Grains of Sand

Pixabay They are referred to, and not always very kindly, as "ambulance-chasers"—you know, the lawyers who offer to get you a big payout when you  feel you have been mistreated, or misrepresented, in some way.  "Sue" is a three-letter word that lights up the eyes of lawyers, raises the hopes of victims, real or imaginary, and is a thorn in the flesh to those on its receiving end. Peter weighs in on victimology, specifically in the case of those who work for others, in 1 Peter 2:18-23. In his day that meant "slaves"—those who were obligated to work without compensation and often under harsh conditions. Many modern-day employees, rightly or wrongly, think of themselves in the same terms as the real slaves of Peter's day would have thought of themselves.—underpaid, overworked, abused, unappreciated, overlooked. For the believers to whom Peter is addressing his letter there might have been another item added to that list—persecuted for the...

Pixabay Since the beginning of this year I have been reading through the Bible with a group of friends from my church. This morning I read through a few chapters from John, including the passage containing Jesus' prayer for His disciples in John 17. Part of that prayer is this: " I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world ". This last bit is repeated a couple of verses later. When I came to today's verses from Peter's letter to the pilgrims scattered throughout the Roman world, I read: " Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day that he visits us ". (1 Peter 2:11, 12) As I read John's words I wondered if, at the time, they had registered on the discip...

Pixabay My desk is piled high with books—and I ordered a few more. The quest? It's all in the name of research for an upcoming project. I even found, on one of my Bible apps, a week-long study on the subject I am researching. Last night that took me to Philippians 1:3-11. Here it is: " I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern ...

Pixabay He was a novelty, a curiosity. People were tempted to keep their distance, just as they would today if they saw a scruffy man carrying a sign announcing the end of the world. At the same time, the little “bump” that insists on knowing what is going on would drive them to linger near enough to hear what he had to say. He was John the Baptist, the desert prophet and way-paver for Christ, the Messiah. His message? “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near ” (Matthew 3:2). And if, and when, any of his listeners were willing to repent, “ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River ” (3:6). Public confession of sins is something we seldom see today, but it was the prerequisite for baptism—and still should be. But there was also a post-requisite that was to follow baptism. When the religious leaders came to John, he turned on them with this accusation: “ You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repe...

Pixabay As sin increased after the fall of Adam and Eve, longevity decreased—with a few notable exceptions. Enoch’s father, Jared, lived 962 years, longer than many of his time, but Enoch was a different case altogether, in more respects than simply his lifespan. “ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away ” (Genesis 5:21-24). Curiosity hitting me once more, I wondered about the phrase: “ …after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God…. ” Did the responsibility of parenthood trigger a need to get on a right basis with God? Some think so. Benson comments: “ Enoch walked with God — A Scriptural phrase for eminent piety. He set God always before him, and acted as one that considered he was always under his eye. He lived a life of ...

Pixabay Some of the best known verses of the Bible are found in Psalm 37. We cling to Psalm 37:4-5, claiming its promises particularly when faced with decisions that need making or challenges that need facing. " Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this ." In their context these verses are words of encouragement to those who are surrounded by evil and might be tempted to cave to the status quo, or wonder if it is worth it to follow God when it seems like the odds are on the side of evil men rather than on the side of good men. Surrounding the verses we usually claim are these: " Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your...

Pixabay Voices bombard us, each insisting on us following their lead. They make promises. Health, wealth, well-being, success, enjoyment, belonging, significance, healing of the psyche, healing of the soul are included in the long list of "Follow me and see what good will come into your life!" But then there is that still, sometimes small voice, heard in spite of the din of the world: " ...follow me... " (John 12:26). Following Jesus was about to get extremely difficult. This particular " follow me " was spoken on the eve of the last supper that Jesus would enjoy with His disciples. His arrest, trial and death would severely test the loyalty, the faith, of His followers. He didn't even give them the consolation of a reference to His resurrection. " 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produc...

