Why Did God Come to Earth?

Why did God come to earth? What is so important down here that He would put on human flesh and walk among the wicked and the imperfect? Genesis reports that God regularly came to visit and walk with Adam and Eve in sweet fellowship (Gen 3:8). After the fall God came down to bring judgment and punishment (see Gen 11:5, 18:21). The Israelites built Him a sacred place where He could dwell among His chosen people – though they could not approach His presence (Ex 25:8). In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the Old Testament, their idolatry became so great that He withdrew His presence and left the Temple (Ezk. 11:22-23).

So why did He come back? When John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner and cousin was born his father, after months of silence for his unbelief, declared the answer to our question in a song. He said, “[The Lord] has come . . . to bring salvation . . . to redeem . . . to show mercy . . . to rescue . . . to enable . . . to give us His holiness and righteousness . . . to forgive . . . to shine His light into our darkness . . . and to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Lk 2:67-80). Jesus Himself said that He had come to declare the Good News; “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Mark 1:38, Lk 4:18-21). He came to do the will of His Father, even unto death on a cross (Jn 4:34; Lk 22:42; Phil 2:8).

At the beginning of this devotional, I asked, “What is so important down here that He would put on human flesh and walk among the wicked and the imperfect?” You were. The writer of Hebrews said that Jesus endured the cross and all it entailed “for the Joy set before Him” (Heb 12:2). What was that Joy? You were. It gave Him great delight to know that you would be with Him forever and ever. God came for you Beloved; He came to make you His own child, His treasured possession (Is 43:4). All He did He did for you. You are that important to Him.  

Little Lost Lamb

I would like to say that I have never wandered from the side of Jesus my Good Shepherd. I have always been a good and faithful member of His flock. I have stayed close and always come when He calls. I would like to say that, but it would be a lie. I have wandered long and far and found myself in some very scary, ugly places. I am so thankful that my Shepherd comes looking for me. Every time.

Jesus told a parable about a lost sheep and a shepherd. He said that when a shepherd loses a sheep, he will leave all his other sheep and “go after the lost sheep until he finds it” (Luke 15:4). And when he finds it, he scolds it and berates it all the way back home. He sends the little sheep to her room and tells all his friends how stupid and rebellious the sheep is. NO! “He joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep” (Luke 15:5-6).

Some of us wanderers think of the Lord in the first example. Yes, Jesus will come looking for me, but when He finds me there’s going to be heck to pay. I don’t see that anywhere in this parable. In fact, I don’t see that anywhere in Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation God is a seeking-the-lost, forgiving-the-rebel, celebrating-the-return Father. Hear this loud and clear, God doesn’t rescue you and me begrudgingly or with even a trace of anger or impatience. David said, “He rescued me because he delighted in me” (Ps 18:19). Did you see how Jesus described the shepherd? “He JOYFULLY puts the sheep on his shoulders.” God loves to rescue His little lambs.

You and I are never going to get through this life without needing to be rescued. Most of the time we don’t intend to wander off, we’re just grazing and not paying attention to where the lush grass is taking us. Beloved, if you find yourself far from your Shepherd’s side today, be assured that He is coming to find you – not to punish or berate you, but to put you on His shoulders and celebrate you home!

Even the black sheep.

Praise!

The crowds lined the road with their cloaks and spread palm branches making a “royal carpet” for the King. They lifted their voices in praise, remembering all the wonders and miracles they had seen. They recognized that Jesus was fulfilling a long-awaited prophecy: Zion’s King would come, “righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on the colt of a donkey” (Zec 9:9). Now here He was and they could not contain their Joy.

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

Hosanna in the highest!

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

(Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:9-10; Luke 19:38; John 12:13).

But not everyone was so Joyful. The Pharisees, who followed Jesus everywhere looking for an opportunity to discredit Him, were among the crowd and they demanded, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples” (Lk 19:39). Shut them up. Make them stop. They are offensive. Matthew said the Pharisees “were indignant” (Mt 21:15). Sounds like our present culture, doesn’t it?

