Category: Encouragement

What’s Love Got To Do With It?

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 13:1-13

I sang a duet this week with Pop/Soul recording star Tina Turner. She didn’t know it, but I certainly did. Listening to Sirius Radio’s Classic Hits station in my car this week behind the protection of my tinted windows, Tina and I belted out her soulful and defiant rendition of What’s Love Got to Do with It? Personally, I think I nailed it!

While my voice probably added little value to the 1980s hit, Tina’s husky voice gave the song a raw, emotional edge that made it feel lived in rather than just performed. What’s Love Got to Do with It? became Tina’s “anthem of independence,” a song that questioned love’s place in relationships while asserting her own strength.

What’s love got to do with it?

You may find it hard to believe, but that’s essentially the question Paul asked the people in the church at Corinth over 2,000 years ago. Let’s jump back in time for a bit.

Paul established the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey around 50 AD. While the church was doing some good things, it also struggled to stay grounded in Christ as Paul taught them. Some of the believers had a tendency to drift back into their old way of life, indulging in sexual immorality or blending aspects of their former pagan worship into their new beliefs.

Others, gifted by God for ministry in various ways, tended to believe their gifts were of greater value than others and considered themselves better than their fellow church members. Evidently, it led to some nasty arguments among them and more than a little name calling.

When the situation got bad enough, some folks in the Corinthian church, trying to do things the right way, boarded a boat and crossed the Aegean Sea from the port of Cenchreae (near Corinth) to Ephesus, a journey of about 200 nautical miles. They came to Paul, sharing what was happening back home and seeking his counsel.

While they struggled with a great many things, the story of the Christians in Corinth was a sad tale of dissension and disunity. All the infighting within the church damaged their witness for Christ. As a result, Paul sat down and wrote a corrective letter to his “brothers and sisters,” urging them to “end the divisions among you” and to be “perfectly united in mind and thought.” (I Corinthians 1)

At one point Paul addressed the issue of their disunity by explaining that God grants everyone abilities and spiritual gifts to be used to build up each other and the church as they work together to advance the cause of Christ. One gift is not greater than the other, making each person valuable to God’s kingdom.

Then, Paul shows them “the most excellent way” to end their divisiveness. As he did so, he wrote perhaps one of the New Testament’s most memorable passages: I Corinthians 13. Take a look.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:1-8a)

It’s difficult to read these verses, as I often do, and not hear wedding bells. In fact, my wife and I chose these verses to be read at our wedding 50 years ago. While they fit quite well shoehorned into a marriage ceremony, it’s not what Paul had in mind when he penned them.

Paul needed the believers in Corinth to start loving each other as Christ loved them. To express love for each other and for the lost as a priority over everything else. Love, Paul believed, is the litmus test of our life in Christ, proving that we are his.

It wasn’t a thought unique to the apostle. Jesus taught his disciples the same thing just prior to his death on the cross.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this shall all me know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

The love both Jesus and Paul spoke about is selfless love as defined in the Greek word agape. It was modeled by Christ throughout his life and upon his death on the cross for our sins. Self-giving. Sacrificial. Always seeking good for others even when they don’t deserve it.

Given the attitudes of many in the Corinthian church, Paul described not what love is, but how love acts—less descriptive adjective and more active verb. If our love fails to positively engage in the joy and hurt of others, if love fails to extend God’s grace , we accomplish nothing. We gain nothing.

That sounds harsh. There is a Latin phrase—sine qua non—that means essentially, “if you don’t have this, you don’t have anything.” Without love, the rest comes off no better than Professor Harold Hill’s River City Marching Band, a lot of notes, but very little music. Whatever we tried to accomplish gains nothing.

When considered in the context of Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian church, love expressed in patience is our choice to love someone not because of who they are, but in spite of who they are, in spite of what they’ve done to you. It is love that refuses to be offended and chooses again to see potential in others. Patient love does not demand instant understanding, but continues to disciple and teach.

A love expressed in kindness love isn’t just being nice. In the original Greek, the word for kind carries a sense of active gentleness that treats others with worth and dignity. It builds up others rather than tears down. It notices need and acts upon it. It is consistent in deeds, words and tone. It is love with hands and feet…and a gentle voice.

Paul also cites a litany of things love is not. He’s speaking directly to the Corinthians for whom love was, as Tina sang, a “second-hand emotion” forgotten amid the disharmony.

The attitudes of some within the church were envious, boastful, rude, self-seeking and angry toward others they deemed unworthy of their time and help. They diminished their giftedness by their lack of genuine love toward others. These attitudes were tearing apart the church and proving to be an ineffective witness.

“Love never fails,” Paul said. It always wraps its arms around the hurting. Love gives the benefit of the doubt by looking for the good in others. It clings to hope when change, healing or reconciliation is needed. It perseveres through the toughest of times, never giving up on God. Never giving up on others.

It must have hurt the heart of God for the Corinthian church to fall into such a destructive pattern of life. When you read through Paul’s letter, it’s not hard to imagine the hateful exchange of words among the believers who felt justified in their arrogance, believing themselves to be better, more faithful followers of Christ than others.

As I’m imagining their lack of love, I’m reminded of my own failure to extend love and grace to others in times they needed it most. I suspect you’re no different. We must do better.

Though I sometimes fail in that regard, I cringe when professing Christians post angry tirades on social media toward non-believers or even other professing Christians who hold differing views on the social, political or even spiritual topic of the day. I groan at the damage done to the cause of Christ when professing Christians in high political or social positions question with hateful words the faith of others who stand against their programs and policies.

Not everyone who loves is Christian, but every Christian should love always– because God first loved us.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (I John 4:7-8)

Therein lies the challenge for our faith in our world today. To set aside the divisions and the disunity among us and love nonetheless. To pray sincerely for a change of heart for those who are so hurt they have to hate. Let love start with me. Let it start with you. As we grow in love, maybe we can love others into loving others.

Paul ends his discussion on the subject of love with this:

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:13)

You see, as critical as faith and hope are to our present days, love supersedes them both. For one day, when we see Christ face to face, faith and hope will no longer be necessary.

Faith is that conviction that anchors us in Christ. Yet, one day in God’s kingdom, faith will give way to sight. We won’t need faith once we see him face to face. Hope, our confident expectation of God’s eternal promises, sustains us through this life. Once we have received what we long for in Christ, hope has served it’s purpose

Love never ceases. Love is not something God gives, it is who he is. In Christ, love will never fail or be replaced in heaven, it will only be perfected. Because love embodies the character of God as shown in Christ, it is our highest expression of spiritual maturity and the truest mark of any disciple.

That’s what Paul told the Corinthian church. It’s what he is telling us today. Measure your spiritual life not by the knowledge you attain, not by your giftedness and not the strength of your faith or the depth of your hope. Love is the proof of a life lived for Christ.

So, what’s love got to do with it?

Simply everything.

Thinking Points

In what ways am I tempted to value certain gifts, accomplishments, knowledge or opinions more than love?

When I am confronted with people who think, believe or act differently than I do, do I lean on active patience and kindness or do I fall back on something else?

Since love is eternal, how should that reshape the way I prioritize my relationships today?

React to this statement. Not everyone who loves is Christian, but every Christian should love? What does it say about our priorities?

Where might God be calling me to put love’s hands and feet into action this week?

Rooted

Focal Passage: Colossians 2:2-7

While visiting California years ago, my wife and I visited the Sequoia National Park, walking among those magnificent redwoods towering toward the sky. After growing up among the mesquite trees on the South Plains of Texas, those trees inspired awe and reverence in God’s amazing creation.

The National Park Service believes the 275-foot tall President’s Tree in the park is among the oldest trees in the world, estimated to be more than 3,200 years old. That means when the President’s Tree sprouted as a seedling, Israel had no king, Samson fought his battles with the Philistines, and God was actively preparing the stage for Samuel, Saul and David.

You probably knew that sequoias don’t have a tap root. Their roots rarely go deeper than 10-12 feet, but they spread as far as 150 feet or more in every direction in search of water and nutrients, intertwining with the root systems of the trees growing around them. It is this interlocking root system that gives them strength, enabling them to stand strong through the centuries despite wind or storm.

Paul would have enjoyed knowing about these redwoods. It would have provided another great illustration to use as he wrote to the churches in Asia Minor.

No firm record exists that the apostle Paul ever personally visited Colossae. The apostle sent Epaphras, his recent convert and companion, to Colossae to preach and teach the gospel in what was likely Epaphras’ hometown.

By the time Paul sent his letter to believers in this once prominent city, the church was already being pressured by false teachers and even well-meaning individuals who misunderstood Paul’s teachings about Christ. Paul intended his letter as an encouragement for the believers in Colossae to stay grounded in the gospel they were taught. Hear his words.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of hidden wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so no one may deceive you by fine sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. (Colossians 2:2-5)

It is what he wrote next that captured my attention.

