Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad; for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Luke 23:8
King Herod had long desired to meet Jesus of Nazareth because he had heard so much about Him. Herod was not alone in seeking to meet Jesus. The religious Pharisees wanted to meet Him. The people who had heard about Jesus feeding the 5000 sought Him.
Some sought Jesus out of a pure heart because they wanted to know if He truly was the Messiah. The crowd in John chapter 6 was seeking bread. The priests were seeking to trap Jesus into saying something against the Law of Moses. Herod and others like him sought Jesus so he could do miracles in front of them as if he were a magician, only to be disappointed when the Lord would not perform for them.
People are no different today than they were 2000 years ago when it comes to seeking Jesus. Some seek Him for a while but then say, “Jesus is not real” because He didn’t heal someone, or because He allows suffering in the world. Many chase after the Lord because they want something. Their relationship with Him depends on what they get from Him. If things are good then God is good. If things are not then they are doubtful.
The question is, “What am I seeking Jesus for? Is it for satisfaction? Is it to be part of something bigger than myself? Am I following the Lord for what I can get from Him? If so, what do I do if I don’t get what I want?”
The Apostle Paul was a man who sought something from Jesus. Paul had a great story. He was someone who most would love to have in their church, he was a studious man, one of many experiences both good and bad. He had a lot to bring to the table. But with all that he had, all the history and the suffering and the work he did for God, he states, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8) Paul sought Jesus for one thing, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” (Philippians 3:10)
“Knowing God” is not a popular reason for seeking Jesus today. In fairness people who are seeking Jesus don’t know what they are seeking for. They simply know they have a need and hope that Jesus can fill it. Indeed He can.
Let us seek to know Jesus as Paul did, and be ready to lead others to the one who can fill their needs forever.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Snowy Rooftops
On a very recent trip to visit our church in Romania we woke up the second day to a 6 inch layer of snow. My son, myself and a few friends then went to the city of Brasov to ascend the mountain that overlooks the city.
When we got to the top of the mountain and looked out across the city I was impressed with all the white roofs I was seeing. It made me think of this verse,
“Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18)
Thank God that we have exchanged our guilt for forgiveness and grace.
I think when God looks down at the snowy roofs He too is reminded of the sacrifice of Jesus, and is pleased that he can’t see the sins of His children.
Remember, no matter what, God loves you so much. His love is unfailing and everlasting. Build yourself up in that truth. You are white as a fresh snowfall. Go out and play in the snow of your purity and enjoy the fellowship of His love.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Being A Friend
Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.'" So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city. 1Sa 20:42
David made a vow to a friend Jonathan many years previous to his elevation to the throne of Israel. In a time when Jonathan’s father, King Saul, was seeking to kill David, Jonathan pledged friendship forever and David pledged the same to him. Interestingly, that proved to be the last recorded time that David and Jonathan would meet. After their friendship was made it would be tested because of Saul’s hatred for David.
I imagine that David had a lot of bitterness toward the family of Saul in that they were made to be rivals because of God’s displeasure with Saul. Saul of course had an army and David only had his band of misfits who mostly tried to stay out of Saul’s reach. Of course Jonathan was part of the army of his father Saul so it would have been easy for David to wonder how good of a friend he really was. David never did break his vow to Jonathan. His friendship even extended to King Saul. Though the King was trying to kill David, he refused to take revenge on Saul, even when he twice had the chance to.
When David had taken control of all Israel many years after the deaths of Jonathan and Saul, the first thing he wanted to do was to make good on his pledge to his friend Jonathan. The promise they made to each other extended beyond their lives to the lives of their descendants. David sought out any family that Saul might have just so he could bless them for the sake of his friend. “NOW David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” 2 Samuel 9:1
Acts 13:22 says that David was a man after God’s own heart. What is God’s heart? It is the heart of friendship. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15
To be a friend if God is to want what God wants, to obey what God says and to love what God loves. This kind of obedience doesn’t come easily. It is achieved through commitment to a promise. First of all the promise came from God. It is a promise of friendship, a promise of commitment, a promise of forgiveness and a promise of faithfulness.
Our part is to believe and then to let God love us to the point of change. His love can do nothing but change us into His image. David often displayed the image of God in His actions towards others. There are other times where he personified a man who had strayed very far from his friendship with God, but found his way back by recognizing that though he was unfaithful, God could not be.
2Ti 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
David made a vow to a friend Jonathan many years previous to his elevation to the throne of Israel. In a time when Jonathan’s father, King Saul, was seeking to kill David, Jonathan pledged friendship forever and David pledged the same to him. Interestingly, that proved to be the last recorded time that David and Jonathan would meet. After their friendship was made it would be tested because of Saul’s hatred for David.
I imagine that David had a lot of bitterness toward the family of Saul in that they were made to be rivals because of God’s displeasure with Saul. Saul of course had an army and David only had his band of misfits who mostly tried to stay out of Saul’s reach. Of course Jonathan was part of the army of his father Saul so it would have been easy for David to wonder how good of a friend he really was. David never did break his vow to Jonathan. His friendship even extended to King Saul. Though the King was trying to kill David, he refused to take revenge on Saul, even when he twice had the chance to.
When David had taken control of all Israel many years after the deaths of Jonathan and Saul, the first thing he wanted to do was to make good on his pledge to his friend Jonathan. The promise they made to each other extended beyond their lives to the lives of their descendants. David sought out any family that Saul might have just so he could bless them for the sake of his friend. “NOW David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” 2 Samuel 9:1
Acts 13:22 says that David was a man after God’s own heart. What is God’s heart? It is the heart of friendship. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15
To be a friend if God is to want what God wants, to obey what God says and to love what God loves. This kind of obedience doesn’t come easily. It is achieved through commitment to a promise. First of all the promise came from God. It is a promise of friendship, a promise of commitment, a promise of forgiveness and a promise of faithfulness.
