Finish the Work

“And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.” Exodus 40:33

There is not a doubt in my mind that after a year of leading the Israelites through the wilderness, meeting with God and pleading on their behalf, dealing with their bickering and backsliding, and bearing the weight of the nation on his shoulders, Moses was tired. Moses needed a vacation, he needed a sick day, a time of extended rest, or just needed to walk away and find a different job. But instead Moses finished the work. He could have put his two weeks in, handed over the reigns to Joshua and went into early retirement, but instead he finished the work. There is no doubt he wanted to be rid of the burden of his people, of the drain of his in ministry, but instead he finished the work. I know there are many times in the Christian life where we want to walk away. A ministry we're doing isn't taking off and pulling in the numbers we want, a friend we've been praying for just doesn't seem anymore interested in the gospel, a family member keeps sinking back into addiction, a strained marriage shows no signs of improvement, the nation overall, despite our money and best efforts, still seems to be falling more and more into atheism. Many of us are weary of the never ending needs of ministering to a fallen and lost world. We're nearing the fifteenth round and the towel we could throw seems so tempting. The comfort of a life unconcerned with the needs of others and our own sanctification whispers sweet nothings in our ears, seducing us away from the work we've been called to. Like Moses, God has called all believers to a life that we are incapable of living on our own. He has called us to suffering, to exile, to ridicule, and discomfort. He has called us to abandon worldly pleasures and seek the pleasures of God. He has called us to make disciples of a world that doesn't want to follow anybody. I know that the labor is hard, but dear brother and sister, we must finish the work. All the suffering in this world is worth the joy of the presence of God for eternity. So don't give up, don't listen to the whispers of comfort, don't bow to the need for breaks, for absence, and for quitting. Finish with strength the work God has called you to and do not let the devil win. Just as Jesus is faithful to complete the work he began in you, complete the work he began through you as well. Pray for each other, that we might all finish the labor, and collect the harvest of God's kingdom.

Lord Jesus, give us strength we don't have to accomplish the impossible calling to which you have called us!

Beware the Influence of People

“So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”” Exodus 32:24

I was always amazed by how quickly Aaron complied with the people of Israel in building the golden calf. The people of Israel at that time were quick to forget God's wonders and allowed the pressures of the moment to often times change their behavior and make them stray, but not Aaron. Aaron was standing right next to Moses when God did the wonders in front of Pharaoh, he was walking beside Moses through the Red Sea, holding up Moses' arms when fighting the Amalekites. It is shocking that after all he went through he would abandon it at the behest of the people without any sign of hesitation or remorse. When questioned by Moses about it, Aaron tried washing his hands of the act and made it sound as though the creation of the idol was out of his control. Although it seems easy to quickly write Aaron off as a failure, let us not miss the valuable lesson. How many times have we as Christians heard clearly the commandments of God, experienced his amazing power in our lives, and then bowed to the whims of the people around us and acted contrary to God's words. This is especially significant for those of us in Christian leadership. How many of us will read clearly to love and care for the poor among us, to bring offerings of broken spirits, to speak with truth the word of God, and then allow the whims of our congregation to deter us from where God is clearly leading us. 'Let us use the money for a bigger building, a building more beautiful than all the other churches around us.''Try not to speak so much of hell and judgment, we don't want to offend or deter our members from coming.''Hire the best musicians for the worship service, their hearts don't matter.' We are all at some point in time, guilty of the same betrayal that Aaron was. God has called us to live radical and holy lives, to have churches concerned with the kingdom of God and not of man, to be joyfully righteous, to love our enemies, and to do all things for the glory of HIS name. 

Lord Jesus, let us repent of the golden calves we are all complicit in building and return to the true worship of the living God! 

Touch the Altar of the Lord

“Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” Exodus 29:37

The altar of the Lord was so holy that whatever touched it became holy as well. The presence of God is so transformative that even the altar consecrated to him has the power of making things holy. Later in Exodus, the Lord says, “There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory.” (Exodus 29:43) Oh that we could draw near the presence of God and be sanctified by His glory! But as we try to draw near, our sin drives us further away from the his presence. It's interesting that to Israel, it was the altar that made things holy. The way in which God's presence and his glory sanctified his people was by means of the sacrifice made to him. Brothers and sisters, we will never be transformed by the sanctifying power of God's presence without touching the altar of God, and that altar is Christ. He is both the sacrifice and the altar upon which sin's are cleansed. Praise God that he has drawn near and brought his sanctifying glory, but let us not miss it because we fail to approach the altar of God! Jesus is the only path to holiness and God's presence in our lives. 

Lord Jesus, let touch your altar and be made holy by your presence. Transform our lives by your glory!