So, then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6-7)

Paul gave the believers in Colossae a lot to think about in these two verses. Everything it implied to those first century believers applies equally to any 21st century believer in Christ.

Colossian believers received Jesus as Lord through faith alone, not by adding rituals, Greek philosophy or Jewish legalism to the good news they heard proclaimed. He urged them to continue in faith as they were taught when they first received Christ. He implored them to not muddy the waters with things that have no foundation in Christ Jesus.

Depending on the Bible translation you use, Paul told them to keep on “walking” or “living” in Christ every day. The Hebrew word halak, translated here as walk, stands as a metaphor for one’s daily life. In other words, Paul warned them not to add or subtract from their daily walk in Christ some philosophical or mystical experience taught by those trying to draw them away from the faith they first experienced in Jesus.

This idea of walking in Christ reminds us that the way we choose to live—every decision, every thing we do–should flow from our growing relationship with Jesus, rather than from outside influences or teachings of those wanting to adjust the gospel to make it more comfortable or appealing to the world. Let truth, but the truth, Paul might declare. While many in the world might consider the Christian walk limiting, Paul found it liberating.

Paul frequently talked about dying to self in some of his other letters…this idea of a believer in Christ setting aside life unbecoming and less fulfilling for the life to which we’ve been called in Christ. He just a few sentences later in Colossians 3:2-3, Paul wrote,

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died (to your old life), and your life is now hidden (secured and protected) with Christ in God.

What the world offered compared poorly with what Paul felt he gained with Christ.

For whatever were gains to me I consider loss for the sake of Christ…I consider them garbage that I might gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. (Philippians 3:7-9)

If Paul knew about those mighty redwoods in California, he might have drawn from that knowledge to clarify his next words.

Continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him.

Think about this. In order to grow to its impressive size, a giant sequoia every day takes in about 800 gallons of water and a steady supply of nutrients primarily through its expansive root system. To be rooted is to be fed and nourished.

However, its strength comes from its connection with other trees, by interweaving its roots with the roots of other nearby sequoias. A sequoia could not survive in isolation. The interlocking system of roots prevent it from being toppled in a storm.

Being rooted in our faith carries two distinct meanings for me.

We are to be rooted in the gospel. Our spiritual nourishment comes only when we study God’s word and spend time with him in prayer, seeking his wisdom and understanding in how he wants us to act and react to life. Being soundly rooted in the teachings of Christ enables us to live fully nourished and strong in the face of every foul wind and storm life throws our way.

We need to realize our need for belonging to a community of faith. We can study and pray and never walk into a place of worship, but I don’t believe we will ever be as strong in our faith as we can be if we practice our faith in isolation.

When we try to live our faith without the presence of other believers in our lives, without the fellowship of the church, we risk losing our grip on faith’s foundation when the next big storm arrives. We need to intertwine our faith roots with the roots of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Faith was never meant to be a solitary walk. Faith grows in the connection with other like-minded believers. This connection holds us up in our times of greatest need.

I know in my own life the church, my church, provides strength, stability and endurance when I need it most. If you’re not present in worship and Bible study on a regular basis you miss out on the strength gained from others who have walked the same road you’re walking, even those who managed to avoid it in the first place.

When we belong to a community of believers, we are not only more rooted in our faith, we’re “built up in him,” as Paul said. I learn a lot in my personal reading when I read and study scripture. God always teaches a new thought or reinforces my study when I listen to my pastor’s sermons. When I’m open to the spirit’s teaching and guidance while in corporate worship. When studying or discussing the Bible with fellow believers. When watching my spiritual heroes live out their faith walk with Christ in the face of life’s challenges and uncertainties.

Paul even affirmed that thought when he encouraged the Colossian church to be “strengthened in the faith as you were taught.” Being rooted and built up in Christ and his church gives me strength to endure. It sustains me in troubled times. It allows me to grow deeper in my faith and relationship with Christ. I thrive on my connection with Christ and those who believe so strongly in him.

This connection is something I pray I never lose and something I desire for my family. Aside to salvation itself, this connection would be the greatest blessing he gives anyone.

Let me encourage you. Since you received Christ as Lord by faith, keep living each day in his footsteps, modeling the things you do and say in the pattern of Christ. Let your roots continue to seek the spiritual nourishment that delving into his word always provides.

Connect yourself with a local congregation of believers. Find a place to worship where they will build and strengthen your faith. Actively join that fellowship of believers in praise, worship and Bible study. I promise it will make a difference in your life just as it has in mine.

Paul added one final word of advice to the church in Colossae at the end of our passage. He encouraged them to overflow with thankfulness. Not just to be thankful, but to overflow. Letting our gratitude to God spill over into our worship, our walk and our witness.

The call to overflow with thankfulness connects deeply with the foundational principles of discipleship and spiritual growth. When we are firmly established in our faith and in Christ, we more easily see his work in our lives—in our salvation, the guidance of his spirit, his daily provision. Gratitude naturally follows.

It is this gratitude that shapes our perspective in difficult times, reminding us that God is at work even in our suffering.

Rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in all circumstances. (I Thessalonians 3:18)

As we let our gratitude overflow, make this be our prayer.

May our faith roots be as broad as the redwood, nourishing our souls and transforming us into the mirror image of Christ himself. Connect us more tightly to a community of believers to teach and strengthen us. Through it all, make us more like Jesus in a world that desperately needs to see his face in us.

Thinking Points

1. In what ways are your spiritual “roots” nourished daily, and where might you need to seek deeper connection with Christ through Scripture and prayer?

 

2. Paul emphasizes being “rooted and built up in Christ” while staying true to the gospel. In what areas of your life might outside influences be subtly reshaping your walk with Christ?

 

3. How does your relationship with other believers strengthen or challenge your faith, and are there ways you could cultivate more meaningful spiritual connections?

 

4. How often do you intentionally cultivate gratitude in your life, and how could a practice of “overflowing thankfulness” transform your perspective on daily struggles or blessings?

The Begin Againers

Focal Passage: Joel 2:12-13

Of all the jobs on the farm, I hated to hoe more than any other. Those endless, quarter-mile rows of cotton stretched forever into the horizon, especially in the July heat. The mindless hours of swiping that blade through that red West Texas dirt sure made going to college more appealing.

“Chopping cotton” was the first job most of us farm kids were compelled to do. We were too young to drive the tractor, but Dad could always shorten the hoe handle to fit our short stature. I learned how to sharpen the edge of my hoe with a file long before I mastered long division.

My Dad and older brother flanked each side of me the day I hoed my first row of cotton. I was not amused. I reached the age where I had to trade play for hard work…at least some of the time. My attitude reflected my half-hearted effort. Chopping just beneath the sandy surface to slice the stem of the weeds, took less effort than digging them out by the roots. So, that’s what I did…for hours.

Dad tried to get me to do it right. He showed me. He scolded me. He finally just took care of his business and left me alone.

About 10 days later, Dad took me to the same field and told me to tell him what I saw. Clearly, every third row, the rows I hoed, were fresh with regrown weeds while the other two were still pristine. The weeds I sliced seemed to grow back faster and stronger, nature’s way of thumbing its nose at me.

Dad pulled my hoe out of the bed of the pick-up truck, handed it to me, and said simply, “Begin again.”

I spent the rest of that day, miserable in a field, fixing my mistake. Lesson learned.

That distant life lesson resurfaced this week after years buried in the background of my mind. A passage in the Old Testament book of Joel reminded me that when God points out our sins, he also calls us to return to him, to begin again living within the framework of his will. To be what singer/songwriter Scott Mulvahill calls in one of his songs a “begin againer.”

Look at the message God shares through the prophet Joel in his call for repentance and starting over in restored relationship with the father.

Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart—with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for his is gracious and compassionate, abounding in love… (Joel 2:12-13)

You see, my Dad, rather than get angry, let my mistake run its course. Despite his instruction, he gave me my free-will choice to stubbornly do things my way. When that didn’t work well, he pointed out how my half-hearted effort didn’t achieve the desired results. He wanted me to understand that doing things the right way may be harder, but it is always better. Then, with a pat on the back, he just told me to begin again. Start over. Return to the field and do it right.

Does that not sound like how God deals with his own children? We grip the handle of our free-will choices and dig just beneath the surface of obedience, with an insincere effort. Then, just a few days later the sin, the weeds, return.

God walks us out to that weed-infested life and shows us the difference in doing things his way or doing them our way. With a pat on the back, he hands us the hoe and says get after it. “Do it again, please, but this time, do it my way.” God is a God of second and third chances… and thankfully so many more. In our rebellion, even now, he calls us to return to him. To be a begin againer.

Look again at this beautiful passage.

Return to me. Three words of incredible and incomprehensible hope that speak directly to those moments when we feel it’s too late. Those days when we feel we’ve strayed too far from the Lord to find our way back. Unintended mistakes. Deliberate rebellion. Spiritual apathy. God says, even now despite all you’ve done or failed to do, you can return. It’s never too late. Begin again.

