This past week, we were blessed to have our 2 daughters and their significant others visit us. This included my grandson. Our time together was certainly one for the scrapbook of our lives, but the sad aspect of it is that our delightful time together had to come to an end. Unfortunately, we had to end the visit with tearful goodbyes, which are definitely terrible. I’m grateful for the blessing of our time together, but now I’m sad that it ended too quickly.
After dropping our older daughter and grandson off at the airport this morning, I turned to the Bible for consolation. This verse came to my mind:
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
The good news that my Good Shepherd is always with me and will never leave nor forsake me–so I’ll never have to say goodbye to Him–gave me comfort for sure, but it didn’t alleviate my sadness as much as I had hoped.
So then I started wondering if we would ever get to a time when we no longer have to say goodbye to loved ones. The only time I could speculate about was once we are all in heaven, which unfortunately will be after even more painful goodbyes than what we went through with the departure of our daughters.
Even then, I’m not sure that there won’t tearful goodbyes in heaven. I mean, for my wife and me, our ideal heaven would include having our 3 kids and their families living in our neighborhood, but what if that’s not the case for them? What if heaven for us means that we have the mountains on one side of our neighborhood and the beach on the other side, but that’s not their idea of heaven?
The Bible surprisingly does not speak much about heaven, so we are left to wonder and, to some extent, fantasize about it. Maybe heaven will be so awesome that everyone will lead the life of their dreams together, even if their dreams are different. So even if it’s not what heaven looks like for my loved ones, perhaps we will get to experience eternity not only with Jesus living on our block, but also in close proximity to our loved ones from many generations past and future, What if, in this way, we’ll never have to say goodbye again?
I have to admit that I’m a fan of Star Trek and most of its children and grandchildren. One consistent thing across all variants of the show is that as soon as any sort of bad guy started attacking the Enterprise (or other starship), the first thing Captain Kirk (or other captain) would do is order, “Raise shields.” One thing I always wondered, though, is why they would wait until they were under attack before they’d raise their shields. I mean, if I were flying through space that could be inhabited by Romulans or Klingons (when they’re bad) or the Borg, I think I’d raise my shields before I did anything else, not wait until someone was trying to blow me out of the sky.
This made me think of the following admonition from Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ:
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Since we never know when flaming arrows from the evil one will be flying towards us, why would we ever go anywhere or do anything without raising our shields? There’s a lot more I could say here about the defensive tools Paul mentions or the single offensive weapon he refers to (sword of the Spirit), but instead, I thought it would be better to suggest that you think and pray through what these things mean to you.
Also, remember how I had mentioned in a previous post that I learned from my pastor to start each day, before I even get out of bed, with a simple prayer: “Holy Spirit, come”?
With these things in mind, I have one further suggestion. Why don’t we try amending that simple morning prayer like this: “Holy Spirit, come. Raise shields!”
I don’t know what your “anyway” is, but God pours His grace all over it. I don’ know what your past is like, but God has poured His grace all over that, too. Same thing with your sinful behavior and thought patterns. God has tossed us headlong into His ocean of grace.
If you’re anything like me, this is the best news you’ll ever hear.
I have plenty of baggage in my past–things I wish I hadn’t done or said, but I can’t undo or unsay them. And even though I feel like God has helped me grow and made me a better person, I am, unfortunately, still shocked sometimes by something I do or say or think. I get so disappointed in myself and wonder how I can ever think I’ve grown at all. I’ve failed God, or maybe God has failed me.
Maybe this is you, too, my friend?
But here’s the thing: this is shame. And it is the tool of the evil one, who would do anything to separate us from God.
But, thankfully, God has done everything to bring us back into His arms. The moment we ask for forgiveness, He picks us up, dunks us into His river of mercy to wash off the filth, and sends us on our way (but not before reminding us to go forth and sin no more, even while knowing that won’t be possible for us).
The Bible is God’s love letter to you and to me. Here’s one of the reasons I believe that to be true: because He shows by one example after another that He loves us anyway. Here are just a few:
God still loved Adam and Eve, even after they deliberately disobeyed a directive from God because they had believed Satan’s lies.
God still loved Moses, even after he killed a man and despite Moses telling God he didn’t want the assignment God had for him.
God still loved David, even after he committed adultery and then had that woman’s (Bathsheba’s) husband killed to try to cover it up.
God (in the form of Jesus) still loved the Samaritan woman at the well, even though she had cast aside 5 husbands and was not married to the man she was currently living with.
God (Jesus) still loved Peter, even after Peter swore that he didn’t know Jesus because he was afraid for his life.
God (Jesus) still loved Thomas, even after Thomas doubted that Jesus had really been rasied to life after His execution.
God (Jesus) still love Paul, even after Saul (Paul) had tried to eradicate His church by persecuting His followers.
So, you see, it doesn’t matter what your or my “anyway” is. God loves you no matter what, and He loves me despite all the ways I’ve let Him down. For that, I am and will be forever grateful.
At New Life Church (my Colorado Springs church) today, the insightful Pastor Brady Boyd preached from 1 Kings 17. He taught about the story of the prophet Elijah and the widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:7-16). Due to a 3-year drought that Elijah had announced, this poor widow and her son had lost all hope.
