Category: Uncategorized

Categories
Uncategorized

The Good Life

I was 13 when “the Jesus revolution” (not the film, but the real thing) began to sweep through my home town of five thousand people. Like new movies, this Holy Spirit movement reached us two or three years after “release,” but when it came, it was enthusiastically received. Now, small town people know most of the others, or at least we know of them, and I began to see lives change. Drastically. Once-steely faces now shone in newfound gratitude. Rebellious hearts became humble, their testimonies overflowing in eager hopes that others might also discover new life in Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit. I kept waiting for people to “change back” to their old selves, but few ever did. So, I wanted the joy that she had, the peace that he had, and the certainty that they had. But what exactly was this change, this apparent newness of life?

In the New Testament, we find three Greek words translated “life” in English. “Bios” [bee’-os] refers to the physical body (think “biology”), and “psuche” [psoo-khay’] refers to the breath that gives life to our bodies, and also our feelings, desires, and emotions (think “psychology”). With these we are born, and without them we die. But the life Jesus brings us is very different; in Greek it is “zoe” [dzo-ay’]. This is the very life of God—it is His by nature, it was His before creation, and He sustains it through His ever-enduring being. It is this life—God’s own “zoe” life—that is born in us when we place our faith in His Son. Jesus said that if He is not in us, we have no [zoe] life in us, but if He lives in us through faith, we have eternal [zoe] life, and He will raise us up on the last day.1 We who are in Him will always live, because He who is in us will never die.

Jesus once said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are [zoe] life.”2 It is, perhaps, a deeper glimpse into Jesus’ assertion of this from Deuteronomy, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”3 God speaks His Word—His life—into our very being. Knowing this, why would we ever deprive ourselves of His Word? For through it, God speaks life to us—the new and forever life of joy, peace, and certainty.

“In Him was [zoe] life, and the [zoe] life was the Light of mankind.”4

Father, You are my life and before You I quiet my soul. Speak that I would hear Your words of spirit and life—Your “zoe” life. In Christ I pray. Amen.


1 John 6:53-54
2 John 6:63 NASB
3 Matthew 4:4 NASB (cf Deuteronomy 8:3)
4 John 1:4 NASB

Categories
Uncategorized

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

I once told a friend about a book I had recently enjoyed, titled, The Introvert Advantage. After relating to him a few tidbits I had gleaned throughout its pages, he asked, “Well, what is the introvert advantage?” I chuckled at having talked all around the book without landing on its main point, then directly answered his question: when an introvert speaks, people listen. For introverts usually process a matter internally before sharing their thoughts out loud. Yet I hasten to add that most people—introverts and extraverts alike—give voice to what is important, and repeatedly so to that which is most important. Then may we assume that, if God repeats a matter, it must be most important to Him, as well? If so, we cannot overlook or minimize His deepest yearnings, voiced to us time and again. Listen to His heart expressed through His Word.

It began with a promise to Abraham. “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”1

It was in God’s heart when He called Moses to lead Israel out of Egyptian captivity: “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God”2

Establishing the letter of the Law, God revealed His heart behind the Law: “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands . . .I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.”3

Calling the Israelites into a covenant relationship with Himself, God voiced His desire through Moses: “to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you . . .”4

Even toward His people in exile, God’s heart remained steadfast, as spoken through the prophet, Jeremiah: “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. . . I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”5

Foretelling a new covenant—of a Messiah’s leadership and a good shepherd’s protection—God’s eternal purpose remained unbending: “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant . . .I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.”6

Jeremiah’s contemporary, Ezekiel, also prophesied a new covenant, proclaiming God’s promise: “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”7

Returned from exile to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, Zechariah foretold a time when God’s desire echoes back to Him through His people: “They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”8

And to John, God revealed a time yet to come when His desire is completely and eternally fulfilled “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”9

As we read “all around His book,” may we not miss this most important, repeated point: God wills to be our God, and He purposes for us to be His own. This is the heart from which God speaks; may we hear Him in great comfort and joy.

Father, at great cost, You have made us Your people. With grateful hearts we proclaim You as our God. Lead us in Kingdom work today. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Genesis 17:7
2 Exodus 6:7
3 Leviticus 26:3, 12
4 Deuteronomy 19:13
5 Jeremiah 24:6-7
6 Jeremiah 31:31, 33
7 Ezekiel 37:27
8 Zechariah 13:9
9 Revelation 21:3
See also Exodus 29:45-46; Leviticus 11:45; 22:32-33; 25:38; 26:45; Numbers 15:41; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 34:30; 36:28; Hosea 1:9-10; 2:23; Zechariah 8:8; 2 Corinthians 6:16; and Hebrews 8:10.

Categories
Uncategorized

Incoming!

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy . . .”1—Paul, writing to believers in Philippi

Sometimes world events remind us of how little we are in control. Russia invades Ukraine, and we can but watch. Terrorists do unspeakable things even to the most defenseless, and we feel helpless. Infighting in Sudan displaces over five million people from their homes; we can only ache for them. We are powerless. Or so it seems . . .

Isn’t it fascinating that some of Paul’s most impactful ministry arose from his time in prison, a plight in which virtually all control is stripped away? It was as “an ambassador in chains”2 that Paul wrote his epistles to the churches in Ephesus, Colossae, and Philippi—inspired writings that have taught, corrected and guided Christians as canon for two millennia hence. It was in the isolation of incarceration that Paul prayed fervently and continually for the churches he loved so much. Though devoid of control, the prisoner was anything but powerless.

The same is true of us. I have heard of prayer being likened, in a sense, to an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM): we can confidently launch petitions from anywhere in the world, for their range is unlimited, and no weapons exceed the power of their warheads. We don’t have to be in control, just faithful in prayer and confident in the One who hears us and is sovereign above all things.

When overwhelmed to the point of hopelessness, sometimes even unto prayerlessness, I personally find inspiration in a word of encouragement from Peter Kreeft, author and professor of philosophy at Boston College, and I share it here with you . . .

I strongly suspect that if we saw all the difference even the tiniest of our prayers make, and all the people those little prayers were destined to affect, and all the consequences of those prayers down through the centuries, we would be so paralyzed with awe at the power of prayer that we would be unable to get up off our knees for the rest of our lives.

May we be the faithful who unite in the power of prayer and trust in Him who hears us.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.”—Ephesians 3:14-15 NLT

Father, I trust in your wisdom, power, and love. Hear me now as I pray . . .

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

1 Philippians 1:3-4
2 Ephesians 6:20