Reflect His Glory

~~~ Isaiah 49:1-6 ~~~ Psalm 71 ~~~ John 13:21-33, 36-38 ~~~

I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

God is commissioning us to go beyond our local church community...
beyond our circle of friends.
We are called to shine our light to the ends of the earth.
Our light, which comes from the Lord,
is a reflection of his glory.
We are light because he is our source.
Without his light we would have no light of our own.

He shares his light with us through the grace of our salvation.
It is his grace that continues to keep our light burning brightly.
We must share what God has done for us.
We are called to tirelessly speak of his wondrous love.

The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.
We have each been chosen by God.
He not only knows our name he has counted every hair on our head.
There is no one who could love you more.
We must let the sparkle of God's love radiate out to others.

Jesus indicates to the apostles that the one to whom
 he gives the morsel of bread will betray him.

Jesus names Judas without actually speaking his name.

After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.

Did Judas give his soul to Satan?
Did Satan seize upon the opportunity to take control of him?

Apparently not even the presence of Jesus is protection enough from evil.
Judas took the morsel from the hand of Jesus and Satan entered him.
This whole string of events is a little troubling.

Did Jesus know that Judas had already entered into sin in his heart?
When we have already become weakened by our own sinfulness,
 what happens next is crucial.

Jesus had to be betrayed in order for his subsequent arrest could take place.
Jesus had to be betrayed in order for us to be redeemed.

It makes me more determined to be vigilant of the state of my soul.
To be more aware of what I allow to curl up in my heart.

The evil in the heart of Judas was like a snake
waiting to strike its victim.

Jesus had the Father by his side to give him strength.
Jesus knew he would be raised from the dead by the Father.

Hold on to Jesus.
He is our strength. He is our hope.
He is our Savior.
He has made us a light to shine before others.

Blessed to be a tiny reflection of the glory of God
in a world filled with so much darkness.

Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him...

Let us glory in the cross today.
Peace.

Remain Here...Keep Watch

~~~Palm Sunday~~~

~~Isaiah 50:4-7~~Psalm 22~~Philippians 2:6-11~~Matthew 26:14-27:66~~

...at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Today the readings carry us through a full range of emotions.
We begin with the triumphant palm waving entry into Jerusalem,
 within minutes we are in the agony in the garden
soon we are on our knees.

“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”

Blessed is the name of the Lord...Jesus.
Sometimes I reflect on how difficult it must have been for God the Father
 to silently remain in the distance
as Jesus was being mocked and scourged.
Even knowing that it had to be the agony must have been great.

Jesus was betrayed by one of those in his inner circle, Judas.
It is hard to grasp how someone that close to Jesus
could hand him over to the authorities just for a few coins.
Is money really that important?

Would you be willing to betray a friend for financial gain?
Maybe we would not, but it does still happen in our society today.

The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near;
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”

The Pharisees were correct in believing
 that Jesus would come out of the desert for the Passover meal.
Only this Passover would be different.
This would be his last Passover meal with his friends.
The same God that led the people out of slavery
 is now preparing sit at the table with the one who will betray him.

Then Jesus said to them,
“This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken...

We know this statement was shocking, at least to Peter,
who is convicted in his belief in Jesus.
Even though Jesus had tried many times to tell them
 he would go away where they would not be able to come;
they could not fully grasp his words.

Has your faith in God ever been shaken?
I think many good and faithful people would answer 'yes'.
We are not very different than the apostles;
we have our own expectations of God.
When he does not fulfill those expectations our faith is shaken.

When we feel that our faith is shaken
 that is when we must cling to the Lord with even greater tenacity.
Many times in the face of great pain and sorrow
we want to cry out 'where are you God?'
We want to know why he has allowed this to happen.
Often our questions remain unanswered.
Some questions are not meant to have answers.

“My soul is sorrowful even to death.
Remain here and keep watch with me.”

