Month: March 2022

Lent 2022 | Day 26: House

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:2-6 ESV

In John’s Gospel, we find Jesus offering words of comfort to his disciples. These words would serve as a reminder to them of Jesus’s mission to prepare a place for them in God’s house. This promise of future rest offered to all disciples is one we do not often take it seriously as we should.

The idea of a house carries with it a particular kind of relationship among those who reside within it. It is often the case that families are the occupants of homes. This particular structure is often viewed as a place of solace and safety. The very notion of being “homesick” reveals how often we associate feelings of belonging to the house that is our home.

While it is not the building itself that provides the feeling that we are describing here, but the people with whom we share that space, the buildings serve as a sort of anchor in our memories and become a sort of “shorthand” for what we mean to describe. It is this relationship between a place and the people who occupy that place that we should consider more often. To forget where we are from is to lose contact with the forces and influences that shaped us in the early years of our lives. Becoming disconnected in this way can rob us of important realities as it relates to our identity.

The promise Jesus made to the disciples is one they would not fully appreciate until after Jesus had returned to the Father. It is difficult to imagine them fully understanding what Jesus was trying to say at that moment. We have evidence of this in Thomas’s question about not knowing the way to where Jesus was going. So Thomas, who was present with Jesus through his earthly ministry had a difficult time understanding what Jesus said. How much more for those of us who are separated from the events by over two millennia?

We can get caught up trying to describe what the many mansions will look like. We can even lose sight of the promise itself by focusing on something Jesus left undisclosed. One of the challenges this passage offers to us is holding on to the promise of Jesus in faithful preparation for our arrival. It would be nice to know more details of what it all meant. It would even make it easier for us to endure the many challenges and obstacles of this life. But it would not change Jesus’s fulfillment one way or the other.

In this season of Lent, I have been reminded over and over to slow down and to be less anxious about what is to come. We do not need to know every detail of the future yet to come. We can rest in the knowledge that God’s goodness will never fail, that Jesus’s faithfulness to accomplish His word will never be hindered, and the Holy Spirit’s power to bring us to that moment can never be challenged.

If we hold on to this hope during this season of Lent I believe we will see with greater clarity the majesty of God’s grace as it was revealed in Jesus’s death on the cross.

Lent 2022 | Day 25: New

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5

Revelation 21:5

In the closing book of the Bible, we find many interesting and mysterious events recorded. And while we can speculate as to when they will take place and even what they mean there are few things we know for certain. One of them is that in the culmination of what we call history God will re-create that which had been polluted by the effects of sin. The language of Scripture is that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. And what that fully means is yet to be seen.

In the verse quoted above, we see a statement that is really a promise. We are told that the one who sits on the throne of heaven has an objective to complete. That objective is to make all things new. I do not want to speculate as to what that means. The truth of the matter is my attempt at a description would be far less than the reality still to come. What I know for sure is when it happens it will be one of the greatest miracles God has ever performed. And I look forward to seeing that someday.

But looking a little closer to home I find great comfort in knowing God is able to make all things new. In spite of the struggles of life and the challenges of living according to God’s word, God is faithful to fulfilling his promises toward us.

The apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians speaks of his confidence regarding what God has begun and how he will be completed. Philippians chapter 1:6 Paul says this:

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 (KJV)

The promise we see in Revelation and the promise Paul articulates in Philippians are connected. What Paul was saying to the Philippian church we see fulfilled by what God says in Revelation.

I wish I could tell you that I completely understand how this will work out. But I can’t. These are things reserved within God’s mind that he will reveal in his own time. What we must do is remain focused on the work placed in our hands. As we continue on this journey we will encounter moments and opportunities to see the progress God is making in us and toward the ultimate manifestation of his promises.

The season of Lent affords us the space we need to pause and look forward to the hope that is to come. We celebrate it, again and again, as a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness to his word and to his people.

Let us rejoice each day in the newness of the opportunities presented to us. I pray we would learn to take advantage of them. And that we would look forward to participating with God on this journey.

