The Blind See

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Preserving Love

John 9:35-41. The Message

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and went and found him. He asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 The man said, “Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You’re looking right at him. Don’t you recognize my voice?”
38 “Master, I believe,” the man said, and worshiped him.
39 Jesus then said, “I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind.”
40 Some Pharisees overheard him and said, “Does that mean you’re calling us blind?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure.”

For Reflection

A man asked another man, "Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?"

The second man seemed to be fumbling for an answer.  After an embarrassingly long pause, he replied, "Ask for forgiveness? I don't know. Why would I ask for forgiveness? If I don't do something right, I correct it. I make it right, Why would I need forgiveness? I go to church, take communion and all. You know."

Self-direction is an illusion of righteousness. It is a Godless existence where right is what I say it is.

Pray

Pray that you will live a life in the protective, loving hands of God. Pray that you fill your soul with the Holy Spirit so that it displaces fear and the need to take things into your hands. Pray to rely on God and trust that God will make all things good.

Pastors, "Shepherd the Church of God"

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Preserving Love

Acts 20:25-28. The Message

25-27 “And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you.
28 “Now it’s up to you. Be on your toes—both for yourselves and your congregation of sheep. The Holy Spirit has put you in charge of these people—God’s people they are—to guard and protect them. God himself thought they were worth dying for.

For Reflection

I remember the old spaghetti westerns. Inevitably, a person pursued by the bad guys sought refuge in a Christian sanctuary. Many times this hallowed ground was respected, even by the bad guys, and the person was sheltered from immediate harm.  Today, I cringe at the thought that our church locks all doors save the main entrance to the sanctuary, and yet, I understand the threat which motivates it.  Locking doors is an easy answer to a threatening world.

The threat of physical harm, however real, is not the only threat Christians face.  How well are we protected from false prophets, who confuse the promise of the gospel with material prosperity, or preach retribution instead of reconciliation? How are we protected from a would where fear and hate overpower hope and love.  How are we protected in a culture where truth is an illusion and considered irrelevant?

To discern the difference between the various ways Christians narrate the world in which we live is a difficult task.  Only study, open discussion, and prayer can protect us from taking false paths to Grace.

Pray

Resolve that you will spend more time praying about and discussing the Scriptures.  Pray so that you will find an authentic path to righteousness.

The Shepherd Cares for the Lost

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Preserving Love

Matthew 18:1-14. The Message

Whoever Becomes Simple Again

18 At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?”
2-5 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.
6-7 “But if you give them a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you’ll soon wish you hadn’t. You’d be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don’t have to make it worse—and it’s doomsday to you if you do.
8-9 “If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You’re better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You’re better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.
10 “Watch that you don’t treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don’t you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?

Work It Out Between You

12-14 “Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one? And if he finds it, doesn’t he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put? Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn’t want to lose even one of these simple believers.

For Reflection

As much time as the disciples have spent with Jesus, they still fail to understand.  They still are moved by the ways of their world; worrying about who is better loved, who is more righteous, who will have the highest position of power.

Sometimes we, too, have to start over as children.  We need to be humbled.  We need to seek truth, understanding, and wisdom as eagerly as a young child.  We need to approach our spiritual lives with the same unfettered lust for knowledge and clear-sightedness as the most curious children. We have been re-born into a new life, eager to grow and mature into a new grace.

Pray

Pray that you will never reject your lust for a fulfilling spiritual life.  Pray for wisdom.  Pray so that God will help you understand God's will for you and all of humankind.

