Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Galatians 6

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. v9-10

As Paul winds down his letter to the church in Galatia he includes encouragement to endure in our journey to love others, particularly other believers. As part of our love of others, Paul wants us to to hold others accountable (v1 - gently), and to carry each others' burdens (v2).  We must also continue to do good - and not become weary.  This is the essence of faith - to believe in something we know is less visible to "earthly" eyes.  We may grow weary or impatient not "seeing" a desired impact but then again this is the point - is that we have faith and focus on eternal rewards vs earthly rewards.

Hebrews 11 is a great reminder of faith with the author reminding of us those in the the Old Testament that lived by faith, including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, etc.  

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible....All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.  Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-16

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who has transformed my heart and life by giving me the Holy Spirit, Your Word, freedom from the sting of sin and death, and so much more - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such love.  I sin daily - please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Hebrews 11:3

I continue my study of Hebrews, and this morning my focus is Hebrews 11:1-11, and and I am assisted in my understanding by the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary Series for Hebrews. The commentary outlines five divisions for this text - which is often referred to as the "hall of faith."

I. An Invested Assurance (11:1-3): As posted yesterday, we can endure and persevere though faith and trust in God that He has something in store for us greater than any joy we can experience in this life. The author of Hebrews gives us examples of Old Testament faith to demonstrate faith. V2 includes commendation, something believes should seek but the commentary refers us to this as "final eschatological approval—an eternal commendation instead of an eternal condemnation."  It shares that there are only two options - commendation or condemnation.  Each of the examples provided here received commendation. "They had an assurance that they invested in the promises of God. They hoped in things yet unseen, in a deliverer that had been promised but had not yet come."

II. Abel’s Faith (11:4): Abel's faith was demonstrated by a superior sacrifice - one of shedding blood, vs first fruits of the harvest as provided by his brother Cain. The commentary shares that "Abel understood that his greatest problem was that he was under divine judgment, and he needed a propitiatory sacrifice. His blood sacrifice pointed to his own sin and to his hope in God’s provision of a sacrificial Savior. This is why Abel’s sacrifice was “acceptable” to God: it was offered “by faith” in God’s promises (Gen 4:4)."

III. Enoch’s Faith (11:5-6): Enoch is only noted in scripture in Genesis 5 and here again in Hebrews but we understood that he walked with God and God "took him."  Such an inclusion offers great encouragement for those who sometimes view themselves as insignificant - God never shares these views and He is pleased anytime a believer walks with God and we never know how God will use our small faith to move mountains (see Matthew 17:20).

IV. Noah’s Faith (11:7): Noah is described by the commentary as living in reverent fear of God, as God stood in judgement of all of humanity as the flood "is the archetypal example of God’s judgment and the catastrophe of human sin." 

V. Abraham’s Faith (11:8-10): Abraham is noted for his faith as he never saw the fulfillment of those promises of fruitful land and vast descendants.  The commentary also shares the following about Abraham: "Abraham’s faith is seen in the fact that he left his home country of Haran in Mesopotamia in obedience to God, even though at the time he had no idea exactly where he was going. Of course, this may not strike us as a remarkable act of faith, but that simply proves how unfamiliar we are with the culture of the ancient Near East. The Mesopotamian world could be quite dangerous. Physical protection was often the result of being closely knit to one’s kin and community. Travel was particularly hazardous since it separated a person from his place of protection and exposed him to marauders and thieves. In this light, the fact that Abraham left Haran and traveled to a land that he did not know is indeed a remarkable act of trust in God."

The commentary wraps by summarizing how believers should live with the end in mind - seeking a better possession that we experience now. It notes: "we cannot place our ultimate satisfaction and hope in the promises and pleasures that this world has to offer. We must live by faith, recognizing that one day we will experience a joy that is greater than any joy we can know here in this life. The joys of this world are fleeting and passing. But the joys of heaven are eternal, abundant, and never-fading. If we live for those joys, we will set our affections on eternity, live meaningful lives for Christ, and endure suffering in his name as we look for the joy that awaits us in God’s heavenly city."  Amen!

