The good news of Christ
O Lord, no matter how high or low
this roller-coaster life may go,
remind me you are solid ground,
immune to quake or flood or wind.
I know, O God, to find in you
the source of all that’s good and true;
Though in the fray, I moan and sweat,
Let me not your grace forget.
Benevolence springs from who we are in Christ. Edification is the building up of and teaching truth to everyone around us so that we can get to our third main value as Christians: evangelism. We can not, however, share the good news with others unless we are the type of people from whom the gospel can be received. In the close of his letter to the Colossians, Paul gives us great insight into this:
Colossians 4:2-6
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
We must be wise toward the lost, knowing our audience and making the most of every opportunity that God gives us. We must also pray that God would open our eyes to recognize them as they come before us and for the wisdom, which God gives to us if we ask, to know what to do with the opportunities when He gives them to us.
Finally, we must watch our words to answer everyone well. They must be full of grace or, like tasty food that people would want to eat, seasoned with salt. Salt also creates thirst–in this case spiritual thirst.
How are you prepared to share the gospel?
Our Father in Heaven, your name is special. Let us all give you proper respect. Let us treat your things with special regard. Keep us from acting in a profane manner.
Help us to think constantly of you and your plan of salvation. Thank you for reaching us with the Good News. We rejoice in our hope of eternal life. Reach others through our teaching. Motivate us to share the message of Christ with others.
We want to know you better every day. We read Scripture in order to understand you and what you like and dislike. Give us understanding. We ask for wisdom. Keep our feet from transgression. Hold back our hands from doing evil. Give us the power of your Spirit to win over temptation.
Lord God, the faith of many is weak. Their zeal wanes and, for some, is doused by the devil. Fire us up. Make us enthusiastic for Christ. But keep our fervor guided by knowledge. Let that knowledge be the firewood that keeps our love burning strong.
Father, the church seems such a fragile thing. So few people, with few physical and material resources. It seems like all our work would fail with but a little gust of wind. But we know that your Spirit enlivens us all. Your power will not be denied its efficacy in the world. The evil one cannot push over your people.
Others seem to have so much to work with. Resources are squandered, funds are spent selfishly, time is wasted. But help us not to look wistfully at what others have. Let us see how you work in and through us. Make us understand that we have all we need to be powerful instruments in your hand. Keep us from resentment and bitterness. May Christ live in us to bring us peace, joy, and righteousness.
Father, create a climate for your gospel to grow in this place. May government officials allow us to live in peace. Help us to be good citizens. Let our proclamation of Christ to each person have good results and contribute to a more just society. Bless us that we might be a blessing to others.
Father, there is so much to be thankful for, all from your good hand.
Let my tongue be loosed today, so that it may speak of your goodness and love. Father, let the seed of truth bear fruit that remains to eternity.
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1.
Faith, by very definition, means that we are trusting in God during a trial of uncertain outcome.
Abraham could see no clear way that his barren, ninety year-old wife could bear him a son, yet this same chapter says he “considered him faithful who had made the promise.” Faith, then, depends on how well we trust solely in God’s solid-rock character that does not change despite our circumstance. Talk about ‘faith under trial’–it is only under trial that we know if we have true faith.
This came home to me in 2012 when my wife, never a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Now into our sixth year of various chemotherapy and radiation treatments, even a four-hour surgery last May to remove an egg-sized brain tumor, my faith as a husband and caregiver, elder and evangelist, in particular is still under trial.
If I get a cold, I am reasonably assured that if I take a regimen of medicines over a short window of time, I will be better soon. Colds come and go, often with no serious life-altering effects. It is a very low-level of faith indeed (even if at the time I feel like I might die) to believe that I will eventually get well. But cancer? We have been living with excruciating uncertainty for six years! Will she live or die? Is today a go-to-work or lie-on-the-couch day? Will she feel too queasy to eat supper tonight or is there a specific craving that I have to run to the store to find?
That kind of trust over that period of time takes incredible faith. “God’s got this–He always has,” has become our mantra that reminds us, sometimes daily, that He is the only One who has ever been in control anyway.