Missions and Worship

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn't." -John Piper in Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions

It's easy to forget the big picture when we spend most of our lives painting the details. I wonder how differently the Sistine Chapel would have looked had Michelangelo never climbed down from his scaffolding and looked at the ceiling as a whole. His art were masterpieces because each intricate detail worked together to create a beautiful and complete bigger picture. In much the same way, it is easy for us Christians to get so caught up in what role we play individually, that we neglect to see how what we do fits into the bigger picture. Without a proper understanding of the greater goal and mission of God, our gifts will become disproportionately important and end up adversely hurting the overall functioning of the church. Michelangelo's hand of God reaching out to man would get bigger than his head, or one of the cherubs would be twice the size of the one next to it, and thus ruin the beautiful proportions of his paintings. Playing our part and using the gifts God gave us is wonderful and right, but doing so outside of the context of God's greater purposes is dangerous.

So if that is true, then we must ask the question: What is the bigger picture of God's mission in the world? Piper puts it well and succinctly. The ultimate goal of the church is that all nations, every created thing, will worship God. When I say worship I don't mean the singing of songs in a church service or anything like that, although there will most likely be singing. What I mean by worship is the overwhelming reaction to the Lordship and majesty of God in our individual lives and over all the world. It is that moment when every knee bows and tongue confesses that Jesus is Lord, and those who have been called to be children of God will live in perfect joy forever, dancing and singing and laughing and loving the way were created to in the beginning. Whatever our role is in the church, whether it is missionary, evangelist, preacher, encourager, funder, worship leader, small group leader, food line cooker, any thing that we do, let us remember that we do all of those things so that one day every person on the globe might worship and delight in the glory of God!

Lord Jesus, we praise you for all that you've done and all that you're doing to bring about the glory of your name and the delight of your people in your glory!

God's Presence

“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.” Exodus 25:8

It still amazes me that after all of the grumbling of man and the sin which tarnished our natures, God still had the desire to dwell in the midst of His people. After the fall in the garden, a separation occurred between God and man so that God could no longer dwell in the midst of His people directly. Instead of God abandoning his creation completely, he instead chose to propose a plan for a mediated dwelling amongst His people. I think he missed walking with his creation, talking with the creatures he made, but he knew he couldn't be in our presence without killing us. So it is by his grace that he gave us a sanctuary, a middle ground through which God can dwell within the midst of man without his direct glory killing us. What love the Father has for his creation that he would rather suffer the reflected nearness to his creation than starting over from scratch! And now our sanctuary is the temple of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the church, made holy by the blood of the Spotless Lamb of God. He has once again drawn near to His creation! Praise God for His gracious nearness and the means by which we may draw near to him!

Lord Jesus, we wait anxiously for the day we can stand before you once again, being made whole by your blood, without the mediation of priests and veils, complete and near in your direct presence. Let us worship you today!

Sojourners Among Us

““You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Exodus 22:21

It is wrong to pick out laws from the Old Testament and apply them hook, line, and sinker to our current situations. Christ came and fulfilled the law and now we please God through faith in Christ not by a strict adherence to the law. If we use one Old Testament law to place a rule on us today, then we are bound to keep the whole law. We can't pick and choose. (The moral law, like the Ten Commandments, are different from the code laws and judicial ordinances presented in Exodus 21-23, I am talking about the latter.) Therefore, as much as I would like to take the verse above and apply it directly to the situation with undocumented immigrants, or just immigrants in general, I can't. However, the relevance of the law in the Old Testament is what it says about the nature of God, not what it says about how we live. So if this is what the Lord commanded about how Israel is supposed to treat sojourners among them, then what does it say about the heart of God towards sojourners? Later in the chapter, God says that his wrath will burn against the mistreated and that He is a God of compassion. I do not want to oversimplify the issue of undocumented workers and immigrants in the country. But what this verse says about God is that he expects his people to treat strangers in their midst with kindness and care, because we were all at one time just like them. I know this is a hot topic, and I'm not trying to oversimplify the complex. However, there are many of us who need to read this passage and examine the attitude that we take towards the sojourners among us. Whichever side of the debate were on, we can all agree that the Bible does not support hate and prejudice towards immigrants. As believers, we need to be kind and caring towards immigrants, regardless of their current legal status, because our God is a God of compassion and justice for the oppressed. America has a history of hatred and prejudice in the church, and it is an ugly sin of which we must repent!

Lord Jesus, convict us of our prejudice towards the sojourners and help us to see them with kindness and compassion!

