It seemed as if there was a dark shadow that shrouded his soul, and his eyes were haunted with fear when he came to join me at first light. The night shadows were still clinging to the trees when he crawled up into my lap and began to whisper his nightmares to me. I wrapped him securely in a blanket as much to comfort his heart as to keep the chill of early morning away. For a time I said nothing but simply rocked him, as together we watched the Sun conquer the darkness.
What was the source of this young boy’s nightmares? He had been exposed to evil. He had seen the power of darkness. I didn’t try to comfort him or try to lessen his fear by telling him that his fears were imaginary, instead I showed him a bigger picture. I had just finished teaching the book of Revelation. Because the book of Revelation is a series of visions, I had drawn them. I explained to him that the last book of the Bible tells us about the clash between two kingdoms. We looked at the pictures and I told him that though the kingdom of darkness was real and powerful that in the end there would be only one kingdom, the Kingdom of God. I also asked him which kingdom he wanted to belong to. He took a deep sigh and said, “I want to belong to the Kingdom of God.”
The next time he came to visit me he asked again if I would show him my drawings of the visions in Revelation. The word revelation means an unveiling. For this child who had been exposed to spiritual darkness, the unveiling of the Kingdom of Heaven brought him a sense of peace. Again he told me that he wanted to belong to the Kingdom of Light.
The last time I was with him was New Year’s Eve. I asked him if he would like for me to read to him the last chapter of God’s book. He was wearing the Christmas pajamas that I had given him. It was the last night of the year, and darkness had settled on the house when he once more climbed into my lap and I wrapped him in a blanket of love. As I read to him, together we looked with the eyes of our spirit and saw Jesus. And we heard His voice speak to our spirits saying, “Yes, I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:20). As I tucked him into bed I whispered, “There is a clash of kingdoms, but in the end God wins.”
Sometimes your life intersect another life for just a brief moment. But if during that brief intersection you are able to whisper the truth and unveil a mystery, perhaps even a moment in time can bring with it eternal light.
Friday, February 22, 2019
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
The Trap (Mark 3:1-6)
Hardening of the arteries is a disorder in which arteries (blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood from the heart to other parts of the body) become narrowed because fat is first deposited on the inside walls of the arteries, then becomes hardened by fibrous tissue and calcification [Emedicinehealth]. In Mark 3:5 it says, “Jesus looked around at them (Pharisees) with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts.” The Greek word for hardness carries with it a picture of callousness. A heart with a callous covering that eventually brings with it blindness.
Who were the Pharisees? The name Pharisees literally refers to be a “separatist.” They were a sect of Jews who tried to separate themselves from sin by following not only the written law given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the Talmud, but also the Mishna which was an oral law. Just as fat deposits on the inside of the arteries wall can produce calcification that can lead to death, the additional laws caused the Pharisees’ hearts to harden and they lost sight of God. The desire to separate themselves strangled their ability to feel compassion and the end result was that they separated themselves from God Himself.
It was on a Sabbath when Jesus encountered the man with a withered hand. The Pharisees were watching, hoping to trap Jesus. Until Jesus had come on the scene they had been the ones to enjoy the respect they felt their piety deserved. They had enjoyed not only respect but influence as well. They were jealous of Jesus and His popularity which, in their opinion, stole their limelight. They had no compassion for the handicapped man, but were only hoping to use him to expose Jesus as a lawbreaker.
Jesus had the man with the withered hand stand in their midst and then asked them if it was lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath. He asked if it was a day to save life or to kill? They should have been able to answer because, after all, they were experts in keeping the law. “But they were silent” (Mark 3:4). Jesus looked around at their stony, cold faces and He was filled with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts. This is the only explicit reference to this kind of anger in the New Testament. I wonder if Jesus’ anger towards them was reminiscent of God’s anger towards Lucifer who had a position of honor in heaven but whose pride caused his downfall. But it wasn’t only anger that Jesus felt, He also felt deep sorrow and grief because of their insensitivity to God’s mercy or His care for human suffering.
What would it have taken for Jesus to be able to heal the hardened hearts of the Pharisees? First, they would need to humble themselves and recognize that they needed mercy. The same Jesus who brought physical sight to the blind man who cried out for mercy would have given spiritual sight to the Pharisees and in the process healed their hard hearts. But instead, Jesus’ compassionate response to the man with the withered hand made them look for a way to destroy Him.
