The ultimate stain remover...

Romans 12:1 "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to Him, which is your reasonable service of worship."

One of my favorite photos was taken when our kids were little.  We had just moved into our first house and we were working in the back yard, getting ready to plant grass.  Three year old Michael and 1 year old Maureen were standing with their shovels and you could hardly see their faces for the dirt and mud.  All it took was a little soap and a lot of water to get them back to normal.  They cleaned up well, although I was surprised that our drains didn't back up when we emptied the bath tub!

God likes clean and pure. In Jesus' day, in order to be received by God, a sacrifice had to be without blemish, innocent, pure.  I'm not.  So how can I ever expect the holy God of Israel  to accept me, to be pleased with me?  I can never be good enough.  There's not enough soap and water in the universe to cleanse me.

Thank God it's not up to me!  He has washed me in the blood of the Lamb, and I am clean clear through.  Sure, I get a little dirty as I maneuver through the day, but as I bring my sins to Him, Jesus cleans me up again. (1 John 1:9).

Lord, I start this day clean, righteous, pure, and blameless.  Please let my sacrifice today bring a smile of approval to Your face.  I live to serve You.  Amen.

Watching the "body" in action...

1 Corinthians 12:26 "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

Our elementary school football team had a rough time yesterday afternoon.  Undefeated so far, they were playing the other undefeated team.  It was a hard-hitting affair and both teams came away with their share of bumps and bruises.  One of our boys had a tougher time than the rest.  He was blocked hard, fell backwards awkwardly, and broke both bones in his left forearm.

While waiting for x-rays in Urgent Care, three of his teammates and their parents showed up to wait with him.  When he came out of x-ray and it was confirmed that his arm was broken, the three teammates, along with a neighbor friend, spontaneously huddled together to pray for their buddy.  I wish you could have heard the compassion and faith that radiated from those words.  I have never been as thankful to be involved in a Christian school as I was at that moment.

Scripture is so accurate in describing us as a body, interrelated and interdependent.  What a blessing it is to be both on the giving and receiving end of the love and care of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  I thank God for the privilege of seeing it reproduced in our children.

Stealth disciples....

John  3:1-2 "Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, who came to Him by night..."

Nicodemus was a "stealth disciple".  A respected leader, a Pharisee who was expected to oppose Jesus, he came secretly, lest others find out.  Nicodemus asked good questions, not trying to trick or trap the Teacher.  He was a sincere seeker who didn't quite know how to handle the situation.  Jesus knew Nicodemus' heart and met him where he was.  Jesus didn't reject or ridicule him.  He gently stretched his understanding and piqued his curiosity.  As we encounter Nicodemus twice more in the Gospel, it appears that he comes to faith in the Messiah and in the end joins another believer, Joseph of Arimathea, in taking Jesus' body to the tomb.

Sometimes I'm like that....not wanting to be noticed or pointed out.  So, I keep quiet.  Later I feel ashamed that I didn't speak up.  It's then that I hear the gentle reassuring voice of my Savior telling me that it's okay....we'll do better next time.  Praise God, Jesus loves and receives even "stealth disciples!"

Why do I always ask Why?

Romans 11:33 "Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom & knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and untraceable His ways!"

One of the first words out of a toddler's mouth is, "Why?"  I've found that it doesn't do much good to try and explain to him the rationale for my decision.  The little guy just doesn't have a frame of reference, the capacity, for understanding abstract reasoning.  It's not that I'm omniscient and he's not.  I just know a lot more than he does and my brain has more fully developed than his has.  So, my answer to him is, "Because I said so.  Trust me."

It's no different for an adult, particularly when God asks something from me that makes me uncomfortable. Only, in this case, He is omniscient and there really is no way for me to fully comprehend where He's coming from.  Nevertheless, my "Why?" is often very persistent. and I suspect it is annoying to Him. What I hear Him say in response is, "If you trust me, don't ask why, just do it!"

Lord, I do trust You.  Please take the "Why?" out of our conversation.  Help me to "just do it" and leave the results to You.

Cleaning house...

John 2:14-15 "In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves...so he made a whip out of cords, and drove them all from the temple area..."
1 Cor 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit...?"

Encroachment.  I don't like that word.  I think that's what happened with the moneychangers in the temple courts.  I don't think it was an overnight decision - "Let's make some money, let's set up shop in the temple."
No, I imagine it started as a service to Jewish pilgrims coming to the Feast in Jerusalem.  Some of them wouldn't have had their animals to sacrifice.  After awhile business started booming and it became more convenient to conduct it within the temple walls.  And the holy became profane. That's what I think happened.

That's what happens to God's temple in me.  Encroachment.  What seems harmless, maybe even helpful, grows in my heart until, before long, my heart is clouded with the values, cares, concerns of the world.  The light that is supposed to radiate from me is dimmed by the fog of compromised values.