Kingdom of Priests

“And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:6a

God's calling on Israel was to be a nation of priests to the nations around them, set apart declaring the glory of God. Priests were responsible for examining and making sacrifices, declaring the word of God to the people around them, keeping the law of God, and maintaining the temple. Now I don't believe it is true that everything said to Israel can be applied to the church. However, in Romans Paul argues that the Gentiles have been grafted into the nation of Israel, to carry out the mission of Israel and bring Israel to repentance through jealousy. Therefore, the call for Israel to be a kingdom of priests is applicable to the church insofar as we are grafted into the covenant. On the one hand, the sacrifice has been made once and for all by Christ for all sins, so the need of the church to make sin sacrifices is not necessary. However, this does mean that part of the role of the church is examining the integrity of the offerings brought before God through worship, communion, and service. Further, it also means declaring the Word of God to those who will listen. In 1 John, we are told that those who love God keep his commandments, and in 1 Corinthians we read not to destroy the temple of God, which is the Holy Spirit dwelling within the church. So it is clear that God's call of Israel to be a kingdom of priests applies to the church as well. But for what purpose? The same reason God called Israel. So that through the holiness of the church, the nations might know God and worship Him. This is the reason we are saved! So let us live as priests to the nations, holy and righteous, declaring God's word for the praise of the glory of His grace!

Lord Jesus, make us holy to be your vessels on earth. Consecrate us as priests to the world and give us integrity in our offering to you!

We Are Not Indispensable

“Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.” Exodus 18:17-18

We are not indispensable to God. I know that may come as a shock to many of us, that the God of the universe doesn't need us to accomplish his purposes, but it is true. When Jethro met Moses in the wilderness, he found his son-in-law guilty of the same issues so many ministers and Christians are today. Moses didn't trust the other men in the midst of Israel to do part of his job. There are so many times I will overload my plate, try to do the work of five men, because I truly believe that if I didn't do all the work, the work would never get done. It may seem at the time so noble. But the hard work is ultimately motivated not by faith, but by a lack of faith in God's ability to accomplish his will without me. Jethro's advice to Moses in Exodus 18 should bring a sigh of relief to those of us working to help build the kingdom of God. The advice is simple--delegate when you can. Don't try to do everything yourself because if you do, you wont last long. We are not indispensable to God. Let this sink in and calm our tired hearts. We are working for a God with infinite resources and the ability to transform anybody's life to serve his will.

Lord Jesus, help us to see the people God has placed around us and share the task of ministry. Give us the strength and the faith to trust you to accomplish your will!

God's Perfect Perspective

“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”” Exodus 13:17

It must have been frustrating for Israel to know how close they were to the land God promised them and see the direction God lead them. In their minds, it made no sense to detour toward the Red Sea then into the wilderness before entering the land of the Canaanites and the Philistines. From their perspective, God's leading seemed wasteful, inefficient, and contrary to the promise he made them. But God knew better. He knew had they entered the promise land right after leaving Egypt, the Israelites would not have had the faith in God to fight and conquer the land. This happens so often in our own histories. We are so close to something we feel God calling us to, whether it be a ministry opportunity, a new job, a family breakthrough, or any number of things, and then God leads us another way. It can be frustrating to be so near the promised land of our calling and then take a detour into the wilderness. During the times of wilderness wanderings, we must savor the truth of God's perfect perspective. Just as he knew the strength of the faith of Israel, he knows our own hearts better than we do. He knows if we will stand firm in our calling or run screaming for the hills. He knows what we need to face before his promise in our life is fulfilled. So for those who have entered the land of Canaan, stand firm in your faith and be worthy of the calling. And for those who God has led into the wilderness, stand firm in the hope of God's perfect perspective and learn well the lessons God is teaching.

Lord Jesus, let us hope in you in all circumstances, knowing that your perfect perspective and complete knowledge of things is trustworthy!

Judgment and Mercy

“For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” Exodus 12:12-13

In a single night, judgment and death came to the nation of Egypt. Imagine how horrible it must have been for the Egyptians. If I had been an Egyptian in the day of the final plague, I would have been dead. I am my father's first-born son. For the Egyptians, the night was filled with tears. For the Hebrews, however, the night of Passover was the greatest day in their history. The people of God were rejoicing while those whose hearts were hardened towards God were weeping. The good news of the message of Christ is seen perfectly in the salvation of Israel from Egypt. The nation of Israel received God's mercy by the slaying of a spotless lamb placed over the doorway of their home. Egypt was damned because their was no blood as the Lord passed over. For those who were covered by blood, God granted mercy. For those with no covering of blood, God granted judgment. Oh dear Christian, if we think the story of the salvation of Israel is merely a story of the past, then we are gravely wrong. Just as God passed over Egypt, Christ will come back again and pass over the earth. We don't know when he will come, but when he does, he will bring both mercy and judgment. And the ONLY people who will receive mercy are those whose hearts are covered by the blood of the Spotless Lamb!

