True Light

There is a car I meet every morning on my way to work. It is an old police car that the driver probably bought at an auction. The insignia, lights, and siren are gone, but the front push bar is still there. Every time I see him my heart jumps a little and my foot lifts off the accelerator out of instinct. As soon as I realize it is him, I breathe a sigh of relief and motor on. He’s not trying to pretend to be a police officer, but he sure gives the initial impression of one.
Paul warned the Christians in Corinth about false prophets and teachers. He was concerned that they were listening to those who were preaching “a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached to you: (2 Cor 11:4). They were being fooled and falling away from Christ. He said these teachers were “false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostle of Christ” (v. 13). And behind it all was the devil himself: “satan, [who] masquerades as an angel of light” (v. 14).
What is satan’s M.O.? He knows that most people will turn away from total darkness, but they are also afraid to live in the bright, holy light of God. But they will happily live in the “almost” light – as long as they can see what they want to see. The almost light fools people into believing that since they are not in darkness they are good enough. They don’t steal, they don’t kill, they don’t tell big, whopping lies, they don’t (openly) hate their neighbor. They pay their taxes, feed their kids, drive (close to) the speed limit, and let the dog inside when it’s raining. They might even go to church on Easter and Mother’s Day. They are good people. The almost light is good enough.
But the Bible says that being good isn’t good enough. John said “God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn1:5). Not even a trace. He is pure light. Holy light. The kind of light that hurts your eye if you’re used to the almost light. In fact, Paul said “[God] lives in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16). Unless you are in Christ. Because Christ makes us holy. Christ makes us “sons [and daughters] of the light” (1 Thess 5:5).
Beloved, if you are a believer, if Jesus has brought you out of darkness then you are a child of the true and holy Light. Don’t listen to the fakes and don’t settle for anything less.

My Father God

When I pray, whether written or spoken, I use my favorite name for God: “Holy Father” (John 17:11). It comes from Jesus’ prayer just before his arrest. I love that name because it expresses the two most important aspects of who God is. Taken separately, each word speaks volumes.
“Holy” describes the highest moral quality, something or Someone set apart and sacred. I think of the Most Holy place in the Tabernacle where God dwelled among His people. It was a sacred space and entry by man was forbidden – except once a year and then only by the high priest who came to make sacrifices for the sins of the nation. A holy thing would never be used for common purposes by common people. The angels in Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room constantly called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Is 6:3). Not just holy, but thrice holy.
“Father” is, of course, a male parent or significant leader to a family, a nation, or an individual. It is a title of honor and reverence. It is also a title of endearment – at least for some. My Dad and I didn’t have the best relationship when I was growing up and we were estranged for much of my adult life. (We did reconcile a few years before his death.) “Father” was not a warm fuzzy thought for me. But coming from the lips of Jesus, the affection was deep and sincere. Most Jews would not dare refer to God in such familiar ways. Remember He is holy – set apart from common, sinful people. But after His resurrection, Jesus told the disciples, “I am returning to my Father and your Father . . . (John 20:17). And He is our Father.
But together “Holy Father” serves as bookends with all the wonder and awe and majesty of God in between. And together they are the complete picture of this God who is both holy and dear, who both demands perfection and makes us perfect through the blood of His own Son. The words speak to my heart of a Father who will never wrong me, never leave me, never hurt me or shame me but will always love me with the holiest of love. With perfect love (1 John 4:18). Because He is a perfect Father (Matt 5:48).
Yes, “Holy Father” says it all.

Acts: What the World Doesn’t Want to Hear

Do you know why the world is filled with such hatred toward Christians? Because we are a constant reminder of their unrighteousness. I know how judgmental that sounds, and believe me, that’s not my intent. But it is the truth. And let’s be honest, some “Christians” leave a very bitter taste in people’s mouths – but I am talking about Christians who talk the talk and walk the walk as they follow in Jesus’ footprints. People like Paul. Please take a minute to read Acts 24:24-27. Remember that Paul is in custody in Caesarea, awaiting trial for accusations brought by his fellow Jews. Because of an encounter with Jesus, Paul’s life had radically changed and he devoted himself to preaching the gospel – and living it out.
Felix, who would decide his fate, found Paul’s testimony intriguing. One day he brought his wife, who was also a Jew, to hear the man speak. His topic, “righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come” stirred fear in Felix’s heart. Wonder why? Probably because his wife, Drusilla, who was a strikingly beautiful woman had, at the age of fourteen, been married to Azizus, the king of a small, insignificant Syrian state. She was unhappy in her marriage, and Felix, who was captured by her beauty, wooed her away from her husband and married her when she was sixteen. Scholars contend that she was the likely source of Felix’s information about “the Way,” and probably requested the private meeting with Paul. Little did she or Felix know what was to come.
Was Paul pointing his finger at their sin? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, Felix was afraid and quickly dismissed Paul. Therein lies the animosity towards Christians. Paul broached the subject of righteousness, self-control, and judgment – all things a ruler who stole another man’s wife – and a sinful world – would rather not confront. Christians who speak about righteousness shine a blinding light on sin. And we don’t even have to say a word. Believers who live righteously are offensive to the world because their lives stand in sharp contrast to the darkness and wickedness of their own.
Did you notice Felix’s response to Paul’s words? “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” Those who are lost in sin only want God when it is convenient for them. If it ever is.
Don’t let the world squelch your message of righteousness – whether spoken or lived out. Beloved, shine your light.