God Will Rescue Endangered Sheep

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Preserving Love

Ezekiel 34:1-10 The Message 

When the Sheep Get Scattered

34 1-6 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherd-leaders of Israel. Yes, prophesy! Tell those shepherds, ‘God, the Master, says: Doom to you shepherds of Israel, feeding your own mouths! Aren’t shepherds supposed to feed sheep? You drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep. You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost. You bully and badger them. And now they’re scattered every which way because there was no shepherd—scattered and easy pickings for wolves and coyotes. Scattered—my sheep!—exposed and vulnerable across mountains and hills. My sheep scattered all over the world, and no one out looking for them!
7-9 “‘Therefore, shepherds, listen to the Message of God: As sure as I am the living God—Decree of God, the Master—because my sheep have been turned into mere prey, into easy meals for wolves because you shepherds ignored them and only fed yourselves, listen to what God has to say:
10 “‘Watch out! I’m coming down on the shepherds and taking my sheep back. They’re fired as shepherds of my sheep. No more shepherds who just feed themselves! I’ll rescue my sheep from their greed. They’re not going to feed off my sheep any longer!

For Reflection

Have our churches become so self-centered that they cannot share the blessings of their faith?  Have they become so mired in the common culture that they become advocates for secular lives rather than God-centered lives? Are they motivated by fear rather than hope?  Are God's sheep scattered?

If so, as the shepherds turn their backs on the truth embedded in the life of Christ, God will not let the wolves devour God's sheep. Authentic Christians take heart.  Shepherd yourselves in the light of the Grace and Love of God.

Pray

Pray that you will bear allegiance to the living God as a shepherd, a humble servant of God.

Why Don't You Understand?

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Preserving Love

Matthew 13:10-17  The Message

Why Tell Stories?

10 The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”
11-15 He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:
Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
    Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
    so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
    so they won’t have to look,
    so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
    and let me heal them.
16-17 “But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

For Reflection

As a teacher, Jesus understood that not everyone is ready to understand.  He understood the power of truth told in a story with which others could identify.  He understood that leading one to understand stories preserved an individual's right to choose a righteous life.  Christ led people to see themselves in the light of God's love.  He helped them understand the perilous consequences of self-direction and the blessings in acting from God-centered love. Christ helped people understand how they could escape from the tyranny of their time.  Christ can show us how we can escape the tyranny of our time.  To this day, Christ's wisdom is controversial.  We must close our eyes to doctrinal allegiance and open them to the truth in Christ's stories.  In His truth, we will find righteousness.

Pray

Pray that you will open your hearts to the authentic story of God's love for humankind as found in the story of Christ.  Pray that you will be transformed by the word and Spirit of God.

Paul's Faithful Ministry

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

2 Corinthians 11:21-27. The Message

Many a Long and Lonely Night

21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

For Reflection

Paul recalls pain and suffering he endured as he preached the gospel. And yet, Paul has never been so alive in his calling. He has a new quality of life not marred by suffering but strengthened by it.

Pray

Pray that your suffering does not tempt you to decry God. Pray that through suffering, you grow in trust and grace.

God's Will Shapes Human Direction

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

Romans 8:26-30. The Message

26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.

For Reflection

When your problems are bigger than you are, God will help you grow. When everything you tried to do failed, God will walk beside you. When you finally arrive at a place where there is no more down and only up, God will lift you. God will take you from lost to found. Just Give up on "do it yourself salvation" and pray.  God will work God's good in you. No Conditions. No Ifs. Just the accepting love of God.

Pray

Pray and give your life over to God so all the big things will shrink and the small joys will expand and displace all worry.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

Romans 8:18-21. The Message

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.

For Reflection

"Keep your eye on the ball," one man told his son.  (Sage advice for all Christians.) Our eye should be focused on the glory of the day when all the world will rejoice in the glory for which we hope.  We suffer in our human condition today, but we look for a tomorrow that is one hundred times more joyous than today is painful.

Pray

Pray that you will find comfort in the fact that in the end, God will triumph and that you will not have suffered for God's sake in vain. Pray for all Christians who hold tenaciously to their faith in the face of terrible persecution.

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

Romans 5:18-21. The Message

18-19 Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.
20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

For Reflection

One man, Adam, sinned and got us all to move away, not toward God. One man, Jesus, gave up his life in obedience to God and in doing so brought us all back to God, the source of all life. In Christ, we are made righteous.