Pixabay, Public Domain “ …and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever ” (Psalm 23:6). Journey done. Home at last. The picture of sheep and shepherd is one of wandering from place to place, from pasture to pasture, from watering hole to watering hole. It is a picture of dangers and difficulties from which the shepherd guards his flock. It is the life of a pilgrim—exactly what believers are in this world. But now it is time to go home. And the Shepherd knows the way. He’s been there. Everything is prepared. Jesus told His disciples “ Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am ” (John14:1-3). Thomas was confused at Jesus’ words. We might wonder what the confusion was since he had walked with Jesus for more than three ...

forums.oneplus.net (Google Images) A story repeated in all four gospels is the feeding of the five thousand or, more precisely, the feeding of probably twenty thousand if you include the women and children. But it is what leads up to this miracle of the “loaves and fishes,” as it is often called, that captures my attention this morning. The followers of Jesus had just returned from their mission trips throughout the region. They reported to the Lord what they had said and done in His Name. Mark records this: “ …because so many people were coming and going that they did not have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest’ ” (Mark 6:31). So the twelve plus Jesus set sail across the lake. Meanwhile those who noticed them going took the land route and got to the place before the disciples landed. Instead of finding the solitude that they needed after such a demanding schedule, they found a huge crowd waiting to hear from Jesus and t...

Google Images Logically there should be no break between Deuteronomy 29 and 30 (or any other chapter for that matter). In what is designated for us as chapter 29, Moses has laid out the instructions that the nation-about-to-be must follow if it expects to enjoy God’s blessing. But God also knows that this people will not follow those instructions. As chapter 30 begins, Moses reassures the people that after God has punished them for their disobedience, He will restore them and bring them back to the land that He once promised their ancestor, Abraham. The beautiful forward look: “ The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul and live ” (30:6), is a reminder of what would one day be the result of Christ's coming. This issue of life becomes the theme a little later in the chapter as well. Basically Israel had options: life or death. From verse 11 to the end of the chapter, it is...

Google Images George MacDonald once said: “ Did the fact ever cross your mind that you are here in this world just to understand the Lord Jesus Christ, and for no other reason? ” It was in the spirit of that same truth that Jesus told his followers: “ The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent ” (John 6:29). The statement was made as Jesus spoke to the crowds about the need to focus on the eternal rather than the temporal and it was bracketed by some remarks about miracles (6:26, 30). Some of those who followed Jesus in those early days didn’t really care about the miracles Jesus did as long as they got what they wanted. Others wanted Jesus to do more miracles to prove who He was. In both cases they wanted what would satisfy them, rather than what would satisfy God. When the question was asked: “ What must we do to do the works God requires? ” (6:28), Jesus reduced everything to one simply statement: BELIEVE . Truly believing changes everything. Truly believing leav...

Google Images She could never have imagined what she was asking. In Matthew 20:20-28 we read the story of an ambitious mother (is there any other kind?) trying to pave the path to success for her sons. The mother of James and John (who, by temperament where perfectly able to plead their own case) asked Jesus if He would allow her boys to occupy the seats of honour beside the Lord when He established His kingdom (20:21). Obviously she didn’t really have a clear picture of what kingdom she was actually referring to, but hey...! James and John were right there to answer the first question on the application form: “ Can you drink the cup I am going to drink? ” (20:22). Either they were hopelessly starry-eyed, as we often are when we are asked to be brave without actually being faced with a situation that requires us to BE brave, or they simply had not made the connection between the kingdom and the death of their Master, announced earlier (20:17-19)—for the third time! But there was a ...

Google Images Oh, Peter, is getting stuff the only thing you can think of? We don’t have all the conversation recorded for us so I am speculating as to what Jesus might really have been thinking when Peter said: “ We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us? ” (Matthew 19:27). It wasn’t even the topic of conversation. The rich young man had just left, disappointed that Jesus had asked him to give up the one thing he wasn’t willing to part with. That incident had turned into a discussion about how difficult it was for rich people, dependent on their own resources, to get into heaven. The disciples wondered how it was possible for anyone to be saved and Jesus had told them that all things were possible for God. The subject was an eternal one. Peter might have been thinking eternally, but I suspect his mind was still on what Jesus had asked the young man to give up in order to follow the Lord. You’d almost think this was a “Judas” question since the treasurer...

Google Images “ If you want to be perfect... ” (Matthew 19:21). Oh how I wish I had been a fly buzzing around Jesus’ head when he said this. I would have loved to have heard the inflection of His voice and seen the look on His face. Obviously He was not serious because He was the only perfect man who ever walked this planet. The scene was the appearance of a man who wanted to know what he had to do to have eternal life (19:16). Like many, he believed that salvation is the result of doing enough good stuff in life to outweigh the bad stuff that we inevitably do. Obviously this man didn’t feel as though he had arrived at that point where the scale tipped in his favour. It would also appear that He wasn’t quite willing to give up all the doubtful things that he enjoyed. He simply wanted to make sure he did enough of the right things to make sure his eternal future was secure. When Jesus told him to keep the commandments, he asked. “ Which ones? ” (19:18)—a sure sign his words didn’t m...

