Liturgical Calendar - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2022 | Day 30: Forgiveness

Of the many character qualities we as Christians should cultivate, forgiveness may be one of the more difficult ones. Forgiveness is the act we perform toward another when we have been wronged. But when we are the victim of injustice it is difficult for us to let go of the desire for vengeance.

This desire is natural and one could say expected. The problem with our desire for vengeance, as it relates to forgiveness, is that it inhibits our ability to extend to others what God has extended to us. When we forget what we have received it becomes difficult to give that to someone else.

We in the church have oftentimes called people to forgive before they are ready to truly do so. This means the pain that was experienced because of what was suffered has not properly healed. It also means we have misunderstood a key aspect of what forgiveness is supposed to do.

The purpose of forgiveness is to release ourselves from the bondage of playing God in someone else’s life for what they did in ours. But it is difficult to see how this can be done and not feel as if the person whom we are forgiving is getting off scot-free.

A phrase that has often been used to describe forgiveness, and I believe incorrectly so, is the idea of “forgive and forget”. Now, I would like to say from the start that it is true God says that he casts our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). The God who is infinite in knowledge is able to “forget” our sins. The problem with trying to apply that ability to those of us who are still living in and managing the effects of this sinful world are too many to describe here.

What I would like to do is to show that forgiveness according to Scripture is not trying to forget what has happened. Rather forgiveness is the releasing of our desire to be the judge against the person who has wronged us. Why do I make this distinction? I do so because throughout Scripture we are reminded that God is the judge of all the earth. That God is the one who will make every injustice right. What many of us are upset about is the fact that God is not operating our timeline. We feel the weight of the injustice and therefore desire an immediate response to it. But this is not biblical forgiveness.

Bishop Luis L. Scott, the pastor of Ambassadors of Christ Fellowship, provides a helpful summary of the doctrine of forgiveness as articulated in Scripture. Forgive and forget is only possible by God. But we can mirror to the best of our abilities the kind of forgiveness that a broken and fallen person can perform by working to apply the following phrase: “forgive and forgo”.

What this phrase reminds us of is that forgiveness is the foregoing of what we believe is a just repayment for the injustice we have suffered. By foregoing our need to see the penalty of injustice meted out in our presence we are entrusting to God what only he can do and still be just — and that is to be a just judge against sin.

As we continue our steady march toward Easter morning is important for us to recognize that the kind of forgiveness we have experienced in Christ should be shared with others. This is not always easy. But it’s always required of us to try. It may take longer or shorter than we may be prepared to do. But the goal is not to get to the point where we can forgive and forgo on someone else’s timetable. The goal is to be able to forgive and forgo in such a way that we embody the fullness of God’s grace and mercy as we have experienced it. That way when others experience forgiveness they might see how much greater and more perfect God’s forgiveness is toward us all.

Lent 2022 | Day 29: Charity

In our modern translations of the Bible one word has been modernized that can leave us with, what I believe, is an incomplete impression of its meaning. That word is love. The depth of meaning of this word in English can be difficult to describe. And understanding how we should understand this word’s usage when we find it in the Scriptures can create some unhelpful confusion.

We have all heard that in Greek the word love can be represented by several Greek words. We will not rehearse that here. However, it is worth noting that in older versions of English translations the word love was very often translated as charity. The meaning of the word charity has shifted in the centuries since it was first used as the translation for the Greek word agape. And in the transition, I believe that we have lost an important aspect of what God’s love looks like towards us.

In common usage today the word charity describes the act of one person towards another where the first person is offering benevolence towards the second. The idea is that the person extending charity is giving to the other person something that is not within their power to attain. This is often seen in the form of giving food or shelter or money to those in poverty. But there are other forms of charity many of which you may already practice.

The question I think we should consider is why do we not want to see God’s love toward us with this in mind? In what way or for what reason should we not see God’s grace as a form of charity toward us?