Who were the Pharisees? The name Pharisees literally refers to be a “separatist.” They were a sect of Jews who tried to separate themselves from sin by following not only the written law given to Moses on Mount Sinai in the Talmud, but also the Mishna which was an oral law. Just as fat deposits on the inside of the arteries wall can produce calcification that can lead to death, the additional laws caused the Pharisees’ hearts to harden and they lost sight of God. The desire to separate themselves strangled their ability to feel compassion and the end result was that they separated themselves from God Himself.
It was on a Sabbath when Jesus encountered the man with a withered hand. The Pharisees were watching, hoping to trap Jesus. Until Jesus had come on the scene they had been the ones to enjoy the respect they felt their piety deserved. They had enjoyed not only respect but influence as well. They were jealous of Jesus and His popularity which, in their opinion, stole their limelight. They had no compassion for the handicapped man, but were only hoping to use him to expose Jesus as a lawbreaker.
Jesus had the man with the withered hand stand in their midst and then asked them if it was lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath. He asked if it was a day to save life or to kill? They should have been able to answer because, after all, they were experts in keeping the law. “But they were silent” (Mark 3:4). Jesus looked around at their stony, cold faces and He was filled with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts. This is the only explicit reference to this kind of anger in the New Testament. I wonder if Jesus’ anger towards them was reminiscent of God’s anger towards Lucifer who had a position of honor in heaven but whose pride caused his downfall. But it wasn’t only anger that Jesus felt, He also felt deep sorrow and grief because of their insensitivity to God’s mercy or His care for human suffering.
What would it have taken for Jesus to be able to heal the hardened hearts of the Pharisees? First, they would need to humble themselves and recognize that they needed mercy. The same Jesus who brought physical sight to the blind man who cried out for mercy would have given spiritual sight to the Pharisees and in the process healed their hard hearts. But instead, Jesus’ compassionate response to the man with the withered hand made them look for a way to destroy Him.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
A Larger Story of Love
I read in a sermon by Brian Bell this week that the word prayer is mentioned 371 times in the Bible, the word love is mentioned 714 times, but the word giving is mentioned 2,162 times. This was a surprise to me. If I had been asked what word was mentioned most I would have voted for the word love. I began to ponder this idea of giving. I meditated on it. It was like a piece of hard candy slowly dissolving until the sweetness permeated my being.
As I continued to think about the importance that God places on giving, I was reminded of a book that I read many years ago. The book wasn’t about giving though, it was about forgiving. The book was “Total Forgiveness” by R.T. Kendall. What stood out most to me when I read the book was the effect that forgiveness had on his life. He had been part of the Charismatic Movement but he said that nothing had brought him into a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit than forgiveness.
I looked up the word forgiveness in the Strong’s concordance and found charizomai, a verb meaning to show favor, to give freely. At the root of forgiveness is charis. In HELP Word-studies I found that this word is preeminently used of the Lord’s favor - freely extended to give Himself away to people (because He is “always leaning toward them.”)
As I continued to think about the connection between giving and forgiving I was drawn back in my memory to dark chapters in my own life where I questioned the possibility of ever being able to forgive. The hurtful things that had been done not only wounded me deeply, they had also exposed the hardness of my own heart and my inability to truly love. I felt trapped in anger and hatred.
When I looked into God’s word I was confronted with forgiveness. The thought of forgiveness humbled me. It brought me to my knees. I came to God in prayer and begged Him to give me the grace to love, the grace to lean towards forgiveness and not away from it. I gave up my perceived right to anger, bitterness, and hatred. On my knees I moved from responding in the flesh and chose by God’s grace to respond in His Spirit. It wasn’t instant, but over time I began to experience a healing of my broken heart. When I humbly entered into communion with God by forgiving I realize that I had become part of a larger story of love -- the story that begins with these words, “For God so loved the world that He gave...”
As I continued to think about the importance that God places on giving, I was reminded of a book that I read many years ago. The book wasn’t about giving though, it was about forgiving. The book was “Total Forgiveness” by R.T. Kendall. What stood out most to me when I read the book was the effect that forgiveness had on his life. He had been part of the Charismatic Movement but he said that nothing had brought him into a deeper experience of the Holy Spirit than forgiveness.
