You're The Inspiration

This song has been in my head a lot lately. I actually wrote a story about it once I think. As you listen to it, try this - close your eyes and think about God. Think about all the thing's He's done for you. All the teaching, the parables, the questions He asked us. And, of course, His sacrifice on the cross.

The song ends with the repeated words, "When you love somebody."

Now picture Jesus hanging on that cross for you and me. What are the limits of God's love? They are endless . . . when You love somebody.

God loves us! Rejoice! Inspire someone today by showing them how much you love them!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." - John 3:16

You're The Inspiration - Peter Cetera

Burning Love

I'm not anybody special. Far from it. But I HAVE been blessed in that I have seen glimpses of God. Not God Himself mind you. No one has ever seen God, and lived. But I HAVE seen examples of his character in His Word and in His creation. So have ALL of His children! But I never thought I'd see Him in my fireplace.

For example, yesterday I was looking at the fire in our fireplace. There were no flames actually but the log was glowing red hot. As I watched it I could see it pulsing, reds and oranges. It was like the log was alive with fire - burning from within itself. That's what gave me the idea for this story.

We read in 1 John 4 that "God is love." When we read that in verse eight we think, "Yeah? So? I love people too." That's just it. I don't think we do. Not the way God loves us.

We say we love all kinds of things. For example, I love my grandchildren, I love my wife, and I love meatloaf. My friend Chuck at church said he has a friend who "loves" hunting. Does he REALLY love hunting? Or is it just an obsession? Love is an incredibly misused word.

I see people on Facebook say how they love someone. They're 12! How can they be so sure it's love and not indigestion? Do they even comprehend what love is at that young age? Or us. Can we truly comprehend what love is without knowing God?

I think that none of us really knows what love is until we come to know Jesus. The Bible is right when it said that God is love. And here's the proof.

Open your Bibles to Luke 23 and begin reading in verse 34. Jesus is being crucified by the religious rulers. What did Jesus do? He prayed for them, seeking forgiveness on their behalf. What?!?

³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots." - Luke 23:34

In verse 41-44 we see another example of the love of Christ as He had compassion on one of the criminals hanging next to Him. Speaking to the second thief, the first thief said,

⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
 
⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” - Luke 23:41-43

Flip ahead to John 19 for yet another example of God's love and compassion. When Jesus looked down from the cross and saw John and His mother standing there He said this:

²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home." - John 19:26-27

As He was dying on the cross, Jesus made sure His mother was taken care of. He also comforted a thief and prayed for those who were killing Him. What kind of amazing love was that?

God's love burns hot, just like that log in our fire place.  Is our love that hot? Does it burn as deeply for fellow humans, both friend and foe? Sadly, I think we're lucky to find a spark sometimes when we compare our love with God's.

There is a difference between God's love and ours. Often we incorrectly call something love when it is really lust or idolatry.

Do we love our enemies like Jesus did? No. He sacrificed Himself for them out of a deep burning love in His heart so that they could be saved.

I want to live like that. I want to have so much love inside of me that I am glowing red-hot . . . not only for those I like but for those I don't like as well. I have a long way to go and surely I will never get to that point. But I can try. :)

Live Like That - Sidewalk Prophets

The Commands of Jesus: Be Clean!

When I read the story in Matthew about the encounter Jesus had with a leper I didn't really think much about it. Jesus healed many people in His three-year ministry. It was only when I dug a little deeper that I found some hidden treasure. Can you find it?

"When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. ² And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
 
³ Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴ And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” - Matthew 8:3

The first thing we notice is that "a leper came and worshiped Him." The leper, someone made unclean by a defiling skin disease, worshiped Jesus. And the leper "believed" Jesus could do it saying, "You CAN make me clean." Jesus cleansed lepers a lot. Leprosy was synonymous with sin.

The next thing we see is that Jesus WAS willing. He is always willing to cleanse us of OUR sins if we believe.

The third thing we can see is in verse four, and this is the interesting part. Jesus doesn't want the cured leper to tell anyone about his cleansing. What did Jesus want him to do instead?

"show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded."

Hmm. What is "the gift that Moses commanded?" Check out Leviticus 14. Are you ready for this? Hold on . . . it's about you and me and Jesus.

"14 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest.

Who is OUR high priest? It's Jesus!

"3 And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed . . . "

The leper, the sinner, is to be cleansed. That's you and me! And what does the law of Moses say to do?


"(take) two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop."

 Two birds. One is Jesus, the other represents you and me. Any guess what type of wood Jesus was crucified on? Was it cedar? And hyssop . . . it used for during Passover . . . when death passed over those who had lamb's blood smeared on their door posts. And what color is blood - Jesus blood? Red. Scarlet.


"5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water.

God commanded that Jesus be killed in an earthen vessel (His earthly body) for our sins.


"6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. . . .

 You and I are literally required to be washed in the blood of Jesus! And He is "living water."