We are incapable of accepting this, I believe, because of our sin. The separation our sin causes in our re-establishing our relationship with God can make us feel worse when God what’s to show his love toward us. But God, who is love, has reached down from heaven in the person of Jesus Christ and has made a way for us to reconnect with him. This demonstration of love is in its truest form an act of charity. Where God is extending to us what we could never acquire for ourselves.

There is no reason to feel that this diminishes us in any way. Just because someone receives charity it is not an attack on the inherent dignity they possess. But it could be easy to see why some would be concerned with this understanding. We should do all we can to remember that love is the act of one performed for the benefit of another. The way that that love is expressed is dependent on the circumstances in which the recipient finds themselves.

When we fully understand the state in which we find ourselves because of sin we should adopt a posture of humility. To reject God’s love because God recognizes we can do nothing without him is a form of pride. And it is one that should be rejected.

God’s love toward us is something we can never earn, and in a very real sense, do not deserve. This is not a statement designed to make us feel bad. It is a statement designed to help us gain the perspective we need to approach God and receive from God in humility and sincerity.

As we continue our journey towards Easter morning, I pray we will not be distracted by the circumstances of life that would keep us from receiving God’s love. The fact that God, who does not need to earn our approval, has chosen to extend his love toward us should inspire us to seek him more intently. God’s love, properly defined, is charity toward us. For God who knows all things, who sees all things, and who has all power has chosen to extend toward us his infinite charity.

This is a reason to rejoice and worship God. Let us do that without reservation today and every day of our lives to come.

Lent 2022 | 5th Sunday in Lent: Celebrate!

Every Sunday in Lent is a time of celebration. And in our journey through this season of Lent, we have been focusing our attention on God’s grace. Today we celebrate the volume of God’s grace. By volume, I mean the sheer amount of it as God has given it to us.

Several weeks ago while serving on a spiritual retreat for youth, I was reminded of the fact that God has withheld none of his grace from us. We may experience God’s grace in different ways because of where we are on our journey with God. It could be a result of our immaturity or lack of discernment keeping us from fully appreciating God’s grace. But God is not stingy with us regarding his grace.

I’m always surprised by the way many people think of God’s grace. God has never withheld from his people anything he has promised. This may seem odd to think about but it is no less true. In particular, when God gave his grace withheld none of it from us. What makes this statement difficult for many is that we do not always feel it or even know how God’s grace is at work in our lives. That topic alone would take far longer than we have room for in this devotional. But I would like to offer a thought as to why we should reconsider any thought that leads us to think God has kept back any of his grace from us.

When I think about God’s grace the first place I look to understand the nature, scope, and volume of it is at the cross of Calvary. On the cross we see the wrath of God poured out upon Jesus for the redemption of the whole world. In that encounter and through Jesus’s death a great exchange takes place. The wrath of God is satisfied by the sacrifice of the Son and the righteousness of Christ is extended to all who surrender in trust and faith to him. It is in this exchange of wrath for righteousness that God’s grace is manifested.

Jesus’s sacrifice is not only offered once but it is offered completely. Never to be repeated because it was perfectly satisfying the requirements of redemption. It is in these particular and unique qualities of that moment that we must assess the volume of God’s grace. In light of Jesus’s sacrifice, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, we must consider God’s grace as being at least equally as effective as Jesus’s sacrifice. To think any less is to make a mockery of the entire thing.

We can rejoice in God’s grace because there is no sin that escaped Christ’s offering of his life. That means that regardless of where we find ourselves on life’s road God’s grace is there waiting for us. Because Jesus’s sacrifice can never again be repeated God’s grace will forever be available to all who trust in his Son.

What a glorious thing to consider, that God’s grace can never run out for Christ’s sacrifice can never be diminished. These two realities exist in a perfect relationship and in perfect proportion to each other. And it’s not until we understand this and accept it that we will find clarity and peace about the volume of God’s grace.

Let us rejoice today in the volume of God’s grace. It is immeasurable. It is indescribable. It is undefeatable. And it is every beautiful superlative we could ascribe to it. Thanks be to God!

Lent 2022 | Day 28: Teach

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the closing of chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. As the final words concluding Jesus’s sermon on the Mount. What Matthew captures for us is the feeling of the people as they reflect on Jesus’s teaching to them.