What Do You Think . . .

Two verses struck me this morning as I was flipping through the Psalms. In Psalm 10, the psalmist talks about the “wicked man” saying, “in all his thoughts there is no room for God” (v. 4) Then in chapter 14, David pronounces a second truth about this man” “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ “ (v. 1). One seems to be a natural recourse of the other. If there is no room for God in your thoughts, you will conclude that there is no God. And you would be a fool. That is why our thoughts are so critical to our spiritual well-being.
On any given day, it seems a thousand thoughts run through my mind – work, school, family, church, ministry, chores, friends, plans – I am sure the same is true for you. There is no end to the things, people, and responsibilities that pull us this way and that. Our thoughts naturally run to these things. The question we must ask ourselves is, where, in all those thoughts, is God? Are we trying to “fit” Him in between thoughts about our kids and what to fix for supper? Do we give Him a passing consideration before the family meal or as we tumble into bed. “GodthankyouforthisfoodandallourblessingsAmen.” I can’t count the times I’ve fallen asleep trying to pray on my pillow. Does He cross our minds at all through the day? And if we actually do think about Him, what are we thinking? “I wish God would fix this problem.” “I hope God will straighten my kid out.” Our prayers tend to be “God, bless my sick Granny and make my boss give me a raise.”
It’s time for us to think – and think differently – about God. You and I must train our thoughts on Him.
That means we think about God as the One who is “high and exalted” (Is. 6:1), yet always with us (Jos. 1:9). We consider that He “thunders from heaven” (Ps. 18:13), yet also sings over us like a Father (Zeph. 3:17). We meditate on the fact that He “rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28), and yet “bends down to listen” to our prayers (Psalm 116:2 NLT). We must think about Him as more than our “fixer” and see Him as the high, holy, exalted God of heaven and earth who also created us, loves us, and cares about and for us. Beloved, what are you thinking about right now? Is there room in your thoughts for God?

God’s Great Promise

We know that the Bible is chockful of promises from beginning to end – promises of His faithfulness and protection, provision, and presence. Promises to fight for us, to come near when we are broken, and to be our shield and sword in the heat of battle. Most of all, He promises salvation and eternal life and an eternal home with Him. All these promises are wrapped up in one beautiful statement: “I will be your God” (Genesis 17:7). And our faith finds its security in that promise.
That was what He told Abraham when He declared a covenant with the patriarch of the Hebrew people. He promised to make him “the father of many nations” (v. 4), to make him very fruitful (v. 6), and to give him the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession for himself and his descendants (v. 8). And He promised the old, childless man a son (v. 16). Then He put His seal on all those promises by saying “I will be your God.”
One of the most important lessons the Lord has been driving home to me in recent years is to trust Him. “For what?” you ask. First, that He will be God. That He is faithful. That He is good. That He is trustworthy and righteous in all His ways. That He will never change or contradict Himself. That He is completely holy. That His Word is true because He is Truth.
And from that foundation, I trust He will be my God. That He will love me with unfailing love (Is 54:10) and show me everlasting kindness (v. 8). That He will never leave me nor forsake me (Jos 1:5). That He will carry me (Is 46:4) and give me rest (Matt 11:28), peace (Jn 14:27), and Joy (Ps 16:11) in Him.
When I trust in His promise to be my God, it is enough. Because He is enough. I have staked my life on that promise. I believe that is the heart and soul of faith. When my life is hard, I return to that assurance: “I am your God.”
I could (and want to) go on and on and on. But most of all I want you to know that He will be your God too, if you trust in His Son. That Beloved, is a promise you can rest in.