"7 And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field." - Leviticus 14:1-7

 Seven is the number of completion in the Bible. Remember when Jesus said, "It is finished" on the cross? And then the one who has sinned (that's you and me again), the living bird, is to be set free. Free from the punishment of sin. Amazing!

In Mark's account of this same story guess what the cleansed leper did after Jesus commanded him not to tell anyone? He disobeyed.

^"45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction." - Mark 1:45

Isn't that just like us? Disobeying God after we have had our sins forgiven? Jesus died for MY sins. I need to show more appreciation for that in the way I live my life.

The Bible is an amazing book. If one takes the time to not only read it but to study it there are amazing treasures to be found. And, as always, God is glorified in ALL of them.

Are You Washed In The Blood / I'll Fly Away - Alan Jackson

Pass The Kidney Stones. PLEASE!!

It's a pretty little picture, isn't it? Looks like some rare crystal unearthed from some ancient ruins someplace. It's pretty alright. Pretty painful! I found out last week that a friend of mine has kidney stones. Kidney stones can be very painful as they try to work their way out of the body. Sometimes they get so large they must be surgically removed. But before they are they sure can cause a lot of pain!

Usually, when we get kidney stones, they are small and pass without notice. Other times they become too large to escape normally and must be removed, either trough the use of lasers or ultrasound, but sometimes a surgical procedure has to be performed to get rid of them and to stop the pain.

Think about the whole kidney stone process for a moment. Our kidneys act as a filter for our blood. Each day our two kidneys filter about 120-150 quarts of blood. We pee out "the garbage." That is, unless something blocks that process . . . like a kidney stone. Kidney stones can really screw up our lives and keep our bodies from functioning the way God designed them to.

Can you see where I am trying to go with this story? What if we took this whole kidney stone process and compared it to the lives we are living in this world. Can you see any similarities?

Let's say the kidney stone represents the sin in our lives. The role of our kidneys is played by God. He keeps us alive through the blood. He filters our life through his Word, through His love. He longs to have our bodies stay healthy. TO that end, He is trying to remove all of the impurities from our lives. He does this through the reading of His word. He does this through His Holy Spirit.

Sin can be a deadly thing if there is too much of it in  our lives. Wait. That's wrong. Sin can be a deadly thing if we have ANY of it in our lives. Romans  6:23 tells us that"the wages of sin is death." ANY sin, even the smallest sin, is more than enough to send us to hell.

God's is pretty strict, isn't He? It's called "just." He is a just judge, giving people exactly what they deserve. And we are ALL sinners. The outlook is not good for us without someone to save us. Hmm. Read this.

"God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13

If God helps us endure our temptations, wouldn't it also make sense that He would provide us with a "way to escape" our sin? It makes perfect sense to me . . . and guess what . . . He did.

God sent us His son Jesus, not only to live and walk amongst us, but He taught us, rebuked us and, in the end, He died for us. Jesus atoned for our sins, taking the death penalty upon Himself to save us from certain death. What a gift!!

But not everyone will be saved. In order to have your debt canceled you must place your faith in Christ.

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve." - 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

That is the Gospel. If you believe that in your heart, confess your sins to Jesus and repent, you will undoubtedly be saved. No more kidney stones! What an amazing God to love us that much!!

 

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I was more of a Beatles fan growing up than a Stones fan but I'd like you to check out the lyrics to this Stones classic.

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling "Stones"

"Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away,"

Our shelter in this life is Christ Jesus. If you don't know Him you will most definitely "fade away" when your time comes. It could be ten years from now. It could be 20. It could also be tomorrow. Have you seen the news lately? It could even be tonight. Think about it. Knock on His door. He has promised to answer but YOU must do the knocking. Please, get some shelter before it's too late.

Bridge

I was watching one of those Alaska shows the other night on Nat Geo (The National Geographic Channel). Some guy was trying to build a log bridge across a creek. The creek wasn't your typical slow, meandering waterway. This creek was filled with rapidly flowing ice water. And it was deep.

Prior to his decision to build this bridge he always had to remove all of his clothes, throw them across the creek first, and then wade through the ice water . . . the belly-deep ice water. It wouldn't take ME too many hours of deliberation before I would consider building a bridge. One dip would do it.

It took him all day to chop down a tree or two and cut them into pieces before he could simply just walk across the creek on his new wooden bridge. He felt good about his accomplishment.

What an idiot. He was smart for building the bridge but a fool for not building it sooner.

I drive across many bridges on my way to work. I never really think about them. I never think about all the hours of labor spent to make my morning commute a little easier. I never think about it at all. And that's the problem with us humans. We never think about such things.

For example, I have been told that, once you tour a meat processing plant, you will never eat hot dogs again. That may be true. I've never toured a meat processing plant. I like to eat hot dogs. But maybe, if I really knew what went into making them, I would never even want to touch the things.

