Clay in the Hands

Why does God offer us salvation?  Are we really that bad off?  Do we need to be saved?

The world would tell us that we are OK – that we can save ourselves.  Or worse yet, that we don’t need salvation.

The Bible teaches us differently.  It explains that we all have a sinful nature and that nature shows itself in the way we live.  We, by nature, want things our way.  Often, it is not that we adamantly want to go against God, but rather we simply want to have our own way.  While this seems harmless enough, if we are to be seeking to honor God but we choose to live otherwise, then we are not living as we were created to live.  If our lives are all about us, then yes, we need salvation.

If the Bible is not proof enough, look around.  The reality of a sinful, selfish world is inescapable.  I am one that chooses to believe that there is something good in all people.  But my experience shows me that all of us make bad choices that put us on paths that lead us farther and farther away from God.  We make those choices because we are inherently selfish.

Regardless of how good we think we are, at the heart of all of us is a rebellious streak and because we have all chosen to rebel at different times in our lives, we need a savior.

We are in the fifth week of Lent.  Our focus is on Jesus – his sacrifice, his life and his death.  It should also be on our sin – our rebelliousness.  It is our sin for which Jesus died.  It is my life he came to save.  And I am forever grateful and indebted!

Be blessed!

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Where is your center today?  You might look at your midsection and say well – right above my naval.  But that is not the center to which I am referring.  What I am asking is where your focus today?  At the heart of who you really are – deep down – that place that defines you as a person.  Our hearts are the center of our being – that place that only you and the Other enter.  Those closest to us know it is there and may have even seen glimpses of it, but they have no idea what all goes on there.

That is the part of you I am asking about today.  Where is your center – your heart – today?  Only you can answer that question.

I can tell you where God would like for it to be; at rest and at ease in the very presence of God.  Just as you long for the constant swirling and pulling to subside within you – God desires it more.

So here is a short little exercise for you to try to help find your center and re-focus yourself for the day ahead:

1. Get up and find a quiet place – maybe it is simply closing the door to your office.
2. Sit still with both feet on the floor and your hands rested in your lap.
3. Close your eyes and humbly ask God to clear your mind and fill your heart.
4. Focus briefly on your breathing and then turn your focus to Jesus.
5. You might even find the Jesus Prayer helpful at this point.  It is an ancient Christian practice that I find meaningful.  You simply repeat this prayer over and over in your mind, “Lord Jesus, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”
6. Close by asking God to stay with you throughout this day.

Give this a serious 5 minutes and see what it does for your focus.  With God at our center all else becomes more clear.

Be blessed today!

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We are in the midst of spring break in our area.  It is a time of year that our school calendar dictates the rest of the community, even if you don’t have kids in the school system.  Many people take their families and get out of town.  It is a time to get away and hopefully rest.

All of us need time to get away.  We need to take time to step back and refocus.  In the Gospels we see that Jesus set aside time to get away as well.

Let me encourage you today to take some time and just sit and rest in God over the next few days.  Let God speak to you and speak into you.

Refresh and refocus.  It will make all the difference.

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This Sunday, as part of the Lenten season, we will be discussing the sacrifice Jesus made for each of us.  He left paradise, emptied himself and took on humanity.  He lived on earth for over 30 years teaching us how to live in a manner that brings true joy and peace, and then suffered a terrible death – all to bring redemption to a fallen world.

That sacrifice cannot be minimized and it cannot be ignored.  Jesus’ sacrifice demands something of us.  We must respond.  We cannot come face to face with this reality and simply turn and walk away.

Too many churches today are consumed with meeting people’s felt needs.  Don’t get me wrong, the church exists because of the needs of the people.  The problem is the felt needs and the real needs of people are not always similar.  Church for many people is a place to go and feel better – a place to go to “get fed.”  So in order to grow a church, many have turned to a consumer model of ministry – just giving the people what they want.

While some of that is necessary, I am convinced that we are not honoring God if we don’t tell people that following Jesus demands something of us.  We cannot look on the cross with gratitude without hearing Jesus’ words that we too must take up or crosses on a daily basis.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, many years ago, reminded us that grace without sacrifice is cheap.

God’s grace is free but it is not cheap – it cost Jesus his life and it demands something of us as well.