All About Love

Love. Paul called it “the most excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31). It is also the most demanding.
1 Corinthians 13 is all about love. When we consider this chapter, we tend to go right for the “Love is patient, love is kind . . .” (v. 4f) and it is good to know what love looks like in action But verses 1-3 hold the core truth: the greatest spiritual gift requires the greatest degree of humility. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
Paul shines the spotlight on the most Christ-like behavior we can convey: self-sacrifice. He declares that giving ourselves to others is the ultimate expression of love. Jesus was the flesh-and-blood example of perfect, holy, eternal love because His motivation was perfect, holy, eternal love. In contrast to Jesus’ sacrifice, Paul warns us that if we surrender all that we have, including our very lives, but are not motivated by love, our actions gain us nothing of eternal significance. But oh, how we will be remembered in history.
Love and humility are the twin sisters of Christian discipleship – you cannot have one without the other. Jesus gives us the perfect example in John 13:1-5, as he humbled Himself to wash His disciples’ nasty feet. Verse 1b says: “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them with a perfect love to the end” (NASB).
I want to love with as near to “a perfect love” as is humanly possible. But that’s the problem – it’s not “humanly possible.” So how do I do the impossible? John said, “We know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16). I can only love like Christ if I allow God’s love to flow through me to those around me. That’s why anything done for the sake of appearance is “a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.” It’s a lot of attention-grabbing noise – but it’s not love. And if it’s not love, it’s nothing.

Packing up Christmas

Christmas Day has come and gone and my living room looks like a toy store exploded all over the place, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. So what now? Well, I’ll clean up the blast zone and pack away the lights and ornaments and we’ll finish off the last of the Christmas dinner leftovers. But, where does the Christmas spirit go for the next 11 months?
Where does Joy belong? Certainly not packed away until next year. Joy is a by-product of the indwelling Holy Spirit, not a Christmas decoration. And what of the peace the angels declared? According to Jesus, peace is His gift to me, something the world can’t offer (John 14:27). Joy and peace are not meant to sit in a box in the shed. They belong in my heart. Jesus said that His Joy cannot be taken [or packed] away (Jn 16:22). Paul said that peace is to always rule over me and my relationships (Col. 3:15).
There isn’t a box in my shed big enough for the Hope of Christ. Hope believes that God is who He claims to be, that He is trustworthy and faithful (2 Thess 3:3), that His love is unfailing (Ps. 136), and His promises are as sure as His Name (Heb. 6:13). Hope trusts that His eye is ever on me and His ear is tuned to my cries (Gen. 21:13, 11). Hope knows that one day this wicked world will be turned right-side-up (Rev. 21:5). I am hanging on to hope I need it desperately after the year we’ve been through.
And then there is love – the greatest of all gifts (1 Cor. 13:13). Love slept in a manger (Luke 2:7). Love walked the dirty streets of earth, healing and lifting up the downtrodden (Matt. 8:1-3). Love died on a cross (Mark 15: 37) and Love brought life from death (Mark 16:6). Love must never be packed away for the world needs it more than any other thing. Love – holy love – is the only thing that can save mankind. And it is the only thing that will draw men out of darkness into the light.
I don’t know if your Christmas was merry or jolly or less than you’d hoped, but I know that the spirit of Christmas lives in the hearts of God’s people all year long. Beloved, pack up the decorations but don’t pack away the Joy and peace and hope and love. Keep it out on display – the world needs it now more than ever.

Advent 2023: Christmas is . . .

Despite what my family and friends claim, I love Christmas. I just don’t like what Christmas has become. Beautiful Christmas hymns give way to the ka-ching of the cash register. With all the nicely wrapped boxes, there’s no space left for the manger and the baby under our festively decorated trees. “Merry Christmas” is for sale on blankets, dishes, doormats, toilet seat covers, and ugly sweaters. Every celebrity offers their version of “songs of the season,” delivered in over-produced T.V specials. And do not get me started on cheesy “Christmas” movies. The entertainment industry has done a good job of redefining Christmas for us. Ask most people what Christmas means and the answers are usually:
“Christmas is about caring.”
“Christmas is about sharing.”
“Christmas is about family.”
Christmas, according to the secular world, is about very different things than the biblical story.
Or is it? Maybe that’s good common ground for telling the true Christmas story.
Christmas is about a God who cared enough about His lost creation to offer a rescue plan that would cost His One and Only Son His very life (John 3:16).
Christmas is about Jesus Christ who was obedient to the Father’s will to share His glory with once-sinful men (John 17:22).
Christmas is about the Father in heaven lavishing His love on us and adopting us into His family “that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).
For all the ways that we identify Christmas, it always comes back to the Baby in a manger. But we must also look ahead to see to rest of this Baby’s life. We must see the Man on the Cross, otherwise, the story is incomplete – and that is where the culture misses the heart and soul of Christmas. This Baby came to die, otherwise we are without hope. The wise teacher had to go to the grave, else His great words have no power for us. His greatest miracle was more than healing broken bodies and casting out demons, it was rising three days after His last breath.
Beloved, when you tell the Christmas story about a God who cared and shared and calls us His own – be sure to tell the whole story about how He accomplished it all. Tell them that Christmas means more than trees and presents and bad Christmas movies. Christmas means life, forgiveness, and eternity. Above all, Christmas means love.

