Bible

On the Night Before Palm Sunday

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It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which means a week from tomorrow is Easter Sunday. That will be when people who would normally not go to church will show up feeling uncomfortable and not knowing when to sit, stand, or kneel. Many of them will know very little about why we’re celebrating Easter again this year because mostly what they know is rabbits and candy and hunting for plastic eggs.

Although Christmas is my favorite, Easter is not far behind. It represents why Christmas has meaning. If Jesus died on the cross and remained buried in that tomb, then His birth has no meaning and His life has no value. Anything He said or did would in turn be worthless.

But because there is an empty tomb and a risen Lord, we celebrate. We come together to remember that Jesus laid down His life for us to make our salvation possible. He then rose again to make that salvation secure. We can trust that nothing can separate us from the love of a Savior whom the grave could not hold and death could not defeat.

I do love everything about Easter. I love how people still get dressed up in their best Sunday outfits. I love that little kids still get excited about Easter baskets filled with candy and other goodness as well as hunting for those plastic eggs filled with more candy and sometimes money. I love seeing the world explode in pastel colors as the earth comes back to life after having lain dormant for so long during the winter months.

Palm Sunday represents the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem when the people lauded Him with hosannas. Most of them were thinking He was about to instigate an overthrow of Roman rule and a return of kingship to Israel. They wanted a king just like all the other nations, just like another Saul who looked good and said all the right things.

But a few knew that Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world. They knew that His kingdom wasn’t just for Jews. His kingdom was for anyone who would put their faith in this Messiah. This road that led to a kingdom wasn’t covered with palm branches and hosannas laid down by the multitudes but instead lead to a hill with Him carrying a cross while multitudes jeered at Him and called for His execution. This road would lead to suffering and death, but we know that soon that crown of thorns He bore on the cross would soon be exchanged for a throne that He would never relinquish.

Easter Sunday is a reminder that the worst part isn’t the end. As one writer puts it, your story never ends with ashes. The resurrection means that no one is ever too far gone or too lost to save. It’s never too late to be who God made you to be or to live out His purposes for you.

May our hosannas ring out just as loudly as they did 2000 years ago, but may we also look to the cross and the tomb where Jesus lay for three days and remember that it was for us that He lived and died. But may we never lose sight of that Sunday when He rose again. May our song from now on always be an Easter song because we are an Easter people with a risen Lord!

A New Way to Live

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“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely” (Galatians 5:19-23, The Message).

Those of you who were saved later in life can probably attest to this. Following Jesus not only saves you from your sin and guarantees you a place in heaven, but it is simply a better way to live. Period. Instead of carrying the burden of being our own gods and saviors, we get to live out of the freedom that Jesus won for us on the cross. We live out of new identities and new hearts and new purposes.

The good news is that it’s never too late for those in the first category to switch to the second. You can know true peace and fulfillment through Jesus at any age. Because of Easter Sunday, death and ashes will not have the last word. There is a hope that even the grave can’t conquer.

Thank You, Jesus, for giving us a new way to live. We’re no longer slaves to sin or to our addictions or our passions. We can choose a better way now that You chose the nails for us. We can now be fully alive since you laid down Your life for us. You became obedient to the point of death on a cross so that we could finally know what it means to live victoriously and abundantly in Your mercy and grace. Amen.

34 Years Later

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I may or may not still have the ticket stub, but 34 years ago, I saw Steven Curtis Chapman live at the Mid-South Coliseum for his The Live Adventure tour. If memory serves, the year was 1992, or as the young kids call it, the late 1900s.

Tonight, I came full circle when I heard ol’ Steven perform his song The Great Adventure, as well as the entire album Speechless from start to finish. Back in 1992, I couldn’t even have imagined this moment so many years later. I suppose I was thinking more about getting through college and what came after.

But God has a way of bringing things around full circle in a way that no one ever could have planned or conceived. God has a way of surprising His people in the best kind of way. The kind that is exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or imagine.

It was great. The songs might have been in a slightly lower key. Steven might have shed the mullet look he was sporting way back in the early 90s. I might be less energetic tomorrow morning after a late night than I was when I was 20 years old. But it was still amazing and totally worth it.