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and compassion - giving me a greater possession than anything I will ever experience in this life.  Thank You for not just saving me but for saving a place for me in Heaven!  Incredible.  I am not deserving.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. v18

As a follow up to my post yesterday, today my scripture is how Paul encourages us to focus not on the day-to-day struggles and concerns we may have but on where our citizenship ultimately lies - in Heaven. 

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[He] died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

1 Thessalonians 5:10, Philippians 1:21, 23, and 2 Corinthians 5:8

[He] died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 1 Thessalonians 5:10

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. While Holy Week and Easter have passed, I do want to read to completion John Piper's 50-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #40: So That We Would Be with Him Immediately After Death.  The devotion opens by making it clear that "[t]he Bible does not view our bodies as bad."  We are referred to 1 Corinthians 6:13 where Paul is clear when he writes the Lord is "for our body."  Extending his reasoning in the devotion, Piper shares that "death is an enemy," and that "we lose something precious" when we die.  At the same time, we should be clear that when we die, we gain eternity in Heaven with Christ. This is of course incredibly hopeful, building on yesterday's devotion which focused on how Christ gives us freedom over the fear of death. The devotion directs us to Philippians 1:21, 23 where the text describes the tension Paul felt between living for Christ in an earthly body vs living eternally with Christ in Heaven.  We are also directed to 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul shares how early believers looked forward to Heaven, being with Christ, and feeling more "at home."  The devotion concludes, pointing us to 1 Thessalonians 5:10 and stating that "[t]his is one of the great reasons Christ suffered" - that a believer's death brings one home to Christ.  For sake of clarity in summarizing this devotion, I omitted the devotion's discussion and references to the "in-between" state where believers who pass and are buried are merely "asleep" awaiting bodily resurrection - for more on John Piper's views on this topic, go here.  Rejoice in how Christ bring us home after death!

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves us and who is full of grace and compassion for us - thank You Jesus! Thank You for saving a place for me in Heaven.  I am not deserving of how You save and bless.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.

Psalm 39

Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. v5

We are reminded this morning that God is in control, that our earthly security is a mere phantom, that every new day is a gift of grace from God (and we are not deserving of such a gift) and that we must live life with the end in mind.

David expands and clarifies this further:

Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be. v6 

In light of God's dominion over our life, Peter admonishes us to live a life of reverent fear:

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.  1 Peter 1:17

Living today with intention will provide us with hope for a secure future in Heaven: 

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.   

Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. 

 All the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. Micah 4:1-5

My Prayer: Lord, You are our hope....our only hope.  We live on earth as foreigners assaulted from all sides...but You protect us and You rescue us...and through faith in You we receive not just forgiveness from sins but eternity in heaven - our true home.  What a great God You are!  Thank You for such gifts Jesus but I am not worth (Matthew 5:3) such a God and I am completely dependent on You.  Forgive me for my many sins of impatience, anger, etc.  Help me overcome and turn from such sins towards You and help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure her of her cancer and the side effects from chemo and radiation. Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin...and serve You.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Mark 12:13-17

Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. Mark 12:24-25

I continue my study of Mark, leaning on the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series volume for Mark.  Today, my focus is a commentary-assisted review of Mark 12:18-27.  Excerpts from the commentary's introduction and the second (of three) division (vv24-27):