One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to clean house.  I need Him to regularly do a "white glove inspection" of my heart.  I need Him to reveal to me where the world has encroached.  I need Him to get rid of the "junk" in my life so that I can see Him more clearly and others can see Him in me.

Lord, I love a clean house!  Please come in and make yourself at home. :-)

Life is like a coffee filter...

Psalm 91:12, 17 "So teach us to number our days, that we my present to You a heart of wisdom ...and let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and do confirm for us the work of our hands..."

This morning I used the last coffee filter. I thought this day would never come.  Over a year ago I bought a "Costco-sized" package of coffee filters.  The stack was huge and the filters were so thin that the supply never seemed to diminish.  But it did, one by one.  A few weeks ago it dawned on me that the end was near, and my perspective shifted.  As I got nearer the end of the stack, each filter seemed to gain significance.

For me, time is like that stack of coffee filters, a seemingly endless supply of minutes, hours, days, years, decades.  Compared to the "stack", one day didn't seem that important, but the older I get, the more I tend to look back and wonder if I have used the time allotted to me wisely.  I think I have wasted much of it, drifting from day to day as though the supply was endless.  I spent much of it looking forward to the "next thing" instead of making the most of what God had for me that day.

I view time differently these days.  There is no endless supply.  My time has a beginning and and end.  It is temporary.  I am much nearer the bottom of the stack and I realize that time is a precious commodity. Each minute is something to cherish, every breath is a gift from God.  I don't want to waste them.  I want them to matter, to count for something.

Lord, I don't know where the bottom of the stack is for me, but You do.  You tell me that my times are in Your hands (Ps 31:15).  Please guide me through this day so that tonight I can look back and sense your smile of pleasure because I have used my time wisely.

What does God look like?

John 1:8 "No one has ever seen God, but the only Begotten of the Father, He has made Him known." Col 1:15 "and He is the image of the invisible God..."  Rom 8:29 "and whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son..."

A kindergartner was busily drawing a picture.  His intensity caught the teacher's attention and she came to see his paper.  What she saw was a 5-year-old's portrait of an old, bearded man with a smiling face.  "What a nice picture!  Who is that man?," she asked.  "It's God!," the little boy proudly announced.  "But no one has ever seen God," replied the teacher, slightly amused.  "They have now!," said the child matter-of-factly.

Have you ever wondered what God looks like?  The Bible clearly teaches that He is essentially Spirit...no bodily form.  So, whatever Scripture says regarding His form or image, it has to do with His character.  Follow this reasoning...Jesus reveals what the Father looks like (all of His attributes and character traits).  The Holy Spirit is crafting us, His children, into conformity with Jesus' image (His character traits).

Therefore, if someone wants to see what God looks like, they just have to look at us.  I hope that, even though I am a work in progress, they can see in me a family resemblance!

Is your sword sharp?

Eph 6:17 "Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the (spoken) Word of God."

Our country has been at war in Afghanistan and Iraq for 10 years now, with no end in sight.  The conflict has taken its toll on us, but someday it will be over and our soldiers will come home.

Like it or not, we are all engaged in another war that will last our lifetimes.  It's an ongoing conflict with the enemy of our souls, the Devil.  He is powerful, wily, knowledgeable, and determined.  He never lets up.

Fortunately, the Lord has given us protective armor and a powerful weapon   the "sword of the Spirit, the Word of God." The Greek word used in that verse refers to the spoken word.  It's the Holy Spirit using God's Word in us, so that the words we speak are His...true, powerful, effective, appropriate.

I don't want to go into battle against Satan with a dull sword!  I need to keep it sharp by saturating my mind and spirit with the (written) Word...listening to, reading, meditating on the Bible so that when I need it, it is available and the Holy Spirit is able to wield it effectively through me.

For what purpose Miracles?

John 2:11 "This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him."

How often, when maneuvering through the maze of Southern California freeways, do we trust that Cal Trans has accurately placed signs to guide us?  I would be lost without them.  I would also be lost if I focused on the signs for the signs' sake (admiring the color and design, rejoicing in them being placed in such strategic locations) rather than following their directions to our destination.


For what purpose miracles?  They are directional signs pointing us to Jesus.  His miracles in the New Testament manifested His glory for the purpose of bringing people to faith in Him.  They resulted, not only in transforming non-believers into believers, but in building the faith of His disciples.  Too often, people became focused on the signs themselves and missed the destination to which they were directing.  Jesus condemned their misdirected fascination.

It's no different today.  God often chooses to reveal Himself through us, not for our glory, but for His, so that He might bring others to Himself and that He might increase our level of trust in Him.  It's so easy for us to get caught up in the excitement and wonder of the "miracle" and miss the Person to whom it is pointing.  Lord, thank you for choosing to use us in Your plan for evangelism.  Please help me to point others to You, not to myself.  Help me to see You, not just the sign.  Amen.

