Battle

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  - Galatians 5:16

All of us have our battles.  We do.  Each one of us was born with some propensity towards sin.  Each of us has our particular “desire of the flesh.”  Don’t deny it. As the apostle John wrote: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (visit 1 John 1:18)

Oh, some of us are better than others in hiding our propensities. I am…er…ahem…we are. Some of our sins are a bit more respectable than others.  We then think it’s Ok.  We think, at least I’m not like…(fill in the blank of someone you know that sins spectacularly).

God’s word really doesn’t list sins in any particular order.  All sin is behavior that separates from the relationship with God that we are designed to have. All sin does this.  Respectable…or not.

It is a battle. 

It’s not a battle that you have to do alone; nor is it a battle that you have to walk into unarmed.

We have to “walk by the Spirit.”  But it is an act of the will to do so. 

As you go into this Thursday…how are you walking?  Have you taken just a moment to call upon the Holy Spirit to walk with you today?  What would your day be like just knowing that the Spirit of Christ is walking with you?  Today?

It’s a battle.  We all have scars to prove that it is.  But we are not defenseless.  God is with us. 

Have at it.  May your skirmishes be holy.  But know, that the victory has already been won…..

Freedom

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

I don’t know about you, but I have seen the last half of Jesus declaration used and abused.  You know, the part that says, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

I have seen that phrase applied to everything from civil law to personal morality to Lance Armstrong.  Yes last night, I heard a commentator use Jesus’ phrase when talking about the apparent admission that the cyclist has made to Oprah Winfrey about doping and drug use in his cycling career. 

Problem is, according to Jesus here, just admitting you’re wrong (speaking personal truth) will not be the thing that sets you free.  It may be a good thing to do, but that is not where true freedom is found.

Jesus said: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Do not ignore the “if” and the “then.” This is a conditional phrase.   The freedom of the last sentence hinges totally on holding to Jesus’ teachings.  Totally.

The freedom is not based on truths you and I might feel or invent.  It’s based on the teachings of Jesus.  Grace-filled, honest, sometimes jarring.  Inclusive yet very un-inclusive.  Loving and, at times, condemning. Thrilling and redundant. 

Do you want to be free?  Then re-read John 8:31 and 32….

Bob Bailey

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

I discovered a box the other day.  It was hidden in a dark corner of the basement.  Susie and I were doing a little work cleaning out the garage (which is really part of the basement), and there the box appeared.  It was small – no more than eight or nine inches long, but deep enough to hold treasure. 

I recognized the box immediately.  It has long familiar tears in the cover flaps; there was a stain on one corner that had been there for….45 years?  I knew immediately what was in it.   It was treasure.  But more succinct, it was a precious set of baseball cards that I had collected in my youth.  I opened the box.  I could almost smell the hard-stick bubble gum that used to come with these cards.  I lifted out the first card I saw.  Not a star.  Couldn’t it have been a Sandy Koufax card?  Nope.  Instead it was Bob Bailey.  I remember him.  He was an third baseman for, first the Pirates, and then the Dodgers.   I can remembering treasuring this card when I was young.  I have no idea why.  I looked up his statistics on the internet.  Bob Bailey wound up amassing a .257 batting average with 189 home runs in 16 seasons in the major leagues.   He played for five teams (including my beloved Dodgers) before retiring at the ripe old age of 35 in 1978.  Not a great player; but not exactly chopped liver either I suppose.

Finding his card represented a precious memory.  A treasure.  The card itself is worthless.

Our Lord said, “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Jesus knew our penchant for wanting store up treasures upon treasures that frankly would only not ultimately satisfy, but would bring heartbreak and alienation.  From God.

Jesus knew people so well. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  I do find myself looking at treasures enviously sometimes; Jesus said enjoy the treasures that will last.  Longer than 45 years.   Longer than paper cards.  Even longer than pleasant memories.  There is treasure that even far outweighs the discovery of a long lost baseball card.  It is found in Jesus.  Only.

Bob Bailey, wherever you are, no offense intended…..

Consequences

"Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."  Ephesians 5:1-2

This brief passage from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus seems straightforward enough.  Unless you consider, or maybe over consider, what seems to be really being said.

That little bit about “Follow God’s example” is provocative.  It seems to be further explained when Paul says, “as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Friends if we are to follow “God’s example” which included giving “himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice…” it doesn’t sound like much fun.