There are some bridges where we have to pay a toll, a price, to cross the bridge. The Mackinac Bridge is one of those. Each summer when we go to our farm in Michigan we stop at the toll booth before we cross the bridge and pay money to use it. We actually pay a toll on nearly every bridge we cross. It's just that most of those costs come from taxes.

We who call ourselves Christians don't really spend a lot of time thinking about our sin. The things we do during any given day, whether they are God-honoring or not, don't really matter to us most of the time. We just want to get through our day. We just want to "walk across the river." We don't really think about how our "bridge" to heaven was built. We just want to get there.

Perhaps if we each had to get scourged before we got there we'd begin to understand. Perhaps if someone pounded some railroad spikes through our hands and into a tree we'd begin to get the picture. Perhaps.

Jesus has already built a bridge for us. He knew exactly what it was going to cost before it was built. And He paid the price for its construction . . .  with His life.

The next time I cross a bridge in my travels, I think I will stop and examine it. Take a look at its foundation. Check out the size of the beams. Maybe I should call up the construction company as ask them what it was like to build that bridge. But I probably won't. I'll just drive right on over to the other side.

What would we do if we had no bridges? Many of us would have to move, including me! But we DO have bridges. And we DO have an eternal bridge, in Jesus Christ. HE is our bridge to heaven. But what about the toll for crossing the bridge? Who is going to pay that? Already paid. Paid in full.

I'm going to thank Him in my prayers today for what He has done to aid my travels, in this life and in the next, Won't you please join me? Thank you! :)

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all," - 1 Timothy 2:1-6

The Bridge

Pain

For the past several months I have been dealing with some pain in my life. On the grand scale of things it's nothing TOO excessive, but the pain I am feeling is rather persistent. Always there. Always wanting me to pay attention. Who knew that something as small as a tooth could garner so much of my conscious thought.

I've had toothaches before. They usually go away after a day or two. But this toothache has lasted four weeks and the pain is constant and getting worse. The pain I am feeling in my lower jaw is actually changing my appearance an demeanor.

My wife has asked me several times, "Are you okay?" I usually force a smile and say, "I'm just really tired. I'll be alright." But then the next day the pain is still there. Often it's worse. I don't really want to tell my wife what's wrong because she'll start to lecture me, offering me all sorts of "expert medical advice." Advice I don't really want to hear . . . whether she's right or wrong.

And so I sit here in my pain. Not getting any better. Just trying to get through it. Hoping it will just go away. But guess what. It didn't.

I went to the dentist last week. Dentists are experts in pain. Usually, however, they just inflict pain on others. Dentists, and their minions the dental hygienists, like to scrape and probe and poke at our teeth and gums until they bleed. Pain can be such fun!

God gave us pain for a reason. Pain is an indicator that something is not right. Something is wrong. When we feel pain we can be certain that our bodies are telling us to take it easy or to get something checked out.

My dentist told me that my tooth was infected and it would have to be removed (Oh, joy. MORE pain). But actually, after my bad tooth is removed the pain will be gone and I can once again sleep through the night.

God's Holy Spirit, accompanied by God's Word, The Bible, serve a similar purpose. When we become convicted of a sin that we have committed we can feel "spiritual pain." Again, just like with a toothache, we KNOW something is wrong. We need to take a visit to the dentist, or in OUR case as Christians, we need to come before God in prayer. Only He has the ability to heal us and restore our "health" through His grace and mercy . . . and the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross.

If someone knocked on my door and told me they could take away the pain from my toothache I'd let them. But if that pain transferred from me to them would I still allow them to heal me? If I saw them leaving my house, holding their jaw in obvious discomfort, how would I feel then. I would probably still be feeling pain, but pain of a different sort.

When we sin do we think of Jesus being nailed to the cross? Again and again? For each little sin? Jesus actually died for ALL of ours sins - past, present and future. But if we thought about Jesus being nailed to the cross each time we stuffed ourselves at the dinner table or looked longingly at a man or woman at work, would we still go on with our lusts, even with that picture in our minds?

Those of us who are believers in Christ have that decision to make each time we sin. The knowledge that someone else has paid our fine for us. Though He committed no sin, Jesus received punishment, OUR punishment, as if He did. I personally have a hard time with that. May we ALL have such regret when we become convicted of our sins.

In closing I will leave you with a verse - a verse that haunts me when I contemplate the ramifications of the sin of believers. I hope it will make you think as well the next time we catch ourselves in sin.

"26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." - Hebrews 10:26-31

This is a hard teaching. It says that those who have heard the Gospel and then reject it, cannot be saved because they have refused to the salvation offered by Christ's death on the cross. Sinning after we become believers is not "terminal" unlike those who deny Christ. But sinning after we have come to believe should create in us an enormously heavy burden. Repentance should be a daily . . . no, an hourly act. Whenever we sin our immediate response should be repentance. We should be driven to our knees, seeking God's mercy. Without that, we are truly lost. BUT . . . there IS hope.

"24 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:4

Forgiveness - Matthew West