The Desire of Your Heart

Whenever we take Joy to a department store, she always convinces Poppy to head to the toy section. Up and down the aisles I hear “I want that, Poppy!” “I want that!” You and I are just like her. Our wants drive us to go places, make purchases, establish relationships, and yes, sin. It all starts with the desires of our hearts.

Go back to the garden with Adam and Eve. When the serpent tempted her, he didn’t say, “Look at this luscious fruit, Eve. It’s so tasty and pretty! Why, this fruit is full of wisdom. Don’t you want wisdom, Eve?” He let Eve tap into her own desires to make her decision. “The woman saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, [so] she took some and ate it” (Gen 3:6).

Was it wrong for her to desire tasty, pretty food? Was it wrong for her to want wisdom? Not at all. The garden was full of food she was welcome to (2:16) and God would surely have told her anything she needed or wanted to know (Jas 1:5). Instead, she went after the one thing God had forbidden.

That’s the same picture James painted when he wrote, “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed” (Jas 1:14). Remember Eve’s desire for food and wisdom were not wrong desires. But now with the introduction of sin, man’s desires are often laced with evil, and that evil desire – the original language called it “lust” – drives us all the harder to attain whatever it is we want.

Is there any hope for our wicked, evil hearts? Yes! David said, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart, (Ps 37:4). The answer is to desire God. Like Joy, whatever we want we will pursue. If we want toys, we’ll head to the toy aisle. If we want fruit, we’ll go to the tree (or the produce section of the grocery store). If we want immorality, we’ll search it out until we find it. And if we desire God – well, we don’t have to look far, because He promises we will find Him (Jer 29:13).

Because of our sinful natures desiring God is not our default. But you can ask Him for it. Here’s a prayer that God will honor: “Lord, cause me to want you above every other thing. Make Yourself the desire of my heart.” And He will.

Shaken and Stirred

When I read about the first church and those who fled Jerusalem under persecution for the gospel (Acts 8:1-3) and the martyrs who died with the name of Jesus on their lips, and I think about the Christians in the east who are still tortured and killed for their faith in Christ, I am ashamed. Oswald Chambers rightly said, “Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.” Beware of the Lazy-Boy faith of the Western church today. The true Christian life is not safe.

If every day as a Christian is an easy-breezy-peazy day, then we are in trouble. Following Jesus is not intended to be some blissful nirvana. It’s a climb, a race, a battle, a challenge.  It’s a step-by-step, day-by-day, prayer-by-prayer trek over desert sand and rocky mountains and treacherous trails through hostile territory.  That’s the life the Apostles experienced.  That’s the life the martyrs endured.  Their faith was tried and tested in the fires, and it came forth as gold.  The Christians with the strongest, deepest faith are the ones who defy opposition, persecution, threats, and even death for the name of Jesus.  The most dangerous state for a Christian is when all is right in their little world. 

After grapes are crushed to extract the juice it is placed in containers and allowed to ferment.  During fermentation, the dregs, or sediment, settle at the bottom of the container.  After forty days the wine is “shaken up” – poured into another container to allow the dregs to be removed.  If the dregs remain, the wine becomes too sweet and thick and it is spoiled. The Lord spoke of Israel’s enemy, “Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another.  So she tastes as she did and her aroma is unchanged” (Jer. 48:11).  Moab had been largely at peace, and their turmoil-free life had made them spoiled.  The Lord said the same of Jerusalem, “I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs . . . (Zephaniah 1:12)”

Beloved, has your life – and your faith – been shaken lately?  Mine has. James says, “Count it all Joy . . .” (James 1:2).  God is sifting out the dregs, the dangerously sweet stuff that spoils you.  He is making your life an offering worthy of Christ.  Is it hard?  You bet.  Is it painful?  Without a doubt.  Is it worth it?  Just ask the saints who endured.  They’re the ones singing songs of Joy and praise around the throne.

