Whose Glory are you Seeking

"How can you believe, when you receive glory from one and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"

John 6:44 (NASB)

When we go through our lives and think mainly of ourselves and little of what God would want of us, what is really happening.  For the most part we do not give this a second thought.  And yet Jesus words in his third discourse should cause some concern for most of us as we are notoriously good at seeking our own glory.  The hard part is that Jesus makes this a point of difficulty for genuine belief in Him as the source of salvation. 

In the Old Testament Isaiah said it this way:

"I am the Lord, that is my name; I will not give My glory to another. . . "  Isaiah 42:8 (NASB)

God it would seem has revealed that He does not share glory with anyone.  That means all my attempts to build my own glory are actually fighting against the God who deserves all the glory.  This puts my choices in a slightly different context. 

Our desire should be to seek that God be honored and glorified about all things.  That means He is to be exalted above ourselves.  That means each choice we make should be made with the desire and goal to bring honor and glory to God.  When we get this backward and make ourselves the goal of God's actions we can tend to really get discouraged.  When we correctly see that we are the tools of God's glory we can endure even difficulty knowing that God is going to bring about our good through His glory!  And sometimes that has to be enough. 

So I will end with a question - whose glory are you seeking today?

A tribute to Mother's

Mother's Day is just around the corner.  I know this because I have been trying to rack my brain to think about what to do for my beautiful wife when all of the usual places that I would shop are closed!  And the more I got to thinking about all she does for our family, I realized something.  Most of the rest of the world has had some sort of differences that have given more time to many.  Many people are either working from home and schooling from home.  Many people are out of work at the moment.  And all of this means that more people are home.  And for many moms, this has meant more work and not less.  More time watching the kids with fewer breaks and not even the ability to take them to a playground for a few minutes of respite. 

Moms have had to endure more time with toddlers and little ones.  More time breaking up fights between the older ones.  More time enduring the age old statement, "Mom, I'm bored."  Moms have had to endure a lot, and there is no extra payment received that I am aware of anywhere for being a mom. 

I think that a lot of times we look to our moms and wives to do much more than they ever intended.  So, dads, here is a list of free things that you can do this Mother's Day to help your wife have the best Mother's Day ever. 

1. Be the spiritual leader that God calls you to be. 
2. Listen to her frustrations.
3. Help her raise the kids.
4. Show your kids that you love your wife and will support her in all she does.
5. Make a meal (or at least bring one home)
6. Say something nice to her just because.
7. Make a list of all the things you notice she does for you and your kids and thank her for it.
8. Make her a card.
9. Give her a morning off where she can do whatever she wants and you will feed, care and nurture the children.
10. Pray for her daily.

None of these things cost a dime and they are always open for business!  So make use of this list and do even more to show how much you appreciate the mother of your children!

Do you wish to get well?

In John 5:6, Jesus asks a man who had been limited by illness for 38 years a simple question.  "Do you wish to get well?"  I am fascinated by this question.  At first glance the answer is obvious - of course I want to get well, who would want to stay unwell for any extended period of time.  Most of my existence is me either reveling in the good times or asking God to get me out of the bad times.  We all think we want to be well. 

However it is interesting because still Jesus asks the question.  And in the question Jesus reveals something - He is truly the only way that this man could get well.  This is the hard part.  We do not want to surrender control over our lives to an unknown.  We want to do things in the way that we have worked our minds around and only that way.  If there is another way that is unknown and potentially difficult, maybe if given the choice we would actually answer no.  In fact, many times I think we do answer no.  We do not want to be well in the way that only Jesus can heal us.  Sometimes His way involves difficulty and trial and we do not want that.  Sometimes His way involves forgiveness and we do not want to do that.  Sometimes His way involves going against the grain of society and standing out.  We  do not want to do that.  And so we answer no.  Unwittingly and silently we tell Jesus no we do not want to be well in His appointed way. 

