truth

Prone to Wander: A Prayer for Prodigals and Deconstructers

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“O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above” (Robert Robinson).

I read where Robert Robinson, author of the famous hymn “Come, Thou Found of Every Blessing”, actually walked away from his faith for a while but eventually returned. I don’t know any details. I know that God’s power to restore and redeem His own children is amazing and never failing.

My prayer is for those who have altogether left the true faith or have watered it down to make it humanly palatable. I pray you come back. I pray that you will know that the God who made you is the same God who loves you. He is the same God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as revealed in the Old Testament. He is the same God as the God who became incarnate in Jesus in the New Testament. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Truly, we are the ones who are prone to wander. We’re the ones who will drift into error and heresy if we forget our first love or quit striving for Christlikeness and settle into complacency and compromise. It’s easier to let go of our convictions for the sake of so-called peace and fitting in. It’s so much easier when we’re liked and when all people speak well of us. But Jesus said woe to those when everybody praises you and says nice things about you.

The truth of the matter is that Jesus said much that made people quit following Him. He said some hard truths that people didn’t like because what they heard made them uncomfortable and challenged them to change. He preached love toward those who were the least but He also emphasized repentance because the Kingdom of God was at hand. He told the woman that He didn’t condemn her but also to go and sin no more.

Lord, I’m praying that those who have fallen away will come back to true faith. I’m praying for some who were never Yours but who thought they were and even did amazing things in Your name though You said that You never knew them. May they truly embrace Your gospel of grace and find forgiveness and salvation in You. May they know not my truth or their truth but Your truth because You are the Truth, the Life, and the Way.

Restore Your truth to churches and denominations that have lost their way. Redeem them to places where Your Word is taught and Your gospel is preached. Revive Your Church, Lord, so that we can again be the ones who bear Your name well and share Your love faithfully until everyone has heard. Amen.

Another Song Stuck in My Head

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I have a virtual jukebox playing in my head just about all of the time. There are rare moments when a song of some kind is not playing in the background of my brain. Even when I’m praying or trying to be silent and still, a song will sneak in and refuse to go away.

Last night, I had trouble getting to sleep. This time, the song in my head was an old worship song from back in my Fellowship Bible Church days. It was written by Jason Ingram and Reuben Timothy Morgan and was one of my favorites back in 2009 or so.

I suppose if I have to have music playing in my head, it might as well be worship music. At least I don’t have to worry about being inappropriate when I blurt it out randomly somewhere in public. I’m posting the lyrics so you can be edified and hopefully have something better to have stuck in your head when you can’t sleep some night:

“You are good, You are good
When there′s nothing good in me
You are love, You are love
On display for all to see
You are light, You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear in crippling
You are true, You are true
Ever in my wandering
You are joy, You are joy
You’re the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life
In You, death has lost its sting

Oh, I′m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here
In Your presence, I’m made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else, I′m letting go

Oh, I′m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign
I′m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus

Oh, I′m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign
I′m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus
My heart will sing no other name
Jesus, Jesus”

Gatekeepers or Grace Givers

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I think if we’re not careful, we can become gatekeepers of the grace of God. I read recently we judge ourselves by our intentions but others by their actions. In other words, we’re more lenient with ourselves than with others. I see a lot of professing believers posting about how they hope the other person gets karma (which almost always seems to be for somebody other than me).

It’s especially evident when it comes to people we don’t like or with people who think and vote differently than I. It’s almost as if God’s grace exists with exceptions for Donald Trump (or his supporters) and Kamala Harris (and her supporters). We make grace something you have to earn instead of a free gift.

But the truth is that no one is worthy of God’s grace and mercy, but everyone is welcome to it. I’ll say it again because someone out there (maybe me) needs to hear it again: no one is worthy of God’s grace and mercy but everyone is welcome to it.

That means that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. With no exceptions. Anyone who acknowledges their sin and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, believes in Him by repenting of their sins and turning to His free gift of salvation, and confesses Him before others will be saved.