• The title of the second division per the commentary is "The Perfect Plan for Heaven." 
•  "Jesus tells [the Sadducees] plainly that they are “deceived,” in error. Jesus accuses the theological elite of His day of error in their area of expertise! What they claim to know best, the Torah, they actually know least. And because they misunderstand the Bible, they also misunderstand God! Misinterpreting the Scriptures inevitably leads to a distorted view of God. It always leads to your god being too small and impotent to be the God of the Bible!"  
• "Jesus begins correcting them in verse 25. The world of resurrection is different from the world we live in. There is continuity, to be sure. I will be me, and you will be you, but we will live for all of eternity in an entirely new reality. In Revelation 21:1, it is called a “new heaven and a new earth.” Why? Because 'the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.'"  
• "Jesus addresses the Sadducees’ question. (1) There will be a resurrection. (2) There will be no marriage relationship as we know it in this life. (3) We will become “like angels,” probably in the sense that we will no longer procreate and we will never die. Therefore marriage will not be necessary, at least for that purpose."  
• "No one will be disappointed in any way when they get to heaven! No one will be deprived of one thing that is necessary for maximum joy, optimal happiness, and complete satisfaction. Our relationship with Jesus and with all of our brothers and sisters will be so intense and so filled with love and affection that all earthly marital bliss will seem shallow and small in comparison. Heaven is indeed God’s perfect plan for His children who have come to Him through His Son Jesus."

Scripture from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Hebrews 12:1 and Philippians 3:20-21, Ephesians 2:19 comes to mind as further text to clarify an appropriate application after reading this text from Mark 12:24-25.  We should continue to persevere, endure and run the race has given us in this life with the ultimate goal of reaching Heaven where our true citizenship lies. See also 1 Corinthians 4:16-18.  

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My God, You are an awesome God that has already defeated death and sin so I have assurance the final victory is already won and can rest knowing this.  Thank You Jesus and thank You for the mercies You pour out for me daily that never cease, and of course for my salvation.  I am not deserving of such blessings and gifts.  My sin is great and it continues....daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.

1 Corinthians 3

There are many earthly and worldly matters that I treat with urgency.  But, do I treat my relationship with the Lord with urgency?  Do I live my life with eternity in mind and consequently follow Christ's teachings with urgency. 

No.  I don't.  I am just like those to whom Paul is speaking:

⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.

At this time, I am concerned that if the appointed time was near what would God say about how I lived my life.  I don't want to know....I simply want to live the life God intends for me.

My Prayer: Lord, Your love for me is amazing yet I don't deserve it.  Please forgive me for being distracted by earthly and worldly matters.  Help me daily fix my eyes on You.  Purify me of my sin and transform my heart and my life.  Help me live life with the end in mind.

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

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

I agree with this post on DesiringGod.com that states that Holy Week is the most important week in all of history. As such, I continue with one of the recommendations from the post to prepare for Holy Week, which is to read John Piper's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Today I read reason #19: To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him.  Here, John Piper emphasizes how, from the very beginning (in the Garden of Eden), God designed human life to live forever.  Piper refers us to Solomon's words from Ecclesiastes 3:11 then shares: "[w]e are created in God’s image, and God loves life and lives forever. We were made to live forever. And we will." Yet, at the same time, Piper clarifies how "we" is reserved for believers, while those who treat "God with indifference or contempt" await a far different fate: eternal damnation.  Scripture of course makes this clear as Piper points us to John 3:36 and Matthew 25:46.  Piper then points to Mark 9:47-48 where Jesus warns humanity that the influence of sin is so dangerous in our lives in terms of how it separates us from God that we should treat sin very seriously lest we allow it to carry us into unbelief and subsequent eternal damnation.  Piper then contrasts the eternal damnation to eternal life awaiting believers: "as hell is the worst outcome of this life, so “eternal life” is the best." While eternity in Heaven with Jesus is something believers will not fully comprehend until we die and return to our true home with Him, Piper concludes the devotion by sharing a few remarks about what awaits believers: "all sin and all sadness will be gone. All that is evil and harmful in this fallen creation will be removed. All that is good—all that will bring true and lasting happiness—will be preserved and purified and intensified. We will be changed so that we are capable of dimensions of happiness that were inconceivable to us in this life. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined . . . God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 [see also Isaiah 64:4]). It is true every moment of life, now and always: For those who trust Christ the best is yet to come. We will see the all-satisfying glory of God."  Rejoice in the gift of faith and eternal life - repent and believe!