During this Holy Week join me as we remain
 and keep watch with the realities of our redemption.
Surrender to the Lord those times when your faith is most shaken.
Keep watch knowing that he is with you.
Pause to kneel before the Lord.
Give him all of your fears and concerns;
no one understands better than he does.

May you have a Blessed Holy Week.

Due Diligence

Acts of the Apostles 28:16-20, 30-31~~~ Psalm 11 ~~~ John 21:20-25 ~~~

 

What concern is it of yours?
You follow me.

 

Were those who loved Jesus were concerned about his wellbeing?

Or was their concern rooted somewhere more personal?

Peter became suspicious of everyone, even the disciple Jesus loved the most.

It almost seem ironic since Peter himself would

disassociate himself from Jesus later.

 

Jesus reprimands Peter.

It is of no concern to Peter.

Peter had the responsibility to follow Jesus with all of his energy.

Concerning himself with who was about to betray Jesus

was diverting his energy from the primary place.

 

What might the message be for us today?

If we are truly following Jesus;

our eyes are fixed on him.

We are not capable of understanding the ways of God.

What if I want him to remain until I come?

 

Jesus will take care of every conceivable life situation...

we must trust that he will.

Jesus could have handled Judas differently, but he chose

to allow it to unfold without intervention.

He could have approached Judas and asked him

 to not show up for his last meal with twelve.

 

Jesus, more often than not,

 handles situations very differently than we would expect.

 

 

John tells us in these closing sentences

that the information about Jesus was too much to entirely record.

I do not think the whole world would contain the books
that would be written.

 

What has been preserved in the Bible gives us much information about Jesus.

 If we reflect and study the Bible we can picture how

the presence of Jesus would effect a specific scenario.

 

Not surprisingly, whatever our first reaction to a given situation is

the presence of Jesus would change it.

 

Jesus spared the life of the one who would commit a grave sin against him.

Most of us would not be able to do the same.

 

My prayer is to acquire a mind more like the mind of Jesus. 

 The more often we are conscious of our actions

the more often we might be able to align with Jesus

 

This requires daily diligence.

Always know that God is with you...

supporting you...

guiding you.

Confronted by Truth

 

~~~ Isaiah 50:4-9a ~~~ Psalm 69 ~~~ Matthew 26:14-25 ~~~

 

'...Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear...'

 

This is our call, to begin each day in prayer.

If we begin with the intention of listening for the voice of the Lord;

each day would unfold in a greater joy.

 

'...you who seek God, may your hearts revive!'

 

Our hearts would be in a constant state of revival

 if we would but keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

I recently read some beautiful advice...

No matter what situation we find ourselves in

see only Jesus.

 

Before the night of Passover, Jesus it seems,

has already made arrangements to dine at a friend's.

There he can have a private quiet meal with his closest followers.

 

“Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?”

The apostles were concerned about making all of the necessary

for the feast day, but Jesus was one step ahead of them.

They were willing to complete the requirements for the Passover feast,

but it was taken care of for them by Jesus.

 

I find this to true in my life as well.

When I am anxious about some approaching responsibility;

God shows up ahead of time and gets everything in order.

 

 

Jesus is always willing to make one more attempt

at getting and keeping out attention.

 

Even if we are on the brink of making a serious mistake

Jesus makes time for us...

he invites us to dine with him...

he confronts us with the truth.

 

Jesus confronts Judas with the truth of his betrayal

during their intimate Passover meal together.

While the others present may not have understood what Jesus was saying;

Judas surely got the message.

Jesus allowed Judas to excuse himself from the group.

Jesus did not command him to leave the meal.

 

Jesus always confronts us with the truth.

I invite you to pause and reflect to day on this question.

 

Are you willing to hear what Jesus has to say to you?

If we begin each day listening to the Lord,

 the truth will not catch us by surprise.

~Be Who You Are~

~~~ Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 ~~~ Psalm 11 ~~~ John 21: 20-25 ~~~

Today's scripture gives us the two strong 'P's'...Paul and Peter.

The first a convert and the later a close follower of Jesus.