Lord Jesus, cover us with your blood and grant us mercy as you pass over the world in judgment. Let your good news spread through the nations so their will be more rejoicing than weeping when you return!

How Quickly We Forget

"It is very usual for God's people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a little trouble too much for them." -Charles Spurgeon

It is amazing how quickly I forget the greatness of God's redemption and begin to complain about pettiness. God will frequently do amazing things in my life. Whether it's a job that I needed, a scholarship, a friend comes to know Christ, a successful church event, or just an amazing time in which I am moved by his overwhelming presence. It would seem after such things my confidence would grow, my faith expand, and my anxieties over difficulties dissipate. But, just as Spurgeon observes, the smallest thing--a small car repair, a bad grade, a harsh word from a boss or spouse--will just knock me out and sending me running to God in despair. Can he not calm the storms? Can he not split the sea? Did he not lay the foundations of the earth? Did he not suffer on the cross and then rise again from the dead? It seems the moment our eyes get even just a glimpse of the true glory of God, we walk away squinting and just see the small things as bigger. Oh what sin in us! What war! The glory of God should shrink all pettiness to nothing and overwhelm us, but our sinful hearts can't handle His glory. So we forget it quickly.

Lord Jesus, help us to remember the great things you have done. Make the things of this world nothing to us, so we can focus on your glory completely!

The Illusory Freedom of Man

“But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” Exodus 9:16

It is difficult to read through the story of Moses and Pharaoh and still cling whole heartedly to the concept of man's free will. The story begins with Moses pleading with Pharaoh to let his people go and the hardness of Pharaoh's heart in refusing Moses' request. It seems like a typical story of good versus evil and man's free will set against each other. But as the story continues, the true protagonist of the drama steps forward. As the plagues unfold, God reveals more and more to Moses that it is God, not Pharaoh, who is hardening Pharaoh's heart so that God is able to show His power to Egypt and all the earth. In Exodus 9:16, God discloses his true intentions to Pharaoh. God put Pharaoh there, raised him up, for the sole purpose of his hardened heart, so that God's glory and power can be shown amongst the nations. Pharaoh's will seems to have had no place in the story. God raised him up to be his enemy. It would be too much to fully explore the depths and implications of what God's hardening of hearts and the creation of some people for honorable or dishonorable use (Romans 9) means to man's precious free will. But I must say, if God's will is supreme and his glory the purpose driving all his actions, it is difficult to see man's will as free in the sense we claim it be. I challenge us to chew on that today and see the beauty of God's purposes and in his control over the will of man.

Lord Jesus let us repent of our entitlement in placing our will as more powerful or of equal power as yours. Let us see your glory amongst the nations as the greatest purpose to which all of creation bows!

God is!

“God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”” Exodus 3:14

God is the subject that needs no predicate and the subject upon which all of creation is predicated. God is. When God reveals his name to Moses, we get a glimpse into the all encompassing supremeness of God over creation. What an amazing moment! Moses in either a fit of great stupidity or great faith (or both) dares ask the God of the universe his name. And God responds with "I AM WHO I AM!" I can feel the same chills that Moses felt as he heard those words boom from the burning bush. In a single verb God revealed His character. This is the God of Jacob, and of Isaac, and of Abraham. This is the God who will redeem Israel from Egypt and the same God who stooped to save us by becoming a man, dying, and resurrecting. He is the same God we worship today and the same Spirit dwelling inside this church. He is the great, "I AM!" If this is the summary of His revealed character to man, we must ask the question of where he is in our lives. Is God just one of the many subjects that our lives are centered around? Is he fighting against our own "I am-ness?" Or does he serve his rightful place as the only supreme verb of being of which our entire lives center around? Does God reign supreme in our lives? We are fallen and broken and our flesh is at war with the sovereignty of God at all times. I pray however that we would fight daily to allow God to reign in our lives always, that His name, "I AM" would move us to worship him, and that our actions would reflect His sovereignty.

Lord Jesus, be supreme in our lives and break us from any and all rebellion in our own hearts!

Courage through Fear

“But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.” Exodus 1:17

To stand up and refuse to obey Pharaoh was no small matter. The king of Egypt at the time of the Exodus was not just the king of Egypt, but in many ways the most powerful and feared man in all the world. It would seem that if someone were to fear and obey anyone on earth at that time, it would be Pharaoh. But when he commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill the sons of the Hebrews, the midwives refused because they feared something greater than Pharaoh. They didn't ask themselves what Pharaoh would do if they were disobedient. Instead, they asked what God would do if they killed the sons of His chosen nation. Because they feared God more than man, these humble midwives showed great courage. The fear of God seems to be a concept altogether lost on the present day Christian in the Western church. Who do we fear more, our boss asking us to constantly neglect our families for the sake of profit margins or the God who established our families as an instrument for His glory? Do we fear bankruptcy more than we fear God's calling to give generously to the poor? Do we fear rejection from our friends if we don't do this or that or do we fear the God who asks us to live righteously? Who do we fear more, man or God? I often times find myself reasoning that since I live under grace, the fear of God is no longer necessary. But that couldn't be further from the truth. In Hebrews it says, "For the Lord disciplines the ones he loves," (12:6) and in Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Saved or unsaved, God is more frightful than anything on this earth. We should have courage to face any man or thing on this earth, not because we have no fear, but because we fear God more.