Google Images In our anxiety to get people to become believers we sometimes “fudge” a little on the facts of discipleship. We certainly don’t want to scare anyone away, right? But our Lord never made it easy. Yes, he demonstrated and taught forgiveness, love, and acceptance, but He always talked about cost. Salvation is free; discipleship costs everything. In Matthew 8:18-22 we witness a confrontation with a couple of men who had been present during the Lord’s sermon on the mount. The first was a teacher of the law (8:19). He knew all the rules and probably did a fairly decent job of keeping them. But Jesus chose to challenge him on the issue of his lifestyle. The teacher said that he was willing to follow Jesus wherever Jesus went. Perhaps he assumed that would be from one Holiday Inn to another Holiday Inn. Jesus burst that bubble by saying: “ Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head ” (8:20). We aren’t told if the man took up the ch...

When Jesus began His public ministry, He asked the men He had chosen to become His inner circle to follow Him (John 1:43). Now, after the resurrection and just before His return to His Father, Jesus repeats the same instruction. The scene is Peter’s reinstatement to service after his denial of the Lord. “ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’ ” (John 21:19). Moments later, when Peter asked about someone else, Jesus repeated His instructions: “Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me’ ” (21:22). There is a challenge to these words. If they followed Him when they could see Him, touch Him, travel with Him, would they still follow Him when they couldn’t see Him, couldn’t touch Him, and traveled apparently alone to face the pressures and stresses of ministry? He had promised them the presence of the Holy Spirit, but humankind are prone to like their lea...

Reading: Luke 5-7 I wonder if the Guinness Book of World Records has a category for the number of times someone has used the phrase, “because I told you to”? Peter put a slightly different twist on the saying in Luke 5:1-11. It seems that this took place when the disciples were still pursuing their “regular” jobs even though they were followers of the Lord. Jesus had just finished one of His usual marathon teaching sessions. In fact, He had to borrow one of the fishing boats so that the crowd wouldn’t overwhelm Him. The fishermen had apparently been out all night fishing and were now closing up shop for the day, but when Jesus was finished teaching he told them to gather the nets they had just finished washing and head out to deep water. If Peter had been a child he might have said, “Why?” If Jesus had been Peter’s parent he might have answered, “Because I told you to.” Peter skipped that step and relied: “ Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But b...

Reading: Mark 8, 9 We’ve all been there. The conversation takes a turn that is uncomfortable for us and we try to change the subject. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Capernaum. If the Twelve had been modern day teenagers we would have seen them texting each other so that their Master wouldn’t know what they were saying. As it was, they kept their voices down, thinking He wouldn’t know what the conversation was all about. When they got to Capernaum, the Lord asked them what they had been discussing. Mark records: “ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest ” (Mark 9:34, NIV). If that wasn’t uncomfortable enough, the Lord speaks the famous words that not too many modern believers like any better than the disciples did. “ If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all ” (Mark 8:35, NIV). And to illustrate the kind of humble servanthood He is speaking about,...

Reading: Mark 6, 7 I catch myself complaining when my plans get interrupted by other people’s agendas. To tell the truth, it isn’t a surprise that I complain. It doesn’t sneak up on me as though it were something alien to me. I choose to complain. There was no one busier than Jesus was during those brief three and a half years that He had to complete His ministry. In the account we have for us in Mark, He had gifted His disciples with the ability to do miracles, divided them into teams, and sent them out to do ministry (6:7-13). When they came back they reported everything that had happened. Now Jesus wasn’t the only “show” in town; His disciples must have also garnered a reputation for themselves. The crowds where so big and came so often that Jesus and His team didn’t have a chance to eat (6:31). It looks like He didn’t pay much attention to His mother’s concerns about His physical and emotional state as reported back in Mark 3:20, 21. But the Lord wasn’t unaware of the nee...

“ The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. ”  —Isaiah 61:1-3, NIV. All the God does for His children—and that’s plenty—has a purpose much bigger than meeting the needs of those children. He delights to meet us at every crossroad to give us direction, to comfort us when we suffer loss, to fill  our hearts when they are empty, to replace sadness with joy, mourning with singing. Bu...