Christian hope

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Power for Hopeless Cases … for God’s Glory

Just finished reading Levi’s Will, a novel by W. Dale Cramer. In one scene, Will asks his boss and best friend, Barefoot, what God wants of us. Barefoot’s reply is, “Beats me,” but we get the feeling that he knows …

As they sit by the pond with a fishing pole, Will’s wife brings them both iced tea. Will takes a sip and promptly spits it out; she has not put sugar in his tea because he must alter his diet since his heart attack. Barefoot enjoys his drink; his has the usual large dose of sugar.

As the discussion goes on, Barefoot takes Will’s almost full glass of tea and pours some of it into his own half-empty glass. Then he pours part of it back into Will’s glass; and then again pours into his own. Back and forth he pours, until both men are enjoying glasses of sweetened, good tea.

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.

For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.

May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation — the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ — for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

In the same way that Barefoot pours his sweetened tea into Will’s, mixes it and changes it, so the Spirit teaches us, leads us step by step into greater knowledge and understanding. The fruits of the Spirit become more and more evident in our lives, as Jesus Christ’s Spirit begins to produce in us His own character. 

This is God’s agenda in our lives. His plan is to give us a new life, one that takes on the very character of Christ. If you see nothing else in the Scripture above, remember this phrase: the righteous character produced by Jesus Christ.

We can’t produce it ourselves. For a long time, I thought this was what being a Christian was all about:  I must do this, I must not do that, I’ve got to be more of this, less of that. And I was a colossal failure at producing that character. Doing it on my own was pretty much hopeless. I was that undrinkable tea.

Instead, the character and the fruit it produces come from a new life birthed in us by the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit sustains and molds that life. He is the one who produces the fruit. Jesus pours more and more of His own character into each child who has been adopted into the family of God.

Is it so difficult to believe that the Spirit of God lives within you and is changing you? 

You believe and understand that this happens on a human level. Within hours of a child’s birth, people are looking for Daddy’s dimples or Mom’s eyes or Big Sister’s nose. We take it further than the physical; we say that “He has his dad’s business savvy” or “She’s got her grandfather’s gumption” or “She has her mother’s sweet disposition.”

God birthed a new life in us by planting His Spirit within. Scriptures say we are born of the Spirit. He’s brought us into His family, and He intends to make us like the Son of God.

(Just wondering — Do we look for “family” characteristics showing up in other children of God? Or are we so preoccupied with recalling an old life that God says is dead and gone that we can’t see and encourage the new in others and in ourselves?)

Yes, there is still something “I” must do — I must throw open all of myself to the power of the Holy Spirit. And then what He does with all of us “hopeless” cases is amazing.

The new life and character we exhibit bring glory and praise to the Lord of all Creation. Of course!  We cannot fix ourselves; we cannot produce a new character no matter how hard we try; we are pretty much hopeless left on our own. But God, working in us, can do all of that … more than we can even imagine.   

As Jesus pours Himself into us and His Spirit leads us step by step into truth, we start looking more and more like the One who is Truth. 

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Scripture: Philippians 1:9-11 (NLT)

 

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Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged.

For I have chosen you
     and will not throw you away.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
     Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
     I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

These are promises not only for contemplating a New Year, but also for every morning, every beginning, every step of your pilgrimage on this earth. Here is reassurance for times of uncertainty, strength for days of weariness, courage for moments of fear.

Your Father has chosen you and He will be with you through everything!

Isn’t that amazing?

And so, do not lose heart, no matter what obstacles loom on your horizon, because the LORD of the universe is with you. Your strength will come from Him. He will help you. When you know you are too weak, when you fear you are losing the battle, He will keep you going. When you think you struggle alone, His victorious right hand is working for you.

Don’t be afraid. Don’t be discouraged. He always holds you, and His hand is always victorious!

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Scripture: Isaiah 41:9-10 (NLT)

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Every Knee Will Bow

We sat at a table surrounded by stacks of boxes, shelves of books, and cartons of gifts. The Christian book store had graciously created a space in its warehouse for this meeting of a writer’s group.

I admit to being bored, and my eyes roamed around the big room, taking inventory. On a high shelf, one box advertised its contents with a large picture attached to one side:  Santa Claus.

There was no backdrop, no setting, nothing in the picture except a red-clad figure, bent in worship, hands clasped in prayer. The artist had captured a spirit of reverence, a soul kneeling before the King of kings.  The epitome of the world’s Christmas bowed down to the God of all creation.

No matter what the world thinks of God, He alone rules! No matter that many have turned Christmas into a mere “holiday”, someday every knee will bow to the Baby born in a stable. 

“… For there is no other God but me,
a righteous God and Savior.
   There is none but me.
Let all the world look to me for salvation!
    For I am God; there is no other.

