Tag Archives: Christianity

What it Means if God is With Us

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Fynbos, a floral kingdom unique to South Afric...

Fynbos, a floral kingdom unique to South Africa, is found near Cape Town (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scripture Reference: Isaiah 41:9-13

There are many beautiful promises in the Bible, but for me these stand out in a special way.  God makes these promises to Christ –the chosen Servant. He is the Chosen One and all those who believe in Him are chosen by God. Although these promises are given to Christ, they become ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ for all those who are in Him.

I took you from the ends of the earth,
    from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’

There is an allusion to “every tribe and tongue” who are called of God (the ends of the earth). There are no geographical boundaries. God is calling to these chosen ones and urging them to continue trusting Him. This should keep their eyes fixed on Him for their future. They are inseparably joined to Him and He will never leave them nor forsake them.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

God gives these promises to His people who are in this world but not of it. They may be in dire need and surrounded on every side by their strong and crafty enemies. God reassures them that no obstacle is too great for Him. He will remove everything that attempts to separate Him from His own. Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

With tenderness He exhorts us not to fear. He is with us. He will strengthen us. When we are about to fall, He upholds us. This is even more reason not to cultivate desires of revenge against those who hurt us. We can be assured that for all their attempts, we will not stumble and God will deal with them in His own time and way. Why, He will even turn their bad intentions around for good so that we are developed by them and not destroyed by them. ‘Do not be dismayed‘, He says. Keep going and keep your eyes on your powerful God who is mighty to save. He preserves us. He gives us power. If He is for us who can be against us?

He says He is with us. What precisely does that entail? When God says He is ‘with‘ us it is a promise of His presence, His power –everywhere. It is a promise of Him supporting us, helping us, preserving us, observing us, granting grace to us, guarding us, supplying us, comforting us, encouraging us, loving us and removing the ‘impossible’ obstacles from us!

For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
    I will help you.

These promises are ours only because of the selfless life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Let us give Him all the praise!

 

Those Who Are Righteous Will Go Free

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Photo Credit: Freeman

Photo Credit: Freeman

Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free. (Proverbs 11:21)
This proverb brings both comfort and discomfort. It brings comfort for those who love righteousness and yet see so little of it around them and who detest wickedness yet see so much of it go unpunished in this world.

It brings discomfort to those who know deep in their hearts that their wicked deeds will have to be accounted for in one way or another. Their consciences bear testimony to this. Perhaps there are those who have become so wicked and twisted that they have altogether silenced the voice of their conscience, but even they know that in their hearts there is no real peace, even if it appears they are getting away with the wrong thing.

Even if they should laugh about the apparent success of their wicked deeds, their laughter is always mixed with unrest in their hearts. They don’t know that real joy that comes from the peace that only Christ can give to those who have placed their faith in Him and have received His righteousness.

There can be no real peace in the absence of righteousness. Those who believe in Christ will know the true freedom that only He can give. They will be set free, for their sins have been atoned for. The word of the Lord stands firm forever and therefore we can be sure of the fulfillment of this promise.

We know that the freedom is never completely free. Someone had to pay a price for others to be free. How can we go free then? We have all sinned. And since we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, who can be called righteous besides the only Righteous One? The answer is this:

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life…God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-25a, 26b NLT)

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Those Who Wait Patiently On God Do Not Wait in Vain

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Photo Credit: Anita Peppers (The Morgue File Free Photos)

Photo Credit: Anita Peppers (The Morgue File Free Photos)

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. (Psalm 40:1)

God has enough power to help the weakest among us. He has enough grace the help the unworthiest human being if he trusts in Him. Psalm 40 is also a remarkable prophecy about the Savior and His sacrifice. The author of Hebrews quoted from this psalm as if it were the words of Christ Himself, when he wrote about Christ offering Himself as the better sacrifice (Hebrew 10:5)

Here David was going through a dark time riddled with doubts, but he continued waiting, hoping and praying. In the Hebrew, the sense here is not of an isolated incidence of waiting, but of a continuous waiting in which he persevered. He stuck to waiting for a long time. He kept on praying even when it appeared his prayers were not being answered. He was not disappointed. He expected his help from no other source, and he was indeed rewarded.

He turned to me and heard my cry.

This is confirmation that those who wait patiently on God do not wait in vain. Looking at Jesus, our ultimate example, we will notice that impatience didn’t linger in His heart nor flow over His lips, even as He endured the agonies of the Cross and the period of time which lead up to that event. He displayed patience perfected. In this, He was giving us an example of how our conduct should be when we go through the trials of life.

The hope that God gives us allows us to keep steady in our walk and conduct. David soon found his darkness give way to the light of God’s joy and peace. Daily we experience the provision and grace of God. His mercies are new every morning. Let us patiently wait on Him even if it appears He is not listening to our prayers right now. Like David, we will certainly be rewarded.

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Never Look Down on Children

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Daisy GirlScripture Reference: Matthew 19:13-15

Jesus teaches us by example that we should never look down on children or prevent them from coming freely to Him. In this interaction it is clear that it angers Him when people reject children and keep them from Him.

