Timing

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Acts 1:7

Luke records these as some of Jesus’ last words before he ascended into heaven.  Of course, he said this after being asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Bad question at the wrong time, I guess.  The point Jesus makes is that everything, and he means everything, is under God’s control.

Even the seasons.

We’ve now entered my favorite season of the year.  Fall.  Days have cooled off and dried out, night are delightful.  I know a lot of you don’t like this time of year simply because of what comes next.  Winter.  Is it going to be a bad winter? While some are saying yes, let me quote our Lord, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

It will be what it will be.  It is God’s under control. I guess I can go with that.

Which reminds me.  What season are you in now?  Are there better…or worse seasons coming?  The answer is yes. To both.

But.  The more you know about our God the more you can trust him.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

That sort of trust makes questions like, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” or “is it going to be a bad winter?” or “what is my next season going to be like?” rather mute.  Important, yes.  But the answers lie in God’s sovereignty and love.  He is in control, he is love, now can we trust him in what is to come?

I want to answer yes, and most of the time I do.  I know I should without fail, but I am as human as anyone else. I’ll keep working on it.  How about you?  Whatever season you find yourselves in, look to the Lord and know what is to come is fixed by his own authority.

And let’s work on the trust together.  It is fall. And what is to come is fixed by his own authority.   

Thank God.

Imitation

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Ephesians 5:1

I received this short snippet of Scripture in an email the other morning, and my first thought was –where’s the rest of the passage?

My second thought was –Chris, you should know the rest of the thought. “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ok.  What really threw me was the, “be imitators of God.”  This I know.   God is a lot of things that I am not nor will I even pretend to be.  Frankly it would be frightening if I were God or even thought I was.

Which gets to a point.  Paul says, “be imitators….”  The transitive verb “imitate” means, according to Webster, “to follow as a pattern, model, or example.” I know I’ll always be a shallow and flawed imitator of the One I’m supposed “to follow as a pattern, model, or example.”  But that does not mean I should stop trying.  The context of Paul’s words are about being “as beloved children” walking, “in love, as Christ loved us.”   

It’s about love.  God, through Christ, so loved us… (if you can’t finish this sentence visit John 3:16) that we are to imitate his love back into the world around us.  As trusters and believers in Jesus we have been so loved…that we are to love back out. Sacrificially, if needed, as modeled by Jesus.

That is the imitation we are to be about.  We are to “follow as a pattern, model, or example” the incredible undeserved love that Jesus has heaped on us.  And be that love out into a world that is suffering without and even sometimes with Jesus.  Yes I know I will strive to do so, and will do so imperfectly. And I’ll trust God’s grace to cover my imperfections.  But it is a call to all those he calls his own. “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” 

Got it.

Sound

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. - 2 Timothy 1:13-14

This passage really got me to thinking.

A couple of things jump out at me about it.  The first is we are to “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me.”  Which means there is no need to be making things up as we go forward in the faith.  Everything we need for faith and practice can be found in Scripture – which was simply what Paul’s “sounds words” often were referring back to.  Sounds words that themselves we now accept as Scripture.  This does not mean that every answer to life’s individual problems can be found in Scripture – but what we need to know is all found there.  All things “in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” are there.

Which leads to the second thing. We can study Scripture all we want, but if we are not relying on “the Holy Spirit who dwells within us” it will be a dead exercise.  I think another way of saying this is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians when he wrote, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (Visit 2 Cor. 3:6)

Even the soundest of words, spoken or listened to without the Spirit will mean little; in fact it can be used to crush people.

Be sound.  Be about life! Be about the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Trust His Spirit to work in and through you. 

And see what happens.