And so we continue in our state of being unwell simply because we are unwilling to try the way that Jesus has made for us.  Is this you today?  Are you unwell and yet have not tried the way that Jesus prescribed for you?  Maybe you should try.  Maybe you should seek God's Word and the way that God would want you to be obedient.  This is the path to wellness.  Do you want to be well?

Prepare your Minds for Action

This past Ressurection Sunday I preached on 1 Peter 1:3-9 and the importance of keeping our focus on Christ because when we do we can have joy.  But there is a second half to the sermon that comes in verse 13 of the same chapter.

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  1 Peter 1:13 (NASB)

I want to focus on two parts of this verse.  The second half of the verse is consistent with the whole first part of the chapter - we are to keep our hope fixed on the future grace that will be given to us when Jesus is revealed.  We need to keep reminding ourselves that there is more to life than just the here and now and that we have something better waiting for us! 

This is really hard to do sometimes.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment - so enthralled with the present that we do not learn from our past and we cannot in any way look ahead.  In fact, many times, we do not think about the certainty of the future at all.  The future in our culture is always unknowable and uncertain and we as Christians forget that our future is both knowable and certain because of the promises of God. 

I really want to focus in on the first party of this verse.  We are to prepare our minds for action.  In other words, we are to think about what is going to happen ahead of time and prepare ourselves while focusing ourselves on the future that we know is coming.  We do not simply sit back and wait for God to do His work while we do nothing - we must prepare our minds to do the things that God is going to do and then do the things that He has called us to.  Which, if you read ahead a few verses, is to be holy like the One who called us is Holy.  But holiness does not happen by accident.  Obedience does not happen by accident.  Trust does not happen by accident.  We must prepare our minds for these things!  We must prepare.  We must prepare by putting on the armor of God.  We must prepare by forcing ourselves to focus on the things that God calls us to focus on.  We must prepare by getting into the Word of God on a regular basis.  We must prepare through prayer and meditation on the Word of God.  We must prepare.

Do not think for a moment that life just "happens" and we have to roll with whatever life throws at us.  Our life is on a path toward the destination that God has revealed for us and we must prepare ourselves to do that which God has called us to do.  So, if we want to respond rightly to all of the uncertainty in our world, we must prepare ourselves mentally to do so by doing the prep-work!

The Resurrection

"If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." 
                                                                                             1 Cor. 15:19 (NASB)

This week is holy week.  The week where we lead up to the most glorious day in all of the calendar for those of us who claim the name of Christ.  I am not sure that we often think of this week in those terms, but this is the best week of the year.  This is better than the birth of Christ, better than Pentecost, better than any other holiday religious or otherwise.  This one day is the day that we pin our hope on.  Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ we have no hope and our faith is worthless (see verse 18 of the same chapter). 

Why is this so important?  I want to give three simple reasons why the fact that we serve a living Savior is so critical in our daily lives.

1. Jesus alive means that God is faithful and true.  - Jesus living in the plan of God and his conquering of death means that God is faithful and true to His promises.  Think of all of the times in the Old Testament that God promised Israel something better in Messiah.  Jesus being raised to life is the culmination of all of those promises.  God is faithful to do what He has said He will do.

2. Jesus alive means I can have life.  - The life that Jesus lives means that I get to have life.  The song says, "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow."  But in reality, because He lives, I can live today, and tomorrow and the future because I know that Jesus has conquered all that would seek to destroy my present life.  I can live my life in abundance knowing that I can look forward to God fulfilling all of the promises yet to be fulfilled.

3.  Jesus alive gives peace.  - Think about it.  Where is Jesus right now at this very moment?  If you answer in your heart you are not thinking about the right person of the Trinity.  The Spirit of God is God who lives in you.  Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father ruling from His throne.  A throne He sat down upon after completing His work here on earth.  A throne He will rise from to make all things right.  Jesus is in the presence of God and He has gone there to prepare a place for you and for me.  And that brings me a great deal of peace.  Knowing that just like God raised Jesus from the dead, death is only a blink when I open my eyes in the presence of my Savior.  Peace.  Eternal Peace.  From the very Prince of Peace.

