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- Joy or Desire – Which Is It? - Joy or Desire – Which Is It? Desires of your heart. What are the desires of your heart? Do they have anything to do with material things; wealth, friends, recognition? In today’s world, what is the meaning of desire? I think too often we equate it with an element of intimacy. Or, perhaps, greed. In truth, the spiritual intent of the word desire was more in line with interior prayer, our mind on His Spirit. In the hymn, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, the word has a clearer meaning. the message of the hymn is a poetic declaration of all that Christ means to a Christian. So, do the words summarize what Christ means to you? Is He joy, wisdom, love, truth, hope? There does seem to be a longing for the world to come when we will be at peace. Continue reading
- Trust Walking - Trust Walking: here are some questions to think about: How do you feel living under grace? How sure are you of the future? Is it safe to entrust ourselves entirely to the God of grace? It could feel a bit like a Trust Walk, or maybe a game when we were younger, “just fall backwards, I’ll catch you.” Huh! Maybe! To entrust ourselves to the free grace of God in Jesus can feel a little like that, relying on Jesus to help us. So, that final question that we must answer for ourselves -- Is it safe to entrust ourselves entirely to the God of grace? Continue reading
- I Doubt That! - I Doubt That! The moon is made of Swiss cheese. The Cubs will win the World Series in 2022. Next spring you will run the Boston Marathon. Have you ever expressed doubt about something in your life? I mean, something real. Maybe something someone promised you, and because of past experiences with that person, you had reason enough to doubt. I am sure there have been times in our lives when our Joy in the Lord has filled our eyes with tears, and swelled our hearts, and maybe the thought occurred to you, “This is too good to be true.” But it was and you knew there was no doubt. Continue reading
- Greatest Chapter? - Greatest Chapter? Pastor Robert Morris tells us that Romans Chapter 8 is the greatest chapter of the Bible because it captures the essence of God’s Presence in our lives. You know, we hold close some thoughts and words that really have no spiritual meaning. Religion, is an example. God makes it clear, in Romans Chapter 8, that Christianity is NOT a religion. Religions are man-made and shaped according to human thinking and understanding, and each one is subject to splitting on the basis of petty ideas. “I don’t have a religion, I have a Relationship with Christ!” Continue reading
- Do Whatever He Tells You - Do Whatever He Tells You: Shocking! Running out of wine at a wedding? Mary, the mother of Jesus our Lord and Savior, tells US, “Do whatever he tells you.” True, the scripture does not imply that Mary’s instruction was anything other than telling the stewards what to do. Still, it is kind of interesting to think of it MY way, you know, Blessed Mary, Mother of Jesus, telling us what to do! Was this moment at the wedding in Cana the first revealing of Jesus, the Messiah? Continue reading
- Valentine’s Day – Meaning of Love - Meaning of Love: (A conversation between Barabbas and his wife, Shania, from my book, A Life for Barabbas) “For us to love others as Jesus loves us is hard to imagine. How do we do that? I’ve thought a lot about this ever since Calvary. That encounter with Jesus transformed me. In a real sense, it killed my old self. I think that God’s love means Calvary. When Jesus died on that cross for me, my old self, my old nature, died with Him. The only way that God can forgive me my old life is for that old nature of me, that person that did the bad things, to be dead and gone.” Continue reading
- I’m Saved! Hallelujah! - I’m Saved! Hallelujah!: Read the passage above, and repeat after me -- God said it. I believe it. I declare it. Therefore, I am Saved. Paul writes that instead of seeking to become righteous by following the law, they confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord. The Word of Faith is Christ. Read this passage from Deuteronomy, and note verse 14. It is here that Jesus the Christ is proclaimed. He is indeed The Word. Continue reading
- Honey from The Rock? - Honey from The Rock? :Think about this. For nearly forty years, Moses had led the Israelites, back and forth, in futile wanderings in the wilderness of their own disobedience, unbelief and constant complaining. God was angry with their attitude and allowed an entire generation to die in the desert. The time arrived for Moses to pass the reins of leadership to Joshua. To help God's people remember His never-failing faithfulness, he taught them the 'Song of Moses'. Do we, individually, have our own “Song of Moses”? You know, the scripture passage that has become our “favorite.” Continue reading
- Keys to a Full Life - Keys to a Full Life: The Daily Stoic shows up in my email box each day and often provides fodder for thoughts that, more often than not, leads me back to my relationship with God. This morning’s offering had to do with the hardened heart, and how our idealism, when we are young, is often shrouded in darkness of skepticism, as the scars of living begin to pile up. Often times we have a choice to be kind, or not. To reach out to help, or not. To show compassion and understanding, or not. Choices, decisions we make. Continue reading
- Price of Forgiveness - Price of Forgiveness: How do you feel when you ask someone for forgiveness? Is that a humbling experience? You struggled with taking that step, what was going through your mind? Let us consider God’s forgiveness. Do we take that for granted? We read that God makes everything come out right, and we accept that and just move right on, doing what we did. Oh, it may weigh heavily on us and we come back with “Help me, Jesus” and sure enough, there is His forgiveness. Maybe, better questions are: What price does God pay for our forgiveness? What is our end of the bargain? Continue reading
- 70 x 7 - 70 x 7: Leave it to Peter to get us all in trouble. He just had to ask for specifics. Had to press Jesus to put a number on forgiveness, so now we’re stuck with it. He said it, we believe it, and now we can’t avoid it. But, let’s not be too hard on Peter, he asked a reasonable question and he doubled what the Book of Amos tells us about forgiveness. I think the repentance of God is contained within the blessedness of God’s love and compassion for us. Our life model is Jesus, Lord and Savior. Continue reading
