No Judgment

Heb. 9:11-28

so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.

Christ came and died as the sacrifice to put away sin by His righteous substitution. In the same way it is appointed for man to die once, and after death comes judgment. But for the believer not so! Praise God! When Christ appears for us [those who eagerly wait for His return] he will not come in judgment but in deliverance, to pull us out of this world before final judgment. What a savior we have!

Father,

Thank You for the provision of Your Son, for supplying what we needed to be right with You even at great cost to Yourself. Thank You for Christ returning for us. I eagerly wait!

In Jesus name,

Amen

Idols

Heb. 4:1-11

God has promised His people rest, rest from work and rest from the struggle of the flesh and the spirit within each one of us. But what is the one thing that prevented Israel from resting? It was disobedience. They disobeyed the Lord and did not keep Him holy in their hearts. Instead they pursued false gods. It seems as I read the OT that for Israel their sin was obvious, false gods vs. the true God. They seemed inordinately attracted to the gods of the people that they had conquered. But even though things seem so much more gray now as opposed to black and white, I wonder if it seems gray only because we want to perceive it that way. 

We so struggle with the flesh and the spirit, falling prey to the same sins over and over. Is this repetition not a type of false god? Are we not worshiping at the altar of self as opposed to the crucified self? I think it must be a matter of heart. When the struggle ensues and we fall, how do we feel? Do we accept it as the common course of things, or do we grieve over that sin? Do we think about God when we sin or are we focused more on ourselves? Are we taking seriously the commands of Scripture wanting more than anything to obey them, or have we reduced our Christianity to a more convenient relationship, one that is easier to follow and one what does not attract any unwanted attention from the world. Even though we are covered in the grace of God and He views us covered in the blood of Jesus, He still desires us to be holy as He is holy. He desires us to want to be like Him because we love Him above all. 

I think of myself how that many times I accept as the normal course of life my bad attitude when I should be crying out to God confessing and asking for help. It reveals to me how insidious sin is. If sin is given even the slightest inch, it will take so much more. To be victorious, we must be engaged in the battle. We must remember the little skirmishes are as important as the big battles. Heb. 4:11 says, Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Father,

I confess my disobedient heart, my allowing of bad attitudes and a sharp tongue and retort. Give me a heart of love. Pry my fingers off myself sot that You may flood in filling and controlling.This is my desire.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Onesimus-the Beginning of the Story

Philemon 1-11

Paul wrote to Philemon, a slave owner and the owner of Onesimus more specifically, about Onesimus, a run-away slave who had run all the way to Rome where he had come in contact with Paul. That was it for Onesimus! He became a believer and ministered to Paul in an exceedingly helpful way. Even though he was a great comfort and help to Paul, Paul knew that he must send him back to his master, Philemon who was a believer as well. 

Paul began the letter telling Philemon what he had heard about him: his love and faith toward Jesus and toward all the saints. He prayed for Philemon that his ministry would be effective and that he personally would grow to full knowledge. His love had blessed Paul's heart in so many ways, but especially because the hearts of the saints had been refreshed through him. 

I love that phrase, the hearts of the saints had been refreshed through him. I wonder how many of us can attest to this. Have our lives refreshed the hearts of the saints that God has brought across our paths? Is that concept even in our thinking? In what possible ways could we refresh hearts. What comes to mind is multi-faceted: compassion, caring, gentleness in the way we handle people; giving, assisting, praying, and meeting needs in our actions; remembering and thinking about them, and formulating plans in our hearts and minds. If they are not in our hearts and minds, we have absolutely no way of refreshing them. 

Father,

Help me be a refreshment to the hearts of other believers. Open my eyes to opportunities.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Love

Titus 3:1-8

What is love? This question has been pondered for centuries. Some think,'love is an action' while others think it is 'free love'--which is really love without any responsibility or commitment. Still others seek to identify it through the lives of other people, often their parents. Of course, this is where the whole process goes awry because people are so imperfect. The home instead of being the place where love flourishes, is the place where love is attacked and tried. It is in the home that the worst side of every person exists and is seen. But to identify true love, we must look away from humanity and look to God. His love is perfect in every way!

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

God's love reached down to us in our most horrible state. We were not worth saving in any way. Goodness existed in us only as it benefited us. In His own mercy and through the washing of the Spirit we became regenerated and renewed. All of this was through Jesus Christ. He was the One who offered Himself as the substitute sacrifice, the sacrifice that paid the price to take away our sin and rank evilness. Because of Him we are justified [just as if I had never sinned] by His grace so that we have a future and a hope. We will be heirs with Christ eternally. Paul concludes by emphasizing the truth and trustworthiness of these words. We can take it to the bank!! For these reasons our life style should be changed. We now must be careful no longer living haphazardly and without focus. We must do good works reaching out to others with this same message. All of this is excellent and profitable! And I agree!! Amen!

Father,

How You loved me! You are the epitome of love and kindness. Grow me in Your love so that I might reflect Your Son.

In His name,

Amen

Purpose and Focus

Titus 2

Have you ever wondered what you were supposed to be doing in this life? Have you wondered if you made the right career choices or relationship choices? Sadly, often once a path is chosen it's hard to go another way, kind of a 'road not taken' scenario. As I was reading in Titus this morning, the verses seemed to jump out at me saying this is your purpose, this is what should be your focus.

For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men,

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Well there it is! God's grace came in the person of Jesus Christ to bring salvation to all, all who would believe. This salvation as well as Jesus Christ has taught us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. What a big order! We are not just to abstain from them part of the time or have them in a watered down form in our lives, no, we are to DENY them! 

As soon as we get rid of the negative, we are to put in the positive. You can't leave an empty space. The negative will flow right back in! So into the newly emptied space, we are to add in living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Not later in heaven, but right now where everything is flawed and so very difficult. Being sober in focus really has nothing to do with drinking [although it could], but I think it speaks much more to a focus that is not encumbered by a lot of things, things that would make you go out-of-control much like alchohol does. All three of these things come from saturating ourselves in the word and prayer, seeking a closeness with Jesus to the point that this world fades. 

Then finally, we are to eagerly look forward to His return where He takes us to Himself instead of thinking about all the worldly things that you still want to do. Why should I not look at and even enjoy what the world has to offer? Because Jesus gave Himself for us. He redeemed us from sin and all of its evil consequences, and He wants to purify us so that we might be a peculiar people zealous of good works. Peculiar, sure we can see that! But zealous of good works. How many of the world's great humanitarians have been Christians? How often do unsaved people have a much greater compassion for those hurting and suffering? That is to our shame!

So there is the answer to our questions about purpose and focus. If we are doing things in life that taint any of the directives in these verses, then we are not where we should be! Instead of drawing closer to Jesus, we are drawing closer to the world. We can't be neutral. We are either hot or cold.

Father,

I thank You so much for this passage this morning. It has really spoken to my heart. Make my focus and my purpose be always in sync with Your purpose and focus for me.

In Jesus name,

Amen