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February 10, 2017

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Church & Worship, Faith & Hope, Holy Spirit, Knowing Him, Love & Works, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith

FANS OR FRIENDS?

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. [John 15:13-15 (NLT)]

img_1540-cropc7-vertweb I have a young friend who’s quite a sports fan. Not only can he spout statistics for his favorite baseball and football players, he can recite the biographies of the top American Ninja Warriors as well. He knows about several athletes and yet none of them know anything about him or would recognize him on the street. I don’t know which team he favored for last Sunday’s Super Bowl but I’m sure he knew who led in kicking and punting or kick and punt returns. Enthusiastic fans do more than know the stats—they often wear team jerseys and may even paint their faces. The prevalence of blue and red shirts on Sunday made it clear the fans at our church favored the Patriots. Considering all the whooping, hollering, high fives and fist bumps that occurred later that day while watching the Super Bowl, you’d think the fans were the ones scoring the points. Using the pronoun “we” for their favored team, they moaned about calls, trash talked the opposition and analyzed plays as if they were on the field. Although fans can dress like their favorite team member, know the stats for the players, and watch every game, they’re not on a first name basis with any of the team. Neither friends nor acquaintances, they’re just fans.

There’s nothing wrong with being a fan. It binds us with other people and gives us a sense of belonging. It’s a way to capture a little feeling of glory and achieve victory when we can’t attain it ourselves. If nothing else, it gives us something to talk about with strangers. There is, however, a big difference between fandom and friendship.

Are we fans of Jesus or are we His friends? Rather than stats, do we quote Bible verses? Rather than games, do we attend worship services? Instead of hosting a tailgate, do we serve at church? Rather than buy team merchandise, do write a check for a good cause? While all are worthwhile, none of these make us anything more than fans. Knowing Bible verses, worshipping, serving at church, and even tithing are no substitute for a relationship with Jesus. It’s not enough to know about Him or to do for Him. He wants us to be His friends rather than His fans; He wants to know us and for us to truly know Him.

Unlike fandom, Christianity is not a spectator sport. God wants fellowship with us; he wants to know us personally. Prayer is what takes us from fandom to friendship. In prayer, we summon all of the enthusiasm we have for God and use it to speak with Him. While few of us will ever meet or eat with Ninja Warrior Joe Moravsky or the Patriots’ Tom Brady, Jesus welcomes us into His heart every day and invites us to break bread with Him regularly. We’re only a prayer away from Him. We can celebrate an athlete’s victories or we can celebrate God’s grace with the one who was victorious over sin and death!

Fan or friend—which one is it?

What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer! [Joseph Scriven]

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. [Romans 5:11 (NLT)]

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January 11, 2017

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Bible Stories, God's Promises, Obedience, Salvation: A New You, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Temptation & Sin, Wisdom & Guidance

TEMPTATION (Part 3 – CONSEQUENCES)

If you obey the commands of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. … But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you.[Deuteronomy 28:9,15 (NLT)]

UPSIDE DOWN With John’s purchase of his sporty new car, I thought I was done writing about Lynn Johnston’s comic strip For Better or For Worse and temptation. I’d forgotten all about Ted, John’s friend, who suggested a “spicy dish” and some “after hours recreation.” Shocked, John had said, “Your wife wouldn’t put up with you messing around!” Ted smugly replied, “Oh she suspects…The trick is—never let them know for sure!!” Six weeks after appearing in that comic, Ted reappeared in another one. When Ted grumpily refused a ride in John’s new car, John wondered if he’d gotten out of the wrong side of the bed. No longer smug, Ted dejectedly responded, “Doesn’t matter what side of the bed I get out on anymore…My wife left me.” I didn’t see that coming and, apparently, neither did Ted!

When we yield to sin’s temptation, there are consequences, apparently something Ted learned a little too late. Then again, mankind has had trouble with that one since the beginning of time. God clearly told Adam and Eve what would happen if they ate that apple yet they did it anyway. Time and time again, the Israelites were warned in detail of the consequences of unfaithfulness to God and yet the Old Testament is a chronicle of their disobedience and the punishing consequences they endured. We want what we want but don’t expect we’ll have to pay for it. When God tells us we’ll reap what we sow, He’s not being cruel—He’s just being honest! When we suffer consequences, He’s being true to His word! Face it—when we sin, life gets difficult.

Ted cheated on his spouse and lost his marriage but what if Ted sees the light and becomes a born-again Christian? If he repents his sins, God will forgive him. Forgiveness, however, doesn’t mean God will bail him out of the consequences of his actions. The adulterer, even when born again, won’t necessarily get his wife and family back any more than the born-again criminal gets released from prison wthout serving his sentence. While coming to Christ erases the eternal consequences of our sins, we still have to deal with their earthly consequences. Fortunately, we don’t have to do it alone—God is with us. Nevertheless, we still have to expect and accept the consequences of our actions!

Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences. [Robert Louis Stevenson]

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. [Galatians 6:7-9 (NLT)]

Whoever sows sin reaps weeds. [Proverbs 22:8a (NLT)]

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January 9, 2017

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Attitudes & Behavior, Challenges & Difficulty, Obedience, Salvation: A New You, Temptation & Sin, Wisdom & Guidance

TEMPTATION (Part 1 – THE TEST DRIVE)

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. [1 Peter 5:8-9a (NLT)]

Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets. [Psalm 10:9 (NLT)]

lion-tanzania

Lynn Johnston’s comic For Better or for Worse follows a family through their everyday life. Recently, John, the father, experienced middle-age discontent. Confiding to his friend Ted that he’s become bored with life, John asks, “How do you break the cycle of get up, go to work, go home?” Ted suggests a little “after-hours recreation,” adding, “And I ain’t talking racquetball!” John declines his friend’s offer of a “spicy dish” and departs. “What’s happening to me?” he laments as he drives home. “I’m healthy, I have a good job…I have a wonderful home, two great kids, a loving wife…who could ask for more?” Dissatisfaction, however, rears its ugly head and John answers his own question with, “I want more!”

“I want to go home but an irresistible, biologic urge is forcing me,” says John in the next day’s strip. “My wife might never forgive me but here I am, in the one place I’ve tried to avoid for years,” he continues, “a place of unbelievable temptation!” In the next frame, we find him in a car dealership facing a grinning car salesman who asks, “Can I interest you in a late model sports car?”

That comic (and the story that followed) reminded me of Bible verses that compare Satan to a lion ready to pounce. If you’ve ever been in a used car lot, you’ve probably felt like fresh meat being tossed to hungry lions. Salespeople circle as you drive into the lot and, before you’re out of your car, someone is offering you a test drive. In fact, in the next day’s comic, even though John insists he’s “just looking,” he takes that test drive. The salesman confidently chuckles to a co-worker, “I love it when their lips say no, no…but their eyes say yes, yes!!” After his test drive, John reluctantly returns the car and admits its impracticality to the salesman. “I understand,” says the salesman sympathetically. As John departs in his sedan, the salesman’s co-worker wonders how he could let go of a customer so easily. The salesman smugly replies, “He’ll be back. … He left lip prints on the hood.”

Admittedly, I don’t understand men’s affinity for cars. To me, a car is just a way to get from here to there and, as long as it runs, I don’t care about suspension, exhaust systems, horse-power, or aerodynamics. Then again, my husband doesn’t understand my affinity for designer purses when he is satisfied with just an old wallet in his pocket. Satan, however, understands exactly what it is that floats our individual boats…be it fast cars, possessions, money, sex, food, drugs, power, or status. He starts with sowing a few seeds of discontent and follows up with the offer of a test drive—be it a little flirtation, just a taste, a tiny lapse, one visit to the website, or a minor breach of ethics. Satan, like a good salesperson, doesn’t have to be pushy once he’s matched his customer with the right temptation and he knows where we’ve left our lip prints! Satan may know our weaknesses but so do we! We need to avoid the people and places where we’ll find Satan’s hungry lions—be that bars, back alleys, shopping malls, coffee shops, websites or car dealerships!

My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! [Proverbs 1:10 (NLT)]

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December 28, 2016

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Church & Worship, Faith & Hope, God's Word: The Bible, Knowing Him, Prayer, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith

NOMINAL FANS

Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention. [Matthew 7:13-14 (MSG)]

Northwestern University’s football team is in the Pinstripe Bowl and I’ll cheer on the team at a bowl party this afternoon. I’m not really a football fan but I’ll look and act like one today. I’ll wear a purple and white NU Wildcat t-shirt, cheer when everyone else cheers, wave a purple pompon, and even sing the fight song. Since I know next to nothing about football and don’t even know who they’re playing, I’m what could be called a nominal fan. I’m only going because I went to Northwestern fifty years ago and we’re new members of the local NU alumni club, sponsors of the event. Although my husband likes football, our real motivation is to meet people and make friends. We probably won’t give Northwestern or their team another thought until the next alumni event.

My type of fandom is what being a “nominal” or “cultural” Christian is like. Nominal Christians are the people who attend church simply because they did when they were growing up, society expects it of them, or they want to meet some new people. They’re the people who call themselves Christian because they’re not Jewish, atheist, Hindu or Muslim. Nominal Christianity is often based on faulty logic: “Christians are good, I am good, therefore I am a Christian” or “Since Christians go to church and I go to church, I must be a Christian.” Nominal Christians may know and observe Christian holidays, but they don’t know Jesus. Although they bear the name of Christ, Jesus has no bearing on their lives. Nominal Christianity certainly is easier – it doesn’t require a changed life and things like repentance, forgiveness or loving your enemies. Nominal Christianity, however, doesn’t offer salvation and eternal life.