Maybe there’s something you’re believing God for right now that seems impossible. It seems hopeless and if there ever was an expiration date your hopes and dreams, they have long since passed.

God is still at work. He’s still doing 10,000 things in your life, including the 9,997 things you’re unaware of or can’t see. God still promises to give us everything we need for life and godliness. God will give you your heart’s desire or He will give you something better. Something you would have asked for from the start had you known what He knows.

Maybe the next time won’t take 34 years, but I hope to see Steven again in concert soon. No matter how long it takes, I know the God he’s been singing about all these years will still be good and faithful.

Sinless Grace

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I was watching a Youtube video of a woman who converted from Islam to Christianity. One reason was that she read through the Bible, particularly the parts about Jesus. One thing that struck her forcibly was the passage of Jesus with the woman caught in the act of adultery.

It’s a familiar story. Some religious leaders had caught a woman in the act of adultery, which begs its own set of questions. Who was the man she was with? Was he one of the ones accusing her? Why was he not also brought before Jesus if they were in the very act?

So many questions, but the point wasn’t justice. It was to entrap Jesus. They didn’t care about the woman or the man or even what the Law of Moses said at this point. They wanted to trick Jesus into sinning. They knew the punishment for adultery was stoning. Would Jesus uphold the law and get in trouble with Rome? Or would Jesus give her a pass and condemn Himself before the Law of Moses. They saw it as a lose-lose scenario for Jesus.

But what did Jesus say? Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone. He didn’t argue that adultery wasn’t sinful. He was saying that it was no more sinful than pride or arrogance or hypocrisy.

It occurred to me that the only one qualified to stone the woman was Jesus. He was the only sinless one present. He had every right, according to the Law, to accuse her and condemn her. But the only one with the right to condemn her instead chose to forgive her instead.

That’s my Jesus. He has every right to condemn me every time I sin. He has every right to throw the book at me, legally speaking, and leave me to the punishment for my own sin. But He chose the nails instead. He chose the cross instead. He chose to die so that I might live.

He didn’t save the woman from death to allow her to keep committing adultery. He said that he didn’t condemn her, but He also said to her to go and sin no more. It wasn’t a matter of tolerating her behavior but redeeming her for a better purpose. Her life now served to glorify God instead of gratifying her own desires.

You and I have been redeemed for a purpose. We no longer live for ourselves but we live for the glory and praise of God. The best part is that what brings God the most glory is what brings us the most joy and is for our greatest good. God’s desire is for each of us to be like Jesus and in the process become our truest selves as God designed when He created us as image bearers.

Thank You, God, that though You had every right to cast stones at me, You chose to cast Your grace and mercy my way and to lay down Your own life for mine. You set me free from a life of slavery to my own desires to a life both abundant and eternal. I get to spend forever with You and know Your perfect peace and joy. Amen.

Loving People & Glorifying God

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“Love is doing what will enthrall the beloved with the greatest and longest joy. What will enthrall the beloved this way is the glory of God. Love means doing all we can, at whatever cost to ourselves, to help people be enthralled with the glory of God. When they are, they are satisfied and God is glorified. Therefore loving people and glorifying God are one” (John Piper).

We love God in part by how we love people. If we say we love God whom we have not seen, as the verse goes, but do not love the people in our lives that we can see, we show that we don’t really love God. Basically, we lie.

The best way to love others is to bring out the best in them. That’s what God does. He brings out the best in us. So when we lead people to places where they most glorify God, that’s where they find their deepest satisfaction. I love how John Piper says that the chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever.

God’s glory is our greatest good. People that don’t know God can hardly give Him glory or glorify Him through their lives. It seems that when people fall in love with Jesus, they become their best selves and God is honored and both we and them are most satisfied.

I think it was also John Piper who said that the chief aim of the church is worship. Evangelism exists because in so many places worship doesn’t. People can’t worship what they don’t know and who they have never met. When the Church fulfills the Great Commission, worship is birthed in places where it wasn’t before and God gets greater glory as our love is tangibly expressed in sharing the gospel.

