Chosen

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  - Colossians 3:12

So I look at this verse, and a lot jumps out at me. 

The first is this.  I am, apparently, one of God’s chosen ones.

Now we can argue till we are all blue in the face about how one becomes one of God’s chosen ones – and admittedly I would come at this from a decidedly Reformed point of view, but that is not the point of my writing…nor do I think that’s the point the apostle Paul’s writing here.

The point being that if you are a truster and believer in Jesus Christ, then somehow, someway, you have become one of God’s chosen ones.  Relish in that fact. Rejoice in His grace. Sing His praise. Shout your alleluias.

But.

Read the remainder of this verse.

As one of God’s chosen, holy and beloved, put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…. There is more to Paul’s thought, but that is for another time.

With God’s choosing, comes responsibility. Jesus put it this way, “Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” (Luke 12:28)

Chosen one, God is has given you much, in return, Paul says, “put on compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience….”

It is, in many ways a short list.  But it is all encompassing. It is about our personal relationships, but also about the stranger that we meet on the street. Towards all we are to show the traits of “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience….”

Tall order.  And there is no way we could do it on our own power.  But, “as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved” anything is a possibility.

And imagine those possibilities in your life.  For today and for tomorrow.

Dear “God's chosen ones, holy and beloved….” 

Go and be a blessing.

Back

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10

Last Monday I had the privilege of holding a brief (out in the wet snow) graveside service for a person who had passed away early in the month. I pondered what Scripture I should share, I zeroed in on Isaiah 41:10. I did so because it really spoke to me; as I contemplated it I took great comfort.  Isaiah writes, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I shared that so much of the time, we tend to feel, is up to us.  Including our salvation, we want…we insist, on being in charge. Yet early on in the Bible prophets like Isaiah already knew the score.  If it were up to us…seriously...then we all would fail.  So God through Isaiah basically says….don’t fret. I’ve got your back.  

Got fear? I am with you.  Dismayed? I am your God.  Weak and anxious?  I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you in my hand.

All the action here is on God’s part.  100%

Jesus embodied this concept all the way to the cross.  Sometimes we think we have work and earn our salvation.  Our salvation has already been accomplished by Jesus on the cross.  He did all the dirty work. Worried about it?  Jesus has our back. You still have to accept Jesus' work (visit Romans 10:9), ultimately you have trust that he did what he came to do.

So it is at times like this, when we stand at the grave, that we should take great comfort in what Scripture has to say.  Ultimately trust in Jesus.  And allow him to have our backs.

The work has been done….

And I, for one, am grateful. 

Hammer

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:7-8

This is a hammer passage.  What I mean by that is that it can be and has been used to beat up on people. It is a hammer passage. It is easy to look at a passage like this and use it to point out other people’s behavior.  I suspect I have done so on occasion in my life.  But these words are nestled amidst other words from Paul that says things like, “bear one another's burdens” (visit Galatians 6:2) and “let us not grow weary of doing good.” (Galatians 6:9).  All of Paul’s exaltations here in these passages are inwardly focused towards the reader; in this case the reader is me.

Yes I am work at bearing other’s burdens, though I do so imperfectly. I try not to tire of doing good, but I do get weary. Paul here is talking  more about motivation; he makes it clear that if I am doing things for the purpose of gratifying my own flesh, I will reap “corruption,” and in doing so I attempt to mock God. 

This is a hammer verse.  Not for me or anyone else to use on another person. But one to use on ourselves. “The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  It is so easy to forget who it is we belong to and live only by the flesh.

Which means even as a truster and follower of Jesus Christ I have decisions to make. Every day. To what end am I going to sow?  To the flesh...or to the Spirit?  And so I ask for forgiveness; of the too many times I’ve have sown my own flesh, Lord use that hammer to continue to turn me to sowing to the Spirit.

So let us not be deceived, but Lord help us to focus on where our sowing is going.  And use that hammer on us occasionally.  But keep that hammer out of our hands.

2015

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

As we celebrate the coming of a new year, realize that every day holds the possibility of a new start...not just today. Yes, happy New Year, but maybe more important is the promise God makes for all our mornings, that "his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Happy New Year, happy new day!