Lord Jesus, let our lives read like the epitaph on Lord Lawrence's tomb, "He feared man so little, because he feared God so much."

God of Good and Evil

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Genesis 50:20

There is nothing that exists on earth that is not under the dominion of God. This includes evil. I so often think that God is the God of good and Satan is the ruler of evil. There seems to be this pervasive understanding of good and evil as dualistic entities in constant conflict over dominion of the world. Although, there is a sense in which good and evil is in constant conflict, we do wrong to believe that each are equally powerful or that one is in God's power and the other in Satan's. At the end of Genesis, Joseph shows that God is over both. Even though his brothers did an evil thing to him, God used that evil for good and thus neutering the effect of evil intended by his brothers. What a difficult but amazing truth! All the schemes the devil may plan and all the lies the devil may tell have no power and will make no impact on God's plan for the world. When someone harms us, when we hurt others, when we lie, cheat, or steal, when we see the web of wickedness cast upon the earth, we can be sure that it's power is only illusion and God is already victorious!

Lord Jesus, be the God over all things and show us your dominion over evil!

God's Perfect Provision

“So it was not you who sent me here, but God.” Genesis 45:8

Many of us right now are out of work or underemployed. There are many who have lost loved ones or have been punished unjustly and are looking at their lives asking, "Why?" It can be hard to remember God's provision in the midst of suffering. When we are crying in the wilderness, weeping in the prisons, and grieving in the exile of the cruelness of this life, I pray that we remember Joseph. He suffered most of his life so God could use Him to save Israel. Brothers and sisters, if we call ourselves Christ's, then we can be sure all suffering we face is a part of God's provision for his people and for the praise of his glory. Our Lord is just all the time. For those of us still waiting to see God in our suffering, I implore you to stay faithful, for our God is a God who provides perfectly. God is impossible to predict and it is often times only in hindsight that we see His hand in the middle of pain.

Lord Jesus let us not grow weary in trusting you. Give us the strength to see your provision in the midst of suffering!

The Difficulty of Reconciliation

"Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there." Genesis 43:30

How many of us are living estranged from someone we used to be closed to? Perhaps we were wronged. It is possible that the betrayal done by a certain person can seem to be utterly unforgivable, that the only just response seems to be vengeance. It seems in Genesis that Joseph's initial intention was revenge when he saw his brothers bowing before him. They sold him into slavery. Because of his brothers, he became both a slave and eventually a prisoner in Egypt. They utterly betrayed family trust. And now they were in his power. He could do with them whatever he desired, and be justified in his vengeance. But in the midst of his plans, God grew his compassion for them, and it was that compassion that broke the wall of bitterness towards his brothers. He had to leave the room to weep he was so overwhelmed. There will never come a day when the people around us, whom we love, cease betraying our trust and letting us down. Nor will we ever stop harming others. Our flesh is in the chaos of evil and though the soul may be redeemed, the flesh is still at war. However, we can pray for compassion, just like Joseph had compassion on his brothers, and begin to break through the wall of our own bitterness and pain. Will there be tears? Probably. Will there be wavering? Almost certainly. But the compassion of God moving in us is powerful enough to forgive any wrongs and reconcile all gaps developed by the sin we inflict upon each other.

Lord Jesus, give us compassion and a path away from bitterness. Help us to forgive the hurts that we have endured and see your glory in reconciliation!

Freedom in Christ

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

Freedom. This word should ring dear to our hearts. It is the most prized possession this country has and might very well be the only just cause this country would still stand united behind. It is the very thing that every human being in the world wants. Every revolution, every political rally, every caged cry, every great action has all been in the name of freedom. We as human beings hate being ruled over. The revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement of the 60’s, all have been a testament to American’s love and passion for freedom.

