VTGTM...

VTGTM stands for Verses That Got To Me (this past week).

My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

Jeremiah 24:6-7 (NIV)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

But I will restore you to healthand heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord,‘because you are called an outcast,Zion for whom no one cares.’

Jeremiah 30:17 (NIV)

Do You Feel God Has Forsaken You?

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

   you are the one Israel praises. 

In you our ancestors put their trust;

   they trusted and you delivered them. 

To you they cried out and were saved;

   in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

Psalms 22:3-5 (NIV)

Since I was in college I try to read the Psalms on a daily basis to help myself remember the attributes of God. After getting married and having kids I try to share the verse and attribute with my family at dinner. A couple of nights ago I read verses one and two of Psalm 22 and my youngest son remarked, "That's what Jesus said." So we got to talk about Jesus dying on the cross to save us from our sins. 

Verses three through five remind us that even in the midst of what seems like a cataclysmically awful situation, God is enthroned. Whatever David was going through when he wrote this he felt like God had forsaken him. Yet he reminds himself that even in the worst of circumstances God is enthroned. 

Christ was being crucified while he said this. He was about to breathe his last breath.  To his disciples, the leaders of the people and the Romans it looked like that would be the end of the so-called Messiah. But, Christ knew the end from the beginning and that his death meant our salvation and redemption. The enemy thought he had won, that he had stopped God's plan to redeem the world. He was wrong. Instead of death Christ became the sacrifice and God showed his power by raising Christ from the dead. 

Doesn't Paul teach us that dying to self and living for Christ is at the heart of the Christian life (see Romans 6 and Philippians 3)? Maybe you feel a part of your life dying. Perhaps you are in a situation where you see no way out. Or your circumstances put you in a place where you feel forsaken, even by God. I know how that feels. More importantly Christ knows how that seems and feels. The truth and good news is that he is still God and sits enthroned as the Holy One. He is interceding on our behalf. I don't know what he is going to do ,or how he will do it,  I just know he said if we trust in him we will be delivered, saved and not disappointed. 

Father, we cry out to you! Hear our prayers and deliver us. we trust in you and you alone! Praise be to you in us today.

Do You Have Hope?

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)

OK, I admit it. I have, on occasion, paid a dollar for a lotto ticket, just for the dream or hope of having enough money to put my kids through college. (Yes, and buy a Porsche.) I also remember greeting people at church as they came in and seeing my wife for the first time . I hoped to see her again. After church a week or so later I saw her again. After the service I went to the church bookstore hoping she might go by there. She did. We met, we dated, we got married and have four great kids. That is a hope fulfilled. 

Knowing Christ and hoping in him is more than just a dream like winning the lotto. Knowing Christ and hoping in him is more powerful than even the strongest love we can have as humans. Our hope in Christ purifies us. Sin always corrupts and pollutes us, physically and spiritually (on the outside and the inside).

Knowing Christ and hoping in him is an eternal experience. Eternity is not a ray, starting at one point and then continuing on forever. Eternity is the  past, the present and the future connected. Salvation is not just that Christ forgives our past sins. Salvation is more than the removal of our past transgressions and even the sins of the present. Knowing Christ as Savior and Lord is knowing that he forgives us all our sins (past, present and future) so we can enjoy his purity. Remember, in a marriage purity is not abstinence, rather, purity is faithfulness to your spouse. 

Knowing Christ, hoping in him is not just refraining from sin. Our hope is in the love of God that he lavished on us by making us his children. My hope, as God's child, is knowing that the Sovereign Lord of the universe has unfailing love for me and in Christ I am his child. 

Father, help us to purify ourselves by our hope in Christ, to live in his love. Thank you for you love for us in Christ. Praise be to you in us today!

Do You See God's Love For You?

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

1 John 3:1-3 (NIV)

Here's the deal: the world just isn't going to get this whole idea of God's love. Hollywood my romanticize it, people will write novel after novel about idealized love, but, they still will find themselves lacking. 

You see, being loved by the Infinite Father of the universe is different than being loved by a finite man or woman. I can never fulfill all my wives needs. I don't even understand most of them, let alone how to fulfill them! But God knows us in ways that we can't even comprehend. 

We may understand some of the depths of God's love for us, that he sent his One and only Son to die for our sins  so we can be reconciled to him, for example. Yet, we only have a foretaste of what we will be. We are only experiencing the beginnings of the restoration. That is our hope. One day we will be like him, like Christ. I don't know what to call it except maybe eternal wholeness. 