And the list goes on and on.  But these three things are a good place to start.  This is why Resurrection Sunday is so critical!  This is why it is the best day, and the best week, of the year.

Things that do not change # 2 - the presence of God

This was not a written devotional, but a Sunday service that can be found in audio form here : https://wlbc.sermoncloud.com/# under the heading "March 29"

or you can watch the whole church service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyryUu7hSgY

God's presence with us does not change!

Things that do not Change # 1 - The Word of God

Things seem a little crazy right now don’t they!  I want you to know that in times that are strange and uncertain it can be difficult to obey the commands of Scripture to avoid worry and anxiety.  Our natural impulse is to want to protect our status quo and keep things “normal.”  And when normal gets upset one of the first human responses is anxiety about the future.  So, how is it that the Bible can ask of us that we avoid anxiety?  How can we practically move from anxiety to peace?  

Obviously there are some simple answers like prayer and reading the Bible, but I think that even though we know these are good things to do we do not know how or why they are helping us.  I want to offer a bit of something I have learned:  In order to avoid worry we have to replace it with something else.  Worry is essentially focus on the unknown and that which can’t be known.  Anxiety is then stressing about the unknown and that which cannot be known.  We can help ourselves by replacing these things with that which we do know.  And so I thought I would share a brief devotional about things that we know!

I would call your attention to Isaiah 40. 

The thing that does not change is the Word of God.  God’s Word does not change.  Notice first verse 8 “The word of our God stands forever.”  Think about that.  In changing times we can be anchored to the Word of God!  Stop for a moment and meditate on that phrase.  Say it to yourself over and over again.  The Word of our God stands forever.  The Word of our God stands forever.  The Word of our God stands forever. 

Now look at the surrounding narrative.  The first few verses are a call to peace.  This call comes after a plot to overthrown all of Judah by the nation of Assyria.  Hezekiah seeks God’s help and is rewarded with a victory in chapter 37.  After that great moment he becomes mortally ill.  He prays and seeks God and he is healed.  Then in chapter 39 Hezekiah boasts of all the wealth he has accumulated and the prophet tells him it will all be taken to Babylon.  Talk about times of uncertainty and turmoil!  And in chapter 40 God speaks.  And God talks about His own greatness.  And in verse 3 we see a voice call out about preparing for God (think John the Baptist and the fulfillment of this).  In verse 6 that voice tells the prophet to call out and then proceeds to tell the prophet what to say. 

The prophet is to speak that all flesh is grass and will wither and fade.  In other words, if we are placing our hope and certainty with people, we are misplaced.  ALL FLESH IS GRASS.  People are impermanent.  No one likes to think about this, but we are impermanent.  We are weak and frail.  We are but a vapor and a mist.  We are sheep.  People are not where we put our hope. And yet so often we place our hope on people.  Our perspective needs to be tempered by the Word of God which says that flesh is perishable, the Word of God is not.  This thought continues – in the same chapter in verse 23-24 he reminds us that human rulers and powers are meaningless and God blows on them and they are carried away.  God however, and His Word, are not like humans.  God and His Word are stable.  God’s Word stands forever.  God’s Word stands forever.  And so in crazy times we are called to not look at the world around us and try to make sense of it in order to find peace.   We are told to look up.  Literally.  Notice verse 26 – “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars.”  And we find our comfort in the last 5 verses of the same chapter.  We must wait on the Lord whose Word never fails.  The Word of our God stands forever.  And God’s Word (in the same chapter even) tells us that we who wait on God will gain new strength! 

So in our tendency toward anxiety may we all remember that we can have peace when we look to those things that do not change.  Spend time studying the Word of God.  Spend time placing your faith and hope in the things that will never change.  And in them find certainty and peace.  The Word of our God stands forever.