Christianity is freedom. When I came to Christ, for the first time in my life, I had the freedom to be what God originally created me to be, I was no longer a slave to sin , and had the freedom to choose what was right. The chains were loosed, the cage was opened and the newly found freedom that surrounded me was truly divine. I no longer had to fear the Law, I know longer had to be burdened by the demands of the Law placed on me. I was finally free. This is what happened to all of us when we came to Christ. We became free. Now, this does not give us license to do whatever we want. Our sinful nature was crucified and slowly our desires are changing so the idea of Christian license should be unheard of. But we are now to be led by the Spirit, and instead of relying on man made rules to solve the gray issues of life we can rely on our convictions by the Spirit. If you are led to go through Christian schooling, that is your choice, if you feel that secular music has a bad effect on you than you have the freedom to not listen to it, if you feel that you should never smoke tobacco or never let alcohol touch your lips then that is your prerogative. But if you ever try to impose those convictions upon your Christian brother or sister, you are an enemy to the cross of Christ. Christ has died so that we might be free and by making our fellow believers follow our own individual convictions we make Christ’s death a joke. The Law has no hold on a believer for we have already been justified by blood.

We impose rules on other believers because our rules give us a sense of security and superiority and serve to inflate our naturally self-righteous egos. By mastering our “rules” we can hold it over other people’s heads and use it to beat them to death. We seem to let real sin and problems fester in our church, but we adamantly oppose any transgression against our cultural Christian values. “My relationship with Christ is as deep as the shallow end of a kiddie-pool, but at least I’ve never tasted alcohol.”

Legalism plays right into Satan’s game. The devil allows us to ward off the toy army men while he flanks us with an armored tank division. A legalistic church is like a prison filled with innocent men.

Lord Jesus, help us to live lives of liberty, not legality. Show us how to be free in your Spirit!

With Us in the Prisons

"But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." Genesis 39:21

I often times believe that God only shows his steadfast love to me while things are going well. I will get the job I was wanting, or an unexpected gift, or something of the sorts and then I will look to God and say, "Finally you are showing your steadfast love!" Although we would all be right to praise God for those blessings, we would be wrong to think that those are the only indications of his love. The Lord was with Joseph and loving him while he was in the prison God put him in. How many of us feel imprisoned? Whether it be a prison of brick or a prison of fear, a jail cell of bars or of doubt, whether we are captive to others or captive to loss and depression, if we are with Christ we can be assured that God is with us and loves us deeply. When I think about the truth that God is with me in both the prisons and the prosperity in my life, I rejoice! Isn't it wonderful that no matter where we are God is with us and we can trust that God's plan for us is perfect, even if at the time it seems unjust?

Lord Jesus, give us the strength to seek your steadfast love in the prison. You are with us and in your presence we rejoice!

Struggles with God

"Then he said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.'" Genesis 32:30

After Jacob spent all night wrestling with God, he is given a new name, Israel, which means "He strives with God". God wants us to wrestle with Him, to engage him, to seek him, even in anger. How many times have we read something in the Bible we don't like, or something happened in our lives that made us angry with God, and we just brushed it off and threw it under the rug? Brothers and sisters, we must not ignore our struggles with God because He is anxious to wrestle through them with us. The ways of God can seem unjust to our perspective. So let us ask why. Let us bring our difficulties before the Lord and not flee in fear that any controversy we have with God will offend him. To the one who struggled with Him, he gave a new name. We likewise, when we engage him, when we cast our sin and our anxieties and our fears and doubts upon him, when we stay up all night pleading and fighting with him, we are likewise given the name of Christ.

Lord Jesus, let us enter into your presence in our struggles and doubts. Give us the courage to engage you and wrestle with you through our problems!

Being in God's Presence

And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Genesis 28:17

Every moment I spend in the presence of God is like walking unarmed into a den of hungry lions. In an instant God could end me, punish me, and devour me in his righteous and wrathful hunger. But He chooses not too. He stays the mouths of the lions and allows me into His presence unharmed by His mighty power. Even though God has chosen to withhold his judgment on us because of Christ, the proper attitude we should have when in the presence of God is fear that ends in worship. When Jacob saw the vision of God at Bethel, he was afraid and proclaimed the awesomeness of God. Sadly, I believe I have forgotten the lions mouth as I enter into His presence. He is the lamb, but he is also the lion. We are held and kept from utter destruction and violent ends by His unmerited favor and choice, and the string with which we are held above hell is strengthened only by his will and exists only because of Jesus.

Lord Jesus, let us never forget the mighty power and awe of being in your presence. Give us fear in your house, and let us worship you forever!