The call to return must be answered with all your heart, God says. With fasting, weeping and mourning. Beginning again isn’t just a surface level change. God desires our complete and utter surrender. Not religious gestures or rituals. Not going through the motions. Just a sincere turning away from our stubborn desires to do life our way. He wants us to return to him with all that is within us. Our thoughts. Our affections. Our desires. Our souls. Our hearts. Our strength.

Fasting, weeping and mourning capture our deepest expressions of repentance. These acts and emotions are not expressions of sorrow over being called out or regret for the consequences we face, but sincere grief over the sin itself. In these things we recognize deeply our failure for what it is and how far it has taken us from God’s way and will.

Then Joel takes it a step further. Rend your heart, not your clothes. The ancient Hebrew would tear his clothes as a symbol of repentance or being repentant. God wants to make sure we understand that the transformation must be real. Don’t just look or sound repentant on the outside while stubbornly holding on to our old self on the inside. Perfection is not required. Humility is. Be transformed and renewed. Begin again.

God’s call to return to him or to begin living again for him rests in the very character of God. Our sincere regret opens the possibility of restoration. God’s grace confirms it. He welcomes us back, not because we earned it, but because of his goodness. His patience. His mercy. His grace. His never ending and all-encompassing love. It is who he is.

After his moral failure with Bathsheba and his scheme to claim her as his own, David, the psalmist, painted a vivid picture of how to begin again. Listen to the pleading in his words.

Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)

Here’s what I find interesting in his passage as I think about my need at times to begin again.

David does not ask God to fix his heart—he asks Him to create a new one. The Hebrew word for “create” (bara) is the same used in Genesis 1:1 when God creates, well, everything. It suggests that David knows he needs a fresh start—something only God can accomplish. It is a cry for transformation, not just forgiveness. Let me say that again because it’s important. It is a cry for transformation, not just forgiveness.

It’s not just that we made a mistake when we sinned. We must recognize our hearts as fundamentally broken. David doesn’t minimize his sin. He’s asking for a radical inner change. He’s asking to begin again with the right spirit within him…steadfast, faithful, true…in touch with God’s spirit within. It is an urgent desire to draw near to the God he abandoned for a time. It’s David’s desire to begin again, living in the nurturing presence of his father in heaven.

Just recognizing my mistake in that field years ago, did not relieve me of the consequences. I got to hoe it all again, but I wasn’t by myself. Dad walked three rows over. Hoeing weeds that were mine to hoe.

What a marvelous picture of God’s sacrifice and abiding presence! When we sincerely begin again, we will never walk alone. For anyone needing to begin again, to start living for Christ again tomorrow, you need to know that God’s mercy is stronger than our failure. His presence is the reassurance of his sacrificial and everlasting presence.

That passage in Joel calls us to return to God. In its context, though, the call to return comes after a long period of rebellion. Our seasons of rebellion may seem just as long. Wouldn’t it be great, however, if we returned to God each morning. Start the day with a clean slate…a pure heart and a right spirit…a chance to set aside yesterday’s failure for a fresh start within the will of father in heaven?

God’s ready to walk with us every day, hoe in hand, helping us do it right.

The every day begin againers.

Thinking Points

In what areas of your life have you been giving a half-hearted effort? How might God be calling you to dig deeper?

 

How does the image of my father walking alongside me while I fix my mistakes help you understand God’s presence when you face the consequences of your own sin?

 

Why is transformation more important to God than just seeking forgiveness? What must we do to move past regret and really change the way we live?

 

What would it look like for you to “return to God” every morning as an “every day begin againer?”

The Mind of Christ

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 2:10-16

I read the passage several times in recent years, I’m sure. The notes in the margin of my Bible tell me so. I am always amazed at how God opens my eyes to his inspired word, often opening a new line of thought. There is, it seems, always something new to learn and discern.

In a conversation with my sister this week, we talked about the state of our country and the world today. Troubled by the hateful and divisive rhetoric and the internal and external conflict that pits person against person, group against group and nation against nation, we both wondered at what seemed to be the lack of wisdom, compassion and understanding. I remember thinking, “What kind of mind makes these kinds of decisions?”

Two days later, I sat down to read a passage in I Corinthians which oddly enough speaks to mindset of those called as God’s people. I had to think about the state of my own mind and whether my mind was where it needed to be.

Listen to what Paul tells the Corinthian church. Don’t just read it. Read as if Paul sent the letter to you.

“…The spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” (I Corinthians 2:10-16a)

Then Paul adds this one phrase in this passage that I have missed time and time again.

“But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2:16b)

As I try to make sense of how I should think amid today’s disturbed world, this phrase was a 2” x 4” across my nose. It certainly got my attention.

We have the mind of Christ.

Before we get too deep into what that means, let’s briefly explore the context of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. The church in Corinth experienced wave after wave of division and conflict. Arguments over theology or ministry pitted one faction against the other, each thinking they were wiser than the other. Corinthian culture drew upon the influence of Greek philosophy and human wisdom.

Early Christian apologist Aristides, an Athenian philosopher who converted to Christianity in the 2nd century, said of Corinth, “On every street in Corinth one meets a so-called wise man, who has his own solutions to the world’s problems.” (That sounds eerily familiar to our culture today.)

This cultural pattern invaded the church like a virus and spread. Paul spent the early part of his letter addressing the difference between worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom.

Paul tells the church that a person without God’s spirit cannot accept or understand the things that flow from the spirit of God. It is foolish sounding to him because the things of God are spiritually discerned…revealed to believers by his indwelling spirit. That’s a critical point because it is the basis for understanding “the mind of Christ.” It is the basis for grasping the importance of relying on God’s spirit for understanding and wisdom.

If believers, as spiritual beings, are to “make judgments about all things,” it is the mind of Christ we must use to help us discern the truth and determine what we should say and how we should live.

I’ve shared a lot in the past writings about my journey in understanding what it means to be made in the image of God. Equally, this one phrase about having “the mind of Christ” opened a new avenue of study into understanding who we are in Christ. How he shares his mind with us through his spirit. How his mind should set us apart from the culture around us. It is his invitation for us to discover rich spiritual truths and explore a deeper relationship with God.

Let’s look again at I Corinthians 2:16.

For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul first quotes Isaiah 40:13, drawing on this Old Testament passage to emphasize God’s wisdom and mind are beyond human understanding. At the same time, it challenges us to contemplate God’s desire to teach us his will and way.

In Jesus, believers are given access to God’s wisdom, God’s mind, if you will, through the Holy Spirit. The spirit is a gift God gives us when we profess Jesus as Lord of all. Jesus told his disciples there would come a time when he was no longer with them physically. When he left God would send “the Counselor.”

…The Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name , will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

His spirit is not something we have to work to acquire, but we must learn to use the mind of Christ within us. To let it teach us and remind us of what Jesus said and did. To help us understand the mind of Christ by providing insight into scripture and how it applies to life. He gives us the vision to see the world differently. To see others, their hurts and their needs, through the eyes of Christ. He gives us the desire then to act upon what we see in service to others, extending grace to those around us while holding ourselves accountable to God’s truth.

Let me underscore that last part. Living with the mind of Christ means we hold ourselves accountable to his word and will. We cannot lay claim to the mind of Christ and treat others with contempt or to engage in the hateful rhetoric or acts we see around us. Such attitudes and actions are not compatible with the mind of Christ.

Paul contrasted our human inability to comprehend God’s mind on our own with the insight gained through the indwelling presence of the “mind of Christ.” Even on our best days, our understanding of the purpose and plans of God is limited. Isaiah alluded to this limitation. I think that’s why some scripture jumps out at us with deeper meaning, depending on the season or circumstance of our lives.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 45:8-9)

The unknown elements of life cause confusion. At times we question or doubt God. However, we are repeatedly assured of God’s love and that he always knows the path ahead of us. The good news is we have what Isaiah didn’t have. We have the mind of Christ and that is life-changing.

We are no longer restricted by the limited wisdom of man. Our identity as “new creations” through our faith and trust in Christ, allows us to embrace, experience and exemplify the mind of Christ exhibited during his ministry on earth.

Christ showed us how to live a life of love, sacrifice, wisdom and grace. It was on his mind and in his heart always…in every encounter with every soul. Writer Jamie Wilson said that experiencing the mind of Christ is transformative, “…not a mere change in perspective; it is a radical shift in how we approach life and our relationship to God and others.”

It was a theme Paul carried to the Philippian church, as well, when he encouraged them to be united in Christ, possessing compassion and tenderness toward others. He urged them to be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. He said, “Let this mind (attitude) be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5)

It carries a responsibility as Christians to cultivate a mindset that looks like Jesus. That thinks, lives and acts in all things, in all ways and at all times with compassion and a servant’s heart just as Jesus did.