Our part is to believe and then to let God love us to the point of change. His love can do nothing but change us into His image. David often displayed the image of God in His actions towards others. There are other times where he personified a man who had strayed very far from his friendship with God, but found his way back by recognizing that though he was unfaithful, God could not be.
2Ti 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
That's Just Wrong
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? Genesis 3:1
Genesis chapter 3 records the first question posed in the Bible. The interesting thing about this question is that it was both a question and accusation in one. The premise of the serpent was that God is a liar. The extension of that thought creates another question. “If He lied about this, what else is He lying about?”
We know the rest of the story. Eve listens to the serpent and both she and Adam eat the fruit and are expelled from the garden to a place where the earth is cursed and they must earn a living by toil and sweat.
When we look at this narrative it seems at first very sad and an incredibly severe punishment by God upon His creation. Certainly Eve did nothing so evil as to merit death. All she did was eat some fruit and then pass it on to her husband to eat. Is God so petty that he would use the slightest miscue against us and sentence us to a life of misery? Doesn't this whole scene cast a poor light on the God of the Bible? As we read on we see other evidences of God losing His temper. People like Uzzah, were trying to help God. What did he get for his efforts? “And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:6-7) Newsflash to God – Uzzah was trying to HELP and You struck him down. How could a loving God hurt His servants who are just trying to do the right thing?
What questions might God ask of those who accuse Him of being unfair and petty? Perhaps He would ask, “Why did Eve disobey my direct command? And If I were as evil as my adversary says, why did I not just kill Eve and Adam right away? Why also would I make them a promise that Eve’s descendant would defeat the one who deceived her?”
Well OK God what about poor Uzzah? “You want talk about Uzzah who had already violated the Holiness of my presence by looking at the Ark long before He touched it. The question you should be asking is, ‘Why did I not kill everybody including King David who took part in this misuse of the Ark?’”
What do you mean God? “I mean that because of my extreme patience with Israel and the fact that they desired to honor Me, I let them get away with violating the laws concerning the Ark when I could have justly struck down thousands for not following the commands I gave to Moses. But I didn’t. The basis for all that I do and all the laws that I made are so that people can come to me by faith and receive forgiveness for the wrongs they have committed. Because of my Holiness I can’t stand in the presence of sin or sinful man. Because of my love for sinful man I have exercised patience and waited till the last possible moment for people to turn from their sin and avoid the penalty of death, just as I did for Eve.”
God was more than fair in providing warning to Adam and Eve, to Uzzah and all those who fell short of God’s righteous standard. He also proves He is love by providing for us a way of escape. So instead of saying as we like to these days, "That's just wrong!", and blaming God for the few times he has had to exercise discipline upon his people, let's praise Him for all the times when we deserved to be spanked but instead got grace and mercy.
Genesis chapter 3 records the first question posed in the Bible. The interesting thing about this question is that it was both a question and accusation in one. The premise of the serpent was that God is a liar. The extension of that thought creates another question. “If He lied about this, what else is He lying about?”
We know the rest of the story. Eve listens to the serpent and both she and Adam eat the fruit and are expelled from the garden to a place where the earth is cursed and they must earn a living by toil and sweat.
When we look at this narrative it seems at first very sad and an incredibly severe punishment by God upon His creation. Certainly Eve did nothing so evil as to merit death. All she did was eat some fruit and then pass it on to her husband to eat. Is God so petty that he would use the slightest miscue against us and sentence us to a life of misery? Doesn't this whole scene cast a poor light on the God of the Bible? As we read on we see other evidences of God losing His temper. People like Uzzah, were trying to help God. What did he get for his efforts? “And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:6-7) Newsflash to God – Uzzah was trying to HELP and You struck him down. How could a loving God hurt His servants who are just trying to do the right thing?
What questions might God ask of those who accuse Him of being unfair and petty? Perhaps He would ask, “Why did Eve disobey my direct command? And If I were as evil as my adversary says, why did I not just kill Eve and Adam right away? Why also would I make them a promise that Eve’s descendant would defeat the one who deceived her?”
Well OK God what about poor Uzzah? “You want talk about Uzzah who had already violated the Holiness of my presence by looking at the Ark long before He touched it. The question you should be asking is, ‘Why did I not kill everybody including King David who took part in this misuse of the Ark?’”
What do you mean God? “I mean that because of my extreme patience with Israel and the fact that they desired to honor Me, I let them get away with violating the laws concerning the Ark when I could have justly struck down thousands for not following the commands I gave to Moses. But I didn’t. The basis for all that I do and all the laws that I made are so that people can come to me by faith and receive forgiveness for the wrongs they have committed. Because of my Holiness I can’t stand in the presence of sin or sinful man. Because of my love for sinful man I have exercised patience and waited till the last possible moment for people to turn from their sin and avoid the penalty of death, just as I did for Eve.”
God was more than fair in providing warning to Adam and Eve, to Uzzah and all those who fell short of God’s righteous standard. He also proves He is love by providing for us a way of escape. So instead of saying as we like to these days, "That's just wrong!", and blaming God for the few times he has had to exercise discipline upon his people, let's praise Him for all the times when we deserved to be spanked but instead got grace and mercy.
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