Acts: I Cannot Tell a Lie

What sets the church apart from every other organization? Consider all the benevolent organizations in the world that are dedicated to good causes. What makes the church different?  I see two things in today’s Scripture – grab your Bible and read Acts 4:32-5:11. Luke wrote, “All the believers were one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32). Unity is the first point that stood out. Their focus was caring for one another and proclaiming the resurrection of the Lord Jesus (v. 32-33). The first is at the heart of today’s Scripture lesson, but the second, declaring the gospel, was – and still is – the mission of the church and we’ll see that as we continue through Acts and into the history of the church.

The first believers were selfless and “shared everything they had” so that “there were no needy persons among them” (vs. 32, 34).  We’ve been through some very tough times financially, but God put us on someone’s heart and they met our needs with gracious plenty. I am forever grateful for their compassion and the Lord’s provision.

Not only did the believers share out of their own supply, but they often sold property and brought the money to the church for distribution. And this brings us to another distinguishing mark of the church: integrity. A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold some property and brought some of the money to the apostles as an offering. But he told them it was the full amount. The Lord was not pleased – not because of the sum of money given, but because of the lie. Peter told Ananias that the money was his to do with as he chose. He would not have been at fault for bringing a portion of the money – if he had been honest about it. Peter said, “You have lied to the Holy Spirit . . . you have not lied to men but to God (v. 3, 4).” His wife confirmed the same lie. Both Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for their deception.

That seems pretty extreme, but we have to understand that dishonesty is an ugly stain on the church. It harms the reputation and the mission of the Body of Christ. When a person is known for deceitfulness, we disregard everything they say. When a representative of the church is dishonest, even their testimony about Christ is in doubt.  Simply put, nobody trusts a liar, even when they are speaking the truth. When a church member is untrustworthy in their business or their marriage or their relationships, nothing they say is worth believing.

The Bible is clear: “God does not lie” (Nu 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb 6:18). Nor should we. For the sake of Christ and the gospel, we must be people of integrity. Beloved, you were made in the image of God – speak in His image too.

Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual battles are part of the Christian life, and they come in many forms, but always with the same purpose – to destroy God’s mission. Satan is the hand behind spiritual warfare and his chief battle plan is to make God’s servants back down from Kingdom work. He has a great variety of weapons. He frequently uses fear and sin. But his favorite fiery dart is discouragement. And he will often use people close to you. I know this one personally.

After the Israelites were granted their freedom from Babylonian captivity, Nehemiah lead the people to rebuild the walls that protected Jerusalem. But Israel’s enemy (led by Sanballat and Tobiah) did not want those walls back up. They started their opposition with ridicule (Neh. 4:1-3). But Nehemiah and the people called on God to “Turn their insults back on their own heads” (v. 4) and they continued the good work. “So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height,” and I love this part, “for the people worked with all their heart” (v. 6). The Israelites were not discouraged or distracted.

But neither were Sanballat and Tobiah. They attacked with more anger and “plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it” (v. 8).  The Israelites still did not lay down and quit. “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (v. 9).

Even the neighboring Jews warned them that the attacks would continue and the persecution did begin to wear on them, (v. 12). Nehemiah told them, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (v. 14). And so “we all returned to the wall, each to his own work” (v. 15) with building materials in one hand, weapons in the other, and a sword at their side (v. 17-18), and the assurance that “Our God will fight for us” (v. 20).

Five times Sanballat tried to stop the work, even writing blatant lies, “trying to intimidate me” (6:19). But Nehemiah knew “They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.’” So he prayed, “Now strengthen my hands” (6:5-9). The wall was completed in fifty-two days (v.15) and the enemies “were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God” (v. 16).

Spiritual warfare is real and it’s ugly, but do not be afraid of the enemy or anything or anyone he uses. Pray for strength. Keep your hand to the work and your Sword at your side. Beloved, God will help you. He will fight for you, and the enemy – and his weapons – will lose. “No weapon formed against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me.” (Is 54:17).

What’s so Good about Good Friday?

Good Friday. The day that the sky turned dark in the middle of the afternoon (Matt 27:45). The day the Father turned away from His Son (v. 46). The day Jesus gave up his spirit (v. 50). The day the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook violently (v. 51). The day the tombs broke open and dead people walked the streets of Jerusalem (v. 52). The day an innocent man died for crimes He did not commit. Why then, do we call it “Good?”