I can’t speak for you, so I’ll just share my thoughts. My life experiences, my fruitful and my failed efforts at living life, have taught me that my understanding of God’s will for my life is imperfect. My background, education and experiences offer beneficial insight, but true wisdom is a God thing. It is his alone. I have to be willing to let go of my ego and follow where he leads every day.

I find it hard to seek and understand the mind of Christ if I am not truly engaged with him. If my prayer life is stilted, if my Bible study is superficial, if my fellowship with other believers is inconsistent, I miss opportunities to grow in the mind of Christ. Connecting with God through his word and through worship and praise, helps align my thoughts with his thoughts. I find that’s when clarity comes.

Having the mind of Christ carries a responsibility of reflecting him to others, inviting them to share in his love. Jesus thrived on his relationship with the father. It ignited the passion he had for sharing his love with others. If I embrace the mind of Christ, it deepens my own relationship with the father. My passion for sharing Christ’s love is at its highest when I am most connected to the mind of Christ.

I suspect it’s no different for you.

Think of the change the world would experience if all who professed a faith in Christ lived as if they had the mind of Christ. Our approach to ministry, outreach, service, governance and life in general would be much different.

Make this our prayer:

Father, help us remember that we are called to reflect Christ’s heart and mind in all our relationships. Let the mind of Christ guide our decisions, our thoughts, our words and everything we do. Help us avoid adding to the world’s divisive rhetoric and even more destructive behaviors. Help us seek to heal wounds by trusting in your wisdom and living in the mind of Christ so that others may see and experience the transformative power of God’s love.

Amen.

Thinking Points

What does it mean to you personally to have “the mind of Christ?” How does it shape the way you view and interpret current events or the culture around you?

 

In what ways might you be relying on human wisdom rather than God’s spirit to inform and guide your decisions?

 

How might your interactions with others and your social and political outlook differ if you approached the compassion, humility and grace exemplified in the mind of Christ?

 

Are there habits or patterns in your spiritual life—inconsistent worship, Bible study, prayer or fellowship—that hinder your ability to experience the mind of Christ?

 

In what areas of life do you most need and desire God’s wisdom this week? How can you actively seek it through his spirit this week?

 

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Author’s Note: If you would like to receive this Bible study blog via email, click www.drkirklewis.com/the-searcher. Find the “Subscribe” button and enter your email address. That’s all it takes.

What’s Next?

Focal Passages: Jeremiah 29:11-13 and Proverbs 3:1-6

Graduation from either high school or college is a beautiful moment of celebration—a capstone of years of study, late nights, tests and struggle.

I sat through 147 of them in my career and only two of them were mine. Every graduation I attended buzzed with excitement and emotion. Classmates hugged or slapped each other on the backs, relieved that that piece of paper they’d been working toward for so long had been signed, sealed and delivered.

I watched thousands of graduates cross the stage each year, thrilled to see the unadulterated joy in the faces of the students as they held the diploma high, searching the crowd for their proud parents. As I sat on that stage year after year, I also noticed as each graduate sat back down waiting to toss those mortar boards into the air, there was a moment when the smile faded, replaced by that 1,000-yard stare. I could almost read their minds as they pondered, “What’s next?”

Equally exciting and terrifying, that question is relevant and filled with more uncertainty that anyone cares to admit. Those of us who have made that journey through life know how our best laid plans often morph into something unexpected.

What’s next? What would you tell that graduate you know?

At a time like this, it is easy to look inward for guidance and understanding. What are my dreams? What do I enjoy doing? What do I want out of life? Where do I go from here?

Scripture, however, points us not inward, but upward. Solomon’s wise words in Proverbs 3:1-6 provide comfort in the uncertainty of ‘what’s next.” He also offers practical wisdom for how to step forward with confidence and faith. In Solomon’s words to his son, you hear God’s voice speaking to all of us.

“Do not forget my teaching. Keep my commands in your heart…” (Proverbs 3:1)

Solomon’s tone is tender, wise and equally urgent. Standing on the threshold of uncertainty, stay grounded in what you’ve been taught. Remember what is truth. It’s not an academic reminder. It’s spiritual.

Whether we grew up in our faith or came to it later in life, this word reminds us to cling to the commands of God and his word. The world constantly works to reshape our identity, telling us that our worth is in our grade point average, our income, our popularity or fame, or our most recent accomplishment. God says otherwise. Remember what you’ve been taught about his character and his love and the way he wants us to live.

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3)

Love and faithfulness are the very character of God. Make them a part of who you are, engrave them on your heart and in your soul. Let them be the compass that guides your decisions and your actions as you navigate the foggy terrain of life. Allowing your life to be driven by selfish ambition or fear leads nowhere. Instead, allow your love for God and others to shape our next steps, to inform your every choice and decision.

Then, we see the more familiar part of this passage.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Left to our own thoughts, success makes us feel invincible. Uncertainty makes us feel invisible. Our understanding, even of what is best for us, is limited, shaped by fleeting emotions, cultural noise and incomplete knowledge. When we can’t see around the bend, God sees the entire path. He knows where every road leads.

Because he knows the path we’re walking and he knows where he wants to so go, God offers a promise in this passage. Submit to him. That doesn’t mean your life becomes easy, without its share of difficulty and heartache. It means it will be “straight.” Your life aligned with God’s perfect will and desire for your life, always leading to his purpose and desired outcome. Always anchored in his love.

It is a thought echoed in Jeremiah 29:11.

“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

We too often make this passage a motivational poster: God’s got this! Everything will be fine. Nothing bad will happen to me.

See the passage in its context, though. These words are spoke to exiles—people ripped from their homes, living in a far away land, wondering if God had forgotten them. They had every reason to ask, “What’s next?”—not out of excitement, but out of despair.

God’s words through his prophet are meant to encourage and reassure them. “I know the plans…,” he says, not you. Not, you can figure them out on your own. “I know…” You see, when we don’t know what’s next, God knows. His plans for us are intimate, intentional and infinite, far greater in purpose and meaning than anything we could come up with on our own.
His plans will bring about spiritual and relational prosperity.

Despite the difficulty of the path, even if the journey is hard, God’s plan will never destroy us. Rather, they will always bring about hope and a future. It’s not vague reassurance. It is a divine guarantee.

Here’s the catch and one we don’t see if we don’t keep reading in Jeremiah.

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

The promises of Jeremiah 29:11 find fulfillment only when we chase after God in wholehearted pursuit. He isn’t calling us to sit back passively and wait for his direction. He’s inviting us to pray. To actively look for him and his path. To seek him passionately and persistently.  To connect with him. To follow him with all our heart.

Florence Nightingale grew up in a wealthy British family in Embley Park in Southampton. She was well-educated, fluent in multiple languages and expected to marry well and live a life of social refinement and leisure—hosting dinners, engaging in cultural events and managing the household estate.

When she turned 16, Florence wrote in her diary of a divine calling, sensing that God was leading her off the linear path she thought she was on to serve him as a nurse. At the time, pursuing a career in nursing was a scandalous choice for a woman of wealth. Elite English society and her family opposed her decision, deeming it beneath her station.

Her diary entry said, “God called me in the morning and asked me if I would do good for him alone without reputation.”

Shifting from a life of comfort to a life of purpose and sacrifice was central to her legacy. She became the founder of modern nursing and dedicated her life to reforming health care, improving hygiene and training nurses, all as an outgrowth of her Christian faith and conviction. She revolutionized nursing during the Crimean War by working tirelessly in harsh conditions taking care of wounded soldiers…a real-life Margaret Houlihan in a 19th century M*A*S*H unit.

If you had asked her at 15 years-of-age to tell you what’s next, she would have described a very different life than what she lived when she submitted to God’s plans to “prosper her, not to harm her and to give her hope and a future.” What a difference she made in the lives of so many when she let go of her plans and aligned her purpose to God’s will!

Graduation is the beginning. It is not the end. It is the start of a long, winding journey of growth challenge and purpose. That’s what those of us who have been there, done that, want our graduates to understand.

However, I don’t care if you are graduating high school, college or doing whatever it is you do decades after you got that diploma. Here’s the message for all of us when life leaves us asking, “What’s next?”

The joy we find in life…the meaning we find in life… is at its deepest when we’re doing what God calls us to do. When we remember his words and bind them in our hearts. When we set aside what we think we know and what we think we want. When we put our lives in his hands and submit to his will. When we seek him out in prayer and Bible study for his direction and guidance in life.

Our joy and our purpose come when we make him Lord of our lives.

May this be our prayer:

Thank you, God, for walking me through every season of life…from the classroom to the unknown. Help me trust you fully, even today, and lean not on my own understanding. I surrender my plans, my worries and my future into your hands. Lead me on the path you have prepared. When I stray from it, bring me back. Help me seek you with all my heart. I pray this in the strong name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

THINKING POINTS

Proverbs 3:3 says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you.” What might it look like in your life right now to make love and faithfulness your guide in decisions about your future—especially when the world measures success differently?

