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If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us —Mark 9:22 Today I spent in the valley. Last night I apparently didn’t close the freezer door completely and everything in it defrosted. You can only cook so much food in a couple of days. I also went to help my grand daughter move. She did most of the moving… It’s not good to get old. Then I busted one of my tires maneuvering my truck closer to the apartment door. My grand daughter and her friend finished the tire changing I started. Life in the valley is pretty humiliating. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Hopefully my willingness to help will give glory to God; my actual help wasn’t very impressive.  Our purpose in the valley is not to be heroes; but to be useful […]

. . Jesus took . . . them up on a high mountain apart by themselves . . . —Mark 9:2   We are made for the valleys to serve there with the ones who need service. We are granted times on the mountaintop to be energized and exalted. These times are a blessing. We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there.  We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only […]

Bread and wine were the food staples in Jesus’ time. They’re pretty popular now. But here of no good if the wine is in an unopened bottle and the bread is an unbroken loaf. They become useful when poured out and broken. The image of us as broken bread and poured out wine is a great one. For it is our purpose to be useful, in fact, necessary substance for others. There is no greater purpose, calling or thrill than to be essential to the life of another. But are we ready to be broken bread and poured-out wine? Yes, we respond weakly. Weakly, because brokenness and a pour out self seems painful.  What if we knew it was what was necessary for His call on our lives?  Yes, we respond with more vigor.  But what if He uses someone we dislike or a set of circumstances to which we said we would never submit, to crush us? Now we are more than unsure. We might be willing if the call is truly great, if we can choose the instruments of brokenness. But we can’t. Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something […]

. . . for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! —1 Corinthians 9:16 The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. It is a supernatural compulsion to service. For Paul, it was a call to preach the gospel. For you, it may be a call to serve in some other way. It is more than  a “wouldn’t it be nice if…” It is a drive so powerful, that it can not be ignored. It can be confused, however. Satan may misdirect us. He may have us believing that it is simply a dissatisfaction with our current situation. He may even convince that the call can be fulfilled by a satisfaction of material or physical needs. The only satisfaction of the call comes in following it.  The call may start slowly and build. For this reason we most practice sensitivity to God. When we become practiced in responded to His instructions in small things, we can with greater confidence and faith follow His call when it demands more of us.  In other cases, the call is dramatic and seems sudden. Although God has probably been preparing […]

Jesus . . . said to him, ’One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor . . . and come, take up the cross, and follow Me’ —Mark 10:21  Jesus is one with the Father. He came to make it possible for His followers to be one with Him. We err when we believe that it’s all about “holiness.” Our Lord never places anyone’s personal holiness above everything else when He calls a disciple. Jesus’ primary consideration is my absolute annihilation of my right to myself and my identification with Him, which means having a relationship with Him in which there are no other relationships.Our holiness is a result of that identification not a prerequisite for it. “One thing you lack . . . .” From Jesus Christ’s perspective, oneness with Him, with nothing between, is the only good thing. “. . . sell whatever you have . . . .” I must humble myself until I am merely a living person. I must essentially renounce possessions of all kinds, not for salvation (for only one thing saves a person and that is absolute reliance in faith upon Jesus Christ), but […]

 Luke 9: 57As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  58Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  59He said to another man, “Follow me.”       But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  60Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”  62Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” It is amazing that some preach, and many believe, that Christianity is the life of a Persian cat on a silk pillow.  Church, this is serious business. In these verses, Our Lord is headed to a confrontation with death in Jerusalem. and Jesus has no patience with frivolity. He was moved and strengthened by the Spirit. Forgive us, Lord, when we consider the Spirit a Santa Claus, whose purpose is […]

If you . . . remember that your brother has something against you . . . —Matthew 5:23 Do you find yourself in worship and a human conflict in your life comes to mind? Sometimes we like to think that if we’re “good with God” that it doesn’t matter if we are in conflict with a brother. That’s just not right. Our communion with our Lord requires a clean slate with our neighbor.  It is no excuse that the neighbor has not taken the initiative or that “he’s the one with the problem.” This verse says, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you . . . .” It places on us the burden of reconciliation even when it’s not us “with the problem.:” Jesus does not mention the other person— He says for you to go. It is not a matter of your rights. The true mark of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus. “. . . and then come and offer your gift.” Notice that although we need to reconcile, we are not to be caught up in […]

It is sometimes difficult for us to comprehend that we are called into relationship with Our Lord. This is no ordinary relationship. He is God. We are so clearly not. We are comfortable with “balance of power” in relationships. He is all powerful. We are powerless. We understand that a good relationship is mutually beneficial. He offers us everything. It seems we have nothing to offer. We know that good communication is the life blood of relationship. We can’t see Him, hear Him or even really understand what He is really like. To sum it up: the relationship is an impossible one unless He has done a super-natural work in us.  So in addition to all the ways that our relationship with Jesus is obviously different from others, it is principally different in that it is only possible because He make it so.  Review the Sermon on the Mount. Christ describes something seemingly  impossible; but assures us that it is at hand. The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is […]