Lent 2022 | Day 24: Grace

Of all the words that we learn in the Christian faith one of the greatest is grace. In this word we learn that God’s love for us is not based upon our failures but upon God’s character. That it does not matter where we might find ourselves in life’s journey God is able and willing to extend to us what we may never feel worthy to extend to ourselves.

The Christian life can oftentimes reveal challenges to our understanding of ourselves. The reason this happens is that we are so busy on any given day trying to do the best we can to accomplish the tasks before us we overlook what is happening within us. As followers of Christ, we are encouraged to reflect inwardly on the work of the Holy Spirit within us. This work of transformation is one that requires openness and humility oftentimes lacking. The reason it is lacking is that, for better or for worse, it is easier to live our lives that way.

This is not to make an accusation or be overly critical. Everyone does this. But from time to time it is worth considering why. Why do we content ourselves with not thinking or reflecting on the course of our lives?

I don’t know how anyone else would answer that, so I’ll speak for myself. I think I do it because confronting those things which I know must change can be painful.

To admit I have been wrong in some areas of my life is not easy. And for some, I would imagine, it can bring to mind past hurt that has gone too long unaddressed. And the longer we bury that pain and hurt the more difficult it becomes to acknowledge it exists at all.

This is why God’s grace is such a powerful remedy to the injuries of our past. It is an acknowledgment that God already knows. That there is nothing in this world we could tell God he has not already heard. That there is nothing we would have experienced that would surprise him. That there is nothing we could say that would make God desire to be less gracious toward us.

This may be surprising to many. But it should not be for those of us who have come to know and believe the gospel of Jesus. One of the great examples of this is given to us by Jesus himself as he was hanging on the cross. While being mocked and as he died he looked to heaven and asked for the Father to “forgive them” (Luke 23:34). The very people who were the cause of his immediate suffering were the recipients of God’s grace and Christ’s request for forgiveness.

We all stand before the cross of Christ because of our sin mocking and deriding him. And Jesus, just like he did on that day, turns towards heaven and asked the Father to forgive us for our sins. And we have a choice in that moment of realization. We can either accept the forgiveness that is offered or we can reject it. We must make a choice in response to Christ’s declaration.

There is no passive reception of forgiveness. We must acknowledge it intentionally and we must receive it through an act of the will. God will not apply forgiveness to us just because he desires it (and he does). God extends to us his grace as a free gift but if we do not embrace it and “open it” for ourselves we will never experience the fullness of its benefits.

The season of Lent is a time for us to reflect on the grace God has extended to us. This grace is beyond measure and without comparison. God has extended to us grace when what we deserve is something far worse. But God who is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4-10) has decided to give us one of the greatest expressions of his love. We can reject it and we can malign it but we can never deny God has extended grace to us. The cross of Jesus Christ has not left that option open to us.

Lent 2022 | Day 23: Days

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2 Peter 3:8 KJV

This verse in Peter’s second letter is interesting because of how it describes God. God does not experience the passage of time the same way that we do. It is been said that God is eternal. So, the very idea of “time” for God is probably nonsensical. But for us, that is a notion that we struggle to make sense of because our experience of time is not like that.

Peter says that one day for God is like “a thousand years” for us. And that a thousand years for us is as “one day” for God. That seems repetitive. And it is to a certain extent. What we must keep in mind is what this is describing. It is describing a relationship between how we perceive things and how God perceives things.

A thousand years ago the world look very different than it does today in the 21st century. The changes that have occurred in the last 100 years are more drastic than what happened in the previous 900 years. And we look back on that time and cannot fathom having to live in those circumstances or conditions. And this is the reality this verse is drawing our attention to.

There are so many times when I’ve had conversations about God’s timing. Why doesn’t God do this? Or why can’t God do that? These are fair questions from our perspective because we recognize that our lives will come to an end. And it’s this finite reality of life that causes us to want for God to act more quickly. What this reveals is a basic misunderstanding about God’s will for the world.

While God cares for us and desires for each of us to experience the fullness of his love and grace, there is a greater purpose for which God is at work. We do not always understand it. In many ways, we feel like we never will. But this does not change the fact that God’s will is God’s primary focus.