As I walked through the park taking photos before our Christmas Eve service, I wondered about the more the 4,000 in attendance. Were they believers, firm in their relationship with our triune God? Were they seekers trying to find their way in this troubled world? Were they new to the faith and anxious to learn more about their Lord and Savior? Were they nominal Christians or “birth and resurrectionists,” attending church because that’s what one does on Christmas Eve, or were they curious tourists, there just because of the good reviews on Yelp?

It’s not my business to judge the depth of anyone’s faith, but I wondered if Jesus ever enters their thoughts until the next time they enter a church, whenever that may be. Are their only prayers the ones said at a worship service? Is reading or hearing God’s word a Sunday only event? I remembered our new pastor’s words when asked about the future of our church. He didn’t want to see us just grow larger; he wanted us to grow deeper. The first place to start is in our own lives with a careful examination of our faith and relationship with Jesus. Do we take a minimalist approach to God or are we in a deep and long lasting relationship with Jesus? Evangelist Billy Sunday said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” Let’s remember that calling ourselves Christians doesn’t make us Christians any more than wearing a team jersey makes me (or anyone else) a football fan.

Cultural Christianity is not saving faith. [Trevin Wax]

Knowing the correct password—saying Master, Master,” for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, “Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.” And do you know what I am going to say? “You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.” [Matthew 7:21-23 (MSG)]

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December 27, 2016

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Fear & Doubt, Forgiveness, God's Grace & Love, Peace of God, Salvation: A New You, Temptation & Sin

CLEANING HOUSE

But the Pharisees and the men who taught the law for the Pharisees began to complain to Jesus’ followers, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to invite good people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.” [Luke 5:30-32 (NCV)]

My mother always cleaned our house before the cleaning woman came. She explained that she didn’t want her to see how dirty our home had gotten since the last cleaning. This doesn’t make much sense to me, but I know many women who do the same thing. They are so ashamed of the dirt and mess in their homes that they straighten it up before the cleaning service arrives. Of course, there are others who won’t let anyone in the house unless it is on an absolute “need to enter” basis!

It makes even less sense that many of us aren’t willing to let God into our hearts because of the dirt and mess we’ve made in our lives. Jesus didn’t spend His time with self-righteous religious leaders; he spent His time with sinners who were always welcome at His table. Before they met Jesus, Matthew and Zacchaeus were corrupt tax collectors, Mary Magdalene was possessed by demons, and the woman at the well had what could politely be called a “colorful” past. Jesus came to cleanse us from sin, yet we seem unwilling to allow him to see our sins so He can do His job.

Because we won’t let God into our dirty house, we are often afraid to enter into His, yet church is exactly where we should go if we’re sinners. It is a misconception that only the “pure of heart” will be found in church. The amazing thing about God’s house is that everyone there is a sinner and they all know it! As our pastor often reminds us, “Church is not a country club for saints but rather a hospital for sinners!”

We don’t have to clean up our act before we turn to Him; he will clean it up for us. All we have to do is uncover the filth and admit that we are sinners. Once we relinquish our sin, we just need to ask His forgiveness. We don’t need to be ashamed if we’re soiled; church is like a cleaning service for the soul. Jesus is waiting there for us, scrub brush in hand, ready to make us fresh and clean.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him; have mercy upon you; pardon and deliver you from all your sins; confirm and strengthen you in all goodness; and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Absolution from “The Book of Common Prayer” (1952)]

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was shown, he saved us because of his mercy. It was not because of good deeds we did to be right with him. He saved us through the washing that made us new people through the Holy Spirit. God poured out richly upon us that Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Savior. Being made right with God by his grace, we could have the hope of receiving the life that never ends. [Titus 3:4-7 (NCV)]

Devotions of the Heart

Daily Christian Devotions

Category Archives: Salvation: A New You

TEMPTATION (Part 3 – CONSEQUENCES)

Whoever sows sin reaps weeds. [Proverbs 22:8a (NLT)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.

TEMPTATION (Part 1 – THE TEST DRIVE)

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. [1 Peter 5:8-9a (NLT)]

Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets. [Psalm 10:9 (NLT)]

My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! [Proverbs 1:10 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.

CLEANING HOUSE

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FANS OR FRIENDS?

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. [John 15:13-15 (NLT)]

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. [Romans 5:11 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.

TEMPTATION (Part 3 – CONSEQUENCES)

Whoever sows sin reaps weeds. [Proverbs 22:8a (NLT)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.

TEMPTATION (Part 1 – THE TEST DRIVE)

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. [1 Peter 5:8-9a (NLT)]

Like lions crouched in hiding, they wait to pounce on the helpless. Like hunters they capture the helpless and drag them away in nets. [Psalm 10:9 (NLT)]

My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! [Proverbs 1:10 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2017 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.

NOMINAL FANS

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CLEANING HOUSE

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THE CHRIST CANDLE (CHRISTMAS 2016)

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! [John 1:29 (NLT)]

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. [Isaiah 9:2 (NLT)]

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. [Isaiah 58:10 (NLT)]

Copyright ©2016 jsjdevotions. All rights reserved.