Jeremiah 29:11 is a favorite verse for many, but verses 12-13 speak of seeking God with your whole heart. How are you actively seeking God’s direction in this season of your life? How could you pursue him more fully?

Is there a dream or opportunity in your heart that might require stepping away from what’s easy in order to pursue what’s godly?

Think back on what you’ve been taught about God’s character and promises. How can remembering those truths help you navigate the pressure and uncertainty of what’s next in life?

*****

Author’s Note: If you want to receive this blog via email, click www.drkirklewis.com. Find the “Subscribe” button and enter your email address. That’s all it takes. Your email will not be released to anyone else.

Overcoming Fear

Focal Passage: 2 Timothy 1:5-7

Holocaust survivor and author of The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom understood the power of fear more than most of us. She also understood the power of her God to take away fear. “Never be afraid,” she said, “to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

I thought about what she said this week as someone talked about the current state of affairs in our country and across the world. In his understated way my friend told me that the political and social turmoil left him “a little unsettled.”

Americans feel increasingly pessimistic and uncertain about the future, according to recent polls. Many people suffer from a growing sense of despair and concern about perceived changes in the quality of life and the future of their children or grandchildren.

A recent Gallup poll found 80 percent of Americans anticipate some level of economic difficulty in the near future, with expectations of higher taxes and deeper national deficits. That same poll showed optimism about the next generation’s prospects has declined significantly in recent years. Only 42 percent of Americans believe today’s young people will have a better life than their parents, an 18-point drop since 2019.

As troubling as that sounds, there is more depressing news. A recent Reuters poll reveals that 80% of Americans expressed “fear that the world is spiraling out of control.” In addition, 64 percent of Americans are pessimistic about the country’s moral and ethical standards.

While I understand the feeling and fight its grip on me at times, as an American and a Christian, I find this underlying fear disturbing. Fear cannot be a part of the Christian’s vocabulary, can it? How can we “trust an unknown future to a known God,” as ten Boom said? Thankfully, the Bible has an answer.

Paul found himself in a cold Roman dungeon, chained to a common criminal, isolated from his friends and staring death in the face. Believers in Christ were being persecuted. Preaching God’s word put Jesus followers in opposition to the Jewish faith and to Roman rule. If anyone had a right to fear it was those early Christians.

In his second letter to Timothy, a young pastor he left in ministry in Ephesus, Paul encouraged Timothy to set aside fear in favor of faith. To draw upon the power of God’s spirit in the face of life’s challenges.

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” (2 Timothy 1:5-6)

It’s Paul’s next words I needed to hear this week.

“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Paul ordained Timothy to preach and teach Jesus. He wanted him to continue to build up the faithful believers in Ephesus to grow and mature in their own faith…despite the opposition he faced and the persecution Paul knew would come their way.

Perhaps a young Timothy let timidity grab hold, dousing his passion for God’s work. That’s why Paul urged him in verse 6 to fan the flame of his calling. To stoke the fire. To burn again and rekindle his desire to share Christ with others and encourage others to live up to their calling.

Fear and anxiety are not from God. Fear paralyzes. Fear manipulates. Fear destabilizes and prevents us from serving God, from living as Christ lived.

When circumstances grip us in fear and hopelessness, God’s spirit gives us power beyond human experience. When he knew the deep fear the disciples would feel when he was no longer with them, Jesus lets them know they would find power through God’s spirit.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The power to be his people, to stand for him, to share him with those we encounter comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit and his work within us. Divine strength flows to us from the spirit to overcome obstacles and face challenges to boldly proclaim the gospel and live intentionally for him. When filled with fear, we rest on the knowledge that God’s gift of his spirit is greater than our fears.

You find the empowerment in the spiritual gifts which God uses to equip his believers for service and ministry…powerful gifts to proclaim, encourage, and discern. Gifts that extend hospitality and administer his work.

The spirit also empowers us to grow in the fruits of the spirit, the outward demonstration of his work within us. He provides the power to develop kindness, hope, love, faithfulness, gentleness and goodness. In other words, to develop the character of Christ that we would be powerless to accomplish without his presence.

Through his spirit of power, God grants us these gifts to strengthen us to do the work.

Paul also said Gods fills us with a spirit of love that surpasses human understanding. This agape love is a sacrificial love that compels us to reach out to the lost, to forgive those who hurt us and to serve others openly and selflessly.

The Apostle John talks about this spirit of love in one of his letters.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in him. In this way, love is made complete…There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear…And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (I John 4:16-18, 21)

On an earlier occasion Jesus said something similar.

A new command I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you…By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

I like what Pastor Dean Courtier said about the power of love granted by the spirit. “When we truly grasp the depth and breadth of God’s love for us, we no longer cower in fear of judgment or condemnation. Instead, we are emboldened to approach God with confidence and to extend love and compassion to others without reservation.’

Paul also talks about the Spirit granting us the power of self-discipline, what other translations call a “sound mind.” It is the power to think clearly, remain grounded in our faith and not be swept away by fear and panic. In this day of misinformation and the sensationalized nature of modern media, that’s not the easiest thing to do on your own.

A Christian nurse working in an overcrowded hospital through the horrors of Covid, talked about how she would pray each morning quoting 2 Timothy 1:7 to herself. So much was unknown early in the pandemic. The threat of infection and death loomed large. She reminded herself that she had not been given a spirit of fear.

She chose instead to show the spirit of power through her unwavering presence, the spirit of love through her care for her patients and a spirit of sound mind or self-discipline by following safety protocols to protect herself, her patients and her colleagues. The sense of peace she experienced after each prayer, she said, became “as contagious” as the virus, serving as an encouragement not only to herself, but to the patients, doctors and nurses in her unit.

Truthfully, there is much going on in this world that might engender fear in my heart. You may feel the same way. Rosa Parks, the civil rights icon, fought a tough battle against racism and discrimination. She said, “I have learned through the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear. Knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

Let’s, therefore, make up our minds. There is no room for fear in a Christian’s life even when the world seems to unstable. That’s when the world needs Jesus most. That’s when the world needs us most to be Jesus’ voice, hands and feet. That’s what must be done. That is the life to which we’ve been called. Let our purpose and God’s spirit of power, love and self-discipline within us drive away our fear.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Thinking Points

Paul reminded Timothy of his spiritual heritage through his grandmother and mother. What spiritual habits, values and attitudes have you inherited from others and how are you passing those on to future generations?

What gifts or callings in your life have grown dormant by fear, distraction or fatigue? What would it look like if you fanned the flames or rekindled your passion?

How would living in power, love and self-discipline change your response to the challenges and uncertainties in your life?

What would a spirit-empowered life look like in today’s cultural and political climate? Can the church respond to the fear in the world without becoming fearful itself?

*****

Author’s Note: If you want to receive this blog via email, click on this link or go to www.drkirklewis.com. Find the “Subscribe” button and enter your email address. That’s all it takes. Your email is not released to anyone else. 

 

Resurrection Power

Focal Passage: John 15:1-17

A few years ago, Robin and I took a quick trip with my niece Sarah to Philadelphia. We searched for Toynbee tiles (you’ll have to look it up), ate the perfect Philly cheesesteak and did the traditional historical pilgrimage to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

As I stood at the back of that smaller than imagined assembly hall where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed, I wished I could have been a fly on the wall just to experience the moments that history failed to record.

To hear quiet conversations. To feel the tension and the emotions of the delegates. To sense what those men were feeling when they signed their names to that amazing document. “To be in the room where it happened,” as they sang in the Boardway musical Hamilton.

Some of God’s greatest lessons find me when I am a fly on the wall in any room or any place I find Jesus in scripture. I found myself in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples this week as I prepared for Easter weekend. A fly on the wall in one of the most critical conversations Jesus had with his closest followers.

Jesus spent his time in the upper room comforting his disciples for the anxiety they would feel after his death on the cross. He also spent time, though, giving them some insight into how they were to live in a post-resurrection world.

As I reflected on the resurrection of Jesus this past week, I read the words of Paul in Philippians 3:10.

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection…

That’s really where God began to prick my heart this week. What does it mean to live in the power of his resurrection?

Paul would have called this post-resurrection life a life empowered by the resurrection of Christ and marked by personal and spiritual transformation, holiness and hope. That’s a great starting point to see how Jesus encouraged his disciples and us to live in the power of his resurrection.

Jesus spent time in the upper room and on the way to Gethsemane prepping them for the post-resurrection life they were to live. After the meal was completed, Jesus continued to teach them as they walked to the garden. As you read John 15, be the fly. Listen and observe.

