we are being played as a fool. We lack good judgment and sometimes even common sense! God doesn't reject the fool - he works to change the mindset (and heart-set) of the fool. The fool is really one who never recognizes their 'stupid sin'. The wise is the one who recognizes when they have played the fool and pursued the wrong stuff - making a swift confession to God of their 'stupid sin'. In turn, God cleans the slate - removing EVERY sign of that folly. Just sayin!

Kept from stumbling

Ever begin a day proclaiming God's grace and end it assured he has displayed his grace time and time again throughout that very day? I have and I know that it was God who set things right in that day, not me! It makes me want to 'repay' what I have received so generously, but there is not way to 'repay' God for his grace! The only thing we can do is to be grateful and strengthen our resolve to live obediently to all he commands.

What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me? I'll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God! I'll pray in the name of God; I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it together with his people. When they arrive at the gates of death, God welcomes those who love him. Oh, God, here I am, your servant, your faithful servant: set me free for your service! I'm ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice and pray in the name of God. I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it in company with his people, in the place of worship, in God's house, in Jerusalem, God's city. Hallelujah! (Psalm 116:12-19)

Lift high the cup of salvation! In other words, we need to put the grace of God on display in our lives. Be a living testimony of the deliverance of God. In so doing, we proclaim the greatness of God's love and the faithfulness of his provision. Pray in the name of God. That may seem like a "given" to you, but in the times these words were written by our psalmist the nation was surrounded by all kinds of false gods. Religions abounded, giving "choice" to man as to who deserved the "glory and honor" for what had occurred in their day. There were gods for the seasons, gods for fertility, gods for the weather, and even gods of war. To the psalmist - there is but ONE God - and to him he will pray! Today, we are afforded a whole lot of "other" sources for what occurs. We have the god of Wall Street to blame or thank for our financial status. We have the god of media to fashion our thoughts and frame our ways of acting. You name it, we've got a 'god' for it! It is the intention of the psalmist's heart to have no other God before his one true God! It should be the intention of our hearts, as well.

Complete what we promise God we will do - and do it alongside your brothers and sisters in the Lord. Our commitment to God should be "lived out" in our regular and ordinary daily life. In the moment of truth, will we step up to what we promised God we'd do? In our comfort, we seldom remember the promises we make in the times of our greatest distress. Whenever we make a promise (a vow), we are committing to a set course of conduct. We need to follow-up on that commitment - and we will not do it alone - we have our brothers and sisters alongside in the journey. When we are weak in our fulfillment of our vows, perhaps we'd do well to simply invite another to stand alongside as we take the steps toward faithfulness that we have promised! That relationship of another can go along way toward helping us be faithful! Desire to be of service to God. The outcome of our soul's deliverance is that we should desire to be of service to the one who has done so much in redeeming us and keeping us safe along the way. There is nothing more rewarding to God than to see his children lifting hands in praise to him. The heartfelt worship of our Lord stirs his heart as we lift him high in exultation. We connect with God through heartfelt worship.

We often forget the many blessings of our God. That is one reason that I journal my studies and why I share what God does through the written word we share in this blog. God has done much to transform this sinful soul and he deserves the honor due his name! Man cannot "repay" God for the many blessings in his life, but he can give two things in return: his heart and his commitment to fulfill his vows. The heart connects him with God - the desire to fulfill the vows he has made is a direct result of his gratitude toward his Lord. These next words suggest that we can be at peace and our soul can be at rest. This is not because of what we have done, but because of the faithfulness of what God continually does! Let this be our prayer of both meditation and praise on this day. See if it doesn't change your perspective a little today to "relax and rest" by remembering that it is God who is in control, who delivers, and who sets all things right! Just sayin!

I said to myself, "Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings. Soul, you've been rescued from death; Eye, you've been rescued from tears; And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling."