Grains of Sand

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...

Google Images We always revert to what we know. When I look back at our beginnings in Venezuela I am reminded of how true that statement is. We wanted to do something uniquely Venezuelan, to make the church we were trying to establish be different, be Venezuelan. In the end it was uniquely North American. That wasn’t a bad thing—Venezuela is very pro-all-things-North-American. My point is that it just became too complicated to be different and much easier to go back to what we knew. After the resurrection, after Jesus’ appearances in the upper room and on the Emmaus road, the disciples were still “on hold.” What was the next step for them? They weren’t entirely sure and it was futile to speculate and too frustrating to plan. When we get to John 21 we discover Peter and some of the others reverting to what they already knew to do—fishing. They were sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, waiting for no-one-knew-what. Peter suddenly announced, “ I’m going out to fish... ” (21:3)....

Google Images It was an expensive gesture. Just two days before His death, Jesus reclined in the house of Simon the Leper. We can assume that Simon wasn’t a leper any longer, but he isn’t the focus of the story. As Jesus sat at dinner with His disciples, a woman came into the room. She might not have been noticed if she had been a servant in the house, intent on putting down some delicacy before the guests or filling up their cups. When she broke open the flask she was carrying and poured its contents on the Lord’s head, we can almost imagine the collective gasp that filled the room along with the scent of perfume. I was traveling from Lahore to Shikarpur, Pakistan. As we landed, the man sitting beside me opened his briefcase, took out a bottle of cologne and doused me with it. Honestly, I had showered and to this day I have no idea why he did it! In this story from Matthew’s gospel, Jesus made the reason behind the woman’s actions abundantly clear. “ She has done a beautiful thing...

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...

Renew from Google Images Henry Blackaby tells this story in his book, Fresh Encounter , as he describes the Welsh Revival. “ God’s activity among His people extorted a profound impact on the community at large. Taverns were closed for lack of business. The crime rate dropped so dramatically that the police had to find new uses for their time. People repaid delinquent debts and made restitution for thefts and other transgressions. There was even a work slowdown in the coal mines as the pit ponies reportedly could no longer understand the reformed language of the converted coal miners! Soon the world took notice of what God was doing in Wales. Before long, similar revival movements occurred worldwide. It all started when God drew 17 of His people back to Him. Once they returned to God in complete surrender, their community, then their nation, and ultimately the world felt the impact. ” (pg. 15). When God moves, it could be bad for business. When Jesus and His disciples crossed the Se...