When are we going to realize that one cannot legislate righteousness? When will we realize and accept the fact that the best way to approach perfect humanity is through the practice of grace? The promise of grace encourages righteousness that threat can never accomplish. Have confidence in God's will for humankind and trust the practice of The Way of Jesus Christ.


Pray

Pray for the confident obedience to the Lord. Pray for those who's action drives others away from God. Pray that you will be a willing and able servant whose main objective is to uplift all people with whom you come in contact.

Fruit of Justification by Faith

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Reconciling Love

Romans 5:1-5 Amplified Bible

Results of Justification

Therefore, since we have been justified [that is, acquitted of sin, declared blameless before God] by faith, [let us grasp the fact that] we have peace with God [and the joy of reconciliation with Him] through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed). Through Him we also have access by faith into this [remarkable state of] grace in which we [firmly and safely and securely] stand. Let us rejoice in our [a]hope and the confident assurance of [experiencing and enjoying] the glory of [our great] God [the manifestation of His excellence and power]. And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; 4 and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation]. Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

For Reflection
With the death and resurrection of Christ, God has acquitted us and declared us blameless, not because of anything we have done or not done, but rather, because God loves us.  We are not just guaranteed a place in heaven but are also blessed with hope and joy which result from living each day in the grace of God.  When we suffer, God suffers with us.  When we rejoice, God celebrates with us.  If God is with us we can endure all hardships because God is a loving god of the here and now and will never desert us.

Pray

Pray prayers of thanks giving for God's grace.  Praise God for God's steadfast love for us.  Confess your transgressions to God and become an ever maturing disciple of the living Lord.

The Women and Peter Were Amazed

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

Luke 24:1-12. The Message 

Looking for the Living One in a Cemetery

24 1-3 At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.
4-8 They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.
9-11 They left the tomb and broke the news of all this to the Eleven and the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them kept telling these things to the apostles, but the apostles didn’t believe a word of it, thought they were making it all up.
12 But Peter jumped to his feet and ran to the tomb. He stooped to look in and saw a few grave clothes, that’s all. He walked away puzzled, shaking his head.

For Reflection

For all the time they had spent with Jesus, the disciples never quite got it.  What Jesus proposed and carried out was a preposterous idea.  Christ asked for the end of vengeance,  for distributive justice for all, not just for the chosen, unlimited forgiveness, and unbridled love that transcended Mosaic law. And now to think that Jesus had overcome death was unbelievable.  Faith (supreme trust in God), the study of scripture as informed by the birth, life, and death of Christ and, most importantly, prayer, are the keys to the will of God and the promised hope in salvation.  To what extent are you practicing these essential elements?

Pray

Pray that your trust in the Lord is unwavering, even in the face of untoward ends.  Pray that your study of Scripture will lead to a mature, authentic Christian spiritual life.   Pray often about all things so that you can maintain an intimate relationship with the triune God.

Jesus Final Words to His Mother

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

John 19:26-27 The Message 

24-27 While the soldiers were looking after themselves, Jesus’ mother, his aunt, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene stood at the foot of the cross. Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her. He said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that moment the disciple accepted her as his own mother.

For Reflection

Jesus honored his mother in the manner of the culture of his time.  Most scholars agree that Joseph, Christ's civil father may have died before much of Jesus ministry.  Therefore, there is both a practical and symbolic reason for selecting someone to look after her. Jesus assured her of His love and He gave His choicest disciple to care for her. That He gave the responsibility to a disciple, represents the systematic caring of each believer for another.  It mimics a major function of the church, the guardianship that each Christian has for vulnerable brothers and sisters in Christ.  The stewardship of each other is the greatest act of grace of which we are capable. 