Jesus replied, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” (Lk 19:40). All of creation knew and acknowledged that Jesus was the King, the Messiah, the Son of God – and they rejoiced. If man – who was made in God’s very image – would not praise the Creator, nature would. Because He was and is worthy of praise.

We live in a world that doesn’t believe in Jesus. And they don’t want you to either. And if you must believe in such fantasies, they demand that you keep it to yourself. They don’t want to hear His name. They don’t want to hear His Word. They don’t want to acknowledge sin. They don’t want to be confronted with righteousness. And they sure don’t want to hear His people praise Him.

So, what are we to do? Praise Him anyway. Praise Him louder. Praise Him longer. Praise Him when the sun rises and when it sets. Praise Him when the days are sweet. Praise Him when the storms hit. Praise Him in the church. Praise Him in your home. Praise Him in the public square. Praise Him in prison.

Because He must be praised. Don’t let the world stifle your Joy in the Lord. Don’t make the rocks cry out on your behalf. Beloved, pick up a palm branch and join the song:

“Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

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.

Hear the Word of the Lord

One of Jesus’ best-known parables was about the Seed and the Sower found in Luke 8: 4-18. The parable in and of itself tells a powerful spiritual truth about the condition of the hearts of those who hear the Word of God and how they receive or reject it. But there are a few words that are sown throughout that we need to notice. Hear. Receive. Listen. The word “hear” or “hearing” appears seven times in this passage. Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (v. 8). Reach up and touch the side of your head. Those are ears. For most of us, those ears allow us to hear. But the context tells us that Jesus is not talking about auditory sound waves – He wants His listeners to receive the Word and understand (v. 10). He wants followers who take His Word deep into their hearts and let it work in and through them to produce much fruit for the Kingdom of God.

To receive (v. 13) means to take hold of something with favor and make it your own. Poppy ran to the store yesterday for bread and milk and came back with a surprise for our granddaughter – stickers! She took them from his hand and pressed them to her chest and said, “Oh, thank you, Poppy!” She received his gift with enthusiasm and – well – Joy. We are all guilty of listening to a teacher or preacher read through a Scripture – especially if it is familiar to us – and mentally drifting off. But Jesus said we are to take hold of it and press it into our hearts where it can take root and grow.

But this is the one that piqued my interest the most: “Consider carefully how you listen” (v. 18). Not just what you hear – although that is important – but how you listen. “Listen,” in this context means how we attend to the Word we hear. The writer of Hebrews, speaking of those who turn away, said: “The message they heard was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Heb 4:1-2). Paul said they found no value in it because they believed it was the word of men, not the Word of God (1 Thes 2:13 paraphrased).

The Bible is the “God-breathed” (2 Tim 3:16) Word of the Sovereign Lord. It is true and powerful and eternal. It is life-changing and life-giving. Moses said: “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life” (Deut 32:47). That’s how we must “hear” the Word. Receive it, Beloved. Believe it. Give your heart to it, and it will give you life.

Good Enough

“I want my wedding day to be perfect.”

“Get this mess cleaned up! Our guests will be here in an hour and this place has to be perfect.”

“I stayed up all night to work on my paper – it has to be perfect if I’m going to get an “A” in this class.” (That would be me.)

Or maybe this one sounds most familiar to you: “Why did I do that/say that/think that?  I’m a Christian – I’m supposed to be perfect!” After all, Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). But while the Bible uses the word “perfect” just forty-two times,  the word “good” appears more than six hundred times.  Like in the creation account when, after completing each day’s creative work, God examined what He had done and “saw that it was good.”  In the original Hebrew, this means that God found His work “pleasing, favorable, and satisfactory.”  Think about it – if God, at the zenith of His creative work, was content with “good” shouldn’t “good” be good enough for us?

