Month: December 2023

“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” (Ephesians 3:17 NLT)

Just as the roots of a tree serve to provide strength to it by growing deep into the soil and drawing nutrients and firmly stabilizing it, when our spiritual roots grow deep into God’s unfailing love, we are strong and stable in our Christian life. As the lyric to an old hymn describes it, “Like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved.” All of the growth and strength in my Christian life over all of these years has come directly from the Holy Spirit within me and from remaining rooted in God’s love.

I can tell you from personal experience that when a man and woman who are each rooted in God’s love join together in marriage, vowing their love for each other, a bond is formed that is so strong that only death can temporarily separate them, but their love never dies. The lyrics of a more modern song describes that bond. “I am loved. I am loved. I can risk loving you, for the one who knows me best loves me most. I am loved. You are loved. Won’t you please take my hand? We are free to love each other. We are loved.”

Someone posted this on social media, “The people Jesus spent the most time with during His ministry are people most modern Christians would not want in their church.” The only thing I might disagree with in that statement is the word “most”. I know a lot of born again modern Christians from various churches who would greet all visitors to their church with open arms. I responded with two long comments. Here is a summary of the points I made in those comments.

As usual, I pointed out that Christianity is not a religion, but is a personal relationship between God and each individual believer. I conceded that “religious” Christians make it easy for non-believers to falsely stereotype us all.

The most important function of a Spirit filled Christian church is to become a spiritual “maternity ward” where sinners are helped through the process of spiritual rebirth. To perform that function you need sinners – the ones Jesus came to seek  and to save and the ones we once were.

Another important function of a Spirit filled Christian church is to become a spiritual “fitness center” to provide spiritual nourishment and exercises to strengthen spiritual muscles through prayer, worship,  Bible study and Christian fellowship, not just for new believers, but those in every stage of Christian life. When I started my blog seven years ago, my main goal was to mentor new believers about the Christian life from my experiences and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (my editor in chief). My website and posts have been hugely successful around the world, because it is God’s  message, not mine. But that success might also indicate that many people haven’t found a  spiritual fitness center in a local church and searched online until they found this blog.

Those aren’t the only two functions of a modern church, but without them a Christian church will not remain Spirit filled.

As a veteran receiving benefits, I am asked quite often to give my name and date of birth to prove who I am (and that I have some memory left). There is an official record of my date-of-birth in Indiana that is used on my driver’s license, social security and other forms of identification. In just three days, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus over two thousand years ago. Is December 25th year 0001 Jesus’ official birth date?

The only official record of Jesus’ human life is found in the four Gospels of the New Testament. His official date of birth is nowhere to be found. The date of His crucifixion is determined to be March 25th because of its proximity to Passover. Some “experts” believe that is also the date He was conceived 33 years earlier, so exactly nine months later, on December 25th they estimate his birth took place. Other “experts” claim it could not have been that late in the year if the shepherds were still out in the field at night watching their flocks.

None of this matters. Everything that matters is spelled out clearly in God’s inspired word. What does matter is that we celebrate every year the fact that He became human to share God’s love with us and save us from the penalty of our sins. Angels rejoiced in praise and song. Shepherds were in awe of Him. Wise men brought valuable gifts to present to Him. May those of us who are the recipients of His mercy and grace rejoice with praise and songs; be in awe of His presence and love; and dedicate our lives to His service as the most valuable gifts we have to present to Him. The very first king sized bed was that manger in a stable in Bethlehem. Merry and blessed Christmas everyone.

I came across a passage of scripture today that accurately describes my long life as a Christian. “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for that is God’s will for those who belong to Christ Jesus,” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT) Some of you may be thinking about a storm  of life you have been through or maybe even still going through  and you are thinking to yourself, “How can those three things always be true?”

Let’s start with “always be joyful”. When the Apostle Paul wrote those words, he was in a prison in Rome with a Roman soldier chained to him so he could not escape and even in that situation he experienced the joy that comes from belonging to Christ and feeling God’s Holy Spirit within him. He was so full of joy in that dire situation that they had to change his guards regularly or he would lead them to Jesus.