Pray

That you will have the compassion and grace to protect brothers and sisters in Christ.  Pray that you will not neglect your responsibility to help others grow into grace.  Pray that you will always seek to lift up your neighbors in your humble acts of kindness.

The Lord Protects

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

Psalm 34:1-20  The Message

A David Psalm, When He Outwitted Abimelech and Got Away

God keeps an eye on his friends,
his ears pick up every moan and groan.
16 God won’t put up with rebels;
he’ll cull them from the pack.
17 Is anyone crying for help? God is listening,
ready to rescue you.
18 If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;
if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.
19 Disciples so often get into trouble;
still, God is there every time.
20 He’s your bodyguard, shielding every bone;
not even a finger gets broken.

For Reflection

David has survived a dangerous experience with the Philistines in Gath.  David depended upon his fear of the Lord and trust in His goodness.  God did not come down and smite David's enemies.  David prayed for deliverance, and God blessed David with freedom from anxiety and creativity.  David rushed into danger and acted as though he was crazy.  Abimelech wanted no part of this lunatic and David escaped.

Davids fear (Respect) of God's power and sovereignty and his faith (Trust) in God saved him from capture and certain death. God intervened in protecting David in prayer, but God also blessed David with God's wit.  Do you have the strength of David?

Pray

Pray that you will trust in God even when the outcome seems to be uncertain.  Pray for the confidence to be obedient to God's will even though you may not understand.

The Spirit, Water, and Blood Agree

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

1 John 5:6-12 The Message

6-8 Jesus—the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God’s presence at Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion, bringing those occasions alive for us. A triple testimony: the Spirit, the Baptism, the Crucifixion. And the three in perfect agreement.
9-10 If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God’s own testimony regarding his Son.
11-12 This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.

For Reflection

When we study the life of Christ, we study God.  The life of Jesus is the Christian paradigm for understanding God and God's will for humankind.  What could be more profoundly important, than to emulate Christ?  

Pray

Pray that you will imitate Christ's sense of justice, Christ's grace, Christ's capacity for forgiveness, and Christ's ability to be guided and obedient to God.  Pray for the courage to become a disciple of Christ and follow the Way of Jesus.

Jesus Side is Pierced

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Love as Victory over Death

John 19:31-37 The Message

31-34 Then the Jews, since it was the day of Sabbath preparation, and so the bodies wouldn’t stay on the crosses over the Sabbath (it was a high holy day that year), petitioned Pilate that their legs be broken to speed death, and the bodies taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man crucified with Jesus, and then the other. When they got to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. One of the soldiers stabbed him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.
35 The eyewitness to these things has presented an accurate report. He saw it himself and is telling the truth so that you, also, will believe.
36-37 These things that happened confirmed the Scripture, “Not a bone in his body was broken,” and the other Scripture that reads, “They will stare at the one they pierced.

For Reflection

With these events, the Roman soldiers fulfilled the prophecy of Isiah.  It was a sign, proof that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Jesus died in less time than persons crucified ordinarily did. Jesus laid down his life on his terms, on God's terms. He yielded to death, yet death did not conquer Christ.  His blood sanctifies us and His water purifies us.

Pray

Pray so that you will remember the passion of Christ.   Pray prayers of thanksgiving for God's sacrificial gift to us. Pray so that you will never forget the grace in God's gift, the Holy blood of atonement and the Holy water of purification.

Rebirth and Renewal by Water and Spirit

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Saving Love in Christ

Titus 3:1-8 The Message

He Put Our Lives Together

3 1-2 Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God’s people should be bighearted and courteous.
3-8 It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.

For Reflection

God gave us God's son so that we might know God and through the life and resurrection of Christ know our human potential as children of God.     We are meant to judge ourselves by the example of Jesus. We have not been set up to be the judge and jury of others. Being in a right relationship with God is our salvation, not our good works or our pious talk.