Listen to Sarah Groves' "He's Always Been Faithful to Me" 

Sin

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Romans 7:15

It has been a rough week.  The events surrounding Ferguson, Mo brought back plenty of memories of being caught in and having to evacuate a work site in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots back in 1992.

There’s been a lot of prayer going on on my part, and an undeniable feeling that an injustice has been done.  Maybe it’s just a feeling of an ongoing injustice that is really bothering me.  Being that I tend to take a more conservative view of things these days, this feeling has caught me off guard.

The Holy Spirit is really nagging on me. 

I read an article by F. Willis Johnson, a pastor in Ferguson.  Much of what he wrote resonated with me.  One short paragraph has rested in my heart. He wrote, “We must recognize that all lives matter. Our faith assures that peace while it is beyond our understanding is not beyond our grasp. As disciples of Christ we are called to express our hope by means of grace.”

What seems to me to have gotten lost in the problems of this week is that a young man whose adult life was just beginning, was killed.  Rightly or wrongly.  Criminally or legally. This is not a political tug of war. It is a life. I don’t care what your political or sociological view of the events are, Johnson’s words ring true in that, “all lives matter.”  There’s enough blame to go around, but understand that that blame is being soaked in tears.   I’m struggling to find the grace in all this.  I have heard and read too many stunningly insensitive remarks regarding this from people on all sides of the issue.  Graceless, if you ask me.

Then I run into an article by New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson.  Yeah, a football player.  And he exposes the problem I am dealing with.  He writes in the midst of his anger,

 “I’M ENCOURAGED, because ultimately the problem is not a SKIN problem, it is a SIN problem. SIN is the reason we rebel against authority. SIN is the reason we abuse our authority. SIN is the reason we are racist, prejudiced and lie to cover for our own. SIN is the reason we riot, loot and burn. BUT I’M ENCOURAGED because God has provided a solution for sin through the his son Jesus and with it, a transformed heart and mind. One that’s capable of looking past the outward and seeing what’s truly important in every human being. The cure for the Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner tragedies is not education or exposure. It’s the Gospel. So, finally, I’M ENCOURAGED because the Gospel gives mankind hope."

Whoever Benjamin Watson is, he nails it.

His words have made me realize that a large part of what I have been struggling with is my own sinfulness.  My complacency.  My easy willingness to “do not do what I want, but do the very thing I hate.”  Maybe it’s my acts of injustice that has been bothering me in all this. 

And so in the midst of my wallowing, I find hope.  The only hope.  Hope “as a means of grace.”  Hope because that is what the gospel gives mankind.

It is Jesus. And Jesus only. Be encouraged.  Injustice will not have the last word.  Not even in my life.

 Here is a link to the article by F. Willis Johnson

Here is a link to the article by Benjamin Watson 

Delight

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1,2

This passage to some extent bothers me.  It makes it sound like we are to be completely isolated and insulated from those whom we might (and God might) consider ‘wicked’ or ‘sinners’ or ‘scoffers,’ when the reality is that there by the grace of God, go I.

Jesus in his ministry spent an abundant amount of time with the wicked and sinners and scoffers.  And some of them, maybe a lot of them, turned their lives around and followed the Savior. But again, the passage actually isn’t telling what we are to do to achieve righteousness, it is telling us what we will do. After righteousness calls.

A lot of us have before and after stories.  What life was like before Christ, and what it has been like after.  Before Christ, many of us can relate to being in ‘counsel’ (literally getting advice from) with wicked or being in the ‘way’ (a path or road with the goals and purposes) of sinners or sitting in the seat (a place of honor) of a scoffer.  But after Christ, we delight – not in those former things, as Paul says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (visit 2 Corinthians 5:17)

The new delights in what God wants (as outlined generously in his law), yet still not being afraid to be around ‘wicked’ or ‘sinners’ or ‘scoffers’, but allowing God’s word to give us the advice, purposes and place of honor that any of us needs.

Be out there.  We have to be.  But always come back to Christ.  And delight in him.