The fact that the parents brought their children to Jesus is a sign that they esteemed Him highly. The disciples, however, considered the children a nuisance and an interruption in the already busy schedule of Jesus. But He did not look at children that way. His response to the actions of His disciples makes that very clear. He is never too busy for the little ones.

Perhaps they thought it was beneath the dignity of their Master to make time for little children. They probably thought they were doing Jesus a favor by keeping the children away from Him, but Jesus changed their thinking. Their response reflects how little they knew of Jesus at this stage in their journey with Him. He says children are examples worth following, not interruptions to be sidelined. Children are trusting; they are willing to learn; they gladly accept a gift without questions asked and they don’t complicate life unnecessarily.

There are many churches today who preach these words of Jesus, “Let the children come to me,” and yet frown upon children as nuisances in their gatherings. A preacher with the heart of Christ will not disdain children, but welcome them. It is tragic that in many churches children are made to feel like they are in the way. This teaching of Christ is of course something that needs to be adhered to in all facets of life, at home, at school, wherever we find the lively voices of children.

I read the following quote this past week:

Children are not things to be molded, but persons to be unfolded.

Sometimes parents want to force children to be people whom they want them to be, instead of assisting in the unfolding of the person God created their children to be. As parents it is very tempting to want to see our unfulfilled dreams realized in the lives of our children, but this is wrong as those may not be the dreams of the child and we will stifle the unfolding of the beautiful, uniquely talented person God created that child to be.

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By Grace Alone, Through Faith Alone

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English: Which Way Now? The public footpath cu...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scripture Reference: Isaiah 34

This chapter consists of two parts. The first part covers the divine vengeance against the enemies of God. The second part describes how the church of Christ will flourish especially after His judgments are executed.

We would be wise to pay attention to these prophecies as the events predicted here are of universal concern. All nations are called to listen to the declaration. Judgement is announced against all who have mocked and rejected the Messiah. Although specific places may be mentioned, these names are symbolically representative of all those who are enemies of the Lord.

The reality of this prophecy is so certain that the prophet represents it as if it has already happened. The time of judgment will be the time when God sets right all injustices, but we must patiently wait until that appointed time and judge nothing before then. Until that day, mercy is extended to every person through Christ and His Name will ultimately be glorified. Listen to His voice while it is still called “today.” The invitation still stands. His mercy is still new every morning.

Step by step, Isaiah carves away at any false requirements for salvation. He hurls them to the ground one by one until he shows that none of the things people think can save them will withstand the justice of God. Only through faith, by grace in Christ are we saved. He shows:

  1. Affiliation to institutions and your ancestry cannot save you. Many assumed they were children of God because they were born into a certain group. How wrong they were! We are not saved because of affiliation to a group or because our parents were of a certain group. Edom refers to the descendants of Esau. Although also children of Isaac and Abraham, they were not saved by their ancestry but by their faith. This judgment is therefore for anyone who assume they are saved by affiliation and not by faith in Christ. John the Baptist sent out the same warning saying that being children of Abraham does not mean automatic salvation.
  2. Social standing cannot save you. Lambs, goats and rams are symbols of social standing and show that no matter how high up you are on the social ladder and no matter what religious or secular title you have, these things cannot assure salvation.
  3. Sacrifices cannot save you. They do not cover up a crooked heart in the sight of God and God looks at the heart, not sacrifices. He rejects the sacrifices of hypocrites who pretend to know God but deny Him by their everyday actions.
  4. Strength 0r the lack of it cannot save you. This prophecy shows how the mighty and the weak will be destroyed together.

 

The core message of Scripture is that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Jesus is the only name given under heaven by which men can be saved. All other man-imposed salvation measures are worthless.

 

 

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No Life is Less Valuable Than Another

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All lives have valueScripture Reference: Matthew 18:10-14

Here Jesus warns us against that pride which exalts the self and despises the lowly. He makes it clear that angels have been entrusted with the special task of taking care of individuals and they are in constant connection with the Father about those they minister to.

How then, can we afford to look down on those who have representatives at the throne of the Most High God? They are objects of God’s intense care and constant attention. In fact, God has such a high regard of them that Jesus Himself came to save them. So, we are given two reasons not to despise the ‘insignificant’ ones:

  1. God takes the most intense interest in their well-being.
  2. Jesus Himself came to save them. How can we claim to be His followers when we despise the very ones He sacrificed His life for?

The ‘little ones‘ Jesus refers to are not only children, but all those who are looked down upon because they are considered by society from a platform of self-assumed superiority as insignificant and unimportant.

People who have been blessed with the willpower to live high moral lives often have a tendency to forget that they have nothing which they have not received from God and that it is by grace that they have been kept from many sins. When they forget these things, they tend to look down on those whose lives have been publicly tainted by sin. In Jesus’ time it was especially the pious church leaders who were inclined to show contempt for those who were ‘below’ them on the ‘spiritual ladder’.

With the parable of the lost sheep Jesus aims to correct proud thinking and shows that each individual has as much intrinsic value as anyone else. Even those who have lost their way, are as valuable to Him as the ones who stay close to His side. We are fooling ourselves if we think that some lives matter less than others. We are self-deceived if we think we are better and more valuable and more significant than the ‘sinners’ (not that any of us are without sin –Romans 3:23).

