THE MOST WORTHY

During one of the crusades, Philippe Auguste, King of France, gathered his noble knights and men to call them to be strong in battle. He placed his crown on a table with the inscription “To the Most Worthy.” He pledged the crown as the prize to be given to the bravest fighter.

They went to battle and returned victorious and encircled the table on which the crown had been placed. One of the nobles stepped forward, took the crown, and put it on the head of the King, saying, “Thou, O King, art the most worthy.”

On the great Day you’ll hear billions of voices make the identical claim about Jesus Christ. “Every knee will bow to the name of Jesus – everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” (Philippians 2:10-11 NCV)

Multitudes of people will bow like a field of wind-blown wheat, each one saying, “Thou, O King, art the most worthy.” 

-- Max Lucado in “God’s Story, Your Story: When His Becomes Yours”

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TRUSTING IN GOD’S CARE

“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

God cares for you! Not only will He never leave you -- that’s the negative side of the promise -- but He cares for you. He is not just there with you, He cares for you. His care is constant -- not occasional or sporadic. His care is total -- even the hairs on of your head are numbered. His care is sovereign -- nothing can touch you that He does not allow. His care is infinitely wise and good so that in the words of John Newton, “If it were possible for me to alter any part of His plan, I could only spoil it.”

We must learn to cast all our anxieties on Him. Dr. John Brown says of this verse, “The figurative expression ‘cast,’ not lay, seems to intimate that the duty enjoined is one that requires an effort; and experience tells us it is no easy matter to throw off the burden of carefulness.” So we are back to the matter of choice. We must by an act of the will in dependence on the Holy Spirit say something such as, “Lord, I choose to cast off this anxiety onto You, but I cannot do this of myself. I will trust You by Your Spirit to enable me to, having cast my anxiety on You, not to take it back upon myself.” 

-- Jerry Bridges in “Trusting God”

THE SAFETY NET

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”  (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV)

In his book “Falling Into Greatness,” Lloyd Ogilvie relates this story about the purpose of safety nets to trapeze artists: “A friend of mine, a high flier in the circus in his youth, tells me that the secret of becoming a successful trapeze artist is in overcoming the fear of falling. ‘Once you know that the net below will catch you, you stop worrying about falling,’ he said. ‘You actually learn to fall successfully! What I mean is, you can concentrate on catching the trapeze swinging toward you, and not on falling, because repeated falls in the past have convinced you that the net hurts only if you stiffen up and resist it. The result of falling and being caught by the net brings a mysterious confidence and daring on the trapeze. You fall less. Each fall makes you able to risk more!’”

For me faith-based small groups have been my safety net. They have encouraged me to take greater risks in my journey of following Christ, knowing that they are there to catch me if and when I fall. They have supported me in my calling to go into the ministry, throughout my years of serving Christ in the local church, and now in retirement. They have been there through the ups and downs of life, each time encouraging greater leaps of faith, and catching me when I do fall. At the same time, I have been part of that safety net for others as they live out their journey with Christ.

If you are not part of a Christ-centered small group, talk to your pastor or church leaders. They can help you get the support you need to fly high. 

– Rev. David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry

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RISK AND REWARD

Amid the many facets of the American dream that contradict the core of the gospel, one ideal Americans have embraced coincides subtly with the words of Christ. As James Adams was coining the phrase “American dream,” Franklin Roosevelt was emphasizing how Americans will postpone immediate gratification and even endure hard sacrifices if they are convinced their future will be better than their past. Americans are willing to take great risks, he said, if they believe it will accomplish great reward.

In similar words Jesus said to His followers, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). Jesus clearly acknowledged that following Him involves risking the safety, security, and satisfaction we have found in this world. But in the end, Jesus said, following Him leads to a radical reward that this world can never offer. This begs a question from each of us: do we believe the reward found in Jesus is worth the risk of following Him?

The Apostle Paul answered that question: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21 NKJV) 

-- Adapted from David Platt in “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream”

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IN TIMES OF SORROW

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  (Colossians 3:12-13 NIV)

Many people have told me they “don’t know what to say” to the family of someone who has died and, sadly, for fear of saying the “wrong thing,” end up saying nothing at all. People in mourning need our support. In times of sorrow, one word, one gesture, can mean everything.

