Nick’s Walk

 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 […]

We know we are to be soldiers of Christ called to do His will. But like soldiers in the natural, little of our time is spent in battle compared to the time required for preparation. Training and development is continuing and consumes much of our time.  We must avoid considering that we have “made it” or become fully prepared. Our training is, in large part, the becoming more like Christ. As the light of the Holy Spirit moves through us areas of imperfection are illuminated and, if we are willing to surrender, made usable by God for his service. The old nature can never work in His service. And no one but God can detect that nature in you. Do you have anything to hide from God? If you do, then let God search you with His light. If there is sin in your life, don’t just admit it— confess it. Are you willing to obey your Lord and Master, whatever the humiliation to your right to yourself may be? Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is […]

He . . . said to them, ’Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem . . . ’ —Luke 18:31 At sixty-one it may be time to evaluate whether I have succeeded in life. Normally we do that by determining whether we have reached our goals. I would say I have been successful or a complete failure depending on which goals I use as a measuring stick. It seems my goals changed, sometimes dramatically through my life. I guess I will decide that the goals I have managed to meet were the highest goals and conclude that my life has been a success. That’s okay in our natural life our ambitions change as we grow, but in the Christian life the goal is given at the very beginning, and the beginning and the end are exactly the same, namely, our Lord Himself. We start with Christ and we end with Him?”. . . till we all come . . . to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . .” (Ephesians 4:13), not simply to our own idea of what the Christian life should be. Our goal is to do God’s will, not to be […]

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am . . . . I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master . . .—John 13:13, 16 We know that Christianity is not a “religion” in the traditional sense but it’s a relationship. We are asked if we “know” the Lord.  Again we are talking about relationship not a head knowledge. Think about this for a moment. How would you described the relationship? It’s a question we are often asked at our baptism and don’t think about much after that. Most answer something like Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. These are completely valid answers because each of these things He truly is. I know He has saved me and continues to heal and sanctify me. But notice these words describe what Our Lord has done for us. They don’t really describe a relationship. He described Himself as Teacher and Lord. In fact, He tells us that the disciplines have called Him Teacher and Lord.  Are we ready to have that kind of relationship. For those words describe us in an action way. If He is teacher, we are student. If He is […]

Now the Lord says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant . . . —Isaiah 49:5 Sunday night I again enjoyed Jonathan’s teaching on the creation. That meshes with OC’s words for today: the purpose of God. We sometimes get so involved in  how He created, we forget to marvel at why He created.  The entire human race was created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Sin has diverted the human race onto another course, but it has not altered God’s purpose to the slightest degree. And when we are born again we are brought into the realization of God’s great purpose for the human race, namely, that He created us for Himself.  The love of God, and even His very nature, is introduced into us. And we see the nature of Almighty God purely focused in John 3:16— “For God so loved the world. . . .” We express His purpose in our lives as we mirror His heart as expressed in the command of Jesus. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is […]

. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect —Matthew 5:48   I don’t like everyone. I struggle to treat some decently because of my natural response to them: LSU fans for example. In Matthew 5:38-48 Christ calls us to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those we don’t really like.   In these verses, Christ calls us to be more than a good person, or even good Christian, but God Himself is our standard. “. . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” This is more of the “river” concept. What God has poured into us, we pour forth into others.  In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you.  Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I […]