Because this is the day that bought freedom for condemned men and women. This is the day that love bled and died so that you and I might live eternally. It is a good day. It is a holy day. But we need to know the back story to understand why.

The Jewish religion was centered around sacrifice and atonement. Blood was necessary to atone for sin and make the people clean – “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb 9:22),  because “The life of a creature [human or animal] is in the blood (Lev 17:11). In God’s holy covenant, only “blood makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev. 17:14). Blood is synonymous with life – any physician will tell you that when the body runs out of blood the life is drained with it. Life is the price of our sins.

God in His mercy allowed animals’ blood to stand in for men’s blood, but its effect was short-lived and only partially cleansing. It had to be repeated year after year after year. But He had planned a better way; a way that would atone for sin “once for all” (Heb. 9:12), but it required perfect blood that was only available through a divine and holy being. But there’s a problem.  God can’t die. So His one and only Son became a man – a man with divine blood – that He might atone for humanity’s sin. He hung on a cross and dripped that perfect blood from His broken human body. No other sacrifice would be needed. Jesus had done it all.

That is why we call this dark day “Good Friday.” Beloved if you repent of your sins and receive Jesus’ cleansing, you will understand how good this day is. It is the day that good overcame evil (Rom 12:21).

Sonrise

In the garden on the Mount of Olives, Judas led a crowd of angry men toward Jesus.  You know this account – it’s almost required reading at Eastertide. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Peter cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, which, of course, the Lord immediately healed (Lk 22:47-53; Jn 18:10).  Before He is led away, Jesus, speaking to His arrestors says, “This is your hour–when darkness reigns (v. 53)”. Now, I’ve read this passage multiple times, but this time one word stood out to me. “Hour.” And the question came: What does that mean?  That is the signal from the Holy Spirit to start digging because there is something I need to discover. I live for these opportunities.

The Greek word for “hour” means “a moment; a short period; a fixed portion of time.” Jesus said that darkness had been given an hour to reign – but only an hour, a sliver of time. The darkness is, of course, evil. But even the power of evil was held to just a moment with a beginning and definite end. Just enough time to accomplish God’s divine purpose – salvation.

Who has sovereign authority over time?  Who established the rising and setting of the sun?  Who determined the seasons on earth?  Who made the sun stand still to prolong the day (Jos 10:1-14)? Who moved the sunlight backward ten steps to prove his power (Is 38:7-8)?

Is it dark in your life today? Does it seem that evil has the upper hand? Remember, darkness is only allowed a moment – a fixed portion of time. And only until God’s purpose is fulfilled. The same One who commands the sun holds the hourglass of your life and He will not allow darkness to reign one grain longer than necessary. Rest in His providence and care Beloved. The night will soon be over and the Son will reign forever.

The Problem is Sin, The Answer is Jesus

My back hurts. Low and on the left side. I “googled” my symptoms and found out that I may have endometriosis, kidney stones, IBS, sciatica, muscle weakness, muscle imbalance, and muscle strain. These are due to how I sit, how I stand, how I sleep, how strenuously I work out (bwahahaha), and how I twist my back when I swing a golf club. No, I don’t play golf, but I’m looking for any excuse here because I know what’s really wrong with my back – it’s my front. It’s all the excess girth sitting in my tummy area. I’m trying to lose weight, but then Reese’s made Peanut Butter Cups with potato chips.

When you and I look at the world and the horrible things that human beings do to one another we want to ask “Why?” The news broke yesterday of another tragic shooting that left many families grieving.  Immorality is being celebrated and paraded. Babies are murdered in what should be the safest place on earth – their mother’s womb.  I shake my head and wonder, “Why?” Even in my own life, when I do things I know I should not do, I look in the mirror and ask myself the same question. I suspect you do too.