The Faith of Abraham

"Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son." Genesis 22:10

How do I reconcile the love, justice, and morality of God with his command for Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac? Those of us reading the story understand that the command is merely a test and God has no intention of Abraham ever going through with it. However, Abraham did not have the luxury of that perspective. He had waited 100 years to have the son God promised him in his youth, and then after the miracle of Isaac's birth, God commands him to kill that same son! It might be easy for us to read this story and miss the profound statement and act of faith Abraham commits. It is easy for us to think that Abraham merely reasoned in his mind that God was only testing him. Or maybe Abraham was willing to go through the motions of obeying him but never had any real intentions of sacrificing Isaac. Unfortunately, I think the story is far more complicated and profound. Abraham raises the knife! I don't know any man in his right mind who would do so obediently what Abraham did. And that's the point. Abraham had a faith in the goodness and sovereignty of God that is unmatched in my life. He knew the Lord would provide the offering and he trusted that God would fulfill his promise despite the obvious absurdity of Isaac's sacrifice. How little faith we have in God's goodness. It is easy to trust God's promise when it fits into our lives, when it rationally follows from one thing or another. But when God's command seems absurd, are we willing to follow him anyways?Abraham was a man who walked with God and trusted him and knew the only thing more absurd than sacrificing his heir was to not listen to the commandments of God.

Lord Jesus give us a faith that is totally confident in your goodness, sovereignty, and power. Give us humility and perspective to trust in you, even when it seems absurd!

God of Wrath

"Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground." Genesis 19:24-25

There's a lie that exists in the church today. Without ever admitting it, many of us, including myself, believe that the God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah has somehow changed into a different God who now loves and saves everyone. In the Bible, we are met with two seemingly irreconcilable characters of God. He is on the one hand the God of wrath who destroys entire cities--men, women, and children--because of their unrepentant disobedience. On the other hand, God is the God of love and forgiveness, who through His sacrifice has brought undeserving sinners into His kingdom. Many Christians when met with this problem will just ignore it. Others have even gone to such lengths as to say the God of the Old Testament is a different God than the one of the New Testament, or some variation of the two. However, the Bible makes it clear that God is wholly both. It is merely laziness on the part of the Church that perpetuates the lie that these two characters of God are irreconcilable. We live in a world of consequences and God's wrath is the only just response He has to sin. Because of this, the violence of the cross was the only possible propitiation to free God's love on all the world. The reconciliation between God's wrath and His love is the gospel. Sodom was an evil city. Just as it was then, those who live and die in unrepentant wickedness will meet the same fierce wrath of God met by Sodom. It is repentance, through the grace of God leading to faith, that satisfies God's wrath through Christ, and brings us into His kingdom.

Lord Jesus, let us not live in wickedness and kindle your wrath. We admit our sins and accept the offering of your Son as the payment for your wrath!

The God of Providence

"What a serene and quiet life might you lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence." -Charles Spurgeon

What a piercing and convicting observation! It seems no matter how much confidence I might put in God's power to save me from sin, I always wain in my confidence in His power to save me from starvation, sleeplessness, and want. His eye is on the sparrow. His care is for the lilies. Why am I convinced that His provision does not apply to my families physical needs? This last year, the theme of what God has done in our family is break down our comforts so we have to depend on him. He has either not given us the jobs we wanted and thought we needed or not given them when we wanted them. He has put a curse on both our vehicles (not really, but it sure has seemed like it). He has moved us away from our friends and put us in a position where we either have to run scared or rely on Him and Him alone for our provision, security, strength, and peace. It has in many ways been the hardest year either of us have experienced, but it has also been the best. We worship the God of providence and are wrapped up in his arms, like sheep in his pasture we are under the protection of his mighty staff. What a struggle faith can be and how quickly faithlessness can overcome me, in spite of God's perfect track record in faithfulness! His eye is on the sparrow. His care is for the lilies. His strength is for the weak. His kingdom is for the poor.

Lord Jesus let us never forget that you are the God of providence and our daily provision. Help us to put our trust in you!

Act Quickly on Faith

"That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised." Genesis 17:26

How long should I wait to act on something I know God is calling me to do? When God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, Abraham didn't wait a year to act up on it, he didn't put it on a to do list, he didn't make it next year's New Year's resolution. That very day, Abraham circumcised himself and his whole family. This challenges me because I know how frequently I put off things God has laid on my heart. Whether it be a kind word to a neighbor, a phone call to an old friend, confession, a discipline that needs to be developed, no matter what it may be the greatest enemy of action is always the phrase, "I'll do it tomorrow." God does not call us to act on his words later, he expects it to be done right away.

Lord Jesus, let us have the discipline to act on your words and prodding immediately. Give us victory over laziness and procrastination!