I think I get judgmental when I forget how it took the same amount of Jesus’ blood to save me as it took to save anyone else in history. It took all of it. I was (and still am) as much in need of the grace of God to save me and sustain me as anyone else who has ever lived.

The gospel means that no one is too lost to be found, too messed up to find grace, or too far gone to be saved. That’s the hope for the world and the message that every believer has to share with anyone who has ears to hear.

Amy Carmichael and Waiting

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“If I cannot hear ‘The sound of rain’ long before the rain falls, and then go out to some hilltop of the Spirit, as near to my God as I can and have faith to wait there with my face between my knees, though six times or sixty times I am told ‘There is nothing’, till at last there arises a little cloud out of the sea, then I know nothing of Calvary love (Read 1 Kings 18:41-45)” (Amy Carmichael).

We would get impatient after the first two times of waiting with no rain, but not Elijah. Seven times, he told his servant to go up and look toward the sea for any sign of rain. Six times, there was nothing. But the seventh time, there was a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising from the sea.

Imagine waiting that long. Then imagine waiting 70 X 7 times for that rain. Is that too long to wait? In this current age where everything is instant and having to wait for anything is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment, then probably. But if it’s from God, it’s worth the wait, however long.

I love and appreciate the old writers like Amy Carmichael and Oswald Chambers because they didn’t mince words. They didn’t soft pedal the truth to sell more books. They spoke with the authority of a prophet and 100 years later, their words still ring true and speak to those with ears to hear.

Amy knew a bit about waiting. She was a missionary to India for 53 years and never had a furlough. She founded the Dohnavur Fellowship in 1901 with the aim of rescuing young girls from temple prostitution, making her the first to fight human trafficking long before it even had a name. It wasn’t until 1948, three years before she died, that temple prostitution was finally made illegal in India. That’s a long time to wait.

Waiting on God is never wasted. It’s always worth it because God is always worth it, and what He has for you is always worth waiting for. He is never early nor late with His promises, but always exactly right on time. People like Amy and Oswald learned through trials and suffering that they could trust Him, as do we when we learn to wait in silence upon the Lord.

Lord, again help us to wait well and trust Your promises even when everything seems to tell us differently. Our hope remains in You and Your stedfast love that never fails or runs out. Amen.

Another Year, Another Devotional

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I’ve had this one a while. If memory serves, I picked it up outside the old library at Union University back in the day. If I had to hazard a guess, it would probably be somewhere around 1994 to 1995. So yeah, it’s been a little while.

But I always like to read through a good devotional along with reading through the Bible. This year felt like it needed some Charles H. Spurgeon. It’s an oldie but a goodie complete with King James-style English thrown in for good measure.

But it’s a book with a promise from God for every single day. Sometimes, you and I need that. We need to be reminded of God’s promises over and over again. We need to pray them every chance we get, not because God might have forgotten but because we have. And probably will again at some point.

Reading these old promises of God reminds me that the same God who made and fulfilled all His promises to His people way back when will keep every one toward us. We can rest on His every word and stand assured on the promises of God, as the old hymn says.

I for one am thankful that God is not like me when it comes to keeping those promises. I’d like to say that every time I said I’d pray for someone I kept that promise. Or whenever I said I’d keep in touch that I followed through. I wish.

But God is not like me. That gives me great comfort. What gives me greater comfort is that one day I will be like Him.

Thank You, Lord, that every single one of your Promises to Your people is YES and AMEN in Christ Jesus. That in itself is a promise as sure as the God who made it. Amen.

Old Time’s A-Flyin’

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I heard something interesting from a movie I was watching earlier today. One of the characters said that time is basically relative. Riding 8 seconds on a bull can seem like an eternity, but so can that time between 8 am and 3 pm on a school day. I get that.

I also remember when the time between the beginning of fall and Christmas felt like forever. I was not patient as a child, so I was ready for December 25 to hurry up and get here. Now, I wish I had that time back. I wish time moved as slowly as it seemed to move back then.

Now, I blink and it’s almost Halloween. I blink again, and there will be turkey and gravy with all the fixings on the dining room table for Thanksgiving. Then it will be Christmas. I will hardly have time to process one before the other is upon us.