In fact, finding the wandering sheep may even enhance the value of the sheep once it is found at the cost of great personal sacrifice of the shepherd. Sin does not add to the value of the lost and wandering sheep, but the desperate condition of that sheep evokes in the heart of God pity, compassion and the tenderest love.

And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

By despising those caught in sin, we are therefore, behaving the exact opposite to our Father and we hinder the transformation of a sinner by despising him.

In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

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The Greatest Are The Ones Least Concerned With Being Great

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Pure

Scripture Reference: Matthew 18:1-5

 

I suppose it was just a matter of time before the question would arise among the disciples of Jesus: “Who is the greatest among us?” In other words, who follows Jesus better than the others. Who pleases Him the most. There has to be ranks here. We can’t be equal, can we?

 

Jesus however, showed them that they had everything turned upside down. The greatest in the kingdom of God is not the one who is most concerned about being the greatest, but the one who is least concerned about status and position. To bring His point across more clearly, He takes a little child who was nearby and calling the little one closer to Him, He says: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

 

Jesus says that unless we trust God unconditionally as a child is unconditionally trusting, we will never even enter the kingdom, never mind be great. Without faith it is impossible to please God. In His meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus took this principle one step further and said we should really start from the beginning –we should be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. We have to come to God as one who knows nothing and be willing to renounce our own knowledge, be emptied of self so that God can fill us with Him through His Spirit.

 

“As a little child” means so much more but, for one, Jesus is here teaching us that our goal should be sincere humility, not being the greatest. The one who comes to God full of his own goodness and with a long list of reminders of the good things he has done is not coming as a child.

 

Humility will keep us occupied with serving God and serving others, not with becoming great. This pleases God and therefore He says that the greatest in His kingdom are the very ones who are least concerned with being great.

 

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.  (Matthew 18:1-5)

 

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Our Troubles Bring us Closer to God, by Grace

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DaffodilThe righteous person is rescued from trouble, and it falls on the wicked instead. (Proverbs 11:8)

 
Even if the righteous person has his share of trouble, the Lord will rescue him from it all.

This does not imply that believers have a trouble-free existence. Jesus made it clear to His followers that in this world they will have trouble. But He also added that they should not allow these troubles to cause despair. He encouraged them by saying that He overcame the world, which means every trouble this world may bring our way has to bow down to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.Therefore, for the righteous person, his troubles do not drive him to despair of hope. He clings to the knowledge that His Lord is also Lord over all troubles.

On the other hand, the wicked also have their share of troubles in this world, but since they rely on their own strength or look to the arm of flesh for help, they despair of hope and is destroyed by trouble, not developed by it.

It is only by grace that our troubles can bring us closer to God and for that may we always be thankful.

Prayer Shifts our Focus from our Problems to God’s Greatness

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RiverScripture Reference: Psalm 36:5-12

As is so often the case in David’s prayers, we see once again how he starts out voicing his complaints and concerns to God and how, as he continues to pray, the focus is soon shifted from his problems to God’s greatness.

That may be the case in our prayers too. We start by telling God about all the things that weigh heavy on our heart, but as we pray we can feel that weight lifting and we start to see things in their proper perspective and then we find, that in comparison to God’s greatness, our problems are not as insurmountable as we thought. We may not immediately receive the solution, but we feel lighter –light enough to start praising the Lord and focusing on Him as He truly is –High and lifted up.

This particular prayer started out as a woeful concern about the wicked and their ways, but by the time we read the fifth verse, we see there has been a shift. David’s gaze has moved from his concerns to the greatness of the God whom he so dearly loved.

He contemplates God’s great love; His faithfulness; His righteousness and His justice. He starts praying about how God sustains His creation and sees God’s love in that. He calls God’s love priceless.

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies…How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

He thinks about how God is a refuge to everyone who would call on Him, regardless of social standing. He confirms how the Lord fills people who call to Him with abundance. He is a generous God and is not known for giving in drips and drabs. He is known for pouring out. They may drink from His River of delights. He stills their hunger and satisfies their thirst.

They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.

David recognizes that God is the very Source of life and light. He prays that God will continue His love to those who know Him; not just know about Him but have a personal knowledge of God –not via a ministry or a religious institution.

David asks that God will continue to give His righteousness to the upright in heart because without His righteousness there could be no one that is upright in heart. He prays that God will keep him close and that he will never be driven away from God because of the wicked. Keeping our eyes on the wicked and how they get away with the wrong things may become a snare to believers. Recognizing this, David prays that God will keep him. This is an affirmation of how highly David rates God’s nearness.

In the final portion of this part of the psalm, it appears almost as if David receives a vision about the final outcome of the evildoers.  They will be destroyed. Their fall will be eternal. But right now, there is mercy still. Seek the Lord while He may be found because He is plenteous in mercy and ready to forgive.

Here then, we have another reminder to keep our eyes fixed on God and His greatness instead of our problems and concerns. When we stray a little in this regard, we always have the wonderful privilege of prayer to get us right back on track. All through His grace and goodness.

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