In fact, when she encounters Elijah, she is preparing her last meal for her and her son before they starve to death. Talk about hopeless.
Then came Elijah, who initially appears to make things worse for her. Upon hearing what she was doing, Elijah–seemingly callously–tells her to make bread for him before feeding her son or having anything herself. He tells her, “Don’t be afraid” (v 13), which seems to be another strange demand. However, he offers her a small glimmer of hope when he follows up with this promise:
“For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”
Still, this is a tough situation for this woman. She is asked to trust God not only with her life, but also her son’s. On my best days, I like to think that I would trust God with my life, but honestly, I don’t know if I could say that I would trust Him so completely with my child’s life.
But here’s the thing: God blesses them because she is willing to hold on loosely to her and her son’s lives. He keeps His promise, and the flour and olive oil never run out.
So as it turns out, Elijah brought this woman hope in the form of a promise from God. This becomes an example for us, not only as another lesson that God keeps His promises, but also to remind us that we are to be carriers of hope to the people we meet. And just as Elijah faithfully delivered a message that initially made no sense (“feed me before you or your son eat, even though you’re about to starve to death”), so we are also called to convey hope to our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone else, even if what we say is nonsensical to them.
Hope does not always make sense. But it carries us through the darkest of days.
This is what Jesus did. He spoke hope into a hopeless world, even if what He said didn’t make sense to most people who heard Him. His message lit up the darkness, chased it away. His life and death showed us once again that God keeps His promises.
That’s the message of hope that we are to carry with us everywhere we go, and share freely.
As I sat preparing my heart for Communion at church this morning, an image flashed into my mind for a moment: I was kneeling at the foot of the cross. My face was in the dirt because I felt so unworthy to be there. I am unworthy to be there because Jesus is hanging on the cross due to my sins. The only perfect person who ever lived, the only person who never committed even the tiniest sin, is taking my punishment for me.
Well, I have to tell you, that was a very uncomfortable moment. I mean, what if someone at church realized I was the reason Jesus was being tortured to death?
But then a drop of blood landed in the dirt next to my head. And then another landed on me. And then some more.
Normally, that would not be a pleasant experience, to have someone’s blood dripping all over me.
But in this case, it was. I was cleansed, made cleaner than any shower could ever make me. I felt God’s presence. I felt Him assuring me that this was the plan all along–that He desperately wanted me to be part of His family and a personal friend of His, and He knew that I wouldn’t be able to make myself worthy on my own, no matter how hard I tried. He knew that I’d screw up. Again and again. So He devised this plan to make me worthy.
In the strangest of ironies, His blood would clean me and make me whiter than snow. His blood, when I rub it all over me, would make me impervious to the attacks of the evil one and would help me to ignore the thousand good reasons he gives me every day to step out of the Light and into darkness.
I knelt at the foot of the cross unworthy to enter into God’s presence, and yet He made me worthy by spilling His blood all over me. What a strange but thrilling story!
And here’s a really spectacular thing for you, too: He did the same thing for you, even if you don’t yet know you are unworthy, yet made worthy!
Thanks be to God!
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”
I am in a season in my life where I have been learning more and more to trust God–that He will come through for me and my family and the world in ways that far exceed what any of us could have expected. I must admit, though, that His timing doesn’t always align with what I’d like for it to be. But, of course, He doesn’t work for me–I work for Him!
For example on the positive side, it was a real shock when I lost my job in June. However, God came through in a “manna in the desert” sort of way, and within a week, I had landed a consulting gig. I was (and still am) amazed by such a quick blessing to answer my prayers.
On the other hand, though, at about the same time, we had put our house in Colorado on the market to try to sell it. This was a very difficult decision for us, but I felt like it was consistent with (or at least not opposed to) God’s will for our lives. We had planned to eventually move to Florida to retire, and this seemed like a good start to our glide path into retirement. However, even though the real estate market in Colorado had been very hot, it seemed like it cooled off about we week before we were ready to put our house on the market. Ugh!
The situation is frustrating and actually rather baffling–neither one of our realtor duo can figure out why it’s not selling, nor can anyone else in their real estate office. I believe very strongly that God can do anything, and we have been praying for this for months, but still nothing.
But still, this is part of trusting God: knowing that He is working for our good, even when we can’t tell.
In a church we are trying out near our new home (Generations Christian Church), the sermon today was the last in a series on the book of Daniel. Among other things, he pointed out one of the odd little passages (there are many in this book), in chapter 10 in which Daniel has a vision of an encounter with an angel. In this conversation, the angel says:
But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
You don’t see this verse on many refrigerator magnets. So, basically what’s going on is that Daniel had been praying and fasting for weeks, but had not seen any results. God had sent an angel to help him with his request, but that angel had gotten tied up fighting an intense battle in the spiritual world–so much so that God sent another angel to help the first angel. All of this had happened without Daniel having any idea that God had sent two angels so He could answer Daniel’s prayers!
So, What Does This Mean for Us?