I suppose that is the blessing and the curse of growing older. Now, I hardly have to wait for anything anymore, but I also feel like life has increased from a marathon to a sprint finish. It’s all I can do these days to remember what month it is, much less the day.

But I’m thankful for each day. I’m thankful to God for waking me up this morning and giving me another 24 hours. I’m trying not to take life for granted when I realize that so many people my age and younger won’t get to see tomorrow. So many people I knew growing up won’t get the privilege of growing old.

I suppose I need to take a few deep breaths and savor this one and only life that I have. The Bible speaks about redeeming the time, using it wisely instead of wasting it by wanting to hurry on to the next big event, next holiday, or even the next weekend. I can live in the moment just as much on a Monday as on a Saturday.

One day, I will step into eternity. Looking back, I’m sure the entirety of this life will seem so very short in comparison. One movie I saw had this quote: “The whole human life is just a heartbeat in heaven.”

I think that’s true. Our lives this side of heaven are like the blink of an eye. But what we do in that blink determines our eternity. More accurately, the choices we make affect where we will spend eternity. Like the decision to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. That’s the one I’ve never regretted and the one I stake my hopes on as my life gets closer and closer to the ending. I’m definitely over the halfway point.

Hopefully, I can live in such a way that my legacy won’t be anything I leave behind but those who will go with me into heaven because I was a good and faithful servant and was ready to give an answer for the hope I have when people asked.

Jesus Is Lord

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“Paul often referred to himself as a ‘slave’ of Jesus Christ. Because we’ve grown up in an American democracy, few of us understand the radical nature of Paul’s description.

Paul was literally saying that Jesus bought him. In His death and resurrection, Jesus paid for Paul. Jesus bought his career, desires, dreams, talents—his total life!

Paul had no will of his own, no dreams of his own. They all belonged to Jesus.

Christians often exclaim ‘Jesus is Lord!’ without much thought to what we’re actually saying. When we say this, we’re saying: ‘Jesus owns us. He’s the boss.’

We’re committed to doing WHAT Jesus says to do, WHEN He says to do it, the WAY He says to do it.

Our lives are not our own. We’ve been bought with a price—a terrible, unspeakable price. And how we live now tells the world exactly what we think of Jesus and His death for us” (Mike Glenn).

I sometimes think that if we truly meant what we said when we proclaim that Jesus is Lord, our lives would look totally different. At least mine would.

Can I live in open sin and truthfully say that Jesus is Lord? No.

Can I be permissive about what the Bible forbids and say that Jesus is Lord? No.

Can I call my own shots and ask God to bless what I’ve already decided to do and still claim that Jesus is Lord? Absolutely not.

Can I sing about the joy of the Lord and then live with a sour face and a sad disposition because my true greatest joy is in something other than God that can be taken away, then shout at the top of my lungs that Jesus is Lord? No way.

If Jesus is my Lord, then I have no rights. What He says, goes. Period. I submit to His will 100%. Otherwise, I’m just paying lip service and I am still my own lord. Not Jesus.

The irony of the Bible is that true freedom isn’t doing what you want because then you become a slave to your whims and desires. True freedom comes from being a slave to Jesus and finding your true self in the process. You’re not beholden to anything or anyone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart.

May we live like Jesus as Lord as often as we say Jesus is Lord. Then more people will want to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The Quiet Assurance of Joy

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Every day, there’s a new batch of chaos somewhere in the world. If you’re looking to be cheered up, you probably want to skip Fox News or CNN right about now. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and live in a constant state of fear and anxiety.

But the followers of Jesus are different. Or they should be. We’ve read the last verse of the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, and we know how the story ends. We know it’s going to be alright (to reference the late Rev. Billy Graham).

The media and advertising and basically every message screaming at you from every screen is trying to keep you in a state of near panic in order to get you to buy a certain product or vote for a certain person. But Jesus promised peace to His people. He said it was a peace unlike the world gives, which is a warm and fuzzy feeling, but His is more of a calm certainty that while the middle of the story looks grim, there is a happy ending coming.

