But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. --Luke 23:34
Prejudice! What an ugly social ill.America is accused of it justifiably, yet I have never been to a country that did not practice it. Every race has within it those who are prejudiced. Many of us were encouraged from youth by the government to dislike the Russians and the Japanese, and now that same government enforces laws against discrimination. Women hate men and men hate women. People are too tall, too fat, too skinny, too short, too stupid, too educated, too spiritual, too carnal, too legalistic, and too liberal. Do not trust parents, do not trust teenagers, do not believe husbands, know that employers are out to get you, and do not share a weakness with your wife.
Upon recognizing and pointing out prejudice in a society, many attempt to fight it with more prejudice toward those who have it, discriminating against and avoiding them at all cost.It is vexing to become like one’s enemy, with bigotry and distrust driving hate and dislike. How is prejudice destroyed? Like all other societal ills, it is incredibly simple to cure with love! Once love enters the equation, everything changes. Love is not selective but inclusive. Love does not sort out who is right or wrong but shows no partiality and makes us more than conquerors.
On one occasion I was talking to a friend of a different race; he had made a conscious determination that he and his children would learn all they could about their culture. My response was, “Has all the information you have learned concerning your race changed your marriage, given wisdom in raising your children, or taken away the feelings of inferiority, failure, or depression?” He admittedly said no. I then responded, “Neither has the study of my race.” Jesus never commented on the outer life. He was racist toward the inner life, the life of Adam, the life that causes misery, and He wanted it dead and replaced with His life (Galatians 2:20). Once we receive His life, we receive love, which frees us from all of the above and gives the needed wisdom for daily living.
Friday, December 29, 2017
The Least, The Lost, The Lonely
This time of year can be very hard for many. I have
been pondering 'loneliness.' It has taken me back
to the time of Job and Abraham, to Samuel, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, King David, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, and to
Jesus. No one expects loneliness, leastness, but for
most of us, our lives are lived between the moun-
tain peaks of fullness, plenty, good health and close
friends.Yes, we have face time, twitter, texting and
the telephone, but it doesn't replace a cup of coffee
and a real person. :)
I think Mary was one of the loneliest of women.
We don't know what her family and friends believed
about her pregnancy--gossip. The baby was born
without her mother. Mary was probably not more
than fifteen or sixteen. The Bible does not speak of
a midwife in attendance but in my minds eye, I can
see her...What we do see shows a happy couple and
the baby, but birth is messy, exhausting, and scary.
Added to all of this was poverty.
It is when our expectations don't line up with reality
that we get into trouble.
been pondering 'loneliness.' It has taken me back
to the time of Job and Abraham, to Samuel, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, King David, Esther, Ruth, Naomi, and to
Jesus. No one expects loneliness, leastness, but for
most of us, our lives are lived between the moun-
tain peaks of fullness, plenty, good health and close
friends.Yes, we have face time, twitter, texting and
the telephone, but it doesn't replace a cup of coffee
and a real person. :)
I think Mary was one of the loneliest of women.
We don't know what her family and friends believed
about her pregnancy--gossip. The baby was born
without her mother. Mary was probably not more
than fifteen or sixteen. The Bible does not speak of
a midwife in attendance but in my minds eye, I can
see her...What we do see shows a happy couple and
the baby, but birth is messy, exhausting, and scary.
Added to all of this was poverty.
It is when our expectations don't line up with reality
that we get into trouble.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Oranges
And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. --Colossians 3:12-14
Once a fellow took an orange and asked his audience, "What is in this orange?" Everyone answered, "Orange juice." However, once he squeezed the orange, black goo gushed out instead of the expected sweet juice. We can think of our own life as the orange. Throughout our Christian life we find ourselves being squeezed, and that squeezing reveals what is within us, whether something sweet or the black goo of self-centeredness. When our flesh life is revealed through the squeezing of others, do we prefer to focus on the person or circumstances that squeezed us, the injustice involved, and the error of their way? Or do we concentrate on our own carnal response? It is far too easy to accumulate arguments condemning the behavior of others and justifying our own. However, a believer never has an excuse for self-centered behavior, for we live by a spiritual absolute that no matter what, we never have an excuse for not loving.When the believer finds himself squeezed and the black goo oozes out, he must admit his condition and not focus on the others who squeezed him.