So, the feeling of frustration we feel when God seems to delay his activity or intervention is based on a presumption we should challenge. That presumption is that God is obligated to fulfill our requests when we asked them. But this is not the case. We must grow in our humble submission to God’s plan and purposes for the world.

The fact that for God one day is as a thousand years is a reminder that what God is doing he has been doing for a long time. And because God has been at work for far longer than we have existed we should not lose heart when we do not get what we ask for when or how we asked for it. We should remember that what God is doing will be of greater value to the whole of creation and to us individually than anything we could ever have imagined for ourselves.

As each day passes and as we draw closer to Easter morning I pray we would pause and remember God’s faithfulness endures. The fact that God’s timeline follows a longer arc than our own should give us comfort. But many of us have to learn to rest in that. And that takes time. Time is something God has more of than any of us. So he can wait on us to catch up to him.

Lent 2022 | 4th Sunday in Lent: Celebrate!

Today we celebrate the magnitude of God’s grace.

On these Sundays in Lent, we have been exploring the grace of God. We have been trying to look at various aspects of God’s grace. In the process, my hope has been to give us a greater appreciation of what God has given to us as a gift.

One of the challenges that I have when trying to describe the grace of God has to do with its scope. What that means is understanding what exactly God’s grace covers. This is what I had in mind when I considered the focus for this aspect of God’s grace. The magnitude of God’s grace is greater and more far-reaching than we truly understand. Because of the scale of what we’re talking about it can be difficult to truly appreciate what God has done.

God’s grace is the outpouring of his love on those who have offended against God’s holiness. The seriousness of the situation can oftentimes be minimized in unhelpful ways. We do not have a means of measuring how truly offensive our sin is to God’s holy character. The only indication we have of how awful our sin is is to consider the lengths to which God went to remedy our sin.

The sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross is the price God said would satisfy the offense. From a theological standpoint, the fact God entered into the world and chose to die so sinners might have access to God’s grace cannot be understated. No other man or woman was worthy enough to stand as a representative for the rest of mankind. So God chose to become like those who had offended him and offered himself in the life and person of Jesus Christ for the sake of those who could not restore the relationship to where it needed to be. So, what we could not do and what needed to be done God did for us.

The miracle of salvation is grounded in the reality that God must be true to himself at all times. And by virtue of what we find in Scripture, we can see that God’s love for his people had to find expression in spite of our sin. But that God’s holiness had to be upheld because of it. So how would God find a solution to this problem? He did it in Jesus.

Even in those moments when I find myself wondering why would God do such a thing for me, I must fight back the temptation to make myself the exception from God’s grace. The magnitude of God’s grace helps us to see the fullness of God’s love for sinners. Even for those who ultimately reject the grace he has freely offered to them. God’s grace is better than any person could describe. Better than the wildest imagination could conceive. God’s grace is better than our deepest fears.

So as we celebrate today the magnitude of God’s grace let us look forward with anticipation to Easter morning. That will be another opportunity for us to look back over our lives and see how much more God’s grace has been present than we had perceived in those moments we felt most distant.

Lent 2022 | Day 22: Wonderful

A cursory search for the etymology of the word wonderful shows it is derived from two words. The words “wonder” and the word “full”. This should not be surprising. But what is interesting is that the word wonder is an old word describing something that is miraculous or astonishing. Therefore, when we say that something is wonderful we are describing the quality of the object to which we are referring. That it is something marvelous and worthy of being astonished at.

We too often use words like this in ways that may not necessarily measure up as well as we might think. Many times we describe things as wonderful that are truly aesthetically beautiful or pleasing to the eye. They just may not necessarily be filled with wonder themselves. And I’m not trying to get too technical at this description of the word. My desire is merely to highlight the unique attribute of how this word had been used and may be found useful to use again.

Within the Christian faith, there are several things worthy of being wondered over. Things such as the grace of God in his mercy, the sacrifice of Christ for sinners, and even being able to gather together with other believers. I know that not everyone would agree that these are wonderful. But I think that’s part of the problem. The fact that these things exist and that we can be partakers of them is exactly what makes them wonderful. Just because they may appear to be ordinary by the standards of some does not make them any less astonishing.

