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What You Have Seen & Heard

Pastafarians, worshipers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, created their religion to mock Christians, declaring that there’s as much evidence for faith in the FLM as there is for our faith in God.  But that simply is not true.  There’s much evidence just in creation to prove our faith (Romans 1:18-20).

I. Luke 7:20-23.  John, who was so sure of who Jesus was (Matthew 3:13-14, John 1:29-34), must have begun to have doubts while he languished in Herod’s prison.  When his followers came and told him all that they had seen and heard Jesus doing, he sent them to ask Jesus if indeed He was the expected Messiah.  Jesus pointed to the evidence of what John had seen and heard to not lose faith.

II. Philippians 3:7-16.  We’ve not had John’s calling as a prophet or seen the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus, so how much more do we struggle to overcome doubts in the midst of trials?  God gives us strategies to do so:

a. Realize that with so much evidence, it is not a blind faith that we have.

b. Value struggles as a way that God is disciplining and growing us (Hebrews 12:4-13).

c. Rest in the faith of the great cloud of witnesses of the past and present (Hebrews 11:1–12:3).

d. Remind yourself of what you have seen and heard.  Keep an answered-prayer journal or, as the songs tells us, “Count your many blessings, See what God has done.”

III.  Matthew 28:18-20.  It’s not enough to just encourage ourselves by what we have seen and heard.  Jesus wants us to “go and make disciples” with it, becoming part of the great cloud of witnesses for others to see and hear!

 

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Cardinal Sins

No, not those ones!

When a church member was at my house last Saturday, he remarked upon the birds gathered at the feeder in my backyard and asked if we had ever had a cardinal.  Male cardinals are a vibrant crimson that stands out against the snow and are very territorial.  If there’s anything to the old wives tale that a cardinal is a visitor from beyond the grave, then we were terrorized by a red demon all last winter.

Believing his reflection was another male cardinal, he would repeatedly attack our windows all around our house, banging and flapping against the glass for hours on end, every day, all season long.  As I told this story, my brain, as it often does, went to the spiritual application:

We are indeed our own worst enemies!

I.  James 1:13-15.  No, the devil does not make you do it!  Satan certainly exploits each person’s weaknesses, but the evil desires we act on come from within us–and we choose to sin.  We wanted the cardinal to stop hitting our windows, and God wants us to stop sinning.

II.  Psalm 51:10-12.  Sin robs us of purity, steadfastness, God’s presence, and joy.  The cardinal could not have been that happy striking the windows over and over, and yet he never stopped.  God, who wants us to have life to the full (John 10:10) must think that of us when we fall repeatedly into the same sins.

III.  Romans 8:37-39.  Nothing outside of ourselves can separate us from God’s love.  That is for certain.  But, we can choose to turn away from that love (Hebrews 10:26-31).  While the male did his daily routine, never learning and never quite knocking himself out, the female cardinal would often watch from the branch of a nearby tree.  I couldn’t help but wonder what she must think of him.

They did not return with the snow, and although we do not miss the insistent thumps, I wonder if he has given up his cardinal sins or is just repeating them against someone else’s windows.

How about us?

 

 

 

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Through the pains of suffering

Lord God and Father in Heaven, you know our hearts, our struggles, our joys, our desires. Transform us into the image of your Son. Create in us the soul designed for eternity. Give us wholeness, sincerity, integrity, and holiness in Christ. Make us men and women of faith. Carry us through our day with patience, longsuffering, wisdom, and love. Bring us through the pains of suffering with maturity and strength. Embolden us in your power.

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A Mix of Trial and Trust

Our lives are a mix of trial and trust,
You prove us, Lord, and prod us forward;
So teach us wisdom in tests of faith,
In our distress, be the God of truth.

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Our People Suffer

Flood and storm, fire and smoke,
Drought and quake, cold and heat,
From sky and sea our people suffer—
To the land, O Lord, bring relief.

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When Least Expected

When least expected, the lion roars,
My strength fails in the straits of suffering;
Rescue me, O righteous God,
My weakness cries from wounds of service.

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For All the Suffering

For all the suffering, pain, and wrong,
today is yours, O Lord, and mine;
I will rejoice in prayer and song
and make my will with yours align.

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Bereft of gifts of body and mind

Kind and loving heavenly Father, to have health of body and mind is a wonderful blessing. Soundness, strength, and responsiveness bring great joy, even when the limbs respond and the mind functions so easily without much thought given to them. Thank you for these gifts.

At the same time, give us compassion and patience with those who are bereft in some way of these gifts.

  • We remember the person who takes 20 pills of prescription medicine for his maladies.
  • We remember those who think suicide is better than life.
  • We remember those who live in depression and for whom every day is a black cloud that presses down to crush the spirit.
  • We remember that person who lives in chronic and shooting pain.
  • We remember those who were abused as children and may still enter abusive relationships.
  • We remember that soul who lives in debilitating fear.
  • We remember those who must cope with crippling disorders and limiting syndromes.
  • We remember those who have lost limbs or deal with numbness or paralysis or live with bodies that do not respond.
  • We remember those confined to wheelchairs and homes or limited in their movements.
  • We remember the elderly who face the decline of physical strength and the loss of mobility and freedom.
  • We remember those who are victims of medical malpractice, who have fallen through the cracks of healthcare, or who have suffered from misdiagnosis.
  • We remember those who seem normal from all appearances, yet suffer from deep wounds or powerful struggles in the soul.
  • We remember ourselves, O Lord, each of us with our own weaknesses, limitations, and frailties.

For each of us, God of compassion, may we seek our answers, not in man and his remedies, but in the welcoming embrace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was a man of pain and suffering, and a man of obedience, joy, and promise, because he did your will and found meaning in your loving purpose.

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Jesus suffered

  1. Jesus suffered for us, the just for the injust, to bring us to God, 1 Pet 3.18.
  2. Jesus suffered for us, as an example, 1 Pet 2.21.
  3. Jesus suffered before us, in persecution, Jn 15.18.
  4. Jesus suffers with us, as we share in his sufferings and comfort, 2 Cor 1.5.
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Christ’s suffering calls for the Christian to serve

By Ron Thomas, Highway congregation, Sullivan IL

1 Peter 4:1-11

  1. The COMMANDER of our Army (4:1)
  2. The CONVICTION with which He lived and we are to Live (4:1-2)
  3. The CORRUPTION of this World (4:2-3)
  4. The CULTURAL CONFORMITY demands Separation (4:4-5)
  5. Those who COUNTED the COST (4:6)
  6. Those who are COMMITTED to Serve (4:7-11)