In India a story is told of a Mogul king who, upon wanting to pick a successor and retire, assembled by invitation some five hundred young men from the kingdom. He presented a seed to each of the young men and asked that they plant it and tend it for one year, at which time the king would examine each of the young men's seeds and determine who would be king through what he saw. One of the young men took his seed home, planted it, fertilized, watered, and tended it day and night, and yet nothing grew. At the end of a year the young man told his father he was too embarrassed to present his empty pot to the king. His father persuaded him that since he had done his very best, he should not be embarrassed and must go present himself to the king truthfully, no better or worse; he had worked hard and must present himself honestly. Therefore, the young man went to the city on the day he was to present himself to the king. With his empty pot he took his place with the other young men, all of whom had pots that held banana plants already bearing fruit, mango trees, or a variety of beautiful flowers. The king began his inspection, examining all five hundred young men with their plants. As he walked past the only boy with an empty pot, the king hesitated briefly and then continued examining the others. Eventually, though, the king returned to the boy with the empty pot and announced, "You will be the next king!” “Why,” asked the young man, “should I be king when I have nothing?” The king responded, "I boiled all the seeds before I handed them out so none could grow! You alone have presented yourself in honesty, and you will be the next king." Remember, there was a man who asked his son to be healed by Jesus, who responded, "If you believe." The man then presented Himself in truth by saying, "I do believe! Help me in my unbelief." The boy was healed. The King rewards honesty and exalts the humble. Many times the need of the believer is the simple one of presenting himself before God in honesty, no better and no worse than he is and without justification!
As couples we often initially attracted our mates through being loving, kind, self-sacrificing, complimentary, and forgiving. With the passing of time, once the discovery was made that the spouse could not meet our deepest needs, the behavior deteriorated to complaining, judging, self-serving, anger, bitterness, blaming, and carnality. At this point we can either present ourselves to God and confess our carnal behavior or with great zeal begin to look for excuses for our negative behavior, which are most easily found by holding a magnifying glass up to the mate to reveal all his or her glaring faults; these we can proclaim as having caused our carnal lifestyle. This is all done in the hope that we will be excused and our mate condemned. This reminds me of the Kansas tornado, the circumference of which is where all the damage takes place, for there is nothing within its center. It is a great whirl around emptiness. There are those of us who continue to destroy everything outside ourselves, and yet we remain empty, totally unfulfilled by such behavior. Stop destroying, stop excusing, admit our true condition, and we will find that "out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water."
God gives us a vivid description of “out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water”: the chosen of God (that means a whole lot of things to a whole lot of different Believers!), “holy and beloved,” having “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone.” And adds: “just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
- Mike Wells
Once a fellow took an orange and asked his audience, "What is in this orange?" Everyone answered, "Orange juice." However, once he squeezed the orange, black goo gushed out instead of the expected sweet juice. We can think of our own life as the orange. Throughout our Christian life we find ourselves being squeezed, and that squeezing reveals what is within us, whether something sweet or the black goo of self-centeredness. When our flesh life is revealed through the squeezing of others, do we prefer to focus on the person or circumstances that squeezed us, the injustice involved, and the error of their way? Or do we concentrate on our own carnal response? It is far too easy to accumulate arguments condemning the behavior of others and justifying our own. However, a believer never has an excuse for self-centered behavior, for we live by a spiritual absolute that no matter what, we never have an excuse for not loving.When the believer finds himself squeezed and the black goo oozes out, he must admit his condition and not focus on the others who squeezed him.
In India a story is told of a Mogul king who, upon wanting to pick a successor and retire, assembled by invitation some five hundred young men from the kingdom. He presented a seed to each of the young men and asked that they plant it and tend it for one year, at which time the king would examine each of the young men's seeds and determine who would be king through what he saw. One of the young men took his seed home, planted it, fertilized, watered, and tended it day and night, and yet nothing grew. At the end of a year the young man told his father he was too embarrassed to present his empty pot to the king. His father persuaded him that since he had done his very best, he should not be embarrassed and must go present himself to the king truthfully, no better or worse; he had worked hard and must present himself honestly. Therefore, the young man went to the city on the day he was to present himself to the king. With his empty pot he took his place with the other young men, all of whom had pots that held banana plants already bearing fruit, mango trees, or a variety of beautiful flowers. The king began his inspection, examining all five hundred young men with their plants. As he walked past the only boy with an empty pot, the king hesitated briefly and then continued examining the others. Eventually, though, the king returned to the boy with the empty pot and announced, "You will be the next king!” “Why,” asked the young man, “should I be king when I have nothing?” The king responded, "I boiled all the seeds before I handed them out so none could grow! You alone have presented yourself in honesty, and you will be the next king." Remember, there was a man who asked his son to be healed by Jesus, who responded, "If you believe." The man then presented Himself in truth by saying, "I do believe! Help me in my unbelief." The boy was healed. The King rewards honesty and exalts the humble. Many times the need of the believer is the simple one of presenting himself before God in honesty, no better and no worse than he is and without justification!