Of all the things which we could find wonderful, the presence of God among his people is one of the most astonishing of them all. How God is able to do that is a mystery. But it is not a mystery that has been kept hidden from us. It is a mystery that now resides in the open. For when we gather to sing and celebrate, to study and share our lives together, to serve those around us we are told God is among us as well.

It is through the simple acts of living life, aware of his promises, that it becomes a reality to us. Too often we try to fabricate a divine encounter by using means that stimulate our emotions. But that only serves to cloud God’s presence in our lives. There is a sense in which our ability to apprehend those things filled with the quality of producing wonder requires a stillness we are not always comfortable entering into.

Every year in the 40 days prior to Easter we are given an opportunity to slow down. To take some time and look back over the course of our lives and the previous year and remember God’s faithfulness to us. And it’s not that we always can see God’s faithfulness. But learning to accept that it is really present even when we’re not as aware of it as we would like.

This is why when I think about those things that elicit wonder in me I think of God’s presence permeating the world in which I live. Similar to the oxygen that I need to breathe but cannot see, God surrounds us with himself.

Lent 2022 | Day 21: Delivered

One of my favorite movies growing up was The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. It is a retelling of the events found in the book of Exodus. The story of the rise of Moses, his exile, and his ultimate return as a messenger of God. It is one of the more compelling stories found in the Bible. In some ways, it is no surprise that it was adapted as a feature film.

One of the central themes of the movie is that of deliverance. The idea was that God would provide the means for the rescue of the nation of Israel from the slavery it endured in Egypt. This deliverance came through God’s use of an unlikely person.

Moses was spared from the annihilation of all the Hebrew male children by the ingenuity of his family. God’s protection of Moses would place him into circumstances that would prepare him for what God had in store for his life. No one could have foreknown how God would accomplish the deliverance of his people. There had been 400 years of difficulty and hardship. God remained faithful to his word.

The story of the Exodus is one of the key motifs of understanding the work of Christ to deliver us from the bondage of sin. Through the story and the events of the Hebrew people, we get a glimpse into how God brings about deliverance. There are too many facets to the story to be covered here but we will focus on the one that most closely connects the events in Exodus with Jesus. Namely that God’s deliverance of his people would involve a supernatural and miraculous set of events.

The work of Christ on the cross is the fulfillment of everything God promised for the generations of descendants of Adam and Eve. We all share in the same image that God put in them. And we all share in the same fallen nature that keeps us from having a relationship with God. But God is able to overcome this separation by entering into the world he has created. Through this entrance, God demonstrates his willingness to not only save but to be the one who leads us out of our captivity.

When I think about deliverance I find that there is a personal connection involved. That someone has come to where I am because I cannot get out of those circumstances on my own. This is deliverance. That Jesus Christ entered into the world to set us free. And that without his coming and his sacrifice we would have remained separated from God.

The season of Lent is an opportune time to remember that while we were sinners God sent his son on a rescue mission for us. And even more remarkable than this is Jesus accomplished the work God the Father had given to him.

As we continue drawing closer to Easter Sunday may remember we have been saved from the clutches of sin. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God. And we have been delivered from what seemed to be an impossible situation and have been restored to fellowship with God.

Lent 2022 | Day 20: Joy

Many times we confuse joy with happiness. Happiness is what we feel when the conditions and circumstances of our lives produce a sense of excitement because everything seems to be falling into place. What this means is happiness is dependent upon what is happening around us. If things are going well and we feel happy, generally speaking. But if things are not going well, then our feeling of happiness is diminished or even nonexistent.

Joy, however, is not dependent upon the external realities of life. Joy is the condition of our internal self regardless of what is happening around us. Joy is not supposed to be something that comes and goes. Joy is something that is resident within us.

I don’t want us to think that there is no relationship between happiness and joy. There is. Our emotional state at any given time informs how we view what is happening around us. However, happiness can be understood as the immediate reaction to what is happening around us. But joy is more of a long-lasting feeling because it looks further down the road than what is happening now.