Lord, help us to love You well by loving others well and always pointing them to Jesus as their greatest good for the glory of God. May as may people as possible come to find their greatest satisfaction in glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. Amen.

No Cancel Culture for Me

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“I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God” (Oswald Chambers).

I am not a fan of cancel culture. I don’t believe in one strike, you’re out. Social media is full of people who look down from their holier than thou pedestals and condemn those who are perceived to be beneath them. I should know. I’ve done the same thing a few times in my lifetime.

But I think Mr. Oswald is on to something. When I’m honest about the thoughts that run through my head and the desires that sometimes pop up out of nowhere, I can’t condemn anybody. Whenever I am able to discern what lies in me apart from the grace of God, I freak out a little bit and then I thank God a lot for saving me.

There, but by the grace of God, go I. And possibly you. It’s easy for me to judge someone purely by actions while expecting others to judge me by my intentions. But that’s not how it works. Who knows? If I had the same experiences and background as these people, I might just do the same or worse.

What I know for a fact is that Jesus forgave me for every single one of my sins. He didn’t hold back forgiveness on any of them in order to be able to hold them over my head if I ever get out of line. He’s forgiven them. He’s cast them away as far as the east is from the west. Or as The Message puts it, “And as far as sunrise is from sunset, he has separated us from our sins.”

Who am I to withhold forgiveness? Who am I to deny grace? If I have been forgiven an infinite debt, how can I hold a small debt over someone else’s head and make them pay for it when I got off free?

Lord, You said that if I don’t forgive others, I won’t be forgiven. Help me to extend the same grace to others that you gave to me. Help me to love others the way You have loved me by seeking to bring out the best in me and compelling me to be my best self and a clearer reflection of You. Amen.

Staying Salty

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“For everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other” (Mark 9:49-50, NLT).

I learned something new today. I had always wondered how salt could cease to be salt by losing its flavor? Maybe it goes bad? Gets stale? I had never really understood what that meant, especially in the context of believers as salt and light to our culture.

But my teacher explained that salt loses its flavor when it gets mixed with other things like sand. Basically, salt is no longer effective as salt when it is compromised and corrupted.

I think in the same way, the Church loses its status as salt when in trying to reach the culture, it becomes too much like the culture and loses its own identity. When the Church waters down the gospel or eliminates parts of Scripture that it deems offensive, then the salt becomes less salty.

Finally, the Church gets to the point where the message is no longer distinguishable from any self-help guru or quasi-New Age teacher. There is no actual gospel or Bible left in its teaching but human wisdom dressed up in spiritual clothing and marketed as Christianity.

The problem is that the Church too often has had the goal of being successful rather than faithful. We focus on numbers rather than growth. That leads to compromised convictions and doctrines, or basically what the Bible would call speaking what people want to hear instead of what they need to hear. That also leads to easy believe-ism where there is no repentance required and no sin to be repented from.

I heard a pastor say once that the world doesn’t hate Christians because we’re different but because we’re not different enough. If we look and act and speak just like those we’re trying to reach with the gospel, what good is our gospel message? If we have the same message that the world is sending out about love being about what you feel and tolerating anything and everything, then we cease to become the Church and forfeit our very right to exist in the first place.

The true gospel starts off with the bad news that all of us have sinned and that the wages or the results of that sin are eternal separation from God in a literal place called Hell. The good news is that God took on human flesh in the form of a Savior, Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect, sinless life that we could never live and died on the cross in our place. He died and rose again three days later and offers salvation to anyone who places their faith in Him as Savior and Lord, truly repenting of their sins and committing the rest of their lives to Him.

Lord, revive Your Church. Forgive us for not preaching and teaching the whole gospel for the whole person. Raise up faithful men and women who will not be ashamed to proclaim the name of Jesus and the true gospel. Help us not be a place where people can be comfortable in their sin but convicted and changed by the power of the Spirit to become sons and daughters of the living God. Amen.