As couples we often initially attracted our mates through being loving, kind, self-sacrificing, complimentary, and forgiving. With the passing of time, once the discovery was made that the spouse could not meet our deepest needs, the behavior deteriorated to complaining, judging, self-serving, anger, bitterness, blaming, and carnality. At this point we can either present ourselves to God and confess our carnal behavior or with great zeal begin to look for excuses for our negative behavior, which are most easily found by holding a magnifying glass up to the mate to reveal all his or her glaring faults; these we can proclaim as having caused our carnal lifestyle. This is all done in the hope that we will be excused and our mate condemned. This reminds me of the Kansas tornado, the circumference of which is where all the damage takes place, for there is nothing within its center. It is a great whirl around emptiness. There are those of us who continue to destroy everything outside ourselves, and yet we remain empty, totally unfulfilled by such behavior. Stop destroying, stop excusing, admit our true condition, and we will find that "out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water."
God gives us a vivid description of “out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water”: the chosen of God (that means a whole lot of things to a whole lot of different Believers!), “holy and beloved,” having “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone.” And adds: “just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”
- Mike Wells
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Only Trust What Jesus Has Done In a Person
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. --Galatians 2:20
Let me tell you a secret about others. The only measure of dependence you place on them should be on the things God has done in them. Depend on them for anything else and they will let you down. When we see strong people, we have the tendency to want to trust them. However, if it is a fleshly strength that we are trusting, then one day they will let us down. At times I have told people of my strengths, my boldness, or my knowledge, and I have heard others do it, as well. Such talk is foolishness, for we are covertly asserting that we can be trusted, followed, or listened to because of our strengths. This is proof positive that we are not to be trusted. It is better to hear of someone’s many weaknesses and work alongside that person, for in each place he is weak, he is reliant upon God’s strength. If a man tells me he was very critical until God worked in his heart, revealed his own wickedness, and then lifted him up, I know that such a man is safe with my problems; I will not receive judgment from such a one, I will receive grace.
- Mike Wells
Let me tell you a secret about others. The only measure of dependence you place on them should be on the things God has done in them. Depend on them for anything else and they will let you down. When we see strong people, we have the tendency to want to trust them. However, if it is a fleshly strength that we are trusting, then one day they will let us down. At times I have told people of my strengths, my boldness, or my knowledge, and I have heard others do it, as well. Such talk is foolishness, for we are covertly asserting that we can be trusted, followed, or listened to because of our strengths. This is proof positive that we are not to be trusted. It is better to hear of someone’s many weaknesses and work alongside that person, for in each place he is weak, he is reliant upon God’s strength. If a man tells me he was very critical until God worked in his heart, revealed his own wickedness, and then lifted him up, I know that such a man is safe with my problems; I will not receive judgment from such a one, I will receive grace.
- Mike Wells
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Today's Prayer
So let's pray together. Hallelujah what a Saviour. Father as we come before you this morning we like to, we need to really, keep reminding ourselves that it was your great love that moved us to come and have a relationship with you. It was you who first initiated it, it was you that reached out to us, it was you that pursued us and sought us out in the midst of, of life, and in due course revealed yourself to us, and we want to say thank you this morning. Thank you that you are a God of love and that you did reach into our lives and reveal yourself to us, and we responded to that great love. As the Scripture says. “we love because he first loved us”. So Father thank you so much for that and as we journey through life Lord we know that there are so many times when, we don't, are seem to live up to the new identity we have, we seem to drift so easily, we seem to be sidetracked so easily, old habits and old ways seem to still grip us somehow, but it's good to be reminded that’s, that's not who we are, because you've reached into our lives and because you're such a wonderful Saviour you have literally saved us out of the old life, into the new, out of darkness into light, into your kingdom into your family and right into the circle of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What a Saviour you have saved us into that, and that's what we are grateful for and sometimes Father as we look over our shoulder, sometimes if we stop and we start to look at our performance we could easily be cast down, we could easily be depressed and despondent thinking there I go again. But you don't look at our performance you look at our new identity you look at who we now are your children and in that relationship as you work within us by your Spirit you bring about change, healing and wholeness, might be slow times, we might falter at times but you continue to work. And the apostle said in great confidence I have, that he shall complete that which he has begun. And so Father we to say thank you for the work that you're doing in our lives, none of us are perfect, but we are new creations we are your children, and so as we, as we look to you in relationship we say that was stupid that was silly, I'm sorry, and we step on again without any condemnation, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so we thank you Lord for that wonderful relationship. O what a Saviour hallelujah what a Saviour that he would save us from all of that, into a beautiful relationship with Father, Son and Spirit. Thank you Father for that this morning in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Finding a Different Rhythm and a Better Journey
Finalizing my latest book for publication, I ran across these two paragraphs. They express better than any other the transformation I see in people all over the world who move beyond religion and embrace a different way of living:
Following ritual and rules that others demand of you is still following law, even if we call them “New Testament principles.” God doesn’t transform us through obligation or meeting the expectations of others. The reason why many of us grew frustrated in religious settings is because they made promises they couldn’t fulfill. The harder we tried the emptier we felt. God has been inviting you to live in a new creation where his love transforms us in the deepest part of our soul.