It was always during the difficult times that Jesus would rebuke his followers for lack of faith. It is not easy to be a Christian. When the squall comes up on our Sea of Galilee, we believe God to be asleep and so not in control. We may even accuse Him of not caring. But, our lack of faith is showing.
After Jesus’ hard teaching about His body being real food and His blood real drink in John 6, many “turned back and no longer followed him.” When Jesus asked the Twelve if they too would leave, Peter answered with words that should encourage all to find faith under trial, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
There’s no one else. Our lives depend on us having faith under trial.
Lord, I take responsibility for my actions today and for my reactions to all that has happened to me in the past and that will happen today. I will blame no one. I will offer no excuses. I will seek no easy escape. I will possess the mind of Christ and show his kindness and patience.
You know that I am not capable of this, so I trust in your strength to be possessed of this transformed life.
Father, your sons and daughters also need such desire and power for life in Christ. So many of them are new in faith. Some are weak in their walk. Some have not yet seen the joy of full devotion. Some suffer mental anguish. Others face persecution and hardship.
Thank you for our family of faith. Let none wander away. Keep us all safe. Make love our language. Fulfill your will in us. Find praise in our midst. Blessed are you, O God, for your wisdom and compassion to make us your people and to give us those brothers and sisters that walk with us.
Before your glory, O God, we see our sin —
Hideous, horrible, ripping you from our souls —
What distance gapes between your holiness
And our uncleanness! Woe is me! — Woe!
The hand must cover the mouth: “Impure! Impure!”
To wash our hearts, to whom, to whom must we go?
What word, O Lord, have we to say
but praise and gratitude?
From your good hand, day by day,
come life and love and food.
O God, let grace for abounding grace
be found upon our lips;
For heaven’s blessing in every place
all pains and hurts eclipse.
Just before bed, I sanded the second coat of joint compound on some bedrooms now that we’re empty-nesters. To keep dust from billowing throughout the house, I stapled a plastic sheet between the dining room and the hallway. It also had a second purpose: to keep our cat out of the dust.
That was not to be. When we got out of bed the next morning, we found a very distressed pet covered in white powder meowing on the wrong side of the plastic. Curious, she had nosed her way under the sheet and then found herself unable to exit–much like a minnow would enter a trap.
We were unhappy with her, but because we love her, we got her out and dusted her off. Within minutes of setting her down, though, we were dismayed to find her once again on the other side of the plastic!
As I often do, I saw this as a spiritual illustration. God tries to protect us by giving us clear limits for living our lives, but we rail against the translucent sheet, believing that He is keeping us from worldly ‘fun’ we could be having. Sometimes, we’re just curious. Often we believe that we can just nose under the plastic a little, but a little turns into more until we’re trapped. We cry out for help, and God rescues us, dusts us off, and sets us back to safety. He’s perhaps a bit disappointed that we went past the limits He has set up for us, but He loves us.
But then we do the unimaginable. We return to the very sin that we’ve been saved from. We once more go beyond the plastic and find ourselves covered in white powder. Sometimes we curse ourselves for once more being deceived and think ourselves unloved or incapable of obedience. Often we turn against God, believing Him incapable of keeping us from our situation.
Eventually, we can find ourselves in the situation of those spoken of in 2 Peter 2:19-22:
“… a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
We must not be a washed sow wallowing once again in the mud or a dog returning to its vomit. Rather, we must submit to our good Father’s limits, knowing they are there for our good. Then we won’t be a minnow caught in a trap — or a dust-covered cat beyond the plastic.
Acts 4.23-31
Master of all, who made the heaven and earth
and sea, and every creature that they contain,
who by the Holy Spirit, through David, said:
“The nations rage, and foolish people plot;
Together earthly Kings and rulers stood
against the Lord, against his chosen Christ.”
You knew, O Lord, and know, the mind of man!
His thoughts are ever foolish, even from birth;
for your perfect plan of love he shows disdain.
And still Immanuel came! He chose to shed his blood;
with frail and humble humans he cast his lot —
the First of heaven in place of the lost, and last.
O Lord, you raised the Son of Man from the dead!
The Spirit’s power at work in impotent flesh
now gives a soul a chance to start afresh.