Who can you count on?

Romans 11:29 "for the calling and gifts of God are irrevocable."

Last Thursday I was standing on a balcony in the Peace Museum on the island of Okinawa, Japan. Just below was a gorgeous grassy bluff that fell away to the volcanic rocks below.  It was low tide, and the subsiding sea had left tide pools in its wake.  Before we finished our tour of the museum, the sea reclaimed the area it had so recently abandoned.

My spiritual life is something like the sea.  Ebbing and flowing, I find myself sometimes close to God and at other times feeling quite distant.  It's me, not God who moves.

Everything in this world, everything in our lives is changeable, temporary, transient.  Thank God for His immutability - unchangableness - His mercy, love, grace stand firm.  They are my anchor.  Though my faith may ebb and flow, He stands solid.  He will never pull away or turn His back.  He won't renege on His promises or His gifts. Oh, what peace, joy, freedom that gives me!

Lord, help me to be more like you...steadfast, sure, solid in my faith and in my relationships.  Amen.

Church? Who needs it? I can handle it by myself!!?

Romans1:12 "I long to see you...that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."

"I don't need to go to church to be a Christian."  I don't know how many times I've heard that from someone who has been hurt by or who is disillusioned with the established church.  I have yet to find one of them who is a thriving, growing, joyful Believer.

God designed us as social beings.  It's in our DNA.  In the Garden, He looked at Adam and declared that was  not good for him to be alone, and He created Eve.  That's why He said in Hebrews 10:25 that we're not to forsake getting together.

We need fellowship with other Christians.  Satan's goal is to isolate us, to discourage and defeat us.  Fellowship encourages, protects, strengthens, and sharpens us.  It hold us accountable and helps us to grow.  It comforts us when we're hurting, provides for us when we are in need, and holds us up when we falter.

Lord, thank you for my Christian brothers.  You keep using them to keep me faithful and growing in my relationship with You.

What's the problem...I'm telling you the truth.

Proverbs 3:3 "Do not let kindness and truth leave you.  Bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart."

Not too long ago I woke up feeling a bit strange.  I didn't recognize the problem until I got to my feet and walked (or tried to walk) .  I must have looked like I was drunk as I bobbed and weaved to the bathroom.  Try as I might, I could not maintain my balance.  I had an ear infection and my eustachian tube was clogged.

It's like that for me occasionally in my daily walk.  It's hard for maintain the balance between truth and kindness.  I am either brutally honest or "half-truthed" kind with those I encounter.  Jesus mastered that issue.  He was "full of grace and truth", not compromising His standards, but exercising kindness and grace in applying them.

When my spiritual "eustachian tube" is clear, I am much better at being like Jesus.  When it's clogged because of sin, selfishness, pride, or just lack of communication, then I'm out of balance and my interaction with others is out of whack.

Lord, please help me today to listen to You and respond to others as You would.

If it's not mine, why do I hold on so tightly?

Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it."

I went to get into my truck this morning and something wasn't quite right.  I didn't remember leaving the driver's door ajar.  I got in and saw that the console was open and the contents were scattered on the passenger seat.  I didn't remember doing that!  I guess I'm kind of slow on the uptake.  It took me a few seconds before it dawned on me that someone had ransacked my truck. MY truck!

Although there was nothing of consequence missing, I stewed over it all morning.  I still have to go the police station this afternoon to file a report...didn't have time this morning.  Throughout the day, the Holy Spirit kept asking me why I was so upset.  Whose truck is it anyway?  Oh, I forgot.  I handed the keys to God when He let me buy it.  I get so attached to my stuff. :-(

So...I'm still learning.  In my mind, everything is God's.  In my heart, it's not always that way. 

Thank you, Lord, for being patient with me.  Oh...and thank You that YOUR truck didn't get messed up.

Thank God for my wife!

Proverbs 31:10, 30  "An excellent wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above rubies...charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

I'm sitting here thinking how blessed I am and thanking God for my wife.  She not only loves the Lord, but is beautiful as well!  I'm also feeling ashamed for how I so often take for granted who she is and all that she does.  Proverbs 31 describes her pretty well.  Her love for God plays out in her care for her family and for anyone in need whom God leads across her path.  As described in this passage, she puts the needs of others above those of her own, not for recognition or praise, but because she loves.

It's so easy for me  to get caught up in all the "important" things on my schedule and to be oblivious to those I love.  I need to be more attentive and grateful to my wife, to notice what she does, to really listen to what she says. 

God, thank you for my loving, lovely wife.  Please help me today to be the husband she deserves and the man you designed me to be.