Next, let’s look at “don’t stop praying”. Paul isn’t referring to unending public prayers or saying grace over our meal until it is cold. He is encouraging us to keep the line of communication open with God at all times through the Holy Spirit within us. When I was still using my walker, my caregivers were used to hearing me speak to the Lord. One day I had a new young male caregiver who heard me say, “Walk with me, Lord” and thought I  was talking to him, so he quietly followed me into the bathroom. As I positioned the walker in front of the commode and said, “Help me get my pants down, Lord” Before I got the word Lord out of my mouth my pants were at my knees. At first I was amazed. Once I realized what happened, I was amused. It was the fastest God has ever answered my prayer. When I’m in pain, I tend to repeat, “Oh God” as my spirit connects with Him. A nurse accused me of using God’s name in vain. I told her I was speaking to Him, not about Him, but I’m not sure she understood the difference.

Finally, what about being thankful in every circumstance? We obviously will not be thankful for everything we encounter in life, but in every situation there is something for which to be thankful. Paul seemed to have little for which to be thankful as he wrote those words, but he was thankful for the people in the church to which he was writing and he was always thankful Jesus turned him around on the road to Damascus.

Let’s face it, as believers and followers of Jesus Christ we have access to joy, prayer and gratitude that those in the world around us do not possess or even understand.

A week from today is the annual Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Christmas is the only birthday party I’ve ever known when the participants exchange gifts with each other instead of presenting them to the “birthday boy”. After all, what do you give the one through whom all things were created? What present befits the one who loves us so much He died for our sins and rose again to prove His promise of eternal life for everyone who believes in and follows Him? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure He is fine with our exchange of gifts. He commands us to love one another just as He loves us. I just think we should give Jesus the gifts He wants from us.

What does Jesus want to receive from us?  In addition to our faith in Him, our praise and worship, He wants some of our time each day to be spent with Him. I work with Him on my blog twice a week, usually between 10pm and 11pm. It seems like a good time to avoid interruptions and distractions. It also helps me sleep soundly afterward. Instead of a New Year’s resolution, beginning on Christmas Eve I plan to dedicate an hour to spend with my Lord every evening for the next year. I’m hoping by that time it will become a cherished habit. One of my favorite old hymns is Sweet Hour of Prayer. In this fast paced world, we are lucky if it is, sweet five minutes of prayer. I hope to correct that.

I’m not going to challenge you to do the same. I never accept challenges online either, but maybe you might want to spend more time in prayer with our Lord each day. My time with Him has always had a positive impact on me.

We will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ just nine days from today. This is a great time to refresh our memory about His deity and who He is and what He was doing before He was planted in the womb of a young virgin to become the Savior of the world.

The Gospel of John (NLT) begins by describing the life of God’s Son before He became a human being. “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it.”

The life of God’s Son did not begin as a fertilized egg in the womb of a virgin girl in Nazareth or even as a new born baby in a manger in a stable in Bethlehem. His life span was not just the 33 years He spent here on Earth. His life did not end on the cross or even in the tomb in Jerusalem. All of that was just a brief mission of love to seek and to save us when we were lost and to shed His blood as a once and for all, sacrifice for our sins. He is not only still alive, He is preparing to return to Earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords; to gather His church of believers.

C.S. Lewis summed it up nicely when he wrote, “The Son of God became a man so that men can become the sons of God.”

The most valuable and beautiful things in this life are not really “things” at all. They are moments, people, feelings, smiles, laughter and memories. At my age I tend to turn my attention to heaven sometimes and life after death. John Wesley was touring the vast estate of a friend. He went from one huge room to another marveling at the expensive furniture and art work as well as the beautiful landscape out each window. He said, “These are the things that make it hard for a man to die.”