As an example of this, when my children were born I was happy. But I was also filled with joy. And the reason for my happiness was because they were now here with us, expanding our family. But I was also joyful because of what their lives meant to me.

Joy is more of a long-lasting feeling because it looks further down the road than what is happening now.

So let’s fast forward a few years, and now we have teenagers living in our home. Will there will be times when I am unhappy with what they do? Of course, there will be. But that does not change the hope that I feel when I think of what they could be. What they could become. I have joy for the potential of what God can and will do in their lives. And that is not dependent on the choices they make in the immediate moment that may or may not make me happy.

This is a somewhat simplified way of thinking about these two realities of life. My goal is not to define every moment that can either make us happy or not, or explain what can bring any person joy at any given moment. We should strive, the best we can, to understand how what is happening around us and within us can impact how we live our lives.

The season of Lent can be a time filled with moments of happiness or sadness. As we consider the realities of our actions and the consequences they may produce we are awakened to everything we do. But we also know that the season of Lent will eventually come to an end. There will be a morning when we arise and we will give God glory and praise for his goodness and mercy. And on that morning we will celebrate our redemption which was purchased by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

But the sacrifice was not the end of the story, it was merely a parenthesis. What this means for us is as we go through life from year to year, and as we continue our journey in this season of Lent, we must become more aware of the interaction between what makes us happy and what gives us joy.

The interaction between these two realities can oftentimes be difficult to decipher. But that does not mean it is impossible. We should make the effort in understanding this relationship now more than ever.

Lent 2022 | Day 19: Gathered

There has been a lot of conversation in the last couple of years about what it means to be the Church. In this time in history, when much of the world has been affected by a global pandemic, the church has to reflect on what it means to be the Church. The struggle has been around discerning what it means to be the body of Christ. Particularly in light of the rules imposed upon large groups of people by governments around the world.

In the midst of these new challenges, insights have been gained as a result of extended periods of separation and even isolation. In the opening chapters of the Bible God tells the first man it is not good for him to be alone. And an implication is that isolation is not good for anyone!

The immediate context of his declaration is Adam’s discovery that of all of God’s creatures man was without companionship. And so while there is much that can be said about the need for community and fellowship as individual members of society, there is also a lesson about what it means for us to be a community of faith.

In the New Testament, we find the admonition that we should not refrain from gathering together for worship and instruction. There is no prescription as to what that should look like. But there is a warning that we should not keep ourselves from coming together regularly. We should ask ourselves why is this oftentimes is something we have avoided.

The gathering of God’s people is not merely a social event. The community of God exists to foster the kind of growth which leads us to a deeper appreciation of God’s grace.

I think the challenge of understanding the gathered nature of the church hinges on our understanding of what it means to be people created in the image of God. For those of us who hold to a Trinitarian understanding of the Godhead, the notion of divine community makes sense. While we do not fully understand how God exists within the divine essence we can know that God exists in perfect community. The mystery of the Trinity is not something that can be explained. It is a truth of faith that is revealed and must be believed.

This reality of God’s own existence helps us to see that as image bearers we too will find our emotional and communal needs satisfied when we gather together with others who share the journey with us. The gathering of God’s people is not merely a social event. The community of God exists to foster the kind of growth which leads us to a deeper appreciation of God’s grace. Not only are there opportunities for instruction and correction but there are opportunities for sharing in one another’s lives. This sharing includes the celebration of the joys in the distribution of the burdens among those who are doing life together. This is a key element of the community of God.

One of the wonderful aspects of celebrating the season of Lent is this shared experience of reflecting and preparing for Easter morning. All over the world there are countless millions of Christians who in this season slow down enough to remember all God has been doing in their lives. By doing this we give testimony to the grace of God offered to everyone who finds themselves alone. Being grafted into the body of Christ gives us access to a fellowship that fosters our development as the children of God.

And so we gather together not merely to perform religious ceremonies or to receive doctrinal instruction but to enjoy the company of those with whom we share a common faith.

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