Each one of us must take the initiative. Hold someone’s hand. Send a poem [or Scripture verse], a photograph, a letter of remembrance. If you buy a card, add a personal message. If you feel awkward, simply say, “I’ve been thinking of you.” This will create an opening. Don’t ask what you can do. Anticipate and act. Listen. Be compassionate. Don’t give advice, philosophize, or tell the person you know how they’re feeling. You don’t. Statements such as “it was God’s will” or “Your loved one is better off now” are insensitive sentiments, akin to a poke with a sharp stick. It’s best to be true to yourself and to the person who has died. If you knew them well, create a picture, a memory of a time you spent together, for his or her family -- a night at the movies, an afternoon over a cup of tea, an ongoing joke only known to the two of you -- the most common recollection has uncommon meaning to people in mourning, particularly if it’s a story they’ve never heard. You have different memories than they do. Think of your reminiscence as a tiny eulogy, an addition to their family archives, and know that if it comes with compassion the contribution will be welcome. 

-- Nancy Cobb in “In Lieu of Flowers: A Conversation for the Living”

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THE ANGUISHED CRY

The prayers of those whose lives are smooth and serene are markedly different from the prayers of those whose lives are ragged and rugged. The prayers of the latter are often anguished entreaties poured from hearts about to break…

God does the extraordinary when people realize their inadequacy and learn to call on Him in anguish of heart and utter dependence…

The pain that prompts the anguished cry does not magically disappear once the cry is uttered. But knowing that the cry has been heard and will be answered alleviates the pain. In the anticipation of the answer, healing has begun.

Then Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the Lord! Oh, how the Lord has blessed me! Now I have an answer for my enemies, as I delight in Your deliverance. No one is Holy like the Lord! There is no one besides You; there is no Rock like our God.”  (1 Samuel 2:1-2 NLT)

-- Excerpted from Stuart Briscoe in “Daily Study Bible for Men”

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THE REALITY OF THE NEW CREATION

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-20 NRSV)

If the gospel is to challenge the public life of our society it will not be by forming a Christian political party, or by aggressive propaganda campaigns… It will only be by movements that begin with the local congregation in which the reality of the new creation is present, known, and experienced, and from which men and women will go into every sector of public life to claim it for Christ. 

-- Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) in “The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society” (1989)

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LOOK AT JESUS

Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”  (John 17:1-3 NIV)

If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be human, look at Jesus. If you want to know what love is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what grief is, look at Jesus. [If you want to know who understands your suffering, look at Jesus.] And go on looking until you’re not just a spectator, but you’re actually part of the drama which has Him as the central character. 

– Adapted from N. T. Wright

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THE VISIBLE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through Him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see -- such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through Him and for Him. He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.”  (Colossians 1:15-17 NLT)

This is one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ found anywhere in the Bible. Jesus is not only equal to God, He is God; as the visible image of the invisible God, He is the exact representation of God. He not only reflects God, but He reveals God to us; as supreme over all creation, He has all the priority and authority. He came from heaven, not from the dust of the earth, and He is Lord of all. He is completely holy, and He has authority to judge the world. Therefore, Christ is supreme over all creation, including the spirit (unseen) world.

We, like the Colossian believers, must believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (that He is God) or our Christian faith is hollow, misdirected, and meaningless. This is a central truth of Christianity. We must oppose [the idea] that Jesus was merely a prophet or a good teacher.  

-- From the “Life Application Study Bible”

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BECOMING WHO GOD WANTS ME TO BE

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”  (Psalm 139:14 NKJV)

God does not call me to fit a certain mold, nor does He want to press out a bunch of cookie-cutter Christians, each exactly alike. No, when God created me, He made me a unique individual with particular gifts and abilities. This is my true self, and as I become this person that God intended, I find that I am happier and more free. I am also more united with the Holy Spirit, able to take the place God calls me to in His kingdom.  