A St. Patrick’s Day Prayer

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I found a prayer attributed to St. Patrick that seemed appropriate and fitting for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s also very useful for the other 364 days of the year:

“I arise today
 Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity.
 Through belief in the threeness,
 Through confession of the oneness,
 Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
 Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
 Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
 Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
 Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
 Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
 In the obedience of angels,
 In the service of archangels,
 In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
 In the prayers of patriarchs,
 In the predictions of prophets,
 In the preaching of apostles,
 In the faith of confessors,
 In the innocence of holy virgins,
 In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
 The strength of heaven,
 The light of the sun,
 The radiance of the moon,
 The splendor of fire,
 The speed of lightning,
 The swiftness of wind,
 The depth of the sea,
 The stability of the earth,
 The firmness of rock.

I arise today, through
 God’s strength to pilot me,
 God’s might to uphold me,
 God’s wisdom to guide me,
 God’s eye to look before me,
 God’s ear to hear me,
 God’s word to speak for me,
 God’s hand to guard me,
 God’s shield to protect me,
 God’s host to save me
 From snares of devils,
 From temptation of vices,
 From everyone who shall wish me ill,
 afar and near.

I summon today
 All these powers between me and those evils,
 Against every cruel and merciless power
 that may oppose my body and soul,
 Against incantations of false prophets,
 Against black laws of pagandom,
 Against false laws of heretics,
 Against craft of idolatry,
 Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
 Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul;
 Christ to shield me today
 Against poison, against burning,
 Against drowning, against wounding,
 So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

Christ with me,
 Christ before me,
 Christ behind me,
 Christ in me,
 Christ beneath me,
 Christ above me,
 Christ on my right,
 Christ on my left,
 Christ when I lie down,
 Christ when I sit down,
 Christ when I arise,
 Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
 Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
 Christ in every eye that sees me,
 Christ in every ear that hears me.”

Lessons from 1 Peter

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“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner” (1 Peter 4:12-13, The Message).

At my church, we’ve been going through the book of 1 Peter, written to believers who were living in exile away from their home and undergoing all sorts of suffering and persecution. That seems to fit the current situation for many Christians all around the world, especially in places like Asia, Africa, and Middle East. Those believers’ lives are in very real danger.

But even in this country, it’s becoming more and more difficult and dangerous to identify as a believer in Christ. If you believe the Bible and hold to your convictions, you’re more and more likely to be called any number of names from bigot to fascist to transphobic and homophobic. More and more, the possibility is real you could lose your job and your reputation. But the heavenly reward is so much better than anything you might lose down here.

We often forget that we’re strangers and pilgrims in this world. Heaven is our true home. Our allegiance is to a King and a kingdom above any flag or country or political party. I think we’d be a lot more effective as a Church if we remembered that little fact more often. We won’t effect any kind of eternal change through politics and power but through the cross and through servanthood.

There’s a fair amount of suffering and hardships that come with being a faithful follower of Christ, but it always serves a purpose. God is refining and remaking us to look like Jesus. Every trial and tribulation serves a purpose of removing anything that isn’t of God until what’s left is like pure silver and pure gold.

The end result is that God gets glory and we’re the better for it. And many people are drawn to the hope that we hold in the midst of it all and they find Jesus in the process. That’s what I call a win-win.

It’s Never Too Late

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Anxiety will make you believe that if it doesn’t happen right now, it never will. That goes for whatever you’ve been praying for and dreaming of and wishing for. If you let it, your fears will make you think that you’ve missed it.

But remember God’s ways are not our ways. God’s timing certainly isn’t like ours. If you think you can mess up God’s plan for your life, remember that you are not that powerful. God took into account all of your and my foolish decisions when He set His plan into motion long ago.

Are you praying for that dream job? Keep praying.

Are you praying for marriage? Keep praying.

Are you praying that your wayward children will come to faith in Jesus? Keep praying.

As long as there’s breath in your lungs, it’s never too late. As long as God is on His throne in heaven, it’s never too late.

When anxiety tries to intrude into your thoughts, remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind. Remember that peace that passes understanding comes when you make your requests known to God with thanksgiving.

The key is with thanksgiving. You can’t doubt God’s future goodness when you’re focused on all the promises He’s made and kept up until now. Thanksgiving helps you to see God at work in your circumstances.

Give thanks. Keep praying. Don’t give up.