We honor that relationship by being obedient to God.  Civil strife is a fact of life but we cannot expect that we are sent into to condemn and fix others.  We are to be kind and loving and transformed by our faith.  Our lives should reflect the grace that God has shown to us.  We might act out in opposition or in concert with our civil lives, but as we discovered by studying the actions of the Jewish religious leaders, one cannot legislate righteousness.  Righteousness comes from the spirit which resides withing us.

Remember this Palm Sunday that Jesus road in as a spiritual king not as a civil king.


Pray

Pray that you will live a life as God intended;  living in peace. live in freedom from civil conformity, live kind lives, live merciful lives, live obedient lives, live as a child of God.  Pray that you will have faith and confidence that God will provide all things. Pray that you will trust God to put all things right.

Spices For Burial

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Saving Love in Christ

John 19:38-42 The Message

38 After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body.
39-42 Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took Jesus’ body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.

For Reflection

It is significant that Nicodemus earlier defended Jesus by reminding his colleagues in the Sanhedrin that the law required that a person is heard before being judged. It is, then, profoundly significant that he should be a participant in Christ's burial. Nicodemus came into the light.  He, by his action, realized that the uplifted Savior was the son of God.”

Pray

That those who live in darkness will come into the light and confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  Pray that they will be transformed by this recognition and find salvation in a God-centered life.

The Serpent in the Wilderness

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God's Saving Love in Christ

Numbers 21:4-9. The Message

The Snake of Fiery Copper

4-5 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. They spoke out against God and Moses: “Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water—we can’t stomach this stuff any longer.”
6-7 So God sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke out against God and you. Pray to God; ask him to take these snakes from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
8 God said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live.”
9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.

For Reflection

The sin of God's people was not that they spoke against God.  The sin lies in the reason for their speech.  They spoke as they did because they lost trust in God who was protecting them.  I suppose falling into a snake infested place would get my attention!  Then, I too would pray for this affliction to be taken from me.

God lifted up the image of the snake where all could see it.  The symbol of death became the symbol of redemption.  The difference between God's condemnation and salvation is trust.  The serpent in Moses’ day brought physical life to dying Jews.  Christ was lifted up, and through His suffering and resurrection, Jesus extends salvation in spiritual living to anyone who trusts Him.

Pray

Pray that you will set your eyes on Christ.  Pray that you will trust in Him.  Pray that you will never lose your faith in God.

Don't Love the World's Things

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God as Our Shepherd

1 John 2:15-17 The Message

15-17 Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

For Reflection

Is the meaning of your life tied up in collecting and finding a place to store your stuff?  Then, there is the problem of protecting your stuff.  (Heaven forbid that someone should steal your stuff!). You criticize other people's stuff, 'cause it's not like your stuff, and that makes you feel uncomfortable.  After all, what kind of inferior person would have that kind of stuff? If you find that you have more places than stuff, do you need to buy more stuff to fill up the space?  (My apologies to George Carlin, "A Place for My Stuff,"1981)
The space in our souls can be filled with all kinds of stuff.  But, the most satisfying is filling our souls with the stuff of God.  This is the stuff that needs protection.   This is the stuff of loving relationships. This is the stuff that has no expiration date!

Pray

Pray that you will reject the seduction of accumulation material things.  Pray that you will store sacred truths in you soul.  Pray that your soul is never empty of spiritual stuff.

God's Salvation Is for the World

God Loves Us
God's Caring, Saving, and Upholding Love

God as Our Shepherd

John 3:17-21. The Message

16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
19-21 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

For Reflection

If you know the Son, you will know the Father. Christ did not come into the world as the Holy Gotch!  Christ came as the high-status friend to lead us out of our folly, by His example. Christ came to offer freedom from fear, freedom from conformity to a twisted worldliness. Christ offers hope and forgiveness to displace hopelessness and vengeance.

Pray

Thank God for the Gift of God's Son, Jesus.  Pray that you will grow into the grace of Christ.  Pray that you will be as obedient to the Father as was Christ.