-- Elizabeth Prentiss in “Stepping Heavenward”

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WHERE IS THE KEY?

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”  (Revelation 3:20 NIV)

Where is the key to a close relationship with Jesus Christ? Is it begging His royal presence? Reading the Bible for hours throughout the day? In sacrifice and service? Do any of these things earn merit in God’s sight? Do lengthy prayers?

Christ is the key. We must allow Him to turn the lock to every room in our hearts, them fling wide the door and let Him enter. He already knows about the hidden dirt and dust bunnies in the corners. He is well aware of thoughts and actions that displease Him. We must allow Jesus not only to enter, but ask Him to bring His broom, mop, and plenty of soap!

Jesus has a way of cleansing and renewing. He can change sinful, rotten ways to a clean sweet-smelling fragrance unto Him.

Jesus is not a mere image or a lovely picture on our wall. He is our living Savior. He wants to be our dearest Friend. When the Lord Jesus is totally welcome to every room in our lives, we will truly know His presence and be able to walk closely with Him. 

-- Anita Corrine Donihue in “When I’m Praising God”

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WORSHIP IS WORK

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”  (John 4:23 NIV)

One thing my experience has taught me is that you have to bring something to the sermon to get something out of it. The expression is familiar in the African American church: “If you don’t put anything in, you won’t get anything out!” And sometimes it is a mere openness to the Spirit. For worship is neither something that the clergy does and the people sit back and watch, nor something that is an optional activity for the people. Worship is work – hard, active, disciplined, and sometimes painful work that demands something from us as it gives something to us. That is literally what the word that the New Testament uses so often for worship, leitourgia, means – “the work of the people.” 

-- Zan W. Holmes, Jr. in “Encountering Jesus”

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THE LOVE OF GOD IN CHRIST

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:35,37-39 NKJV)

Grief and pain are just as much a part of life as joy and pleasure. Life can be a dizzying whirlwind of sweet and bitter, hot and cold, fight or flight, gratitude and bitterness, black and white, full and empty, beauty and ugliness, faith and fear, serenity and anxiety, kindness and cruelty, connectedness and loneliness. Sometimes life even feels like it’s all of those at once. 

Friends, we are dearly and passionately loved by a merciful and gracious Father, and nothing can separate us from that love! 

-- Pastor Tim Carson, Estero Church

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A BAROMETER OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:21 NIV)

I think it’s easy to talk about things like faith and obedience and compassion in abstract terms.  The more abstract, the less convicting the truth is.  So let me get concrete.  Faith equals God-ordained risks in the face of fear.  Obedience equals God-honoring decisions in the face of temptation.  And compassion equals Spirit-prompted generosity in the face of greed.

If you really want to know how I‘m doing spiritually, all you need to do is look at my checkbook.  It doesn’t lie.  It reveals my priorities.  It reveals my passions.  And it doesn’t just reveal how I’m doing financially; it reveals how I’m doing spiritually.  It’s one of the best barometers of spiritual maturity I know of.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m certainly not reducing compassion to a financial transaction.  I think generosity has as much to do with time and energy as it does with money.  But sometimes love is measured in dollars. 

-- Mark Batterson in “PRIMAL: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity”

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OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIVES

Then Jesus said to them all: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.”  (Luke 9:23 NIV)

The structure and the value system of our world have evolved outside of God’s promises for so long that it seems we are compelled to struggle against our very nature in order to follow Jesus. Like the high-board diver who must determine to overcome his reflexes each time he launches himself into the abyss, we must renew our decision for discipleship every single day. Then, also like the diver, we discover the cool, refreshing, life-giving waters and celebrate that what we have left behind is the dryness and dust.

The skewed priorities of the culture we inhabit run deep.  They are etched into the fabric of our decision–making processes and re-enforced through a thousand messages and object lessons every day.

The morality of faithlessness and instant gratification pushes on our decision-making processes every time we engage the world on its terms. From pop-up ads to song lyrics to posters on the subway walls; from selfish drivers to a boss who lacks integrity and expects compromises; from the allure of another drink to the indecent propositions of a co-worker. The world is broken and we live in it: end of story.