Over this season you’ll learn to see through the manipulation of obligation, accountability, guilt, and fear and into a different rhythm that will allow you to live more at rest, aware of others, and free from the corrupting influences of this age. Instead of doing what others think you should do, you’ll be freer to discern his work in you and find yourself embracing his realities of grace, forgiveness, freedom, and generosity.
It all begins as you ask him to show you how deeply loved by God you are, then watching for how he shows you that reality. This is the trailhead that will lead you to greater freedom and fullness.
It’s a worthy journey, to be sure.
- Wayne Jacobson
Following ritual and rules that others demand of you is still following law, even if we call them “New Testament principles.” God doesn’t transform us through obligation or meeting the expectations of others. The reason why many of us grew frustrated in religious settings is because they made promises they couldn’t fulfill. The harder we tried the emptier we felt. God has been inviting you to live in a new creation where his love transforms us in the deepest part of our soul.
Over this season you’ll learn to see through the manipulation of obligation, accountability, guilt, and fear and into a different rhythm that will allow you to live more at rest, aware of others, and free from the corrupting influences of this age. Instead of doing what others think you should do, you’ll be freer to discern his work in you and find yourself embracing his realities of grace, forgiveness, freedom, and generosity.
It all begins as you ask him to show you how deeply loved by God you are, then watching for how he shows you that reality. This is the trailhead that will lead you to greater freedom and fullness.
It’s a worthy journey, to be sure.
- Wayne Jacobson
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Do Not Be Discouraged
You are my King and my God who decrees victories
for Jacob. Psalm 44:4
There are no enemies to your growth grace, or to your
Christian work, that were not included in your Savior's
victory. Remember, "The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not
be afraid of them because...I will hand all of them o-
ver to (you).'"(Josh 11:6.) Also recall the fact that
when you resist your enemies, they "will free from you"
(James 4:7) And remember what Joshua said to the
people: "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be
strong and courageous." (Josh 10:25) The Lord is
with you,mighty men of valour" (Josh 1:14,) and you
are mighty because you are one with the Mightiest.
So claim your victory!
Whenever your enemies are closing in on you, claim
victory! Whenever your heart and your flesh fail you,
look up and claim victory! Be sure you claim your
share in the triumph that Jesus won, for He won it
not for Himself alone but for us all. Remember that
you were in Him when He won it--so claim victory!
Count Christ's victory as yours and gather the spoils
of the war. Neither the giant "descendants of Anak"
(Num 13:33) nor fortified cities need intimidate or de-
feat you. You are part of the conquering army. Claim
your share in the Savior's victory, from Joshua!
FB Meyer
for Jacob. Psalm 44:4
There are no enemies to your growth grace, or to your
Christian work, that were not included in your Savior's
victory. Remember, "The Lord said to Joshua, "Do not
be afraid of them because...I will hand all of them o-
ver to (you).'"(Josh 11:6.) Also recall the fact that
when you resist your enemies, they "will free from you"
(James 4:7) And remember what Joshua said to the
people: "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be
strong and courageous." (Josh 10:25) The Lord is
with you,mighty men of valour" (Josh 1:14,) and you
are mighty because you are one with the Mightiest.
So claim your victory!
Whenever your enemies are closing in on you, claim
victory! Whenever your heart and your flesh fail you,
look up and claim victory! Be sure you claim your
share in the triumph that Jesus won, for He won it
not for Himself alone but for us all. Remember that
you were in Him when He won it--so claim victory!
Count Christ's victory as yours and gather the spoils
of the war. Neither the giant "descendants of Anak"
(Num 13:33) nor fortified cities need intimidate or de-
feat you. You are part of the conquering army. Claim
your share in the Savior's victory, from Joshua!
FB Meyer
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