There is a direct correlation between how tightly you hold onto something and how hard it will be to let it go. What do we leave behind when we die? The answer is EVERY THING! So death will be more painful and difficult if we are still trying to hold onto the things of this world.  Those valuable, beautiful feelings and memories I listed in the first paragraph above are all that we can take with us, because the “things” God has prepared for us in heaven are beyond our wildest imagination.

My wish list for Christmas gets shorter as I get older. Most of the gifts I desire can’t be purchased in a store, gift wrapped and put under my tree. They are the wonderful people God has placed in my life; the warm feelings I’ve experienced; the smiles and laughter I’ve enjoyed; and the 80 years of fond memories.

This blog post is the last of my commentary on the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus made it clear that it is never sin to do good – even on the Sabbath. He did many of his healing miracles on the Sabbath to the consternation of the Pharisees, who were dogmatic about their definition of work or labor on the Sabbath and they called He who is without sin a sinner because he ignored their man-made restrictions.

Most Christians worship and celebrate the “day of rest” on Sunday. I’ve heard it said that the most important step in the history of mankind was when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. Christians believe it was Jesus’ first step out of the tomb on that first  Easter Sunday morning. That is why we celebrate our new birth into eternal life on that day of the week.

Are there still dogmatic religious leaders today? I don’t believe they would consider it a sin to heal a blind man on Sunday, but I’m sure there are some elders, deacons and even pastors who might question Jesus about where He gets the authority to do such things (as the Pharisees also did). They might ask, “Who ordained you?” or “What seminary did you graduate from?” Some might even call Jesus a wino, because he turned water into wine at a wedding and drank wine with his disciples at the “last supper”. They might even label Him a sinner, because of His association with known sinners even though He never sinned Himself. There will always be some people who love to “play church” instead of forming a personal relationship with our Lord. Those people didn’t stop Jesus and their labels will not stop us.

One last thing. I am writing this blog post on Sunday. I don’t consider it labor; to me it is an act of obedience and love for my Lord. I thank God for my caregiver today and all those others who serve the needs of other people on their day of rest.

At the very beginning of the ninth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus and his disciples came upon a man blind from birth. The disciples immediately jumped to the conclusion that it must be sin that caused such a bad condition. They asked Jesus if the man’s or his parents’ sin caused him to be blind. That conclusion was not new. Job’s friends concluded  that it was Job’s sins that caused his severe losses and physical suffering. God and Job both knew that was not the case. Jesus explained that it wasn’t anyone’s sin that caused the man to be born blind. It happened so that God’s healing power could be demonstrated by his healing.

About eight years ago, I was healed from chronic sciatic nerve pain when my men’s group from church prayed for my healing. A short time later my Christian brothers prayed for my arthritic knees to be straightened and healed. That condition has not changed. My brothers in Christ immediately assumed I was somehow blocking that healing. God and I both know that is  not the case. When I prayed for the answer, I got the same answer Paul got when he asked for the “thorn in his flesh” to be removed: “My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is manifest in your weakness”. If I had two good legs back then, this blog would probably not exist as I would have been out attending and doing instead writing and sharing His message. Just goes to show that some things never change. Sin isn’t always the cause of our trials, but faith in God and a life of service to Him are always the answer.

The entire ninth chapter of John tells the full story of Jesus healing a man blind from birth on the Sabbath. There are enough lessons in that chapter for several blog posts. I suggest you read that entire chapter now before continuing with this blog post. i recommend NLT, but the story is the same in any translation.

Who was handicapped in this story? Was it the man who was born without sight? Was it the man’s parents who were paralyzed by the fear of being kicked out of the temple by the Pharisees? Was it the Pharisees who claimed to know God, but were blind to Jesus’ deity? The answer is “all of the above”. Only the man born blind, who lost his place in the temple, not only gained his sight, but also  gained eternal life by believing in and following Jesus. All because Jesus found him when he was blind and healed him on the Sabbath and then found him again when he was kicked out by the Pharisees.

Who in this account were the real sinners? How would this story play out in front of a board of deacons of a large modern day Christian church? What does God say about keeping the Sabbath holy? Stay tuned for a few more looks at this chapter in John from different angles.