Arbitrarily Chosen

"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.'" Genesis 12:1

It is foolish for me to ever think that God chose me to be saved because of any quality that I possess, but I still do it. How many times have I allowed the wicked lie to creep into my mind that says, "Look at all I have to offer God, no wonder He chose to save me?" When God chose Abram, there was no previous indication or reason given for God's choosing. Abram was a name in a long list of names, and God arbitrarily singled out his name to bless the whole world through. He chose Abram to be holy, to go from 'country', 'kindred', and his 'father's house', to some place separate. But God didn't do so because Abram asked him. The best explanation I can come up with after reading the text as to why God chooses Abram out of all the other names is that God is God, and He chooses whom He pleases. There is a problem in us talking of salvation so frequently as the choice we made to follow Him. Did I choose Him? Yes. But only because He first chose me, and He did so arbitrarily. I have nothing to give God that He doesn't already possess and there is no quality about me that could have swayed God in His choosing. It is by His grace and mysterious pleasure that He chose me, and by His grace that I was able to choose Him. Let us never forget that we live in Him by grace, and that we are His by His choosing.

Lord Jesus, You and You alone are the Author of our salvation. Give us the humility to live constantly at Your divine mercy!

The Subtle Deception of Pride

"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.'" Genesis 11:4

At first glance, nothing strikes me as particularly wrong about what the settlers at Babel were doing. They all had one language and decided to use their unity and see just what they could accomplish with their own hands. They found they could burn bricks and use mortar and build a building. They discovered that with large amounts of people, buildings can be tall and grandiose. So they set out to do just that out of fear that if they didn't make their mark on the world, they would be dispersed and forgotten. In our American culture, this story sounds strikingly similar to a lot of our rags to riches, manifest destiny type tales of the day. To carve out a name for ourselves, to use the resources at hand to do something great, to be remembered in posterity are all noble ventures in the eyes of the meritocratic, success-driven American. When God looked down on Babel, however, he did not find a moving story of human ingenuity, he didn't see a beautiful display of man's capability, he saw a group of people usurping His glory. God, not man, is the builder of great things, the mover of unshakable forces, and the author of all things majestic. The pride of man is so often disguised by "honest" ambition and human powers. I find myself daily looking at the talents God gave me, the resources he put in my life, and scheming as to how I can use it all to make a name for myself. Even though I tell myself it is ambition, I'm afraid, unless the end of my actions are for the glory of God alone, my actions serve the demon inside all of us called pride.

Lord Jesus let us abandon our ambitions and desires for a name set apart in history, so that all our talents, gifts, and resources can be used to build your name and reputation over all the earth!

We All Fall

"Noah began to be a man of the soil and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent." Genesis 9:20-21

It always strikes me that after reading the four chapter account of Noah--hearing of the righteousness accredited to him by his faith in building the ark, the great patience of Noah, the covenant God makes with Noah concerning destruction of mankind--the last impression we are left with of Noah is him drunk and passed out naked in his tent. It is too often we idolize the great righteous men and women of our days as perfect and forget that even great men are far from perfect. Noah wasn't righteous because he did everything right all the time, he was righteous because of His faith. God's righteousness is different from man's righteousness, it is built by faith acting through works, not a strict adherence to social mores.

Let us praise God that righteousness comes by grace through faith and give us the grace to deal with each other in understanding and mercy!

The Primacy of Grace

"And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them." Genesis 3:21

Within the very same chapter in which man falls in the Bible, we also see the first example of God's grace. Despite the sorrow and pain God felt while walking through the garden and discovering His creation was ashamed, He also poured out his unmerited favor by clothing them to cover up their nakedness. God did not become a God of grace after Jesus, post New Testament, God has always been a God of grace. Oh what sweet and fulfilling truth to know that our God operates from a character of grace! Although His grace is not without His righteous judgment. The Lord is just and His wrath is poured out on all unrighteousness, but never in the Bible is His judgment not also coupled with His grace. As always, Adam and Eve were undeserving of God clothing them, but He did it anyways, not because of who they were, but because of who He is!

Lord Jesus, we are naked and ashamed because of our sin. Come clothe us with your grace and show your favor on us, so that we might walk in the garden with You again!

Evening into Morning

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called the Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." Genesis 1:5

Too many times I have seen the repetition of evening into morning as a burden. Another day creeps forward and the work of Christian living seems nowhere nearer to a close and nowhere closer to the goal. I'm encouraged however when I see the way God views the passage of days. Before God created anything else in the world, he created day and night. Before the world we so adamantly protect, the creatures we preserve, and the people we elevate and glorify, God created Day and Night. As I was reading this morning in Genesis, it became apparent to me that God created day and night first so that, through the daily repetition of morning into evening, evening into morning, He could have a consistent reason to look back and delight in what had happened the previous day. The very first thing God created in this world was a mechanism to express consistent delight in His creation and handiwork. Evening has just passed into morning, a year to a new year, a decade to a new decade, and it is time for us to look back with delight in all that the Lord has done!

Let us praise Him for the constant reminder that every day is a day God created for His delight, so that we might also delight in Him!