That business about being nailed to a crucifix has never appealed to me.  Maybe it was OK with Jesus, but me?  I don’t know.  Yet Jesus clearly warns his true followers, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (visit Matthew 16:24)

Being a follower and truster of Jesus has its consequences.  For sure it has its blessings, but if you are really following the one who went to the cross for you, it has its consequences. I would go as far as to say, if you are following Christ, and have not suffered any consequences because of it…are you really following?  What has following Christ cost you? 

It’s not that each of us must become some sort of sacrifice; Paul does remind us that Jesus was the fragrant offering and sacrifice once and for all who believe. This passage is just another reminder that truly following Christ; those who “walk in the way of love,” are going to be set apart by God and society.  And there is both good and bad in that thought.

Self-denial, cross bearing (figuratively), following His example can be difficult.  But you will do so knowing that you are “dearly loved children” whom the Lord cherishes.  That will make any sacrifice worth bearing.

And God will get the glory.  Always.

2013

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” - Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

It’s 2013.  Guess I don’t need to tell you that.  Unless you are writing the date on something important like a mortgage check.  If you are like me, I’ll be writing 2012 on things like that until mid….April.

I look forward to 2013.  In some ways it was a rough 2012 for our family.  There was loss.  Too much. Nothing that anyone of you probably didn’t face last year also. I understand that.  But I miss a lot of the people I had the privilege to bury last year.  I knew some fine people.  They really did not need to be with the Lord so soon, but mine is not to question.  But I can mourn a little.  I also miss my mother-in-law.  My mother is the only one of our parents left.  And she’s moving to Montana.  OK, it’s not like she’s moving to Siberia or somewhere, but my California connections are drying up.  

I look forward to 2013.  Did I say that yet?   Seems I can literally hear the Lord saying to me, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”  Good.  I’m ready.  As I’ve stated before, my faith has always been a forward looking faith.  I sense that 2013 is going to be a good year.  Doesn’t mean that everything that happens will be good.  I get that.  But it does mean that whatever may come this year, God will do a new thing through them.  And “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (visit Romans 8:28)

So I will learn a little; I will grow a little, I will love a little; I will care a little; but above all that I will be grown, taught, loved and cared for even more by the one “making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I love that imagery. 

It’s 2013, and it’s going to be a good year.  As was, ultimately, 2012.

Wisdom

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

Don’t you just wonder sometimes?  You know what I mean.  You meet someone who has been around the block one, two, or a hundred times….and they still don’t get it?   Sometimes, at age 56, I get distressed at my lack of…wisdom.  Sometimes.  You see, growing old does not necessarily equate with growing wise.

The psalmist knew that.  He says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” It seems clear to me.  If we wake one morning and realize that our days are numbered, we will then choose to live wisely.  Think of it this way: if we were to wake up tomorrow and suddenly knew how many days the Lord has left for us…how would we react?

Would we...  Love more?  Hate less?  Give more?  Serve more?  Worship more?  Mend bridges?  Make amends?  Forgive more?  Ask for more forgiveness?  Contemplate more the One who ‘fearfully and wonderfully’ made us in the first place?  (visit Psalm 139:14)

All of the above?  Maybe.  Seems to me, that doing all of the above would represent having “a heart of wisdom.”

Which is where we all should be.  Because all of our days are numbered.  They are.  There is only one who is infinite.  We…are not.  And when we realize that fact…may we  live in wisdom.

Christmas

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. - Luke 2:16-18

When I read this most familiar passage, one thing that strikes me time and time again - the excitement.  The shepherds, after an encounter with angels, head off to find what it is the angels were proclaiming. And they found, “Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.”

There were things they did not do.  They did not stand there and ponder.  They did not stand there and discuss if there was some scientific explanation to what has just happened.  They did not go to the prominent clergy of the day and ask their opinion about these events.  They did not go to civil authorities to make sure no laws were being broken.

The Scripture says they simply “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…” They were excited!

On this Christmas morning, shouldn’t that be our response also?  While we open presents and admire our trees and share our meals…. Will our excitement this day be centered in the right thing?  Not that there is anything wrong with enjoying our day, and hopefully we all will, but the real excitement comes from knowing that we are celebrating the birth of the Savior; that is the story we have to tell today, tomorrow and every day of our lives.

And may we all be “amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”

Christ is born!

Merry Christmas!