Read John 15:1-17

The time for parables had passed. Time would allow no more misunderstanding. So direct was his teaching that one of the disciples even said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see…”

Jesus spoke clearly of his death and told them of the turmoil, sadness and fear his death would bring to his followers. These disciples, who lived and breathed Jesus for the past three years began to feel the weight of his words. He offered comfort with promises of his return and the arrival of God’s spirit as a resource for them. A light at the end of this dark and tragic tunnel.

Look at what he tells them in John 15:4.

Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Two quick things emerge from this passage. First, the Greek word remain means more than being physically present. Jesus knew that wasn’t going to happen, no matter how much he or they wanted it to. To remain conveys the idea of being connected, joined. To be dependent upon. It carries the thought of persevering or staying the course.

Watching Jesus die on the cross and seeing that stone rolled in front of the tomb expressed a finality that could easily paralyze their hearts and destroy their resolve. Knowing the outcome promised by his Father, Jesus knew there would be a post-resurrection life. The only way they would survive and not drift away would be to remain in him.

Jesus told them to stay connected. Abide with me. Persevere. The good news is that he promised a “Comforter,” the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that not only sustains faith in troubled times but inspires it. Laying upon their hearts and ours today the desire to serve him in all things. To live like Christ.

Secondly, the power of his resurrection is more than just surviving through the difficult times, it is about bearing fruit.

Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (vs. 4)

The post-resurrection life they were called by Jesus to live required them to stay connected with him and to continue the work he started in them. To do good. To reflect Christ’s character. To grow in discipleship. To proclaim his salvation. To endure all things in faithfulness.

You see this concept reflected in a lot of Paul’s writings.

So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord…bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. (Colossians 1:10)

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Jesus didn’t stop with his encouragement to stay connected and to bear fruit. He mentioned one other thing that represents the power his resurrection provides all believers.

As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love…My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends…Love each other. (John 15:9, 12-13, 17)

Living their call and their mission after the resurrection would be the greatest challenge the disciples would face. Jesus explained to them the hardships, the persecution and the death that would come to them when they answered the call. Nothing about living the life God called them to live would be easy.

Love for each other would be the encouragement they needed to stay the course through the days to come. Their ability to minister would rest on the love they shared with all who would believe in Christ. It would be this love that would be the mark of their faith.

Earlier in the upper room, Jesus took on the role of servant, washing his disciple’s feet and telling them to wash each other’s feet. Serve one another. That servant’s attitude stems from their love for each other. His command from the upper room is just as clear as his command on the way to the garden.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, you must love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Jesus had one day to live and he chose to spend that time serving, teaching and loving on those he called to continue his ministry and mission. I find so much of what he shared with the disciples relevant in my life today.

If you had to boil down our responsibilities to God under the power of his resurrection, if you had to state the essence of the life we are called to live for a living Lord, it seems these instructions come together well.

God in Christ asks us to stay connected to him. To live in his presence and let his spirit live in and through us. We are to do good work that gives glory to God by producing fruit, bringing others to Christ and living a Godly life that reflects the character and nature of Jesus. Finally, we are to love one another so fiercely that the world will know without a doubt that we belong to him.

We will have opportunities ever day to live out that lifestyle. Opportunities around every corner.

Easter is first and foremost about the grace gift that God offers the world.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

If you’ve not made that step, if you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus, maybe now is the time to open yourself to the possibility of giving your heart to him. Seek his forgiveness. Make him Lord of your life.

Yet, Easter is also about living a living in the power of his resurrection. The call to live as his disciples and be his voice and his hands in your world.

If, like me, you’ve made that commitment of faith and trust already, maybe it’s time to ask yourself as I’ve asked myself this week, Am I allowing the power of Jesus’ resurrection to work in my life to its fullest sense? If not, what better season to start than Easter.

Thinking Points

Think about what it means to you personally to “remain” in Christ. How do you stay spiritually connected to him during difficult times?

In what ways are you currently bearing fruit in your life—spiritually, relationally or in service to others? In what area of your life could the Holy Spirit help you grow?

How does the command to love others “as I have loved you” challenge your relationships and daily interactions with others?

In the current season of your life, whatever that may be, what does living a post-resurrection life look like? Are there areas in which you need to grow or persevere more intentionally?

Do Not Harden Your Heart

Background Passages: Mark 6:30-52 and Ephesians 1:15-19a

You’ll remember the story.

The disciples just returned to Bethsaida on the shore of the Sea of Galilee after a quick mission trip of their own where they taught and preached the gospel. As they began sharing how God had been at work in their efforts, the bustle of the crowd grew distracting.

Jesus suggested a quick boat ride to the far shore where they could spend a quieter time in reflection, rest and praise.

Their leaving the town did not go unnoticed, however. As their boats rowed across the water, the crowd followed, walking along the shoreline trying to catch up to the teacher and healer. By the time Jesus and his disciples reached the beach, a large crowd had already gathered, hoping to hear the words of the master teacher.

Jesus felt compassion toward them, according to scripture, and began to teach them “many things” about God and what it means to live as his people. As the late afternoon came, one of the disciples interrupted Jesus and suggested he call it a day.

I’m paraphrasing, but they said, “We’re in a remote place and it’s late. These folks are going to be hungry. We need to send them on their way so they can find something to eat.”

Jesus suggested that rather than send them away, the disciples should feed them. The idea struck them as impossible. The crowd was too large and their funds too small. Jesus asked them what they had which they could share. Andrew, bless his heart, found a young boy with a pouch holding five small loaves of bread and two small fish that his mother had prepared for his lunch that morning. “That’s it, Jesus.” He probably said. “That’s all we could find.”

Sometime later, the disciples stared for a long moment at the 12 baskets of loaves and fishes gathered after Jesus took the boy’s meager meal, blessed it and began giving food to the disciples to distribute to the crowd of 5,000 men and their families.

Can you imagine how stunning it must have been to see the unfolding of this miracle?

After taking care of the hungry, Jesus insisted that the disciples get in the boat to return to Bethsaida. They pushed off from shore, yammering in excitement about what they had just witnessed. After dismissing the crowd, telling them to return home, Jesus found a quiet place on the mountainside to rest and pray, giving thanks to God for the blessings that unfolded that day.

The winds picked up during the early morning hours and the moon glistened off the water below. In the distance, Jesus could see the disciples struggling to make headway against the wind and waves. Scripture tells us they were “straining at the oars.”

Mark picks up the story from there.

Shortly before dawn he (Jesus) went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then, he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

I went a long way through scripture to get to that last line that I’ve overlooked every time I’ve read this story. “Their hearts were hardened.”

That’s a phrase I most often associate with Pharoah. Moses, on God’s behalf, appealed to Pharoah time and time again to let the people of Israel return to their homeland. Each time the Egyptian king refused, God sent a plague of blood or frogs (that would have done it for me), or gnats, or flies to prove his power and persuade the reluctant ruler.

Each time, however, scripture in Exodus tells us that Pharoah “hardened his heart.” Then, when God had given him every chance in the world to respond positively to him, God took his choice away. God, then “hardened the heart of Pharoah,” sealing his fate.

When we see that term in scripture, it usually means a stubborn refusal to obey God’s teaching or to acknowledge him as Lord. In the Old Testament, it suggests such self-centeredness that one simply turns his back repeatedly on God. Refusing to listen. Refusing to obey.

In the New Testament and even today, to harden one’s heart is to stubbornly and consistently reject Jesus as Savior and Lord, despite every effort the Holy Spirit makes to open one’s heart to the possibility of salvation through Christ. That’s true, the story I just shared suggests there is more to it than that.

In our passage in Mark, we see the disciples sitting in a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee with hardened hearts after Jesus demonstrated his power and authority over all things, not once, but twice in the space of 12 hours. His disciples. His followers. People who believe in him.

Once Jesus climbed into the boat, Mark tells us the disciples were “completely amazed.” Whatever Greek word is used in this instance, is evidently not easily translated into English. Different versions of the Bible capture the phrase as “completely overwhelmed,” “completely astounded,” “so baffled they were beside themselves,’ “completely confused,” or “utterly astounded.”

The reason for their profound astonishment was not that Jesus walked on water and calmed the sea. Look what Mark said, “…they had not understood about the loaves.”

Talk about a left turn. I didn’t see that coming. What did they not understand about the loaves?

The disciples were believers. They trusted Jesus as Lord, but they still had much to learn about who he was and what it means to live for him. Such a description sounds eerily familiar to my life…and I suspect to yours.

Though they had come a long way in their understanding, they often missed the point of what Jesus did and why he did it. Jesus did an incredible miracle by creating food for as many as 15,000-20,000 men, women and children from a measly sack lunch. John tells us that Jesus even took the time shortly after this incident to explain that the feeding of the 5,000 was an object lesson, pointing to him as the “bread of life.”

The disciples, however, got in the boat that night, marveling at the miracle, but not truly seeing the one who worked the miracle for who he really is. They missed the revelation of his deity…as God in flesh. It could have been such a turning point in their lives, yet they missed it.