I looked up the word forgiveness in the Strong’s concordance and found charizomai, a verb meaning to show favor, to give freely. At the root of forgiveness is charis. In HELP Word-studies I found that this word is preeminently used of the Lord’s favor - freely extended to give Himself away to people (because He is “always leaning toward them.”)
As I continued to think about the connection between giving and forgiving I was drawn back in my memory to dark chapters in my own life where I questioned the possibility of ever being able to forgive. The hurtful things that had been done not only wounded me deeply, they had also exposed the hardness of my own heart and my inability to truly love. I felt trapped in anger and hatred.
When I looked into God’s word I was confronted with forgiveness. The thought of forgiveness humbled me. It brought me to my knees. I came to God in prayer and begged Him to give me the grace to love, the grace to lean towards forgiveness and not away from it. I gave up my perceived right to anger, bitterness, and hatred. On my knees I moved from responding in the flesh and chose by God’s grace to respond in His Spirit. It wasn’t instant, but over time I began to experience a healing of my broken heart. When I humbly entered into communion with God by forgiving I realize that I had become part of a larger story of love -- the story that begins with these words, “For God so loved the world that He gave...”
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)
There is a legend about the Taj Mahal that reminds me of how the Sabbath was treated during the time of Jesus. The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and costly tombs ever built. In 1629, when the favorite wife of Indian ruler Shah Javan died, he had a magnificent tomb built as a memorial to her. The temple was constructed with her coffin in the center of the building. As time went on, Shah Javan’s grief was overshadowed by his passion for the building project. Legend has it that one day when he was surveying the grandeur of the building he stumbled over a wooden box, and had some workers throw it out. The wooden box turned out to be his wife’s casket. At some point in his passion for the project he’d lost sight of the purpose for the project.
God had given the Sabbath as a gift to His people. It was an invitation to enter into His rest. And what is rest? The gift of rest was an invitation to know God in a more complete way. To enter into God’s rest was to celebrate God’s fullness. The Sabbath was a day to cease striving and open your eyes to the gifts of God that surround you. God’s rest was an invitation to stop trying to hold on to control and so that you can experience the joy of being held by the Almighty God.
How hard is it for man to let go of control and enter into God’s rest? I think some of the laws that were instituted during Jesus’ time might help illustrate. *The Jewish leaders had established 39 Sabbath clarifications, with each having multiple subdivisions, making for over 1500 prohibitions. Here are some of them.
•It was unlawful to kill a flea that lands on your arm because that would make you guilty of hunting on the Sabbath.
•You could dip your radish in salt but if you left it there too long you were pickling it, and thus working. The Pharisees actually had discussions on how long it took to pickle a radish.
•It was okay to spit on a rock on the Sabbath, but you couldn’t spit on the ground, because that made mud, and mud was mortar, and that was work.*
The Pharisees had managed to take the Sabbath and change it from a day of rest and make it into an impossible struggle. The complicated labyrinth of regulations that they prescribed for keeping the Sabbath holy had made the Sabbath seem more like a curse than a gift. The final irony came when they took their prohibitions concerning the Sabbath and used them to condemn Jesus.
Jesus explained that, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Jesus used the Sabbath to illustrate what it looked like to live under the shelter of the Most High and find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He did this by the compassionate way He treated those who were hungry on the Sabbath. The compassion of Christ was met with the condemnation of the Pharisees. In their zeal to follow the rules they had made, they failed to see the Lord of the Sabbath who stood before them with outstretched arms.
*Brian Bill
God had given the Sabbath as a gift to His people. It was an invitation to enter into His rest. And what is rest? The gift of rest was an invitation to know God in a more complete way. To enter into God’s rest was to celebrate God’s fullness. The Sabbath was a day to cease striving and open your eyes to the gifts of God that surround you. God’s rest was an invitation to stop trying to hold on to control and so that you can experience the joy of being held by the Almighty God.
How hard is it for man to let go of control and enter into God’s rest? I think some of the laws that were instituted during Jesus’ time might help illustrate. *The Jewish leaders had established 39 Sabbath clarifications, with each having multiple subdivisions, making for over 1500 prohibitions. Here are some of them.