Sure, there will be wars and rumors of war. Nations will still rise up against other nations. There will be riots and violence and scandals. Many people who profess to follow Jesus will fall away. But for those who truly belong to Jesus, we are held fast by the everlasting arms that won’t let us go.

Maybe tonight turn off the television and put away the device and open up your Bible. Turn it to Revelation 22 and read the last chapter, but especially the last two verses. It’s an invitation. Yes, bad times are coming, but they won’t last. Suffering will end. Even death will pass away. But these words of God will remain, and the one who spoke them will wipe away every tear from our eyes and welcome us home into everlasting peace.

Trusting in the Wrong Things

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“A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert – himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason” (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy).

These days, the problem is always with THEM. It’s always someone else’s fault. In politics, the blame has gone to either Trump or Harris supporters, depending on which side of the aisle you sit. It has become very fashionable (and very easy) to point the finger from a high and lofty position with which to judge others.

Even in this, I have to point the finger at myself as well. I can’t tell you how many times I read a passage in my Bible and thought how this or that person needed to hear it. They’re the ones who need straightening out.

But then God gently reminds me that this word I’m reading is not for anyone else but me. The reason for my time in God’s Word isn’t so I can use it to point out other peoples’ flaws. If there’s any finger pointing, it’s me pointing back at me.

In this culture, it’s also popular to redefine truth and Christianity to fit into societal norms rather than transforming society by biblical truth. So many people and churches and even denominations have watered down the gospel to the point that it’s only a kind of feel good self-help doctrine where no one’s really lost and sin doesn’t really exist and everyone’s going to heaven and it really doesn’t matter how you live.

But the problem is that there’s no hope in that kind of gospel. There’s no deliverance or transformation or future. Jesus talked about the blind leading the blind, and that fits a lot of current theology. But Jesus came to set us free and not just make us better human beings but brand new creations. He came to die for us while we were yet sinners that we might truly become the sons and daughters of God.

The Bible talks about working out your salvation in trembling and fear. Maybe that looks like preaching the gospel to yourself and each other every single day. Maybe it looks like not trusting in your own understanding but in all your ways leaning on God’s revealed truth and on God Himself. Maybe it looks like not accepting everything that comes from a pulpit or position of authority but exercising discernment by checking everything against the Word of God to see that it matches.

Homesick

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I was listening to an 80s Truth record I picked up recently. I got to the song Homesick. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I felt I had heard or read the lyrics before very recently. Then I remembered I had seen a post with the very same song lyrics less than a week ago.

The song is the heartbeat of any believer who knows this world isn’t really home. A former pastor of mine once compared this life to a very nice, very clean bus station (or airport terminal, if you will). It’s not supposed to be your forever place to live, but a place to be until you can get to your forever home.

“They say home is where the heart is
And I’m finding out it’s true
‘Cause I long to be in heaven
Since my heart is there with You
Reading over letters
That You’ve written to me
Telling me of all You have in store
Makes me start to dreaming
Of the place I want to be
And I get that lonely feeling
Like so many times before

I get homesick
Longing for my home
And for Your open arms
Of lovе and comfort
Waiting for me there
I gеt homesick
Yearning for my home
And for the day
When all Your family
Gets together forever
Our eternal home sweet home

Lord, You living truth within me
Keeps me safe and warm
All its strength and all its beauty
Rise through every storm
Without its presence in my soul
I could not carry on
To face the many battles I find here
Lord, you keep the promises
I build my life upon
And as time goes by, I know
That I will always keep them near

I get homesick
Longing for my home
And for Your open arms
Of love and comfort
Waiting for me there
I get homesick
Yearning for my home
And for the day
When all Your family
Gets together forever
Our eternal home sweet home” (Larry Bryant, Lesa Bryant & Justin Peters).

It’s interesting to be homesick for a home we’ve never known, but that’s what it is. That’s why nothing here will ever completely satisfy the deep longing of our souls. Only God can do that. And our experience of God here is cloudy and partial. One day it will be clear and complete. We will know as we are fully known. And we will be truly home.