That’s why they were then amazed when he did other God-like things such as walking on the water or calming the sea. Their hearts stubbornly refused to see what was standing right before their eyes, as the water lapped at his ankles. God, through Jesus, is capable of doing anything regardless of the lack of resources or the difficulty of the circumstance.

Their hearts were hardened.

And, there lies the lesson I needed to hear. The language about hardened hearts is usually reserved for God’s enemies, people to whom God is a stranger. Sometimes, those of us who know and trust Jesus as Lord, still have a hard time believing that God is God and that God is still at work.

Stubbornly refusing to believe what we see that reveals his “Godness,” his goodness and his presence in our lives. Hardening our hearts even when we see him doing God things.

Here’s where the story gets so real to me. The disciples didn’t miss the miracle of the loaves. They were in the big middle of it.

They saw Jesus pray. They saw him take the food he had available and turn it into a feast. They handed out basket after basket and each time they returned to Jesus he handed them another basket until everyone was fed.

They saw the grateful faces of the hungry and heard their joy and laughter. They gathered up the leftovers, each loading a full meal to take with them on their journey.

I can be in the middle of God’s work and still miss seeing God in it simply because my heart is not paying attention. I marvel at the miracle and miss the miracle worker.

Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesian church that sounds like a perfect way to focus on keeping our hearts from being hardened to the exceptional grace and work of God in Christ.

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened (in other words, not hardened) in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:15-19a)

It was Paul’s prayer for his friends in Ephesus and 2,000 years later, I’m making it my prayer for my life and for yours.

You Are What You Think

Background Passages: Psalm 1:1-4, Jeremiah 17:7-8, Philippians 4:8, and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

The route we typically took to my parents’ house from Pasadena to Ropesville was honestly not the most scenic drive. While there is something to be said for the stark beauty of the endless highway and cotton fields, the trip that we took countless times was little more than the occasional mesa, a random Dairy Queen and a lot of flat, empty space.

I recall making that drive early in our marriage before children as we sat in silence while the country droned by. I felt Robin’s eyes on me long before she asked the question every husband dreads.

“What are you thinking?”

Every husband knows my response. “Nothing.” Also, as every husband knows, that’s exactly what I was thinking in that exact moment and in most moments of solitude. Absolutely nothing.

Comedian Mark Gungor would say, “I was in my Nothing Box.” (If you’ve never seen that YouTube video about how the brains of men and women work, it’s worth the view.)

The Bible talks a lot about our thought life. Though it’s slightly out of context, Solomon lets us know in Proverbs 23:7 that “As a man thinks, so he is.”

In other words, you are what you think. Whatever we choose to concentrate on, spend our time thinking about, will impact the way we choose to live.

Hear the instructive word of the Psalmist.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked. They are like chaff that the wind blows away. (Psalm 1:1-4)

As the opening hymn of the Psalm, the passage answers some amazingly deep questions about life. Who am I going to be? Who is God? Where can I find true contentment and happiness? What road should I take in life? What is my purpose?

It is a call to be blessed. To find contentment and joy, regardless of life’s circumstances. The passage puts us squarely in the middle of the fork in the road. The first path is walked by the wicked, the sinners and the mockers of all that is holy.

Jesus might have called it Broadway. He said in Matthew 7:13, “…For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”

That first step down the path of the wicked and the way of the sinner always begin with a thought, an idea, a desire that pops in our head that entices and seduces us. We begin to think walking that path would be so much more fun, so much more profitable, so much more popular, that we can’t help but start the journey. As we think, so we are. It doesn’t take long for our thoughts to take hold in our hearts. Now, instead of just thinking about things we shouldn’t, we’re doing them.

Sadly, Paul and I have much in common on this point. I suspect most of us do.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do–this I keep doing. (Romans 7:15,18-19)

We won’t find contentment on the broad road described by Jesus or the way of the wicked described by the Psalmist. Rather, we’ll end up feeling more and more like Paul. We don’t intend to walk that path, but the world makes it look easy and appealing.

Blessedness (joy and contentment) comes, according to Psalm 1, when we don’t follow in the footsteps of those who do evil or take the path sinners take or travel among the scoffers who know nothing of God and his grace or goodness. It is the road to destruction…to chaff. An existence in which we are blown in whatever direction the wind blows. Never truly grounded. Always acting on a whim.

The Psalmist said the one who is blessed will find a different road to travel. In that same passage in Matthew, Jesus tells us to use the narrow gate and the “narrow road that leads to life and only a few find it.” As Robert Frost said, “…the road less traveled.”

Blessedness flows to the one whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” Delight is a heart response to something or someone of beauty and value, in this case, God’s word and its truth. The word “delight” is used typically in scripture to describe the life in which God’s purpose and choice are in view.

It is joy, pleasure and satisfaction that comes when we abide in his word and will. Such delight comes only from delving deeply into scripture, finding its relevance for our lives and acting daily upon it.

The one who thinks only about the truths and promises of God found in his word is the one who walks in the path of the righteous and stands in the way of the faithful or sits in the company of those who trust in God’s word. You see, as a man thinks, so he is.

If we think of the things of God, those will be the attributes ingrained in us. It is an immutable truth repeated time and time again in scripture.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthy things. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Then, look at what Paul tells the Philippian church about the way we ought to think.

He begins the passage by exhorting his readers to “rejoice.” To find joy. To find contentment. To find a peace that “transcends all understanding…” Then, he tells them how.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-8)

Paul expresses in such a beautiful and poetic way how our thoughts ought to be directed.

Jesus even alludes to it in his Beatitudes when he says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Given that the heart was viewed in the Jewish culture as the center of thought and will, Jesus says those whose thoughts are pure, whose motives for every decision are aligned with God’s word and will—these are the souls who will see God at work in their lives. These are the folks who find God in every circumstance of life—good or bad.

You are what you think.

Paul shared one more thought in his second letter to the Corinthian church which feels applicable here.

Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Don’t you love that last phrase?

…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ…

The Greek word used for “take captive” means “to control, to conquer, to bring into submission.” We bring into submission every thought so that it conforms to the teachings of Christ. We conquer our tendency to dwell on things we shouldn’t be thinking about. We control those wicked thoughts by not letting them take root in our heart and soul.

The good news is that the Psalmist tells us how to do this.

We take captive our thoughts ”by meditating on the law day and night.”

Our hearts desire must be to embed ourselves so deeply in God’s word and all that it teaches us that we have little time to think of anything else. To be so grounded in scripture, that every temptation is answered by the Spirit’s whispered reminder of what has been taught us through God’s word…just as Jesus refuted every temptation from Satan with a word from scripture.

It’s not enough to just hear scripture read to you in Sunday School or from the pulpit. We need to spend time during the week studying God’s word, especially when the pervasive garbage of the world tries so hard to infiltrate our every thought.

The Rev. Charles Spurgeon said, “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”

I’ll revert to the Proverbs, an ancient equivalent to the modern day “garbage in, garbage out.” Proverbs 15:14 says that “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.”

You are what you think.

I like the idea the Psalmist conveys when he says what it is like to be one who immerses himself in God’s word.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Jeremiah shares a similar thought.

Bless is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

You must love this tree metaphor as much as I do.

Notice that the tree is planted by the stream. It didn’t grow up there on its own accord. It was planted. Planted means to cause to take root. The Hebrew word used here more closely translates as “transplanted.” To cause to take root after moving from one environment to another more suited for growth.

I love that idea in the context of this Psalm that talks about the way of the wicked opposed to the way of the righteous seen in the one who dwells in God’s word. That person is transplanted from the path of wicked, the sinner and the scoffer to live and grow next to the living water found in God’s word through Christ Jesus.

A tree’s roots run deep, searching always for the moisture and nutrients that fuel its growth. The deeper its roots go, the more sturdy and stable it becomes , more capable of withstanding any wind that blows. (In contrast, it takes very little wind to blow away the chaff.)

That’s how it is with one grounded deeply in scripture. She finds the spiritual water and nutrients to grow and mature in Christ. And, like the tree, that kind of growth takes time. We live in a time of instant gratification, but the Christian life is a process of growing and learning. Each minute we stop looking to the Bible for our strength is a lost moment in our spiritual lives.

Notice also that the tree yields fruit. Our time spend in studying God’s word will always point us to ministry and service. It is the understanding of what God requires of us that propels us to care for and serve others.

The message of this Psalm hit me squarely between the eyes this week.

You are what you think.

As we walk through each day, let’s meditate on God’s word…day and night. Think about the things of God. When we do, it’s so much easier to…

Be the tree.

Decisions, Decisions

Background Passages: Matthew 4:2-11; John 1:1,14; Matthew 22:37-40

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, once served as the palatial home of the tsars. The gilded palace is now an art museum. One of the works of art one can see at the Hermitage is The Benois Madonna, painted in 1478 by Leonardo Di Vinci.