Advent 2023: Believe

I remember an old evangelist who told the story of being in the Miami, Florida area to do a revival. He and the local pastor were driving around inviting people to the revival and witnessing to anyone who would listen. They found themselves in a very affluent neighborhood with massive houses and expensive cars. They spied a man out in his front yard and stopped to visit. After speaking to him of the need for salvation, the man spread his arms in a grand gesture of all that he owned and said, “Saved from what?” Then he dismissed them with a laugh. That man was Jackie Gleason – the famed radio, television, and movie star.
Perhaps that is why the angels came to lowly shepherds rather than the kings and religious leaders of the day. People who think they have everything also think they have no need of a Savior. They have so much wealth or power or acclaim that they have no room for faith. Shepherds, especially at the time of Jesus’ birth, were the lowest of the low. Scholars tell us that these shepherds were likely watching over sheep that would be used in the Passover sacrifice. Their job was nasty, smelly, grueling, and demeaning. But they were humble because of their lowly position. These shepherds were just the kind of people God was looking for – people who would receive the Good News with faith.
The Bible tells us that when the shepherds heard the angel’s announcement, they said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened” (Luke 2:15). They believed the message and set out to find the baby – not because they wanted proof of what the angels said, but because they had faith that it was true. And when their eyes saw what their hearts believed, they couldn’t help but “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (v. 17)
Do you have faith Beloved? Do you believe what God said about the Baby in the manger is true? Do you believe He is the Son of God? Do you believe that He came to take on your sins and make you acceptable to His Father? Then you can also have faith that this Child is your Savior, your Redeemer, your Hope and Peace, and Joy. Have faith in what God has done and you will see what your heart believes.

Advent 2023: Son of a Woman, Son of God

Wrap your head around this: the baby in the manger was the son of a virgin and the Son of God. The Scriptures say “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son . . . “ Matthew 1:23/Isaiah 7:14. I know – you’ve heard this scripture a hundred times at least. But have you stopped to consider what it really means? We tend to fly over it but we need to give it some time and attention because it is important.
It was crucial that the Savior of the world be spotless, without flaw or error, stain or blemish – perfectly pure. That could never happen with two human parents. Joseph was a righteous man, but he had a sin nature like every other human being. Mary was a virgin and she was“highly favored” by God, but she had the same sin nature. Joseph would be Jesus’ earthly father, but not his “biological father.” Mary, however, would be His biological mother – therefore she had to be a virgin – sexually pure. The Scripture said that Mary was “overshadowed” by the Holy Spirit as the “male party” to conception. The DNA stored in Jesus Christ’s physical body was that of the Lord God! The Father was in the Son.
More importantly, He provided spiritual purity so that the child would be the only human born without a sin nature. Now I am a Bible teacher. I like to make difficult things understandable. But I cannot explain how this occurred. It was a divine action that we must accept with wonder.
Why does this matter? Because you and I are unholy people in need of a holy Savior. The Levitical law declared that “the life of a creature is in the blood,” and “it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev 17:11). Only holy blood – divine blood – could atone for the sin of all men*. There’s just one problem: God cannot die. That is why Jesus had to be both divine and human. It was the only way to provide the perfect blood sacrifice required to redeem mankind from their sin nature*. It is the only hope you and I have.
Beloved, I encourage you to slow down through the familiar Christmas account. Take in every scene and ponder every word. This is not just a warm, fuzzy story to tell around the tree. This story is life. Eternal life. It is wonder and awe. It is Jesus – the God-man who came to save you. Indeed, it is good news.

*The blood of Jesus is sufficient to atone for all sin for all mankind, but not all men will receive what Christ has done.