There’s more:  He promised a good land to the Israelites when they escaped Egyptian bondage (Exodus 3:8), Jeremiah told the people to “ask where the good way is and walk in it” (6:16).  Jesus said the Father gives “good gifts” (Matthew 7:11), He proclaimed the soil with the greatest harvest good (Luke 8:8) and Paul tells us to “overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21) – not perfection.  Even the Gospel that saves us is called “the Good News” (Acts 5:42).  Why then, are we trying so hard to be perfect?

God didn’t saddle us with this obsession for perfection – it was the enemy who planted that impossible seed.  But we have watered and nurtured it until it has become a weed of gigantic proportions and, as weeds so often do, it has choked the life out of us and the “good works” we were created to do (Ephesians 2:10).  It’s the devil’s way of keeping you distracted, dissatisfied, frustrated – and fruitless. 

Only God is perfect and making you perfect is His work alone, through the blood of Jesus and the power of the Spirit.  But you won’t see the perfectly finished product until you stand before Him in heaven.  So hang all your perfectionist tendencies on Him and be free from that burden you were never meant to carry.  Beloved, being good is good enough.

Acts: The Church is Born

I have long wanted to do a series on the history of the Christian Church. Church History was my favorite class in my undergrad studies. The Holy Spirit burns bright and strong through the mighty, humble, and devout men and women of Christian history. We’ll start in Acts, where the Church was born, then we’ll move on beyond the record of Scripture with our eyes on the movement of the Holy Spirit. I hope you’ll forgive me if I get a little excited and giddy from time to time. If you thought we took a long time with Hebrews, hang on because the story of the Church and the work of the Holy Spirit never ends.

But first let’s set the foundation: Acts was written by Luke, the same Luke as the gospel, and was intended to be a continuation of it: Luke/Acts. It was written to “Theophilus” an unknown Greek who may have provided financial support for Luke’s work. Luke used the same investigative style in both accounts and so we have rich records of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit at work. Luke often connects the story of the church with the events of world history, giving us time markers that support the validity of the claims. But Acts is more than history, it is also solid theology. It was well received and respected by the early church fathers.

Acts begins after Jesus’ resurrection when the Lord showed Himself to His followers to prove that He was alive (1:1-3). He promised them “a gift” from His Father – the Holy Spirit that would empower them to do all that Jesus told them to do (v. 4-8). Matthew recorded Jesus’ marching orders: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20). In Acts, He gave them direction: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We will see them take these precise steps as they respond to circumstances that send them far and wide with the gospel. Mind you, the church has yet to reach “the ends of the earth,” so the mission continues to this day.

After Jesus; words, Luke reports that He “was taken up before their very eyes . . .” (1:9). This is the ascension and it is crucial to the work of the Holy Spirit. The church was born – but not yet empowered. 

If You Only Knew . . .

Ever wish you had a crystal ball to see what’s ahead? Maybe with some advance notice, I could have avoided some of the disasters that hit my life. I know I would have made a lot of different decisions had I been able to see their outcome. I would have taken a different route home and saved myself from a car accident. I would not have taken a job that I grew to dislike. I would have put more time and effort into education and less into frivolous, fruitless distractions. I would have steered clear of certain relationships that broke my heart. I would have taken better care of my physical – and fiscal – health. Yes – things would be different if I’d only had eyes to see the future.

Luke 22 recalls Jesus’ final events with His disciples – the Passover Meal that became “the Last Supper,” His prayer on the Mount of Olives, and His arrest. Luke added a conversation Jesus had with one disciple in particular, Simon Peter. Jesus knew about the events that would unfold that night – including Peter’s coming denial of His friend and teacher. Jesus told him, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (v. 31-32).  He knew what Peter would face. He knew that Peter would stumble. And He held His disciple up to the Father and asked for divine help. Notice that He didn’t pray that Peter would avoid the trial, but he prayed for Peter’s faith. That makes all the more sense when we read Peter’s words years later: “your faith [is] of greater worth than gold.”  He knew that all too well for his faith had been “refined by fire” (1 Pet 1:7) and it had come out strong and pure. Because Jesus had prayed for him.

