The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise. Psalm 110:10 NIV
Some people say that fear is abnormal and a sign of a lack of faith. Others say that fear is merely an emotional and biological response to danger or uncertainty. Whoever is correct I know for sure that there is no way to guaranty you will have a fear-free existence. The real problem of fear is not how to avoid it, but how to face it. I think the only way to face fear is to face it with God.
Consider the fact that God is on our side (Hebrews 13:5 Amplified). Also consider that God asks us to cast the whole of our anxieties, worries, and concerns on Him, for He deeply cares for us
(1 Peter 5:7). God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). And God’s plans don’t include fear. We may never be able to avoid experiencing fear, but we know where to place our fears, at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ!
I think that when we truly believe God loves us, when we immerse ourselves in following His ways, fear becomes an afterthought when compared to the reality of who we are in Christ. We are a Holy priesthood, a royal people and even more so, the apple of the Father’s eye.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Feeling the Truth
They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
Luke 24:32 New International Version (emphasis added)
In my opinion, emotions are something not to be trusted. They cause us to say and do things we normally wouldn’t. Emotions cloud our reason and often lead us to circumstances that could have been avoided.
In this particular verse, feelings are at work in an unusual way. I don’t think these men had heartburn, I think that they had a physical rush and a mental awareness when truth was proclaimed by the embodiment of truth himself (a.k.a. Jesus). And, maybe that is the way truth reaches out to us. It does not encompass the mind alone, but our bodies too. Truth affects everything in us, our entire being.
My closest experience to theirs in this verse is when I “became aware of” who Christ is. I felt like my heart was racing. My mind was incredibly aware and I was shocked that I, a man of reason, was physically feeling so much over a revelation about Jesus. I admit that it has been an ongoing revelation, for I still get short of breath and become more aware of this ever-growing Jesus. I suppose that I am still feeling the truth.
Luke 24:32 New International Version (emphasis added)
In my opinion, emotions are something not to be trusted. They cause us to say and do things we normally wouldn’t. Emotions cloud our reason and often lead us to circumstances that could have been avoided.
In this particular verse, feelings are at work in an unusual way. I don’t think these men had heartburn, I think that they had a physical rush and a mental awareness when truth was proclaimed by the embodiment of truth himself (a.k.a. Jesus). And, maybe that is the way truth reaches out to us. It does not encompass the mind alone, but our bodies too. Truth affects everything in us, our entire being.
My closest experience to theirs in this verse is when I “became aware of” who Christ is. I felt like my heart was racing. My mind was incredibly aware and I was shocked that I, a man of reason, was physically feeling so much over a revelation about Jesus. I admit that it has been an ongoing revelation, for I still get short of breath and become more aware of this ever-growing Jesus. I suppose that I am still feeling the truth.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Discovering You
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Luke 24:32-35 New International Version
The resurrected Jesus didn’t become recognizable by his friends until he “broke the bread”. The breaking of the bread probably reminded them of Jesus’ words about bread such as, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). I imagine that is when they began to put the puzzle pieces together.
Likewise, I think our true identity comes to the surface when we are broken. When painful situations come for us, the real you and the real me come forth. It seems that when broken, fabrication falls away and the truth comes into severe clarity. Tell me, what happens when you are broken? Does this strange but familiar monster come to the surface? Or maybe a gentle soul comes forth? Who is the real “you” that is hiding under polite religious talk and a passing simile? When troubles arise, what breaks through to the surface is the real you.
Luke 24:32-35 New International Version
The resurrected Jesus didn’t become recognizable by his friends until he “broke the bread”. The breaking of the bread probably reminded them of Jesus’ words about bread such as, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). I imagine that is when they began to put the puzzle pieces together.
Likewise, I think our true identity comes to the surface when we are broken. When painful situations come for us, the real you and the real me come forth. It seems that when broken, fabrication falls away and the truth comes into severe clarity. Tell me, what happens when you are broken? Does this strange but familiar monster come to the surface? Or maybe a gentle soul comes forth? Who is the real “you” that is hiding under polite religious talk and a passing simile? When troubles arise, what breaks through to the surface is the real you.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Doomsday
Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 New Living Translation
Do you remember when people were on edge about the year two-thousand? I recall a fairly famous television preacher that touted the year two-thousand as the “year of our Lord’s return”. I remember New Year ’s Eve 1999. I watched the ball drop at Times Square in New York City as the New Year rolled in. I halfway expected that once the clock struck twelve, Jesus and that television preacher would brilliantly appear in the sky to rescue us from this world. Alas, I am writing this devotional with the hopes that you will be reading it. And, if you have not been paying attention, they (whoever they are) are at it again. 2012 is now the new doomsday (or year as it is). No one actually knows what will happen on doomsday, but everyone seems to fear it none the less.
Did you know that the Bible never speaks of a doomsday for those that follow Jesus? For those that are believers, the end, (I think that transformation is a better way to say it), is a time of great excitement. I use the word “transformation” because the world will not end in fire and explosions; it will last forever (Ecclesiastes 1:4) and can never be moved (Psalms 105:5). Our lives and our planet will experience a change of order, protocol and procedure in its modus operandi. In other words, the world and us will be changed back or into something God has intended.
Is talk of the future a subject of fear for you? Does it provoke thoughts of uncertainty? It need not. The Bible says in Isaiah 12:2 that, “God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” God wants to be your salvation today. He wants you to be courageous and strong, full of singing and confident in His power to rescue you. Rescue you from “what” you ask? Rescue you from an afterlife that is fully and irrevocably disconnected from God (a.k.a. spiritual death). Maybe I should state it differently; you have two choices - a “doomsday” or a “life-day”. You choose by rejecting or accepting God’s Son.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 New Living Translation
Do you remember when people were on edge about the year two-thousand? I recall a fairly famous television preacher that touted the year two-thousand as the “year of our Lord’s return”. I remember New Year ’s Eve 1999. I watched the ball drop at Times Square in New York City as the New Year rolled in. I halfway expected that once the clock struck twelve, Jesus and that television preacher would brilliantly appear in the sky to rescue us from this world. Alas, I am writing this devotional with the hopes that you will be reading it. And, if you have not been paying attention, they (whoever they are) are at it again. 2012 is now the new doomsday (or year as it is). No one actually knows what will happen on doomsday, but everyone seems to fear it none the less.
Did you know that the Bible never speaks of a doomsday for those that follow Jesus? For those that are believers, the end, (I think that transformation is a better way to say it), is a time of great excitement. I use the word “transformation” because the world will not end in fire and explosions; it will last forever (Ecclesiastes 1:4) and can never be moved (Psalms 105:5). Our lives and our planet will experience a change of order, protocol and procedure in its modus operandi. In other words, the world and us will be changed back or into something God has intended.
Is talk of the future a subject of fear for you? Does it provoke thoughts of uncertainty? It need not. The Bible says in Isaiah 12:2 that, “God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” God wants to be your salvation today. He wants you to be courageous and strong, full of singing and confident in His power to rescue you. Rescue you from “what” you ask? Rescue you from an afterlife that is fully and irrevocably disconnected from God (a.k.a. spiritual death). Maybe I should state it differently; you have two choices - a “doomsday” or a “life-day”. You choose by rejecting or accepting God’s Son.
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