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My Prayer: Father God, thank You for giving me life now to the full and for eternity with You.  I am not deserving of how You save and bless.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

[Jesus] looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.

Mark 5:25-34

[Jesus] looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease. Mark 5:32-34

I continue my study of The Character of Jesus.  For this morning, I focus on chapter 14: The Chivalry of Jesus where I highlighted in my Kindle version the following excerpts:

• "Possibly we can find no better word to cover this rich characteristic of the heart of Jesus than the word 'chivalry'"....In a world from which justice had been largely banished and in which might had usurped the place of right, the knight arose to defend the weak and to bring just causes through to victory."
• "Jesus of Nazareth was a knight. On foot he traveled forth, clad in the armor of a peerless manhood, to shield the weak, maintain the right, and live a life which should charm and win the world. At the head of the great company of knightly souls by whose bravery and prowess the world has been made better, stands this knight of knights, this chivalric Man of Galilee." 
• "[Jesus'] soul goes out to those who suffer. Physical distress pierced him and wrung his heart. Sickness in the first century did not receive the attention which it receives in ours. The poor were allowed to suffer unattended and to die unrelieved. There were no hospitals such as ours, and no earnest bands of philanthropic men and women giving their lives to the alleviation of pain and to banishing the terrors of the dying hour.  Insane people were not housed and cared for. Supposed to be possessed by devils, they were driven out of the town and allowed to wander in cemeteries and desert places, a terror to all who heard their shrieks and cries. Jesus pitied them. No one else reached out to them a helping hand."
• "His heart was ever open to the neglected and forlorn. Between Galilee and Judea there lived a tribe of people, half Jewish and half Pagan [(Samaritans)], who in their religion as well as in their blood exhibited a degeneration from the high ideals of the early times. Degenerates and apostates, they were held in deep abhorrence by Hebrews whose hearts were true to the high traditions of their country. It was only in cases of necessity that a Jew could be induced to pass through the region inhabited by these people.  Jesus not only passed through Samaria, but he tarried there and taught the people just as he taught the men of Judea and GaHlee. They were outcasts, but they were also human, and if they had no protector or friend, he at any rate would befriend them. Some of them might not understand how to receive him, but such churlish conduct could not dampen the ardor of his interest in them. The disciples with blazing hearts might want to bum up a Samaritan village, but the Knight of Galilee came not to destroy but to save.  No man can take his place on the side of the Samaritans without paying an awful penalty, and Jesus paid it. Men gnashed their teeth and hissed, "You are a Samaritan." That was the most cutting thing it was possible for them to say, but he never swerved from his course. He healed Samaritan lepers as freely as any others, and when he painted a man who represented his ideal of goodness he painted him with the features and dress of a Samaritan.  The parable which has probably taken the deepest hold on the heart of the world of all the parables which Jesus spoke is the parable of the " Good Samaritan." The creation of that parable was a sublime act of chivalry."
• "There were outcasts even in Galilee and Judea. There were people who were estranged from organized religion....In many of these people there were aspirations after better things, and in all of them there were the deep hungers and warm feelings of our common humanity. But they were outcasts. The church had laid a ban upon them.....But Jesus was not a man to be deterred by the of execrations of polite society. The so-called sinners were human beings, and because children of God they were not to be despised. If no other religious teacher would go among them, he would. He did. He made himself of no reputation. He sat down with sinners and ate with them."
• "But as is the case with all true knights, it is in his attitude to woman that Jesus' chivalry reaches its finest expression....There were many degraded women in Palestine as there are to-day in America. Woman being weaker than man is the first to suffer from the injustices of every social and economic system.  One of these degraded women was caught one day by a lot of men who dragged her into the presence of Jesus just to see what he would say and do. According to the Palestinian law a woman guilty of adultery could be stoned to death. As soon as the men had made their accusation, Jesus paused a moment and then said, "The man among you who has not committed the same sin may throw the first stone." Not a stone was lifted. No one said a word. Those who were on the outskirts of the crowd one by one disappeared. By and by they all had gone."
• "In the scales of God's eternal justice a woman's sin is not heavier than that of a man. Here is a teacher who does not hesitate to defend the rights of woman even though by so doing he incurs the deadly hatred of all foul-hearted men. Even women of the street shall not be denied the privilege of repentance, for they are capable of remorse, and may long to find their way back to the Father's house. A woman has a mind, a conscience, a soul, even though she lives in Samaria and has broken the moral law, and is worthy of careful instruction at the hands of the greatest of teachers. What a piece of gallantry it was — that conversation at Jacob's well!" 
• "Here, then, we have a knight who is a knight indeed. The medieval knight went forth seeking for adventures: our knight of Palestine went forth in search of forlorn and friendless human beings.  He had all the graces and virtues of medieval chivalry and none of its superficiality or its foibles. He had the nerve, the mettle, and the intrepidity of the bravest of the knights, and along with this he had a sweet winsomeness, a divine graciousness which history cannot match. Many a knight protected the distressed and maintained the right but failed to live the stainless life. This prince of knights, this king of all the hosts of chivalry, conquered on every field and came off without a stain." 
• In Jesus we have a revelation of the heart of God. In speaking of the chivalry of this man of Nazareth I have been speaking of the chivalry of the Eternal. God is knightly in His disposition, chivalric in His temper. It is His work from all eternity to protect the weak, maintain the right, and live a stainless life. His heart goes out unceasingly toward the weak, the helpless, and those who have no friend....If you are conscious of your weakness, cry out to Him, for He is swift to answer such a cry. If you feel sometimes absolutely helpless, altogether forlorn and forsaken, do not despair, for the heart of Jesus is the heart which beats in and behind all this world, and you can never be forsaken so long as God is God. In your moments of depression and in the days when the world seems cold and cruel, think of the chivalric God, whose heart beats in sympathy with weakness, and who goes out with alacrity and with gladness to meet every soul in need of succor."