Named after the family who once owned it, this portrait of Mary and the infant Jesus have them engrossed in play together, their gazes lifelike to a degree that only Di Vinci could achieve. Above both the Madonna and Jesus hover faint outlines of a halo.

The use of a halo to represent the deity of Jesus is a common theme in art. I remember thinking as I viewed that painting several years ago that Jesus might be embarrassed by the depiction. A halo just wasn’t his style. It’s difficult to see the halo when you read the astounding words in the Gospel of John.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. (John 1:1, 14)

As steeped in theology as those words might be, I find them so incredibly comforting. Think about that for a second. God’s son who existed in him and with him and was, in fact him, surrendered that divine existence to walk among the weeds with us. The very image of God living the same life I live.

Jesus’ early life is shrouded in mystery that matters only a little bit. From the infant unnaturally born in a natural way, to a 12-year-old with a mind that soaked up scripture like the desert soaks up a raindrop. To the carpenter with calloused hands who emerged from Jordan’s waters to hear his Father kickstart his ministry by declaring, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”

Everything else in the years between those brief glimpses into his life remains a product of speculation and imagination. In my mind, he didn’t walk those 30 years with a halo on his head spouting the King James English. He lived those 30 years coming to grips with what it means to live as the image of God.

As he walked away from the Jordan that day, hair dripping with river water, with the words of his father echoing in his heart and soul, Jesus headed into the desert to face the options open to him in his ministry. To more clearly grasp his purpose.

Grady Nutt, in his book Being Me, wrote about Jesus’ time in the wilderness. “This remarkable young man with all his gifts and with his unique relationship to God—he even called God a word we would translate as Daddy—still had to decide who would rule his life and what he would do with his life.”

Scripture tells us that Jesus spent 40 days in prayer and fasting. It’s again speculation on my part, but I think this time spent talking to his father gave Jesus a clear understanding of the role he would play in God’s redemptive plan. Obedience to that plan would put him on a cross. It may not have been the first time the thought entered his mind, but his time in the desert, I believe, left no doubt as to his purpose.

I think the last time he got up from his knees with his stomach rumbling, it was with a sense of clarity and resolve. That’s probably why Satan began to put a bug in his ear, offering a few alternative choices.

You’ll find this account in both Matthew and Luke under a heading of “The Temptations of Christ.” The title gives a little too much credit to the tempter, it seems to me. Nutt calls the same passage, “The Decisions of Christ,” putting the emphasis on the response of the one who is tempted, not the challenge of the tempter.

I like that because when I’m being pulled to consider options other than what I know God demands of me, I have decisions to make. It’s less about the temptation and more about how I will respond to it. What I will decide to do. What choice I chose to make.

The good news is I only need to see Jesus, the image of God standing in a desert, to get a handle on the proper choice to any temptation. Take a look at a familiar story from the Bible.

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then, the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:2-10)

In Christ, there is certainly the halo effect of God sending his son to become redemption for a sinful humanity. There is also the human effect of God sending his son, as Pastor Ray Stedman says, “to reveal man as God intended man to be.” In all Jesus did, in every aspect of his life as he lived among us as the image of God, we see a man acting as God desired us to act from the very onset of creation. The perfect example of God in human form.

From that perspective, suddenly life makes more sense. Throughout his ministry and certainly in this episode of his life, Jesus calls us to live faithfully by his words, his deeds and his decisions. He even summed it up in two simple statements to a scheming Pharisee.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

You see how he internalized those commands in his response to the choices in front of him while in the wilderness.

Twice Satan challenged him, “If you are the Son of God, then…” Notice the emphasis on the “if.” It isn’t an “if” in our English sense of the word, as though Satan was trying to make Jesus doubt his relationship to God. God affirmed when Jesus came up out of the Jordan.

Satan himself isn’t confused. He knew exactly who Jesus was.

The Greek text renders the word “if” more closely to our word “since.” “Since you are the Son of God, then”…why not do this instead of what you’ve been told you must do. This will be far less work. Far less pain. Far more glory and power.

What follows the “then” is a decision point where Jesus has to choose to be the one God called him to be. “Since you are the Son of God, then…”turn the stones to bread.” “…throw yourself down…” “…this can all be yours…”

Jesus’ entire life, his entire ministry, would be lived out against the backdrop of these decisions. The devil here is trying to get Jesus to move from the principle of dependence and trust in God. To do things his way.

It is the very essence of temptation for us as well. We face decision point after decision point attempting to get us to act on our own, independently of God and his indwelling spirit. “If you do this, Kirk, then…”

Let’s take a look at the decisions Jesus was asked to make.

You just think you’ve been hungry. Jesus had limited sustenance for almost six weeks. In one of the most understated bits of scripture the Bible tells us “…afterwards he was hungry.” The mere thought of turning a stone to a loaf of fresh baked bread makes me salivate right now. Imagine how Jesus felt when the temptation arose.

As miraculous as the temptation sounds, it rose out of a simple physical need. The temptation came because he was human and hungry, but that’s not really what the devil was saying. The implication is that God left him in the wilderness to starve. That God no longer cared.

That’s the way temptations come to us even today…through subtle suggestions that God could not possibly care for someone like me or you.

It’s the objection we hear to Christianity all the time. How could a loving God allow all this suffering in the world…war, famine, sickness. How could he let a child die? If there is a God, he must not care for us at all.

The devil suggested to Jesus that since God obviously didn’t care and since you are the Son of God, just take matters in your own hands. Meet your own needs independent of God.

It is the same decision you and I must make every day when faced with the choices laid out in front of us. Am I going to trust God or will I do my own thing. Answer my own questions. Make my own way.

Jesus’ response to temptation put life in its proper perspective. “Man shall not live on bread alone.” You see, our deepest need, my deepest need, is not physical. Not now, not ever.

My deepest need is to stay in right relationship with God. To trust. Making decisions based on my own will or by trusting in my own abilities comes at a cost to that relationship. Every single time.

If Satan can’t push you off one cliff, he’ll try to push you off another. After Jesus brushed off his attempt to use his physical needs against him, the devil targeted his soul. The devil couldn’t move Jesus away from this trust in the father, so he opted to put that trust to the test.

Taking Jesus to the highest rampart of the Temple, he said, “Throw yourself off.” Then, he quoted some scripture of his own suggesting that the angels would never let anything bad happen to him…not so much as a stubbed toe.

He said basically, “Do it and everyone will see how much you trust God and how you are willing to put yourself in danger for them. They’ll flock to you. What a spectacle it will be!”

As powerful as his miracles would prove to be, they were not enough to convince many of who he was. His greatest displays of faith came in the quiet trust of his heart that rested on what God had said and revealed to him time and time again. The things he did to stay the course. His trust and obedience to his Father’s will made the difference.

When Jesus spoke again, he chastised the devil. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” In other words, you can’t force God to act on your behalf. You can’t force him to change the conditions of life. That’s not the way faith works.

While it may not be as exciting as a swan dive from the top of the Temple, but a life lived obedient to God’s will, in his power and strength, provides the endurance and patience to deal with anything life throws your way…and to do it with joy.

As a last resort, the tempter took Jesus to a high mountain where he could see the world spread out below him in all its glory and beauty. Through subtle pretext and artful disguise, he said, “Worship me and I’ll give you authority over all of this.” The heart of the matter. “You will have power and will be exalted.”

Interestingly, Jesus came to win the world. To be Lord of all. To be exalted above all men so that “every knee would bow” and “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” as it says in Philippians. It was seemingly being handed to him on a silver platter without the agony of the cross. Yet, to grasp the heart of it you have to finish reading the verse. “…to the glory of God.”

That last part is the kicker, isn’t it? It sounds good until you realize the power, authority and the exaltation that come with the devil’s offer is fruitless unless God receives the glory.

Jesus chose again the appropriate response. “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

There lies the basis of our decision to set aside all that glitters and draws us away from God. To keep ourselves from being caught up in the quest for power and glory all our own. The only right decision is to worship and serve the Lord.

It’s such a heart thing to understand, as Stedman says, “To worship is to serve. To serve is to worship.” Only God gives any real value to life. The world can never give it. It is a decision that speaks to the deepest desires of the heart. To have a life that is worthwhile. To worship God only and to serve mankind on his behalf.

So, it seems to me these are the most important decisions I can make in the face of any temptation. Will I trust him? Will I be obedient? Will I worship and serve him? As it was for Jesus, my entire life is lived against the backdrop of these decisions. So is yours.

I’m drawn back to the beginning.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Not with Di Vinci’s halo around his head, but wrapped in humanness to show us how to live as the men and woman God created men and women to be.

Temptations will come, but it’s less about the temptations than it is about the decisions we make when they come. Somewhere out in that desert above the Jordan River, Jesus set a pretty good example for all of us.