A Message From Jesus for 2014

Happy New Year!

How’s it going so far?  Mine is starting off on kind of a bummer.  I’ve had what we locally call the Sand Mountain Creeping Crud.  This malady attacks every single person around here at least once a year.

I’m feeling better, so maybe it will just go away in a couple more days.  The wonderful cough will stay for a while, because, as we all know on Sand Mountain, the cough is the last thing to go.

Today I know that things are getting better and that I have the ability to function on a higher level.  Instead of just staring at the TV and thinking I’ll never get better, I’m taking interest in what I’m watching, which is why I turned the TV off.  Progress!

It’s easy for almost anyone to relate to feeling so sick that you know you’ve got to get better just to die.  It’s a low spot to be in.  Nothing seems to be right, but the energy is just not there to change anything.

I’ve been studying John the Baptist, and I read about him being imprisoned by Herod.  The king had sort of a love/hate relationship going on with John.  He respected him and knew he was a righteous man, but John had told Herod that it was wrong for him to have his brother’s wife.  So Herod had him thrown in jail for speaking against him.

This was a low point in John’s life.  He was probably imprisoned under ground with either nothing to do or mind-numbing busy work for hours a day.  For an active, intelligent man, this had to be very hard.  Mostly likely, depression followed.

We can see his mental state when he sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the One they were looking for, or should they look for another. 

Think of it:  John had preached to thousands of repentance and the Savior Who was coming.  He baptized thousands in the Jordan River, pointing them always to their Messiah.  He baptized Jesus Himself and saw a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, descend from Heaven to Jesus.  And he heard God’s voice saying that this was His Son, in whom He was well pleased.

But in that dank, dark prison, John had a time of doubting – doubting himself and doubting God.  Was it possible that John had somehow misread all those signs of the Savior’s coming?  Were the passions that he felt to baptize and preach really coming from God? 

So he sent two of his disciples to ask straight out --  Are you or are you not our Messiah?

It’s interesting that Jesus didn’t get mad about it.  He just suggested that the disciples tell John “…what you have seen and heard; how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the Gospel is preached to the poor. And blessed are all who won’t be offended in me.”  Luke 7:23 (CEV)

Jesus gives John something no one else could – assurance that Jesus is
Who He says He is.

I can’t think of a better message for us as we start a new year. 

Crushes

I was a TV kid.  I grew up watching what we now consider the classics:  Leave It to Beaver, Dennis the Menace, Father Knows Best.  Wow!  Any problem solved in 30 minutes.

And then there were the shows that I would anticipate the most:  Bonanza, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, Laramie.  I had a crush on at least one guy every night of the week.  Little Joe made my heart flutter with his dark, curly hair and quick temper.  Dr. Kildare was so earnest in his attempts to be the best doctor he could be.  Ben Casey was the more experienced doctor who cut through all the red tape to do the surgery that would save his patient’s life.  Jess on Laramie was just so darned cute, I really wasn’t paying much attention to the plot.

 

 

There were others, but these have endured in my memory of good times growing up.  I eventually transferred my infatuations to real guys in the real world.  It was exciting to feel transformed by a good case of puppy love.  As adults, we know that these little crushes don’t really go anywhere.  It’s just part of growing up and experiencing a little of what will someday be all out love for another, most of the time someone we want to spend the rest of our lives with.

Jesus wants us to have a crush on him.  He wants us to be excited every time we think of Him.  He wants us to reach out to Him, to be closer to Him, to do whatever it takes to be with Him.

What happens when a crush wears off?  It either turns into an enduring love or it just fizzles away to nothing.  Well, it’s obvious what Christ looks for on this one.  He not only desires love, He is love.  When we reach for our Savior because we love Him, we are fulfilling any need we can possibly have.  When that first excitement of asking Him into our lives wears off, He longs for our steadfast adoration. 

Love can be exciting, long-lasting, durable, fun, satisfying, and tender.  Christ offers us all this and much, much more. 

Do you have a crush on the King?  Do you feel the love for your Savior?  Christ is calling for you.  Can you hear him?

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and a good hope. 

                                                                       2 Thessalonians 2:16

 

2V or Not 2V?

 The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you. 

Elders should be without fault. They should be faithful to their spouse, and have faithful children who can’t be accused of self-indulgence or rebelliousness. 

This is because supervisors should be without fault as God’s managers: they shouldn’t be stubborn, irritable, addicted to alcohol, a bully, or greedy. 

Instead, they should show hospitality, love what is good, and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled. 

They must pay attention to the reliable message as it has been taught to them so that they can encourage people with healthy instruction and refute those who speak against it.                                                    Titus 1:5-9 (CEB)

In the above passage, Paul was telling Titus to trust the Good News of Christ and not be swayed by false teachers.  He wanted Titus to be a good leader and teacher for those early Christians in Crete. 

He laid out what attributes an elder must have.  It was only the best for Paul and his message of grace.  They must be men of unquestionable integrity who weren’t divisive by their behavior.  These men were to be loving, kind, and reasonable.

And, of course, they were to know the “reliable message,” the Good News Paul had preached to them.  They were to help people understand this totally new way of life.

Hard to find all of that in one person.  We can look back and feel sort of sorry for Titus.  The candidates for elder might have been a bit sparse.

Or am I getting that confused with today’s Christians?

Hmmm… I know I wouldn’t be in the running.  I’ve been almost all of the negative things, but only a few of the positive things. 

Of course, it’s impossible to be all the things we have been instructed to be.  Life is a journey that takes, well, a lifetime to navigate, to slowly learn everything God wants us to know and to be the person God wants us to be.  Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s not.  But if Christians are going to show the world what we’re made of, what God is making of us, we've got to pray for courage and wisdom and then step out and do it. 

For example, if something on TV offends me or I'm uncomfortable with it, I change the channel.  In fact, I don't watch much TV at all (okay, lately I've been watching QVC, but does that really count?).  I have felt left out of conversations because people are talking about something that happened on one of the shows I don't watch.  And I feel pulled into the conversation because I want to be in the know.  I'm afraid I'll appear ignorant or stupid because I'm not watching what they are watching.                                                 

But what if I said, “I’m uncomfortable with that program because so much of the language has to be bleeped.  I just don’t feel right watching it.”  Now I sound like an old fuddy-duddy, looking down my elderly nose at what the younger ones are watching. 

Maybe that's what it takes to be different, to be an example.  I can quietly just not watch those TV shows, or I can quietly and non-judgmentally give my opinion.  It will probably kill the conversation, and people may find someone else to talk with because of it.  But I hope they will get the point that I’m trying to make:  God’s influence is real and it must be used to steer the world toward Christ, even if it’s just one person at a time.

In Philippians 4, Paul told us to think on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy.

I think if we fix our minds to that, we'll stick out for God in this evil world of ours.  And you can't beat that with a stick…