The Gospel is Good News indeed - for everyone.  No matter your station or circumstances in life, Jesus comes to save.  When you feel there is no one left willing to help and you feel broken and hopeless.  Jesus is there...always.  He is the knight in shining armor we all need seek.  Stop seeking and come to Jesus! Luke 19:10.

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My Prayer: Father God, Jesus, You are my knight in shining armor as You save and You saved me...You also never leave or forsake me, and delivery new mercies everything morning that never cease!  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving...by a long shot.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message to me today and every day.  

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ...Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her[.] I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Romans 5:7-8, John 3:16, Ephesians 1:7

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. ...Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her[.]...I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Ephesians 5:2, 25, Galatians 2:20

As I continue my preparation to lead worship at the Gardens and The Lodge on Sunday 30MAR (pausing on my study of the last four books of the OT using the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary volume), I march forward in my use of DesiringGod.com's 40-day devotional Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. This morning, I read reason #6: To Show His Own Love for Us. We are encouraged to see God's death on the cross personally, because He died for all past, current, and future humanity.  He plans and knows each one of us personally (see Psalm 139:13-16) - that is how we know He died for us personally. Also, Christ died for me while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8).  The devotion refers us to scripture where it shares how Christ loved the church and died for her and how there is no greater love than when one lays down His life for His friends (see Ephesians 5:25, John 15:13). We are also encouraged to see how Christ gave His life as a ransom for many and we can be assured to be among this many (see also Matthew 20:28, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:13, Acts 10:43, John 1:12, and John 3:16).  As the devotion winds down it shares: "[H]e paid the highest price possible to give me the greatest gift possible."