They each offer much for us to learn about them but also ourselves.

Paul is put under house arrest where he remained for two full years receiving all who came to him. Chained to his residence nothing stopped Paul from proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about Jesus Christ.

Paul is a wonderful example of perseverance and determination. He did not give up in the face of adversity, false acquisitions, or imprisonment.

How easy it is when we are faced with far less to give up, walk away, and quit.

Paul might have easily been content with his own love and knowledge of God. He could have gone on as a free man with the knowledge of his own salvation.

But instead Paul was so convicted by his beliefs that nothing stood in the way of his inviting others to come into the fold.

Peter is inquisitive about who is to betray Jesus when later it would he who would deny knowing Jesus. Jesus replies with a reprimand, "...What concern is it of yours?"

Ouch! Peter must have felt the blow to his ego without even realizing his ego was asking the question.

Why is it that we measure those around us by our own standards?

We want to know about those with whom we associate.

Peter wanted to know who Jesus was allowing to be in his inner circle knowing he would betray him. I suppose Peter would have been more than willing to remove Judas from their group had he known in advance.

Had Jesus allowed that to happen where would we be today? This betrayal had to be allowed for the fulfillment of the scriptures. Peter could not have been permitted to prevent it from occurring; even though he meant well.

John goes on to write at the end of his Gospel that so numerous were the things that Jesus did, that 'the world could not contain the books that would be written.'

What this inspires in me is that no matter how creative I can be in thinking about all that Jesus did while he walked our earth...it could never be near enough.

We cannot fathom the infinite possibilities of the power of Jesus,

 acting always on behalf of the Father.

Jesus wants us to follow him...he does not want us to constantly compare

ourselves to those around us. We each have been given individual

gifts and they can all be used for good. For God even used the betrayal of his Son to bring about good...a good so profound that we are still reaping the benefits.

Be Blessed in all your works.

Denied and Betrayed by Friends? Really?

Isaiah 49:1-6 ~~~ Psalm 71 ~~~ John 13: 21-33, 36-38

I have long found joy in the poetic writing style of the prophets, especially Jeremiah and Isaiah. Today we hear such tender intimate words from Isaiah..."The Lord called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name..." How blessed to have that kind of connection with God to be able to say those words...and more importantly to believe them to be true.

When we go about the work of the Lord for his glory and not our own the reward is great. The prophet is of course making reference to Jesus, but is it not also true for us. If what we do for others in turn gives glory to God we can be a light to all.

Do you want to put that intention into your heart? Do you want to be light for others or are you content keeping to yourself?

The psalmist writes of salvation songs of God rescuing him from the hand of the wicked. He continues with acknowledging his total dependence on God from birth. This is the kind of trust God wants us to have in him...just as newborn must trust its mother to care for it. The difference is that the baby knows nothing else; it is completely dependent the parents for all of its needs.

We, as adults, struggle with this kind of dependence on God's providential care. We instead become worry warts and just get in God's way. On the other hand I do not think God wants us to be helpless little babies. He wants to live our lives trusting that he really does know what is best for each of us.

Peter is one Jesus' dearest friends.have been very painful for him to be told by Jesus that he would deny knowing him that very night. Throughout the New Testament Peter is someone whom we can relate to. He finds himself saying things that he later regrets. He says things before he thinks. He is so us, but denying Jesus after spending the last three years together day after day is hard to believe.

When fear grabs your body your responses are unpredictable. He was caught up in the emotions of the night. Learning that one of their own would later betray Jesus that night was shocking to Peter. 

It is best not to ever say what you would or would not do
without knowing all of the circumstances.
All of these negative things had to take place before Jesus could be glorified. He tries to explain to his followers that they could not come with him on the rest of the salvation journey. They would soon come to understand the fullness of his words.

We are forever grateful for the suffering which you endured for us, dear Jesus.

Today call or email a friend or family member;

let them know you were thinking of them.

Tell them you said a prayer for them.