Gift of Light
“The earth is the Lord’s
and the fullness thereof.”
Morning opens
in glory each dawn
when ribbons of gold
untie the shadows.
Dew glistens the dales
where silver waters stream
at the foot of mountains
rising in the blush of day.
Joy lends to the offering
through the laughter of lilies…
the embrace of wisteria…
snow dressed pines frolicking on the hills.
Each season, a blessing
to the delights of His presence
born on a brilliance
forever packaged in love.
Today is the anniversary of a very bittersweet day. The day our Lord and Savior was nailed to a Roman cross to bear the sins of all mankind. It was there that two other sinful men were being hung in the same manner as our Lord. That same day, one of those men defended Jesus to the other.
When Jesus finally died, He was placed in a tomb and remained there for three days. Then a miraculous thing happened. He rose!
It didn’t take long for the sacrificial lamb of God to shed the bondage of death. By so doing, he paid the price for your sins and mine to be forever pardoned. The only requirement is to accept and believe the gift that’s been offered.
One of the men who hung on a cross alongside of Jesus believed, and he is with the Lord even now. So it’s never too late to accept the gift of salvation that Jesus bore for all of us.
Remember, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate a RISEN Savior! We can rest assured that we will see Him again when He comes out of the clouds in His glory!
Do you believe?
This Sunday is Palm Sunday. The day when Christ made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a colt where the multitudes laid palm branches and declared, “Hosanna in the Highest!” (Matthew 21:1-11) just as O.T. scripture prophesied. The people buzzed with excitement at what Jesus would do regarding Rome’s tyranny and welcomed him taking the throne. Only that didn’t happen. Jesus did not come to lead a revolution against oppressors—at least, not yet. While the people wanted one thing, they received something else. Jesus was about to change things but it would encompass a broader schematic than merely for the then and now. The changes He made allowed a way for everything to be made right—a redemption and liberation exceeding our expectations.
Today, we have that same mindset as those at the original Palm Sunday in that sometimes we want God to act in a way contrary to His will. It is at these times when we should move beyond the here and now and set our sights in line with His perspective and not our own. When God does act, it’s always a far greater movement than what we can expect or even imagine.
The God of all creation spoke to Abram (later Abraham) here at the tree of Moreh in a little place called Shechem back in the day. The take home message of this relationship for me is that when God made a covenant with him (that he would one day be a father to all nations–Father Abraham–and that through his seed, many nations would be blessed), he had all of humanity in mind.
The journey began when Abram, at God’s leading and with a few historic sidesteps, ended up settling his tent in the land of Canaan between a city called Bethel (“house of God”) and the city of Ai (“ruin”).
I see this journey as a prototype of a believer’s time here on the earth. Today, like Abraham, we are also journeying. Our world is the new Canaan and our walk with God finds us traveling here until the day the Lord returns or takes us to our real home. As sojourners, the Lord instructs in his word through the Apostle Paul, that we shouldn’t become too comfortable here in the new Canaan, because it’s really not our permanent home. Although, we do have a clear purpose: to preach in love that God is real and to make Him known.
Along Abraham’s journey, we are reminded that he, like us, was not a perfect man. He made mistakes along the way that served him more trouble than necessary. However, the Lord used even those mistakes to bring about his purposes. Though there is plenty that Abraham did that showed his dependence and faithfulness to God and his journey allowed the Lord to bring him to this place, it was not an overnight experience. Neither is ours. It will take not only a lifetime but most likely an eternity to even mine the depths of all that the Lord has planned for those who love him.
One thing of particular note that speaks to me is that Abraham stopped at the oak tree of Moreh in Shechem. It is at Moreh (meaning “teacher”) where God first appeared to Abraham and gave him the declaration of His promises. His oracles. Abraham lingered there and fellowshipped with God and erected the first of many alters to him.
The significance for this believer is that when Abraham stopped at the oak tree and rested is where God chose to reveal himself to Abraham. It is only by stopping and lingering with the Lord that we, too, will be able to abide in His grace.
May we not hasten past the oak tree of Moreh in our journey while here on earth so that we may hear His voice.