One of the great moments of parenthood is just holding your baby. Especially when they put their head on your shoulder and just rest there. As a parent you just enjoy holding your child and loving them. Even now on occasion my youngest children ( one Junior Higher and one in High School) will put their head on my shoulder or lean against me while we are watching a movie or something and it is still a great feeling. Because I love them. And my love is just a fraction of the love of God in comparison, but it is a sample and it is real. God loves you. 

Remember: God loves you...

Repelling and Remaining in Christ

   And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 

   If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.

1 John 2:28-29 (NIV)

My youngest son and I went on a zip-line adventure a few weekends ago. It was a blast! The tour also featured a few rappelling sections. I have to tell you that feeling of leaning out backwards just freaks me out. I could tell it made my son feel a bit unsure too. You just have to trust the guides are not going to ask you to do something you can't do.  

Now we know that the Father is not going to ask us to do something we can't do by faith. Remaining or abiding in Christ is not dependant on my righteousness. But, remaining or abiding in Christ produces the fruit of righteousness. Living by faith in Christ's as my righteousness, is remaining in him. I sometimes get the paralysis of analysis. For example in this case I realize my own sinfulness to the point that even if I do the right thing I probably do it with self serving motives. The truth is that God is not asking me (you) to be perfect, he is asking me (you) to act in faith that he will work all things for the good. 

Yes I was a bit unsure when I leaned back to repel down that tree, hanging in mid air, but the rope held and I repelled down to the next landing. In the same way acting in faith sometimes puts us out in midair trusting that the Lord will keep us from falling. Love as best you can and trust Christ to do what he died and rose again to do, make us children of God righteous in him. 

Father, though our sins be a scarlet and our righteousness like filthy rags, you make us righteous in Christ. Thank you and praise be to you in us today!

Faith Is Not a Second Chance

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

1 John 2:24-25 (NIV)

I remember when I first gave my life to Christ. I knew that my salvation was all about Jesus. Although I had attended church virtually my whole life I recognized that something was definitely missing. 

One of the well meaning but false teachings I had to overcome was that in Christ we have a second chance. What that turns into is that we have a second chance to be good enough. Of course we can never be good enough because our best, our righteousness is at best filthy rags. God does not give you a second chance to be good enough. That would be salvations by works. He gives you salvation by faith. He offers you forgiveness in Jesus Christ. 

Your work is to remain in Jesus. In a sense this is like driving a car in a race. You have to finish the race in the car, you can't get out of the car and walk across the finish line. In the same way, you don't spend your life having faith in Christ as your Savior and Lord and then finish in your own righteousness. What I heard from the beginning of my life in Christ was that it was all about Jesus, he is my righteousness, holiness and redemption (I Corinthians 1:30). That never changes. That is the good news, the gospel. 

If you have gotten out of Christ, get back in Christ. Remain in him. Remember to remain in Christ is to live by faith in his finished work on the cross. 

Father, thank you for salvation, that we can live by faith in Christ. Help us to walk by faith in Christ, to remain in him. Praise be to you in us today!

Know God is Your Mighty Warrior

But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;
   so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. 
They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
   their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
   and probe the heart and mind,
   let me see your vengeance on them,
   for to you I have committed my cause. 
Sing to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!
He rescues the life of the needy 
   from the hands of the wicked.
Jeremiah 20:11-13 (NIV) 

Jeremiah sought to do what God had called him to do even though he met with unbearable opposition. His own people just didn't want to hear the truth. The whole country basically hated to see him coming because he constantly reminded them of their sins. To say he might feel like it was him against the world is truly an understatement of Biblical proportions!

Despite the constant opposition Jeremiah reminded himself that it was God that fought his battles and God who they were actually struggling with. Jeremiah did ask to see God's vengeance upon them. I'm comforted by that because I believe I should be gracious with others because God is so gracious to me, yet, sometimes I just want God to squish some people. I think it's all right to sometimes ask God to show you that those that oppose your godly actions reap what they sow. 

The truth for us is that during the daily battles of our faith we can remember that it is God that fights the battle, he is our mighty warrior.

Father, be our mighty warrior today! Open our eyes to see that greater is he that is within us than he that is in the world. Praise be to you in us today!