I recently started a study on basic Christian beliefs. So far, it has served as great and
refreshing catalyst for discussion, contemplation and prayer. The first chapter is
simple titled “What is the Bible?” The answer while simple is so magnificent. The
Bible is God’s words.
You have to just let that sink in for a few minutes.
As our group was studying this simple yet astounding definition, it just hit me how
fortunate and humbling it is that we actually have God’s words. Hebrews 4:12 tells us: For the word
of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates
even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart.
I don’t think I have the words for how this impacted me; the realization that what
we have in the Bible are the words of the creator of all things, the maker of heaven
and earth, the words of the one who breathed us into being.
Out of His goodness he has given us His actual words, not just truths, but truth itself, revealing Himself
to us. Do you understand the implications, the privilege, and the magnitude of this?
Psalm 119 reminds us; How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than
honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate
every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
I once heard a young pastor preach and he commented that it is so easy to take this
for granted; he said that it seems as if we have lost our awe. And shouldn’t we be in
awe knowing the Bibles we hold are the actual words of God! To me the fact that we
can actually hold and read the words of God should impact us with the same feeling that we get
watching the most beautiful of sunsets or seeing a natural wonder for the first
time...
Reading God’s words; simply amazing...Father, thank you that we have your
precious words. Help us to recognize the significance, help us to never take for
granted your priceless words. Father, help us to be shaped, formed, transformed,
and guided by your incredible words...
“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man
small and the universe big to say something about himself.”
John Piper
Grace and Peace!
Our church has been without a senior pastor for over two years. During this time
we have also seen the beginnings of an effort to help plant a new church. In both
cases I see people (with me leading the way) growing increasingly impatient.
One morning I was reading the Bible and came to 1 Timothy 1:16
But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners,
Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who
would believe in him and receive eternal life.
As I read this I was humbled, I was awestruck as I came to see that Christ in dealing
with me and my brokenness and my sin, has shown; depending on the translation,
His immense, perfect, great, unlimited patience with me. This phrase in Greek
means longsuffering, enduring, persevering, showing slowness in avenging wrong.
Wow – my Savior demonstrating time after time such merciful, perfect and immense
patience with me and how do I react? With impatience...
Henri Nouwen once wrote:
“Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which
we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the
resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting passivity until someone else does
something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present
to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient
we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen
tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let’s be patient and trust that the treasure we
look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.”
So patience is not just a sitting and waiting, but a living to the fullest that which God
has provided. It is not a waiting for something else, but a trust that we are where we
are for a reason – to honor and glorify God right where we are.
Father, Thank you for your immense patience in dealing with such a broken
creature. Help me to see that patience while tough is not just passively waiting, but
it is to live to the fullest in the here and now. To be all I can be right now, right
where you have placed me according to your all-‐perfect plan. Father, help me to live
to honor, glorify and enjoy you forever. Amen!
Grace and Peace!
I sometimes wonder if busyness and stress and pressure are a function of age. For
me it seems that with each year I feel a little more tired and weary. I look around
and see a still struggling economy, I see global tensions, I see a politically divided
nation, I see unemployment, I see struggles, I see...well, you get point.
I was thinking the other day that I used to come home after a tough day and say;
‘have you ever had one of those days.' Now, I could come home and say; ‘have you
ever not had one of those days.' However, as I progress in my thinking I really do
have hope, I really do see the light at the end of the tunnel (and it is not a train). I
see the light of the Gospel.
At times like these I am drawn to 2 Corinthians 4:
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in
our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the
face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every
side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed... 16Therefore we do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed
day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 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.
Abba Father, help us to take heart! Help us as things begin to pile up to see the
light of your glory in the face of Christ. Father, thank you that even as there are untold pressures we are not crushed, abandoned or destroyed. Oh great and Glorious God, help us fix our eyes not on the temporary,
but that which is eternal. Father, God of Mercy and Grace and Love; help us all.
Grace and Peace!