This means that not only do I (we) have to trust Him for positive outcomes, but I (we) also have to trust the timing in which He provides them. We have to trust that He is working for our good, even when we can’t see it. In fact, much as it pains me to admit, it could even be that the timing for the answer to this particular prayer could be a precise reminder from God, as King Solomon learned:
“…In its time.” In God’s time. Not in my time, no matter how much I wish it might be otherwise. And yet, at least I know that it will be beautiful when it does happen.
Yesterday I was blessed to perform the wedding ceremony for my son and his new bride. I talked about how if they nourish and cultivate their relationship with one another, they will always have at least one person on their side, no matter how harsh life and the world can get at times. I’m thankful that I have that in my wife like she has in me, and I pray we modelled it well enough for our son that it’s a lesson that stays with him thoughout his marriage.
This also reminded me, through my wandering mind’s free association, of some other really great news. So, here goes.
First, I’ll point out that in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul commanded husbands:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Let’s follow this simile comparing Jesus to a husband a little way down the path. This sort self-sacrificial love is the way I want to and try to treat my wife, but sadly I usually come up short.
Next, we can say that Jesus takes His devotion to us even one step farther. In addition to sacrificing Himself like a lamb on our behalf, He is also the God-man part of the triune God. The same God who created the whole universe from nothing. The same God whose power and capabilities we can’t even begin to fathom.
So, this same Jesus who was willing to die to take the punishment you and I deserve is also able to do even more than we can ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20). Which means that if He as our groom is on our side, what does it matter who is on the other side? Is there anything we can’t accomplish or endure?
Or to put it another way, we can see how Paul described this really great news in his letter to the church in Rome:
My favorite NFL football team, the Denver Broncos, thumped the LA Rams in their final preseason game–a contest that mostly nobody cared about, except maybe the guys on both sides who are trying to make their teams. In any case, coming off their worst regular season that I can remember, it’s hard to have high hopes for the Broncos’ new season, which starts in two weeks. But still, I do.
You see, at this time of year, right before the season starts, my team has the same win/loss record as every other team. Looking at moves they made in the offseason, including bringing in one of the best coaches in league history, you can talk yourself into believing they will be the changes needed to take your team back to the playoffs.
But unfortunately, if the last several seasons are any indicator, at some point in the next few months, my hope will probably be dashed upon the rocks of reality. Most likely, I will mutter the phrase shared by frustrated sports fans around the world: “Oh well, there’s always next season.”
Who cares? Why am I talking about this?
Well, let me tell you why. Because as followers of Christ, we have something better than a football team (or anything else) to hang our hopes on. According to the author of Hebrews:
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.
“Firm and secure” means that no matter what happens, we can continue to hope in Jesus. He will not fumble the ball or miss a field goal or do anything else to lose the game in the final seconds.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite. At the crucifixion, it seemed that all was lost. The one who was supposed to be the savior of the world had suffered a mockery of a trial, a severe beating, and a vicious execution. His closest friends and followers had lost their hope. It seemed like Satan had won.
But in the ultimate unexpected comeback, Jesus rose from the dead! He did not just squeak out a win–he crushed Satan in the most decisive victory in history. This was an even more impressive thumping than the Broncos gave the Rams last night. Now Satan is afraid of Jesus. That’s why he manufactures so many lies to try to keep us away from our Savior.
What does this mean for us? Well, one cool thing about it is that Jesus gives us His victory. As sports fans, when our team wins, we get some level of satisfaction from it, but it’s not really our victory. It belongs to the team, not us. It doesn’t generally change anything for us in our lives.
But the victory Jesus gives us does change our lives. He gives us victory over Satan, over sin and death. As Paul the Apostle describes in his first letter to the church at Corinth:
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
If you’re anything like me–if you’re a human being–you probably get wrapped up in the concerns of the day. Your job, your family, your home. The economy. The fate of your country. And so on. There are many pressing matters that seem pretty important and urgent. And in some ways, they are.
But ultimately, these concerns will generally fade into oblivion. For example, I honestly couldn’t tell you what was most concerning to me 10 years ago today. Probably not even 5 years ago. So why do I–why do we–let the troubles for today consume so much of our thoughts? We probably won’t remember them 5 or 10 years from now.
What we should focus on is how the story ends. Sure, God will take the work we are doing on His behalf today and bless it, but that will still not make it matter as much as the ultimate victory He has given us through Jesus. He has given us His victory over sin and death. He has given us eternity in His presence.
As Paul goes on to tell his friends in Corinth:
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
With that in mind, we should take a little pressure off ourselves. Let’s hang our hopes on Jesus. He will not disappoint. He’ll come through better than any professional sports team or job or politician or friend. He wins in the end, and we can win with Him.
In response to my blog post from last week, I felt God putting two verses from the Bible on my heart throughout the week, so pretty much all I am going to do this week is let God speak to me (and you):
I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Here’s what I make of this heavenly message: I can and should depend on God to achieve everything I need to in my life–and so much more. Even more than I can imagine. And because of this, I can and should take time to rest. So, on that note, I’m going to bed earlier than I normally do on Sunday nights!