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My Prayer: Father God, You are truly an incredible God - the One True God who gave Himself up for me personally so that I could have life now in abundance, and for eternity in Heaven. Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such blessings and my salvation.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 Galatians 2

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

As I continue to ponder what to study next, my Bible study this morning once again leans on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion, which today looks at whether God is the "end" or a "means to the end."  John Piper pointedly and rhetorically asks "[i]s Jesus Christ a means to this achievement or the end of the achievement?"  Piper then states, without hesitation, that because Jesus Christ is the "supreme revelation of God," He is the end and not a means.  Piper elaborates further on this claim by sharing that the "[t]he manifestation of the glory of God is the meaning of the universe[, and that t]his is what God is achieving. The heavens, and the history of the world, are 'telling the glory of God.'" Yet Piper does not settle this question here. As he delves deeper into the core question, Piper recognizes that Jesus Christ continues to be active in His saving work.  Piper writes that "Jesus Christ was sent to accomplish something that needed doing. He came to remedy the fall. He came to rescue sinners from inevitable destruction because of their sin....No one would see and savor and celebrate the glory of God apart from the saving work of Christ. The aim of the universe would abort. So, Christ is a means."  The crucifixion is described as "the apex of the revelation of the glory of God[:] in the very moment of his perfect act as the means of God’s purpose, Jesus became the end of that purpose. He became, in his dying in the place of sinners and his resurrection for their life, the central and supreme revelation of the glory of God."  Piper winds down the devotion by then sharing that "[w]ithout his work, that end — to reveal the fullness of the glory of God for the enjoyment of God’s people — would not have happened....Jesus is the end for which the universe was made, and the means that makes that end possible to enjoy by justified sinners." 

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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who gave Himself to me so that I could life to the full now and for eternity in Heaven.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such gifts...my sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.   

Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.

Isaiah 49

Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God. v4

It is often very difficult to live as God intends for us - to glorify Him and to be a light.

Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 1 John 3:13

 

Jesus says we are to have trouble (John 16:33), yet Isaiah reminds us that "[our] reward is with God".

 

We should have an eternal focus, and live with the end in mind. 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who will never leave or forsake me and who will provide eternity in Heaven for me and for all those who believe.  Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such a gift.  I am harsh with my words and actions and often not encouraging.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do. Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Exodus 14:14

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14

I continue my study of The Character of Jesus.  For this morning, I focus on chapter 15: The Firmness of Jesus where I highlighted in my Kindle version the following excerpts:

• "The majority of mortals are not strong enough to be themselves: they become echoes of their neighbors and walk in paths marked out by others. There is a spirit of the age which leaves its impress on every mind. Even the mightiest men cannot free themselves entirely from it."
• "But when we come to Jesus of Nazareth we are in the presence of a man whom nobody swerved or dominated, who is so free from the bias of his race and so clean of the spirit of his age that he seems to belong to all races and all ages. He is not the Son of David but the Son of Man, just genuinely, supremely human. He is not a citizen of the first century only, but the contemporary of each succeeding generation. Immersed in an ocean of mighty forces which beat upon him furiously through every hour of his career, he resisted them all successfully by the indomitable energy of a victorious will, living a life unique in its beauty and achieving a work unmarred by the limitations either of time or place. That he was not insensible to the dominant forces of his time, he himself has told us in the story of the temptation." See Matthew 4:1-11.
• "Who is a man that he should set himself against the expressed wish of a nation? Is it not through the people that God makes his wishes known, and what is it but egotism or insanity which would lead an individual to set his judgment against the judgment of the people ? This is the argument whose sharp edge many a leader has felt, and Jesus of Nazareth felt it too. Wherever he went he heard the people clamoring for a king, a king who should rise to supremacy over the wrecked empire of Caesar.  The nation was ripe for revolution. A word from him would, like a spark, have kindled a mighty conflagration. Expectations had been built up by men anointed by Jehovah, and these expectations were glowing hot, and how could Jesus hope to win the attention of his people or control the current of their life unless he fell in with their ideals and attempted to carry out the program on which their hearts were set? It was a great temptation, so terrific that he told his apostles all about it.  He assured them that in this temptation he had been wrestling with the very prince of infernal powers, but that notwithstanding repeated assaults he had come out of the conflict victorious. In choosing the road which led to supremacy by way of Gethsemane and Golgotha, he renounced the ideals of his countrymen and disappointed their dearest expectations, but so firm was he that the hosts of hell speaking through God's chosen people could not move him from his place. The nation hurled itself with frantic force against him, but he did not budge. He was the Rock of Ages. When we study his life with attentive eyes we see it was one long resistance to the forces of his age."
• "There were many reasons why Jesus should have conformed to the ideas and customs of the church, but he firmly resisted all the voices which urged him toward conformity, standing out alone in defiance of what the best men were doing and saying, notwithstanding his nonconformity seemed to the majority impiety and to many blasphemy. For a godly man to be classed among blasphemers is one of the bitterest experiences which the heart can know. But Jesus paid the price and continued firm."
• "Jesus could not be manipulated. He refused to be used. One party after another tried to work him into its scheme, but he was incorrigibly intractable and went on his way independent, unshackled, free. All the seductions offered by the men who sat on thrones could not swerve him from his course, and although his steadfastness made him enemies and finally nailed him to the cross, he was everywhere and always a man who could not be moved." 
• "Jesus could not be manipulated even by his friends. He had many friends in Nazareth, but he never gave up his principles to please them. They had their prejudices and superstitions, but he never surrendered to them."
• "The most tender and gracious and obliging of men is compelled to resist not only the prayers of his countrymen but the wishes of his family and friends. He stands like a rock in the midst of a troubled sea, and all its billows dash themselves against his feet in vain. There was something inflexible in his will, something granitic in his soul. When he found a man whom he thought worthy to be the first member of his church he called him "rock.  Are we to infer from this that it is the rock-like quality which is indispensable in the building of an institution which shall endure? It is certain that Jesus loved stability in others, and what he loved in others he had super-abundantly in himself. Firm himself, he loved men who could not be moved."
• "Salvation could not be offered to any one who did not endure to the end. It is in this tenacity of will that we find an indispensable element of Christian character. Men are to resist exterior forces and form their life from within. They are not to be swayed by current opinion, but by the spirit of the Eternal in their heart. They are not to listen to the voices of time, but to live and work for eternity. We like this steadfastness in human character, and we also crave it in God. Men have always loved to think of Him as the unchanging and the unchangeable, the one "with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning." And what we desire in God we find in Jesus of Nazareth."
• "From age to age he is about his Father's business, and in the midst of all nations and kindreds and tongues he goes about doing good." 

While the commentary provides ample evidence of Jesus’ firmness in scripture, the Holy Spirit guides me to additional examples in scripture of how we as believers must also be firm.  An unwavering faith – resisting temptations to either lack trust in God to provide and protect, or to act outside of God’s commands in the face of worldly temptations and persecution –  demonstrates firmness consistent with Jesus’ own character and what He commands and expects from us.  Two examples where firmness was not displayed - even among biblical heroes - was when Peter denied knowing Jesus upon Jesus' arrest (see Mark 14:66-72), and Abraham lying that Sarah was his sister (see Genesis 20:1-2).  Believers know that temptations will arise and that the only way to battle these temptations is with the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20).  Exodus 14:14 tells us to be "still" or "silent" and to trust in God vs falling prey to temptations where we seek to take things into our own hands (acting outside God's counsel). Philippians 1:27 and Romans 12:2 urge us to stand firm in our faith and not to conform to the patterns of this world - instead we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind so that we know God's will for us. 

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My Prayer: Father God, You are an awesome God who loves and is always there with Your Word, the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters in Christ and more to help us to be firm and from falling prey to the patterns of this world.  Thank You Jesus for the full armor of God.  I am not deserving of how richly You save and bless!  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.