A Prayer of Gratitude


Dear Father,
I praise Thee for Thy perfection,
I thank Thee for Thy love.
I thank Thee that though I am sinful,
Thou doest still love me.
I thank Thee for Thy mercy in sending Thy Son for my sins.
I thank Thee for Jesus’ perfection,
For His perfect example,
For His teaching, that my life may be properly directed.
I thank Thee for His sacrifice on the cross, in my place,
That I might be spared the fires of a deserved hell.
I thank Thee for Thy church,
And pray for its spread.

I thank Thee for my family.
I pray that we may all serve Thee acceptably,
And show the world how a Christian lives.
Help us as we experience triumphs,
Help us as we deal with trials:
That others may see in us salt and light.

I pray for the sick and suffering the world over.
I pray that their pain may be eased,
That they may look to Thee for strength and direction.
I pray for peace,
And that Thou wilt help me to be a peacemaker.

I pray for the forgiveness of my sins.
Help me to be forgiving of others,
That I might better prepare myself to receive Thy forgiveness.

I pray for wisdom to know Thy will.
I pray for courage to do Thy will.
I beg for Thy mercy.

Holy Father,
Thou art worthy of all praise and glory.
Thy Name is above all names.
Thy mercy and generosity
Are beyond description or comprehension.

May I remain ever in the shelter of Thy loving hand.
May I live in heaven with Thee eternally.
Praise be to Thy Name.

In the name of Jesus,
Amen

Faith, Baptism, and the Blood of Christ


Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him (Romans 5:9 NKJV).

I don’t know how it could be stated any plainer. The means by which God is consistent with His perfect justice, and yet forgives sinful people like you and me, is the precious blood of Christ.

Mankind will not be saved by works of human merit (“I’ve earned heaven, now let me in!”), but by the grace of God, as this text plainly teaches: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 NKJV).

The Bible also says that we are saved by the gospel of Christ: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Romans 1:16 NKJV). If God says that it is through the gospel that He saves people, surely common sense would enable us to see that we must believe and obey the gospel if we are to be saved by it.

Of course it does! God even spells it out for us. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1 NKJV). And continuing: And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 5:9 NKJV).

The Bible even says we are saved by baptism: The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21 KJV). However, as the 1 Peter text just cited makes clear in the parenthesis, obeying the Bible command of baptism does not mean that we earn our salvation. It is still by the grace of God, through the blood of Christ, appropriated into our lives by faith in Jesus.

Is there a conflict between faith in Jesus, the blood of Christ, and baptism? Are we “saved by the waters of baptism instead of the blood of Christ”? Of course not. That is, not in the sense in which the statement in quotation marks is usually taken.

A complete and objective reading of the gospel of our Lord will show that all of the matters discussed above are involved in our salvation. We are saved by the blood of Christ which has been offered as a result of the grace of God. We actually receive the benefits of the justifying blood of Jesus when our faith in Him leads us to be baptized into Christ.

Here’s the text that puts faith and baptism together: For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:26-27 KJV).

Man has been known to cause trouble by adding his own opinion to God’s word before (see Matthew 15:8-9). Let’s not read what we wish the Bible said, or what we have been told the Bible said into its pages. Let’s take it for what it says, interpret the Bible by the Bible (primarily by looking at all its texts on any given subject), believe it, obey it, and then receive the blessed benefits of The Christian Life.

A Hundred Years From Now
None of This Will Matter


What are you thinking about right now?

What do you hope to accomplish today? If something is bothering you, what is it? Does it matter to you now? Of course it does. Will it matter to you in a hundred years? Now that’s another question.

It’s all a matter of valuation.

What things will I value the most, and therefore emphasize the most, in my life? That’s where my time will go. There I’ll spend my sweat and my money. There people will form their opinions of me. “There’s ole John. He’s a good golfer, He’s a poor gardener, he’s easy to get along with, he’s selfish, I like to be around him, he’s boring”…or whatever someone might think. There’s a good chance their opinions are highly influenced by what’s important to me.

The trick is to value the most that which will retain its worth and have a preserving effect, not only on me, but on those I interact with. Remember, as a Christian, I’m supposed to be the salt of the earth.

What matters now and what will matter in a hundred years? They’ve got to be the same. Here’s what Jesus said: Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27 KJV).

Jesus is using a figure, which He frequently does, to indicate what must take priority in our lives. Of course we must work for our physical bread, but we mustn’t let the physical bread become more important than our spiritual life. It can’t even be close.

What is the focus of my life? Is it all about me? Each of my actions today, each of my words today, each of my thoughts today…are they about now, or a few months from now or even a few years from now?

A hundred years from now, will what I have done today make any difference? Will it matter?

Only the Forgiving are Forgiven


For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15 NKJV).

Think about it. Which is easier, to get even, or to grant forgiveness?

It’s obviously easier to grant forgiveness – you just do it!

Getting even may require considerable planning, investment of time and resources, the repercussions of failure (you will likely just make things worse in your attempt at revenge), and the continual watching of your back as your opponent plots one-up-man-ship.

But alas, that old human nature pines for revenge. We need some incentive to forgive.

Try these on; I think you’ll like the fit:

To forgive is to be like God.
To fail to forgive is to shut the door on the promises of God.
To forgive is to lift the anvil of resentment off your chest.
To fail to forgive is to be inwardly consumed by hate.
To forgive is to grant a gracious blessing to someone else.
To fail to forgive is to allow someone else control over your life.
To forgive is to realize that you have a lot to give.
To fail to forgive is to be preoccupied with insatiable and selfish getting.
To forgive is to live.
To fail to forgive is to die (read the Bible text again).

Anyone can bear a grudge; it requires no effort. A cross-bearing Christian forgives!

Bread and Water


No one lives long without bread and water. These two represent physical nutrients and you will die sooner rather than later if you are bereft of physical nutrition. This is old news. Everyone knows it and functions accordingly.

Let me share with you some more old news that most people ought to know, and if they would function accordingly with this knowledge they would be good to go – through the rest of their life, to the cemetery, to the judgment, and to eternity beyond.

As you may have surmised, this news has to do with Jesus Christ. He is bread and He is water.

He refers to Himself as such in John 4 and John 6.

Actually what He says in John 4 is that He will give us living water (v 10). He is the source of living water. If we will drink in the teaching of Jesus, which we do by faith and obedience, then this water will make us alive spiritually.

In John 6, Jesus specifically says, “I am the bread of life” (v 35). Everything I need for spiritual life is found in Jesus. He is both bread and water. When I go to Him, I have distilled down life to these essentials, bread and water, and through submission to His will, live life at its purest.

Now, here’s the point I’m coming to. In physical life, when and how do bread and water benefit us? It is only when we eat and drink them. We receive the benefits when our bodies assimilate them. So, in spiritual life, Jesus benefits us only when we assimilate Him completely into our lives. So completely that we figuratively eat and drink Him.

True, pure, full, powerful Christianity is found only when we eat and drink Jesus. He must so abide our life that His person brilliantly shines through everything we do and say.

We fill ourselves with Jesus when we fill ourselves with His words. When I read my Bible and take the words off the page and put them into my behavior, I’m living Jesus, the bread and water are working.

A passing interest, Christianity when it’s convenient, faking religion because it may be good for business or help me impress a certain group of people – won’t cut it. I must consume Christ. He must be my world, my life, my very existence – my bread and water.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63 NKJV).

Severe Weather


As I sit at my desk in north Alabama at 1:03 in the afternoon on Friday, April 7, we are being told by the powers that be that we are in store for some pretty bad weather. Actually we enjoy the unenviable position of being smack dab in the middle of the high risk zone on a day that is supposed to be quite interesting from a severe weather standpoint. I better write this quick.

God has a way of reminding us of His power in a manner guaranteed to get our attention.

Interestingly, I don’t recall anything in Genesis before Adam and Eve’s sin about the prospect of severe weather. Everything was perfect in the Garden of Eden. The Bible refers to a mist watering it, but no flood drowning it or windstorm destroying it. Seems those things came to pass after man’s sin messed up what God had created perfect. It was pure, pristine, beautiful, and utterly utilitarian – then man blew it.

Sin is a terrible thing. It would seem especially so when God was so good to the original couple and then they turned on him. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

Now if tragedy happens this evening (and I naturally hope it doesn’t), it will be because of sin. Not because of our personal sin, just the general sin of mankind.

Listen to this: there is suffering in the world because there is and has been sin in the world. We do not inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin, but we do have physical trouble, physical consequences because of his (and sometimes our own) sin.

When bad things happen don’t blame God, blame the source of sin and therefore the source of trouble: Satan.
Allow the power of God’s creation to direct you to the all-powerful God. Allow any reminders that this physical life is not permanent to direct you to thoughts of and plans for heaven. See the wisdom of God in every detail of His world. Be reminded that God wants us to realize that this world is not our home and that He has opened the door of heaven to us through the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ. Understand that everything God does or allows is because He loves us and wants us with Him eternally.

Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well (Psalms 139:14 NKJV).

It’ll Be Hard To Argue With Me

Would you like a guaranteed cure for stopping arguments in your family?

I bet you would.

Well, I’ll tell you what works for me. We don’t have many arguments, and I think I know why. I believe what works for me will work for you. But, it takes strength, confidence, courage, and humility to try it.

It’s really pretty simple. Every time an argument starts, before it heats up, but when you can tell it’s likely about to – just shut up! That’s not physically hard to do. Actually it requires no effort at all to say nothing. It may require a lot of emotional effort: strength of will. That’s why you’ve got to be strong, have a good self image so you can have confidence in yourself, be brave enough to take a risk, and humble enough to just keep quiet.

I dare you to try it! When a conversation with your spouse or kids begins to change gears into a disagreement and then starts to escalate into a full-blown argument, don’t let it. The guaranteed way for two people not to argue is for one of them to withdraw from the field…to say nothing.

Now I’m not talking about pouting. That’s something else entirely. Announce to your partner in conversation that you feel your relationship is too important to allow an argument to weaken it. Tell your loved one that you are going to be quiet now because they are important to you and you just won’t do anything to harm the relationship that you treasure. They will have to stop arguing too, because they now have no one to argue with. You are not interested in winning (an argument); you are interested in saving (a relationship). Tell them you will listen, but you will not argue, even if it means keeping completely quiet.

This behavior (more appropriately, “lack of” behavior) will be hard the first time you try it. The old impulse to get your “two cents worth in” will be hard to resist. But the higher value you place on the relationship, the easier it will be for you to keep your mouth shut.

What you have just read is not an original idea with me. Guess where I got it.

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:19-20 NKJV).

A Soldier’s Faith

The man was a Roman centurion. Though he was a Gentile, he was a believer in Jehovah. His faith in God was so strong that he had built the Jews of his town a synagogue. He was respected by the Jews, but they didn’t yet understand the true greatness of his faith. This Gentile’s faith was about to be compared to the faith of these Israelites by Jesus Christ Himself.

It seems that our Gentile centurion had a dear servant who had fallen ill. He was sick to the point of death. The centurion heard that Jesus was in town and, likely being familiar with some of the miracles of Christ, led a delegation of Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal his servant. Feeling unworthy to approach, as a Gentile, the actual presence of Jesus, he sent his friends the last few steps of the way. Jesus consented to his request and began the journey to the centurion’s house where the servant lay dying.

As Jesus approached the residence, the centurion made a statement that amazed even Jesus. He said he was not worthy for Jesus to enter his house. If the Lord would just say the word from a distance, he knew that his servant would be healed.

The Bible says that Jesus “marveled” at this statement. He called special attention to the centurion’s great faith by saying that He had not found faith like this, not even in Israel.

The servant lived. Jesus healed him from afar.

What contributed to this Gentile’s extraordinary faith? If I can learn what made his faith so strong, I can use that knowledge to make my faith stronger.

Certainly, he had some prior knowledge of Jesus’ works. These events are post-sermon on the mount. Jesus had performed various miracles and taught for over a year when this event occurred. The works and words of Jesus had produced faith in the centurion.

As a part of that faith, the works and words of Jesus had taught this centurion how great Jesus was and how small he was in comparison. He had learned the quality of being poor in spirit. As his thoughts of himself diminished, his thoughts of Jesus grew. So it must be with you and me. J. W. McGarvey stated it this way:

The less faith we have, the less we esteem Jesus, and the more faith we have, the less we esteem ourselves.

Sounds like “Blessed are the poor in spirit” to me. When I finally understand how much I need Jesus, I am prepared to grow my faith. Maybe even I can approach the faith of the centurion.

These thoughts have come from Matthew 8 and Luke 7.

A Father's Mercy

Let me tell you about a game I play.

Sometimes I am in a situation where I feel someone is being rude to me or not giving me proper service. It may be the checkout line at the grocery. It may be a fast food drive thru. It could be the doctor's office. It could be someone I am around on a daily basis. It might be anyone, anywhere. If I think they're being unkind to me, I try real hard to be kind to them. I try to be their opposite. I'm serious. I have actually played this game. I play it, not for fun, but to try and make myself grow.

I'm trying to develop mercy. When I feel that I would be justified in standing up and demanding my rights, I try to develop mercy. Maybe it will help the other person, or, maybe not. They might not notice, or they may just think I'm weird. My actions may not help them at all. But, it helps me every time.

When I show mercy, I am reminded of God's mercy. I'm reminded of how much I need God's mercy. I'm reminded that God's mercy and forgiveness are related to my mercy and forgiveness. If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:15). When I show mercy to my neighbor I become more like God. My little game helps me do that.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful (Luke 6:36).

Trials, Trivia, and Knowing the Difference

Know any whiners?

Whining is usually caused by selfishness. The more time I spend thinking about me, the more likely I am to see (or think I see) situations in life that I feel have treated me poorly. If I could just get out of myself and focus on other people and their needs, I would probably whine less.

Jesus was certainly no whiner. But, what if He had been? He came to lead people to God. But the religious leaders and His own people often opposed Him. What if He had gotten His feelings hurt, gotten mad, began pouting and left the earth in a huff with His mission unaccomplished? You know what would have happened. We would be without a shred of hope today, had Jesus been a whiner.

Now, lest I appear cold and calloused, we all sometimes suffer real trials of life. When we do, God is always there for us. He allows, expects, even encourages us to come to Him (in faith and obedience) with whatever ails us.

My point is simply this: we humans are awful good at imagining ailments when what we face is really trivia. Say someone treats you poorly. You could get depressed and mope around complaining. Or...you could realize that what you are facing is nothing in comparision to what Jesus faced, dealt with, and overcame on a daily basis. Often, we just need to move on. Remember the old expression, "Don't sweat the small stuff"? The more bad things that happen to me that I will ignore, the more time I'll have to think about my family, my neighbors, and my God.

I guess most trivia starts out as a trial. The stronger I have become, the easier it is for me to move the trial over into the trivia column. I'm going to work on my spreadsheet today. Here's some help:

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). Thats my goal, that's where I intend to be. God goes on in that chapter to tell me how to do it. He talks about truth, faith, prayer, and righteousness. If I spend my time working on putting those four in my life, I betcha a lot of my trials will start easing over into that trivia column.

Whatever It Takes

Near the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, He was surrounded by a large group of people in a private dwelling in Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was teaching these people and they were eagerly listening.

Four friends brought a crippled man, carried on a stretcher-like bed, to this house. They were hoping that Jesus would heal their friend. But, when they arrived, there was a problem - they couldn't get inside the house where Jesus was teaching.