You and I don’t know what the future holds – we don’t even know what will happen today. But Jesus does.  And He has already prayed for you Beloved – not so much that you can avoid the trials of the day but “that your faith may not fail,” and the Father always honors the prayers of His Son. What an amazing way to start your day, knowing that Jesus has been praying for you!

Advent 2022: His Name is Love

“You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus” (Luke 1:31).

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’” – which means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).

When my son was young, he loved to go to the playground at the local park which was almost always crawling with boys and girls.  He would join in with one or two children and for some reason, he called all the other kids “dude”.  I told him over and over, “Ask them what their names are.”   One day on the way home I gently lectured him on the social grace of using people’s names.  He replied, “I only seen them today and I won’t see them tomorrow so I don’t need to know their name.”   Lecture over as I tried to stifle a laugh.  But he had a point – to know someone and call them by their name indicates a relationship, ranging from playgrounds to the intimacy of lovers.

God spoke volumes in the name He gave His One and Only Son.  “Jesus” – Iesous in Greek, Yeshua in Hebrew (translated Joshua) – carried the meaning “Yahweh saves.”  The Jewish people would hear Jesus’ name and remember that the Lord had saved His people in the past and He had promised to save them again.  They recalled Joshua in the days of the exodus from Egypt, a mighty military leader and warrior who lead the armies of Israel against multiple enemies on the way to the Promised Land.  They clung to the hope of salvation and restoration from Roman rule.  Jesus was a name that spoke of the power and faithfulness of God.

But Matthew records another name that would be bestowed on this Child – Immanuel – God with us. This name speaks of God coming physically near to His people.  In the Garden, God walked with Adam, until sin came between them.  In the desert, God’s presence was in the cloud of fire, and in Jerusalem, His presence dwelt between the cherubim in the Temple – behind a heavy curtain.  But now God Himself once more walked among his people.  He shared the street with His creation, broke bread together with men, and laid the hand of God on their children’s heads.  He lived among men – and died among them.

In a perfect combination of names, He personally brought the salvation of God to all humanity.  He is the victorious power of God and the intimate love of God.  He is Jesus – Immanuel – the God who came near to save us. It is the name of Love.

Let the Name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore – Psalm 113:2.

Advent 2022: Christmas List

What Do You Want for Christmas? Jewelry? Clothes? Something for your house? Maybe a Red Ryder carbine-action two-hundred-shot range model air rifle? Or you just might prefer the one-size-fits-all cash gift.  Sometimes our wishes are pretty big – my son wanted a LEGO® Star Wars Death Star (retail 499.99) – needless to say, he did not get it.  Some of us are satisfied with a bit less.  When I was a little girl, I just wanted paper and pencils – guess I’ve always been a writer at heart. Maybe your Christmas list is less tangible – something that can’t be wrapped up and put under the tree.  If you wrote it out it might say “peace” “joy” “hope” or “love.” Maybe your list includes “acceptance” “freedom” or “rest.” 

To the one who asks for peace, Jesus said “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27).  For the one who has lost their joy David wrote, “You will fill me with joy in Your presence” (Psalm 16:11).  If you need hope this Christmas, hear God’s words in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Do you wish for love? “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God” (1 John 3:1).  This same verse fills your desire for acceptance – God calls Himself your Father and He accepts you as His child.  If freedom tops your list you can find release – the Psalmist says “O Lord, truly I am your servant . . . You have freed me from my chains” (Psalm 116:16).  Maybe you just want a little rest this Christmas.  Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). 

Beloved, whatever it is you long for this Christmas, you will find it in Jesus.  There is nothing on your list that He cannot provide. He is the greatest Gift and can fill your heart’s deepest longing.  No, it won’t be wrapped in paper and ribbons sitting under your tree.  You’ll find this priceless gift wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12).