Sunday, February 27, 2011

Meeting Jesus: Friend or Foe?

"Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords."

Revelation 19:11-16


As a child, I naively thought that salvation was simply God saving us from the devil. While certain elements of that reasoning may be true, I have, quite thankfully, come to the understanding that God is saving us from Himself! There are over 4o references in the book of Revelation that allude to Jesus as King, enthroned as the Sovereign of the universe. This is one of the most terrifying. The blood soaking the robe? That of his enemies. This is the King we cannot escape; this is the King of our present lives and future judgement. By his grace alone we are saved from the wrath of God. Let us run to this King for mercy and grace, that we may meet him as a friend. There will be no hope for us if we meet him as foe.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Defining Idols

"What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give you. A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would hardly feel worth living. An idol has such a controlling position in your heart that
you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving 'face' and social standing."

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

"There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden."

Proverbs 30:18,19

"As Christians, we can be sure that romantic love is as old as time itself, for it came into being in the Garden when the first man and woman gazed on each other. We must recognize that it was our Creator who gifted us with the capacity for the intense and passionate emotions required to fall in love."

Ed Wheat


"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

John 3:16

"If there is one subject more than another upon which I wish to speak, it is the love of Christ. But if there is one that quite baffles me and makes me go back from this platform utterly ashamed of my poor feeble words, it is this subject. This love of Christ is the most amazing thing under heaven, if not in heaven itself."

Charles Spurgeon

Friday, February 11, 2011

Keeping Up With The Joneses

"The quest for success often keeps our focus on that next big raise, that next house, that next new thing. But if we think we have some catching up to do, we should consider how the other 90 percent of the world lives. See how you stack up to the rest of the world at: www.whoarethejoneses.org. "

The above is the text for an ad in the Winter 2011 edition of Compassion International's quarterly publication. I visited the website and must say that it is well worth a few minutes of your time. I hope that you will consider the points being made by its content and will share the website information with your family and friends. For more information on the ministry of Compassion International, please visit them online @ www.compassion.com.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

The Call To Die

"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time-death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call. Jesus' summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only the man who is dead to his own will can follow Christ. In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 1906-1945

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Certainty of Genesis

Every year, in the weeks preceding Christmas, I reread A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In the opening pages of this charming little book, Dickens painstakingly confirms the actual death of Jacob Marley. He is insistent that his reading audience understand that Marley was dead, really, truly dead! After detailing the demise of Jacob Marley, Dickens writes, "There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate." Dickens declares that if the fact of Marley's death is lost to the reader, then we are never going to comprehend and embrace what follows in the life of Ebenezer Scrooge. And so it is with Genesis 1 and 2. If we do not understand, as fact, that God is our creator, we will never be able to understand and apply all that follows in the Bible. If we fail to embrace God as the sovereign of the universe, we will never come to terms with our own sin; we will never begin to see the depths of God's love, mercy, and grace; and we will never consider our absolute dependence on him for all things. Granted, thinking hard about God, his origin and place in the beginning of the biblical storyline, can be a daunting task. As G.K. Chesterton once said, "God is like the sun; you cannot look at it, but without it you cannot look at anything else." We may not be able to explain all things about God; that's a given. But as Dickens confirms to his readers the utmost importance of excepting Marley's death for the sake of a fictional story, we are called to except the truth of Genesis 1 & 2, that it may serve as a foundation for all else God is telling us. Settle the issue in your heart; God is who he says he is! Be certain of that!