There have been Facebook memes going around every once in a while whose purpose is to point a finger at Christians for not having more compassion for the foreigners who wish to come to America.
While U.S. president after president has imposed limits on the import of immigrants for whatever plans and purposes he wishes, the quotas set forth lately have been met with opposition.
Some would cry, racist, bigot, hater… Really? Is this the motivation for the U.S. government… to be racist? I don’t think so.
These same individuals who have nothing better to do with their time than to denounce presidential mandates are the same ones who take a quote out of scripture and use it as a cudgel to beat Christians over the head (Leviticus 19:33-34). In this verse, Moses says to Israel that as they were once immigrants to a foreign land, in the same way, they are to love them and not mistreat them.
But some would use this one verse, taken out of context, to judge Christians. These no-pretext-no-context-loving gospel spewers think they can have an “ah hah” moment by the means of calling out Christians as being hypocritical.
What these people don’t take into account is that the foreigners Moses was referring to in Leviticus had to acquiesce to rules for being a part of the society and culture of the land into which they were going. They were made to conform to these as mandated and thus made to assimilate into the Jewish culture.
Ask Dearborn, Michigan how that assimilation is going here in America after the city has been mandated to import thousands of Muslims who adhere to Sharia law.
As a Christian, I am absolutely obliged to kindly treat ALL people with compassion. This has little or nothing to do with immigration and speaks to a bigger political picture where scripture is being used as a weapon to meet a cultural end.
Some kind gentlemen knocked on our door today. I recognized them as Jehovah’s Witnesses. These people are some of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. They offered me some literature as they are encouraged to do by their works-based doctrine. While some who peddle religion are often met with a quick slam of the door in their face, at our house, we look forward to sharing our beliefs with ANYONE, even those who claim to know Jesus. With a smile, I told them I’m a born again Christian and together we proceeded to converse on the world situation as it relates to the Bible.
Although we all knew Jesus, the difference is that the JW’s do not claim Jesus to be God. At least, he wasn’t “born” that way, they say. I believe Jesus to be God himself, incarnate. I supported this with scripture, pointing out the book of John in the first chapter where it says, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God.”
The Word is Jesus. They weren’t buying it.
Without believing in the deity of Jesus, I told them, then who was it that sacrificed himself for my sins? There is no man on earth who could satisfy God the father’s wrath other than God, the son, himself.
To believe that Jesus was a perfect man (which he was) and compare him to the first man, Adam, is to me a grave injustice bordering on heresy. To believe as the JW’s believe would appear to give false grandeur where it ought not to be. It’s like man has become elevated in their minds to become like God. This mindset leads to a false view of both man and God. I told them that NO man could ever satisfy the wrath of God with regard to my sins. Only God can fulfill that requirement.
What we did agree on was that God is a marvelous mystery. After they left, I prayed that God would reveal the truth to them and that this one pesky detail in their belief structure would go away and that they would give homage to Jesus as the one true God.
So how did Valentine’s day originate?
With any celebratory tradition, the historicity is sometimes muddled but most would agree the day originated romantically with 14th century poet Geoffrey Chaucer when the tradition of courtly love flourished.
Some would claim Valentine’s day originated as a Christian liturgical feast day that honored one or more early martyred saints, St. Valentine of Rome included. The popular story recounts that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to the legend, St. Valentine healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius, and before his execution, he wrote her a letter signed, “Your Valentine” as a farewell.
In 18th-century England, the day evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other through flowers, candy, and greeting cards aptly known as “valentines.”
However you celebrate, may the love of our Lord be your source of joy today and whose valentine took the form of a cross. He signed it with his own shed blood. Now that’s love.
What can one say to a fellow believer whose heart no longer trusts in the Lord? Whether through a disappointment or crushing blow or unseen event causes them bereavement. Friends may rally around with cards or phone calls, both earmarked with kind offers of encouragement and support: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:4-6) or “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10). “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13).
Yet I wonder sometimes if people have really put their trust in God. Is the Holy Spirit pushing through the dredge and mire we wallow in when we lick our wounds, or have our ears been seared through the trials themselves?