- Fear and Love - Fear and Love: Fear and change. No, fear and love of God. Change often comes upon us suddenly, without warning. We quickly run through the stages of denial until we are faced with the reality that something, we resist with every part of our being, must be done, or is going to happen, regardless. Cancer, lung disease, invasive tests, surgery, radiation, chemo, etc., words which too often generate fear and gets our mind racing, and we are clouded with darkness. I don’t know quite how to say this, but maybe some of the things on our schedule aren’t very important, if we are honest with ourselves, when balanced against what Jesus would have us do. Continue reading
- Ground Hog Day (Tomorrow) - Ground Hog Day: Ground Hog Day with Bill Murray. It’s a fun little movie but watching it over and over and over again, it gets a little, repetitive? But you know, as our hero goes through repeats of the day, he begins to learn. He can step aside and avoid being splashed.I think we all can relate to him from the standpoint of wanting a “do-over” to restart a day that’s going poorly. We don’t have a life do over, but we do have a Lord and Savior with a forgiving spirit that allows us to carry-on even when we do the most dumb, idiotic thing on the planet. Because we are HIS. Continue reading
- It’s Your Life… - It’s Your Life… I've been thinking a bit about the parable of the good Samaritan, and specifically about what caused this man from Samaria who was supposedly a merchant and maybe a tough-minded seller of goods, to reach out, and get his hands dirty and save a life. I was wondering how many times have I passed by on the other side, not electing to get my hands dirty or leave my comfort zone. Passing by on the other side is an easy out. It is similar to saying, I haven’t got time for this, or, perhaps, I’m not qualified, or, I could get sued or a disease, etc. I guess you could say that passing by on the other side is all too common. Continue reading
- Right Influences - Right Influences: Have you ever been under the influence? How about the way your granddaughter has of twisting you around her little finger? Influence. A little too much celebratory wine? Influence. We all experience that "altered state" which we may label "anxiety", "depression", "elation", "anticipation", "grief", "anger", "over the moon happiness", through the entire catalog of emotions. Powerful persons in our lives or powerful ideas can alter our thinking and our behavior. All of these influence our thinking and our reactions. I do wonder, sometimes, when my faith clashes with those forces of influence, are my decisions or choices in line with my faith or am I giving in to those other forces? It is not always an easy choice. Continue reading
- Meeting Christ (for the first time) - Meeting Christ (for the first time): In a previous Watchword, I wrote about Philip inviting Nathaniel to come and meet Jesus, and the result was that Nathaniel became an apostle. That caused me to consider that how do people meet Christ, when their religion or their faith is not even on the other's to do list. Often in the meeting comes because of circumstance or because of an intentional invitation. Sometimes there is clearly God guidance involved, sometimes the introduction is subtle and without words. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who praised the value of narrative in fiction and encouraged the writing of fantasy. The best-known, apart from Tolkien, were C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield. The point of this meditation, of course, is that we should never underestimate the effect we may have on others, who observe how we live, what we say, how we relate to others. When Christ tells us to “Go, and make disciples”, he did not say go and preach, but he did say “love others as I love you.” Continue reading
- Who Was Philip? Part II - Who Was Philip? Part II: Philip was a young man, probably a teenager when he received Jesus’ call to follow, and it was a change of life event for him. He was a fisherman from Bethsaida, an acquaintance of Andrew and Peter, and probably one of the growing crowd of young men that went to nearby Capernaum to listen to the rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, who was drawing so much attention with his teachings. Philip was a man with a warm heart and a pessimistic head. He was one who would very much like to do something for others, but rarely knew how it could be done. Yet, this simple Galilean gave all he had. In return, God transformed him into a true teacher and missionary to Greece, Syria and parts of Phrygia. Continue reading
- Who Was Philip? Part I - Who Was Philip? Part I: One thing we know about Philip is that he was the first to hear the words from Jesus, “Come, follow me” – and he did. Not only that, but, it affected him so profoundly that he immediately went to his friend Nathanael, or Bartholomew, telling him that “we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets had spoken”. We never know when the words we speak, or write, will act as seeds, and results in growth in faith. Yes, we are doing as Phillip did, a good and faithful servant. Our hands and voices, our passing it on, but Jesus, within, is leading us. Continue reading
- Rejoice. I Say It Again Rejoice - Rejoice. I Say It Again Rejoice: “This is the day the Lord has made…” How often have we said that over the years? But the question is, how often have you finished it with “…and I will rejoice and be glad in it”, and actually, did rejoice and was actually glad? Or did you wake up to a day that the Lord made, and you found yourself in a dark shadow, filled with worries and concerns? Sometimes it’s just plain hard to get out of bed, and face a day filled with so much “stuff” you’d rather not deal with. I think on those days our Lord wants to grab me by the nap of my neck and shake me, and tell me to my face “Make a decision not to worry about those things, give them to Me!” Continue reading
- God Is in Charge? - God Is in Charge?: Yes, indeed, God truly is in charge, even more than we know. But it is more than that, He also loves us! But wait, there is more. He leads us, in subtle ways, in real ways, in ways that we are unaware. Those everyday "little miracles", those "coincidences", that cause us to marvel, "how did that happen?" The lucky chance. The unexpected smile. The times we felt blessed by the beauty of nature, of a seascape, of mountains, of flowers, or the giggle of a small child, or, simply, the spontaneous love of family. How did that happen? Ah, the work of our God, who never sleeps. Continue reading