Not dismayed, they did whatever it took to get to Jesus. In this case it was going to the top of the flat-roofed house, removing a sufficient number of the roof tiles, and using four ropes let their invalid friend down into the very presence of Jesus.

Jesus was impressed with their faith.

He forgave the man of his sins and healed him on the spot.

Here are a couple of thoughts.

The four friends showed their faith. Their faith was important enough to them that it caused them to act. Our "faith" is worthless if it does not cause us to act. Faith in Christ obeys Christ.

The four friends did whatever it took to get to Jesus. It was bound to require considerable effort to get the crippled man up on the roof, create a hole of sufficient size for him to fit through it, and then to lower him to ground level without dropping or spilling him. These obstacles did not hinder the four friends. They did what needed to be done. We have such easy access to Jesus today. The Bible is so readily available. We are not politically persecuted if we serve Him in the U.S. If our lives are not wholly given to Christianity, these four friends should give us pause and cause us shame.

Let us do whatever it takes, be it easy or hard, to live The Christian Life.

These thoughts have been taken from Matthew 9, Mark 2, and Luke 5.

The Forty Day Fast of Jesus

Before the three recorded temptations of Jesus, He had fasted for forty days. He had eaten nothing. Satan tempted Him during the forty days, but the exact nature of these temptations is not given. At the end of the forty day period, Satan presents Jesus with the three temptations that are recorded: stones to bread, leap from the Temple, and kingdoms of the world. It is implied that Satan returned to continue the temptations of Jesus at later dates, but no details are given.

This encounter with Satan in the barren Judean wildnerness occurred just before Jesus began His personal ministry of teaching, serving, and exampling godly behavior. Perhaps Jesus wished to focus His attention on what was to transpire over the next three years of His ministry, which would culminate with the cross. Fasting for forty days would surely be an indication of Jesus' commitment to what He was about to do. He knew that His work was the most importand of all works that would ever be done, and that only He could do it. If He failed, man would be stuck with his sin guilt, there would be no way out, no forgiveness, no salvation, no hope, no heaven - only an unending and completely deserved hell. Jesus did not fail.

We might consider a fast ourselves in our attempt to be more like Jesus and to focus more perfectly on putting His words in our lives. We could begin by skipping a meal. We could use this time to ponder deeply our Christian mission, which is to live The Christian Life. The Christian Life is one of morality, ethics, service, teaching, exampling, humility, self-denial, and commitment. The Christian Life is also one of faith, love, obedience, joy, hope, and confidence.

We might meditate on what Jesus may have thought about during His forty-day fast. Surely He thought about why He came to this earth in the first place. He must have thought about His love for all of mankind, even though they lived in sin and rebellion against God's will and would ultimately murder Him on the cross. He may have thought about mankind's need for forgiveness that they might have hope, and the part He would play in that forgiveness, the role that only He could fill. He could have thought about the seeming inability of humans to get along with each other, their tendency to fight and war unceasingly among themselves. He knew that if they would only heed His words about morality, ethics, greed, materialism, humility, forgiveness, and compassion - that the trouble people seem to have with each other would dry up in direct proportion to their application of His teaching to their lives. He may have grieved over mankind's frequent unwillingness to let go of worldliness and give Him their lives entirely through believing Him and obeying Him.

Remember that Jesus' physical body was just like ours. Did he feel that this lengthy and purging fast would help Him focus all His energies - physically, emotionally, and mentally - on the task at hand. I think He did.

Will we commit ourselves to The Christian Life? How will we purify and concentrate that commitment? Our purpose is the glorification of God. What will we do to bring all of our life into pinpoint focus on that purpose, which is our highest calling? Fasting, praying, studying the Bible, meditation, sharing with other Christians, and teaching and serving the lost are good places to start. Our lives must overflow with faith and obedience to the Lord. The desire to live The Christian Life must be burned into our souls and emanate daily outward in our lives.

These thoughts have come from Matthew 4 and Luke 4.

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