Most people I know in the faith heed God’s word. They struggle while taking their lumps and then turn them over to God, casting their cares upon him, knowing that he can be trusted with healing their hearts. But all too frustratingly, sometimes people go the other way. It seems like they can’t hear the Lord calling to them. They remain deaf to his word.
This past year, I’ve gotten to know a woman from my church, along with her granddaughter. The child has been living in her home for the past two years in what is called a “foster kinship” program as, sadly, both of the child’s parents are addicted to drugs, and their lives are spent mostly in prison.
As she, along with her husband, walked along the quiet tree-lined street where they live while holding hands with their granddaughter on the way to church together, their adoration of the child is evident to everyone in their sphere. Her physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being have been their highest priorities, and to even a casual observer, the little girl thrived in her environment with swim lessons, ballet class, t-ball, etc.
At some point, I noticed their absence from church. During a call to my friend one day, I learned her granddaughter was no longer living with them. She’d been taken away by the county court system. I tried to put myself in her shoes, to understand the situation—the frustration of dealing with an apparently blind social welfare system. Their plans to rear the child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord now thwarted by an overzealous case worker, who abruptly placed her with a professional foster family without any apparent reason. Now with their granddaughter gone from their custody, they feel God has abandoned them and no longer put their trust in him.
The bitterness they feel toward God for this situation has left them hollowed out and miserable. In my feeble conversations with my friend, I try to let the Holy Spirit do the talking, lest my own words come up dry—words that admonish her to have more faith, more trust and to not focus on the problem but instead trust that God is in control.
As much as I want to shake the upset feeling from her and beg her to be joyful, convict her that she is wrong to leave God behind or to blame Him, I know that all I can do is pray. While I want to persuade her to come back to church… to guilt her into coming (isn’t God worthy?), there is one question I leave with her: Does your granddaughter belong to you or does she belong to God? While you’ve trusted God for salvation, have you trusted Him for everything else in your life including the welfare of your granddaughter?
In answering this, we must realize that everything belongs to God. We are just the stewards of what we’ve been given: children, grandchildren, spouses, material things. In subsequent conversations, as much as I long for her bitterness to fade while accepting this trial as the Lord sees fit, I realize that is His job, not mine, and the lesson turns around on me. I, too, need to trust that they also belong to the Lord, and I need to let him convict them in his timing.
When I hang up the phone, it’s always my prayer that the family is reconciled one day as the Lord wills. Certainly the Lord knows what’s best for us as we entrust our hearts to him. And most certainly, if he owns the “cattle on a thousand hills,” how much more our lives?
Years ago, I hesitated to join Facebook. I already had a social media outlet called Myspace. I loved my Myspace account. I decorated the walls, inserted cool music and even had a flashing sign to welcome visitors to my page. Why have two accounts and what could Facebook offer that I didn’t already have? Fast forward nine years and here I am on Facebook.
There’s nothing wrong with Facebook–it’s a nice vehicle to stay in touch. I appreciate the game aps and the ability to converse with people otherwise impossible to reach. However, below the surface, there is a whole marketing machine in place to prey upon us as consumers.
Our personal information–where we live, demographic, affiliations, likes and dislikes are all carefully and schematically noted, filed, underscored and collated. Some refer to Facebook as actually being dangerous. I prefer to just call it insidious. What the info hustlers are gaining, we don’t know. For now, I’m just enjoying playing Scrabble whenever I want.
Back to the ability to converse… While I am fairly adept at making my viewpoints on religion and politics, I have to remember not everyone takes the same p.o.v. While it’s tempting to want to clobber people with my opinions, the Lord is attempting to teach me that I don’t always have to win the battles that I so easily entangle myself with.
I can always tell a knee-jerk response on Facebook–both mine and others. The tension can be felt right through the computer. In my efforts to convince others to my side of the fence, I’ve come to realize that some people–actually, most people–do not want to change their position. They only enjoy telling their point of view–most times, not with any love.
Whether we believe our p.o.v. is the correct one, if it’s not shared with love, it’s worthless. I speak to myself here and hope that I can adopt 1Corintians 13 in all of my speech in life and especially on Facebook.
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