And so we dare not leave our faith at home or bottled up at church when we venture out. We dare not pretend that we can live the Christian life on our own. If Jesus had to say [to His Father], “Not what I want but what You want” (Matthew 26:39), then how much more do we need the power of God’s transforming presence in our day-to-day lives? 

-- Derek Maul in “Get Real: A Spiritual Journey for Men”

FIRSTHAND INFORMATION

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched -- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”  (1 John 1:1 NIV)

Are you basing your knowledge of Jesus on hearsay evidence? Is it based on what you’ve heard a pastor say, or your parents or friends say… or maybe someone in the media or in a book?

Many are willing to say that Jesus was a good man, even a great man, or even a prophet from God. But they stop short of truly being convinced that He is virgin-born, the unique, only begotten Son of God -- God Himself in a man’s body. They stop short of saying He is God’s Lamb, sacrificed for the sin of the world… that He is the risen Lord, the reigning King. Yet God said in Mark 9:7, “This is My Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”

Stop getting information about Jesus secondhand. Get it firsthand by reading God’s Word. Get to know Him for yourself. 

-- Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

ON CHURCHES BEING OPEN TO GOD’S PRESENCE

Jesus said to His disciples, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  (Matthew 18:20 NIV)

What I have consistently noticed in almost all thriving congregations is that what makes the difference is the extent to which the community is open to God at its core. Many churches aren’t simply open to God. They let the will, ego, and purpose of the dominant voices in the congregation, whether the pastor’s or that of a few strong members, drive the agenda. Instead of seeking God’s call and purpose, they argue over who is right and wrong. Declining churches tend not to be open to God’s presence. They worship, meet, and engage in ministry and mission, but their sense is that God is in heaven, we are on earth, and all that matters is doing good deeds so that we can get into heaven. The congregants have no sense that Christ is in their midst, and that this presence of Christ can bless them and make them a church of love. So they continue to engage in the practices of the church, but they don’t expect an encounter with Christ. Finally, these churches have no awareness that God’s grace and power can work in their midst. They have no awareness of the Holy Spirit. They are unaware that when we become open to God, God’s Spirit flows through the church to make miracles happen. 

-- N. Graham Standish in “Becoming a Blessed Church: Forming a Church of Spiritual Purpose, Presence and Power”

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WAITING WITH THE WORD

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  (Isaiah 40:31 NKJV)

Our waiting is always shaped by alertness to the Word.  It is waiting in the knowledge that someone wants to address us.  The question is, Are we home?  Are we at our address, ready to respond to the doorbell?  We need to wait together, to keep each other at home spiritually, so that when the Word comes it can become flesh in us.  That is why the Book of God is always in the midst of those who gather.  We read the Word so that the Word can become flesh and have a whole new life in us. 

-- Henri Nouwen in “Weavings”, January 1987, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission.

#5682

VIEWING WORK AS SERVICE TO GOD

I have a friend who used to work at Disneyland, and he said that when he was trained, there was one value emphasized above all others: What puts the magic in the Magic Kingdom is servanthood. They are told that when you are in the kingdom, when you walk through those gates, you serve. Whatever your job is, you are a servant.

You treat every encounter with people as if they were your personal guest. If they need directions, escort them. If they ask a question and you have heard it a hundred times, answer it as if you have never heard it before…

Jesus said that what puts the magic into His kingdom is serving, because “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mathew 20:28). His is not a kingdom about status and climbing ladders and getting attention. The best you is built by serving, and God’s kingdom is one of those kingdoms where if you don’t want to serve, you won’t really want to be there. Sometimes God will interrupt us in our work, not to give us a chance to show off our giftedness, but simply to give us a chance to serve…

The day is coming when God will look at His faithful servants and say, “Well done.” He will say it to faithful employees who give themselves diligently to work that never earns much human recognition. He will say it to workers who know they could have climbed higher if they had cut corners or manipulated others. He will say it to single parents who cared for kids – bathing them, feeding them, cleaning up after them – when they were tired and thought nobody was looking.

Somebody is looking. Someone is keeping track. It is worth it.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

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