Every knee will bend to me,
    and every tongue will confess allegiance to me.”  
             (Isaiah 45:21-23 NLT)

… that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
              (Philippians 2:10-11 NLT)

These days, when Santas dance in windows and perch on housetops and wave from snow-covered yards, the Spirit reminds me of that kneeling Santa and the Scripture’s promise:  Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess — There is only one God, and He is King! 

 Turn on your audio, and worship the Lord of all creation:

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Transformation in the Sanctuary

Take a look at Psalms 73. It opens with a verse about the pure in heart.

You might immediately hear that voice in your head saying, “Well, I would not fit in that category.”   Or perhaps you’re remembering some of your definitely un-Christlike moments this weekend. Maybe already this morning you’ve blown it, yet again.

If so, you’ll identify more with verse 2:

But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.

The writer of Psalm 73 knows his heart is not pure. He’s bitter and envious; the bad guys are not getting the punishment they deserve. They seem to be living trouble-free lives and have everything anyone could ever want, while I seem to have nothing but pain and trouble. Where’s the justice, God?

So he takes his questions and complaints to God. Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.

Psalm 73 is about a cleansing of heart, and here’s the key: Then I went into your sanctuary.

In the psalmist’s time, all kinds of regulations determined how and when one could approach God. When Christ died, He ripped all barriers away. Not only did He give us access to God, but now God comes and lives with us. The sanctuary where we meet God, where He opens our eyes and transforms our hearts, is no longer a literal building. It’s where you are sitting right now. Immanuel!

But back to this sad soul who knows his heart is not right and that he’s not doing so well in his walk with God.

In His sanctuary, God does have some answers to the writer’s questions about the wicked. But we’ll leave that for now. Something even more important happens: in God’s sanctuary, the psalmist sees his own heart: 

Then I realized my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
I was so foolish and ignorant —

Sound familiar? How many times I have said that about myself!  How many times I have denied myself inclusion in the “pure in heart” category. How many times my feet have slipped.

And that brings us to the good news. Yes. Good news in spite of what we may think about our failures. Good news, my friend, that you will hear in the sanctuary when you go to your Father. 

Yet still I belong to you;
     you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
     leading me to a glorious destiny.

Wow. I belong to Him. He knows I am dust, and still He claims me. This is a look at God’s heart.

And because I belong to Him, He continues to hold me by the hand, guide me with His counsel, and — doesn’t this just take your breath away? — lead me on toward a glorious destiny!

When we hear those words in the sanctuary, when those words picturing God’s love for us settle into our hearts, we are transformed. We go from feeling as though we are almost gone (v. 2) to knowing this:

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
     but God remains the strength of my heart;
     he is mine forever.

The psalmist opened by saying, “But as for me … I’m slipping and almost gone.” Now, after that transforming meeting with God in His sanctuary, he says, “Yes, I see that anyone who deserts God will be destroyed, will perish …

But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
    I have made the sovereign LORD my shelter,
    and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.

What comfort it is to be near God, to take shelter in Him, to know that we belong to the Father and He does not desert us.  We come into His sanctuary, and we are changed.

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Christ’s Birth: Hope

Okay, I was admonished today. I’ve been focusing too much on my own hunger this season. Now it’s time to look outward.

The prod came from something I wrote last year about this time in response to a sermon on Matthew 3, the story of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness, preparing people for the arrival of Jesus. Pastor Don talked about the preparation that takes place in all of our lives, preparation for finally “getting it” and understanding the true message of Christmas. “I finally got it,” he said, “when I realized Christmas wasn’t all about me.”

Ouch. I heard it then, I hear it again this year. Yes, at Christmas we celebrate our rescue, our redemption. But Christmas is also about those who still need to be rescued. Christmas is the good news that freedom is possible. Hope for those enslaved, help for those who feel helpless, God for those who have been separated from Him.

John the Baptist was talking to the Pharisees about their false religion. Don’t be too smug, don’t feel too secure, he said. Unless your lives show true repentance, God will chop you down and throw you into the fire. You are not safe just because you are descendants of Abraham.

Then these words of John jumped off the page and grabbed my heart: God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. (v. 9)

John the Baptist may have been pointing to river stones as he said this, but to me, in 2011, the Spirit says … God can create children of faith from hearts of stone.

Is there a person you care about who has no reason to celebrate a real Christmas because he/she has not been rescued, does not see, has had no room for Christ? Have you sometimes despaired of that heart of stone ever being redeemed? Are you tempted to think it’s improbable or, even worse, impossible?

Yet, here’s the statement: God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

It’s the redemption story. It’s what Christmas is all about — God, bringing life where there is no life, bringing light where there is darkness.

Hear the message of Christmas hope … Christ was born for hearts of stone.