But I know why, and so do you. Sin. Sin opened the door wide for all these evil things to become part of the human story – part of me and part of you. Sin breeds hate and greed and selfishness and lust and every manner of evil. It is the curse of rebellion against God. When Adam and Eve bit the fruit, mankind was doomed to live in enmity with God, condemned by the sinful nature that has invaded every person for all time. Except one. In Romans 7, Paul lamented that sinful part of himself. He also asked a question – but it wasn’t “Why?” He knew why. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (v. 18). He asked instead, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (v. 24). And then he answered his own question: “Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25) Jesus Christ changes everything. He breaks the curse of sin and He transforms our hearts so that redemption – not sin – is our forever story.

Beloved, you were born a sinful creature, but God sent His one and only Son to set you free. You know what the problem is, and now you know the answer. Won’t you come to Jesus today?

Acts: The Plan of the Ages

I interviewed an atheist for a class assignment. While I asked my questions, he peppered me with his own. I remember one question clearly, even after so many years: “Why would a good God let His Son suffer and be killed on the whim of evil people?”

“He didn’t,” I replied.

“But isn’t that what your Christianity teaches?” he insisted.

“Not exactly,” I answered. “God didn’t let anything happen. He planned it and foretold it. Jesus’ death wasn’t by the whim of man. It was an intentional act of the sovereign God to fulfill His purpose – the salvation of men.”

He cocked his head to one side, “I’ve never heard it put that way.  My church always taught us kids that people acted of their own free will to kill Jesus.”

“They did,” I replied. “But they acted within the sovereign will of God.”

At that moment I felt like a salmon swimming up a waterfall, trying to explain a concept that has baffled the wisest theologians for ages. I still don’t understand it completely, but I know it is true. The Bible clearly teaches both and doesn’t try to make it neat and tidy.

Please take a moment to read Acts 3:17-26.

When Peter addressed the crowd that gathered around the once-crippled man, he invoked the name of Jesus as the source of healing power. The same Jesus they had crucified. The same Jesus God had raised from the dead. Peter said that they had “acted in ignorance,” not realizing that this Jesus was God’s Messiah (Christ). But Peter also said that God used their actions to fulfill His Plan of the Ages. God had foretold the suffering of His Servant through Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and all the prophets. He had promised salvation long before Jesus’ birth.

John wrote that Jesus is “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Before the first human and the first sin. This was all within God’s eternal plan: the salvation of humanity. I once heard a preacher say that long before Jesus came to earth God knowingly planted the seed that would become the tree that would be made into the cross on which His Son would die.

I take great comfort in the truth of God’s sovereignty over the will of human beings. I am sitting in the middle of a family mess right now because of another’s free will choices. But I am convinced this did not occur outside of God’s sovereign plan. Somehow this too will fall in line with His “good, pleasing, and perfect will” (Rom 12:2). And when it does, there will be Joy.

Good and Evil

I came across several verses this morning that set up a theme.

“Hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Rom 12:9)

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (v. 21)

“Be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil” (16:19)

“In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Cor 14:20).

“Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thess 5:21-22).

Verse 16 intrigues me. Innocent describes a person with a pure mind – unmixed with evil. That was Adam and Eve, the first humans and the last innocent people on earth. God told them not to take the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because, at this point, they were pure.  In their innocence, they were free from the harmful effects of the knowledge of evil, a knowledge they—and we—are unable to bear.  The serpent led them to believe that if they ate from the tree, they could know what God knew. And he was right. To a point. He failed to tell them that they did not have the moral capacity to bear that knowledge without disastrous repercussions. 

When she plucked that piece of tainted fruit Eve got “knowledge” all right, but she also got much more than she bargained for.  When she and Adam were exposed to the knowledge of evil, evil overtook them and buried their innocence.  They had the “knowledge of evil,” but not the power to resist it.

But Paul said there is good news: good can overcome evil. That’s where Jesus comes in. He is the only pure, good, innocent human being to walk on earth. He took His good to the cross and to the grave and there overcome the evil that was destroying God’s good creation.

So how do you and I overcome evil? The same way the saints did: “They overcame [the evil one] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev 12:11). We overcome the evil nature within by faith in Jesus. We overcome evil in the world by proclaiming what God has done for us. And we overcome evil in our daily lives. We avoid it, hate it, and turn our minds away from it. We refuse to give it a foothold (Eph 4:27). You were not made for evil, Beloved. You were made good (Gen 1:31).