•It was unlawful to kill a flea that lands on your arm because that would make you guilty of hunting on the Sabbath.
•You could dip your radish in salt but if you left it there too long you were pickling it, and thus working. The Pharisees actually had discussions on how long it took to pickle a radish.
•It was okay to spit on a rock on the Sabbath, but you couldn’t spit on the ground, because that made mud, and mud was mortar, and that was work.*
The Pharisees had managed to take the Sabbath and change it from a day of rest and make it into an impossible struggle. The complicated labyrinth of regulations that they prescribed for keeping the Sabbath holy had made the Sabbath seem more like a curse than a gift. The final irony came when they took their prohibitions concerning the Sabbath and used them to condemn Jesus.
Jesus explained that, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Jesus used the Sabbath to illustrate what it looked like to live under the shelter of the Most High and find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He did this by the compassionate way He treated those who were hungry on the Sabbath. The compassion of Christ was met with the condemnation of the Pharisees. In their zeal to follow the rules they had made, they failed to see the Lord of the Sabbath who stood before them with outstretched arms.
*Brian Bill
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Something New (Mark 2;21-22)
It was at a wedding. The celebration had already been going on for three days when it was discovered that they had run out of wine. Mary turned to Jesus and told Him, “They don’t have any wine.” Next, she told the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.” “There were six stone water jars there for Jewish purification. Each contained 20 to 30 gallons” (John 2:6-7). Jesus had the servants fill the empty stone jars with water. However, when the water was tasted, it was declared to be new wine. The new wine was declared far superior to what had previously been served.
I look at those empty stone water jars that were to used for purification and I am reminded of the stone tables on which the Ten Commandments were written. The Ten Commandments were at the heart of the old covenant to show God’s people how to have a relationship with a holy God. Just as the stone water jugs were empty of the water used for purification, so too, the commandments written on stone were unable to purify the people who tried in vain to keep them.
God’s people had been unable to keep the covenant that God had made with them, and as a result His holy name had been profaned among the nations. How did He choose to vindicate His holiness? “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26,27). God’s people were unable to keep the law written on stone, so God did a new thing: He wrote it on their hearts by putting His Spirit within them.
The question had been asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like the disciples of the Pharisees?” In response to this question Jesus refers to Himself as a bridegroom and explains that wedding guests don’t fast while the bridegroom is with them. Jesus had come bringing the good news of a new covenant. Just as at the wedding feast in Cana they had run out of wine, so too those trying to reach God by keeping the law had fallen short.
Jesus had not come to try to patch something that was broken; Jesus didn’t come to show us how to try harder to keep the law; He came as a bridegroom to call His bride. Jesus said that for anyone who believed in Him that rivers of living water would flow out of his heart. This was the new covenant between the Bridegroom and the bride. Not a covenant written on stone, but a covenant written on the heart. I believe that if you taste that living water you will find that it tastes like new wine.
I look at those empty stone water jars that were to used for purification and I am reminded of the stone tables on which the Ten Commandments were written. The Ten Commandments were at the heart of the old covenant to show God’s people how to have a relationship with a holy God. Just as the stone water jugs were empty of the water used for purification, so too, the commandments written on stone were unable to purify the people who tried in vain to keep them.
God’s people had been unable to keep the covenant that God had made with them, and as a result His holy name had been profaned among the nations. How did He choose to vindicate His holiness? “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you, I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26,27). God’s people were unable to keep the law written on stone, so God did a new thing: He wrote it on their hearts by putting His Spirit within them.
The question had been asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast like the disciples of the Pharisees?” In response to this question Jesus refers to Himself as a bridegroom and explains that wedding guests don’t fast while the bridegroom is with them. Jesus had come bringing the good news of a new covenant. Just as at the wedding feast in Cana they had run out of wine, so too those trying to reach God by keeping the law had fallen short.
Jesus had not come to try to patch something that was broken; Jesus didn’t come to show us how to try harder to keep the law; He came as a bridegroom to call His bride. Jesus said that for anyone who believed in Him that rivers of living water would flow out of his heart. This was the new covenant between the Bridegroom and the bride. Not a covenant written on stone, but a covenant written on the heart. I believe that if you taste that living water you will find that it tastes like new wine.
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