So remember today that as believers, we owe a debt that can only be paid by the submission of ourselves to the one who died for us.  But that is a price that has a heavenly return on investment!

Be blessed!

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How close to do you feel to Jesus today?  Does he seem near?  Or does he seem distant?  If you are like me, that feeling changes from day to day.

The truth is that Jesus is always near – he, through his spirit, is with us always.

But the reality of our existence is that we don’t always feel it.  When that happens, I have found that it is not Jesus who has moved but me.

I read this today from Thomas Merton:

The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion.  It is wordless.  It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech . . .

That is what I want.  That is the kind of relationship with Jesus for which I long.

Lord Jesus – draw me close today!   So close that words cannot express – so close that words are not needed!

Amen

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This morning the devotional reading was in the book of Mark.  It was the story of a man’s son that had been possessed by a demon since birth, to the extent that the disciples could not cast it out.  The father approached Jesus asking him to do something.  Jesus responded with a comment about a lack of faith.

It would seem that the disciples, who had been able to do this before, could not handle this problem.  The idea is that even though they believed and knew the power of God, they were facing something that shook their faith.

It would be easy to snicker at the disciples and say, “they should have known better – they had seen Jesus do this and should have known God’s power was sufficient.”  But stop for a minute and think about it in your own life.  You have seen God work in your own experience and in the lives of those around you.  And yet, how often do we come face to face with a situation that rocks our world and we turn and run?

For me, I often find myself thinking, “I believe, but . . .”

I believe but why isn’t God doing something about this?  I believe, but what if God doesn’t come through?

I believe, but . . .

Jesus responded to the father by telling him that casting out this demon is possible if he believes.  The father’s answer should be our answer:

I believe – help my unbelief.

What a confession.  What an attitude of complete submission.  I believe – help me to believe more.

Today, when you face that challenge that may seem bigger than God, remember, God is big enough.  Believe it.  Take it to the bank.  Tell God you believe and then ask for the grace to help you believe even more!

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Yesterday, I mentioned being at a men’s retreat this past weekend.  I was refreshed and renewed spiritually through the course of God working in my own life but even more so in watching God work in the lives of others and hearing their stories.

One man, Joey, has been out of prison now for a few months.  His inked up arms tell part of his story.  He served 26 years for armed robbery.  While in prison, he was the kingpin for the prison mafia and not only controlled his prison but 4 others.  He ruled the drug traffic,  committed murders and several other things.  In a sentence – he was a bad dude.

After 26 years in prison, he was released with no where to go – no job, no family, no hope.  He was making his way through a town and happened into a church to ask for some assistance.  The pastor listened to his story and his heart broke for this man.  He assisted him and even gave him odd jobs around the church to help him survive.  After about 6 months of building a relationship with Joey, the pastor led him into a life changing relationship with Jesus.

Now, two months after his decision to follow Jesus, here he sat in the room with 32 other men on a Walk to Emmaus.

That picture reminded me of God’s life transforming power.  As a pastor, I know that God has that kind of power, but I forget sometimes just how real it is.

God is still in the life transformation business.

What is it about you that you need God to transform?

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Tonight we will begin a study on the book of Ecclesiastes.  It is a book in the Old Testament attributed to King Solomon.  Solomon was credited as the most wise person in the world.  God had blessed him with an uncanny understanding of the world and how it works.

That is why this book is so surprising to me.  The book is written from a very negative perspective – in fact, you could even say it’s a bit depressing.  So much so that I am reluctant to commit to spending the next several weeks studying it.  The overarching theme of the book is the vanity of this existence.  One translation uses the word meaningless.  While I wholeheartedly believe that each page of the Bible is included because that is how God intended it to be, I have to admit that spending the next several weeks digging into 12 chapters of one person’s pessimistic view of just how pointless and meaningless this life is does not sound like a good time!

BUT . . .

What  I learn from what Solomon has to say is a reminder of a simple fact:  if this life here on earth is all there is then there isn’t a point to our existence – no meaning at all.  But we know better.  What we see now is not all there is.  Our hope is not placed in what we can attain here in this life time.  Our hope is in Jesus.  Our focus is on him and living to please him.

So when life seems to cave in on you today, remember that there is more – so much more!

Take heart!

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