²⁸ and when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, ²⁹ for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:28-29 ESV

What was it about Jesus’s teaching that was so different from that of the scribes? On the surface, it is difficult to say exactly what it was. But I would guess that Jesus’s willingness to speak about difficult things with confidence and without hesitation was one of the clearest differences the people could notice. We know that because Jesus is God he spoke with the authority that only God can have. But the people at the time would not have known that. So what they saw had to of been something anyone could have seen.

The power of Jesus’s words can still be felt today. One of the principal reasons is because of the way Jesus’s words cut through to the heart of the topic under discussion. On more than one occasion Jesus was told that his sayings were difficult to accept. Not that they were difficult to understand. It was precisely because the people understood what Jesus was asking that made the sayings so hard.

This is one of the key attributes of faithful teaching. It is something we should look for in those to whom we submit for instruction. Good teaching is not about growing in the quantity of information we can accumulate. Good teaching produces in the listener the desire to be transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. This is how we know if we are growing. That when we hear teaching that calls us to a deeper obedience to Christ and a more consistent faithfulness to God we accept the challenge offered by such a teaching.

Over the course of the last few weeks, we have strived to speak to a variety of topics that may be taken for granted. Where we do not think to consider them as we could. God can oftentimes be most easily missed in the simple and ordinary moments of life. This is why we need times like the season of Lent to slow us down and see we can look again with fresh eyes where God may be active in our lives.

Over the next few days, we will continue our journey towards Easter morning. I would encourage you to maybe take a look at some of the previous devotional thoughts and think again about what it would look like to become more aware of that particular subject.

You can find all the Series Posts by clicking on the link below.

Series Page

Lent 2022 | Day 27: Write

“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.”
Habakkuk 2:2 ESV

In the verse above found in the book of the prophet Habakkuk, there is a moment when God instructs the prophet to write the vision he has given to him.

The purpose of the instruction has two parts. The first is to make the meaning of the vision plain. God did not desire for those who read what the prophet wrote to be confused about what he intended for them to do. Even though the mind of God is beyond our ability to apprehend God has chosen to speak and reveal himself to us. And he has chosen to do so in ways we can understand. This gracious act by God is one we oftentimes take for granted.

The Scriptures serve as a clear example of God’s desire for us to know what God wants us to know. When we do not avail ourselves to this revelation from God we do so to our own detriment. This does not mean the Scriptures are easy to understand. There are challenges to reading it and understanding it properly. But these challenges are the same that can be found in any book in the rest of the world. Not because the Bible was written BY men. But because the Bible was written FOR men. Therefore God used the same means of producing the Scriptures as any other book would need in order to be interacted with by other men.

The second part of asking the prophet to write the vision was to ensure the correct response was elicited by those who read it. When God speaks it is not merely the transfer of information from his mind to ours. God has taken the time to codify his word in such a way that we can return to it again and again. And as we return we see with new eyes what has been there from the beginning. This is one of the most remarkable attributes of the Scriptures. It is one of the characteristics that sets it apart from any other written book in the history of humanity.

This very practical admonition by God to the prophet can serve as instruction for us today. We too often think we can remember everything God has shown to us through his word. But that is not the case. The human mind is not designed to hold all that information at one time. But God has given us a way of recording our thoughts so that we may return back to them and consider them over and over again. If you do not have a habit of making notes as you read Scripture I would encourage you to do so whether it is with pen and paper or in a digital app on an electronic device. I would encourage you to begin to do so.

We would do well to remember God’s love toward us in giving us his word in written form. But God went one step further. That step was to send the living word to the world in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. When Jesus walked upon the earth it was the very word of God walking and talking among men and women. This fact is so mind-blowing in its implications that it is difficult to even begin to describe it adequately.

In a little over a week, we will celebrate again the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the grave. One of the reasons we can celebrate is because we have a written record that we can return to. I thank God for his wisdom in providing us a written record to consult and engage with. It is one of God’s greatest gifts to us as his people.

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.