Reserved in Your Name

~~~ Acts of the Apostles 13:26-33 ~~~ Psalm 2 ~~~

~~~ John 14:1-6 ~~~ 

Do not let your hearts be troubled. 

There are times in our personal lives when

 our hearts are very troubled.

When was the last time your heart was troubled?

For those in our community it may be today 

as they clean up after the flooding of their homes.

If you lost everything this week your 

heart may be very troubled

The apostles were troubled because 

they did not know where Jesus was going

 or how they would find their way.

They were used to following him per his own invitation.

Come follow me.

I am the way and the truth and the life. 

Jesus assures all of those who are troubled

 that he is the way out.

He is pure truth in all that he is for all eternity.

He is everything...he is our life itself.

We need not be stuck in a state of trouble.

Jesus  provides for all of our needs.

He will bring people to us in our time of need.

He will use us for his own good.

We are given the way...

We are given the truth...

We are given life.

Jesus went before us to heaven

to prepare a magnificent place for us.

I am going to prepare a place for you

Jesus says 'I come to serve not to be served'

Jesus gave us evidence of this promise.

His whole life was in service...

this continues even into his heavenly home.

He prepares a place in heaven for you and for me.

He has a reservation made in your name.

He shows us the way...

make sure you make it to your reserved room.

Jesus assures us that we know 

the way because we know him.

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

We are Blessed in staying on the path

created for us by Jesus.

Your room is reserved by Jesus.

He waits for your return.

~~~ Peace ~~~

Words of Wisdom

~~~ 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ John 14:6-14 ~~~

Jesus said to Thomas, 

"I am the way and the truth and the life..."

Jesus has told the Apostles that he was going to prepare a place for them...
that they could not come with him.
But Jesus goes on...'you know the way'.

We know the way because Jesus came to show us the way.
If we follow him we will have no questions about the way.
If we follow Jesus we agree to abide in his presence
 to let his light and his words guide us.

His light makes it so much easier to follow him.
We are not walking in the dark.
he lights the way for us.

Jesus is the truth.
There is no greater truth than the words we hear from Jesus.
Jesus is the truth because he keeps his covenant with his people for all ages.
We find ourselves in situations where we 'modify' the truth.
We choose not to tell the truth sometimes,
but Jesus never finds himself in that situation.
Not telling the truth could never be a part of the person of Jesus.
This fact alone brings comfort, joy, and peace.

Jesus is the life...
we believe that there is no life except life in and with him.
Without Jesus we would not have eternal life,
which is the whole point of our living to begin with...right.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life
 he redeemed us from our sinfulness.

If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

Jesus is the answer to the questions we ask
and to those we have not yet formulated.

He does things for us even though we do not ask.
He knows what is best for those whom he loves....
that would be you and me.

Blessed to have Jesus
leading the way...speaking only words of truth...
giving us life everlasting.
~~~ Peace ~~~

Blindness of Deception

~~~ Genesis 27:1-5, 15-29 ~~~ Psalm 135 ~~~ Matthew 9:14-17 ~~~

 

Today we have the curious story of deception in the first book of the Bible...Genesis.

When reading the book of Genesis we are given the full scope of our creation...

from the creation of everything through the first

sin in the garden leading on to deception and murder.

 

Isaac was old and his eyesight was greatly diminished.

As customary of the time, a special blessing was bestowed

on the first born son by the father.

For whatever reason the mother, Rebekah, plotted to deceive her husband.

She wanted her son Esau to receive the special blessing from Issac.

 

When you lose one of your senses the others become more sensitive.

They almost become hyper sensitive to the environment.

Having lost his vision Issac now mostly relied on his sense of hearing, smell, and touch.

Rebekah went to great lengths; she covered the arms and hands of Jacob with animal fur.

This was the deception of touch.

When Issac felt the hand of Jacob he thought is felt like the hand of Esau.

 

Even though Issac has questions about the timeliness of the hunt,

he trusts his son's word.

 

But Isaac asked,

“How did you succeed so quickly, son?”
He answered,
“The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me.”

 

Lying creates its own world apart from the real world.

As we know one lie leads to another etc.

 

“Although the voice is Jacob’s, the hands are Esau’s.”

 

The deception and lies continue...

Issac once again asks...Are you my son?

Still not convinced it is Esau before him;

 Issac combines his sense of touch with his sense of smell.

 

Finally his father Isaac said to Jacob,
“Come closer, son, and kiss me.”
As Jacob went up and kissed him,
Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes.

 

The ultimate deception is one shrouded in false love

 and empty gestures of affection. 

 

 Jacob undoubtedly loved his father and his mother.

Unfortunately he was not strong enough to disobey his mother's plot of deception.

 

 

With that, he blessed him saying,

“Ah, the fragrance of my son
is like the fragrance of a field
that the LORD has blessed!

 

Isaac gives the blessing to the wrong son in good faith.

The lies and deception were a success.

 In blind faith, Isaac gave his special blessing to Jacob instead of Esau.

Imagine the sadness and disgust when the truth is revealed to Isaac.

 

Deception is selfish and unworthy of any type of blessing.

The truth will set you free in all circumstances.

Imagine the disappointment experienced by Esau upon learning

what his brother and mother had done.

He was not deprived of his rightful blessing.

 

Those who would plan to deceive may go to great lengths

 to create a plausible scene.

Unfortunately we must be vigilant to those who

wish to deceive others. 

 

Blessings lie in the Truth.

Know One and You Know the Other

Feast of Saints Philip and James

 

~~~ 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ John 14:6-14 ~~~

 

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

 

Jesus appears to speak in riddles at times.

If you know someone's father do you necessarily know the son?

 

I recently met a young man, a stranger, who shared with me

how he had to leave home

because it was not good for him to be with his parents.

He went on to share that his parents were both drug dealers

and his sister was a prostitute.

I was so touched by the strength and courage it took for him

to realize that his home environment was not good for him.

 

He did not want to go down the path of drugs and sex for money.

I tried to affirm his courageous decision and told him I would pray for him.

We parted our way, but his story has remained in my heart.

 

I pray that he will be able to stay strong in facing his many challenges.

 

Sometimes even if we have wonderful parents

 we do not want to be associated with them.

A young person wants to claim their own identity.

They want to be their own person.

I have seen children completely reject

even the positive things modeled by their parents.

 

Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Basically he is all that we need.

Jesus is one with the Father as the Father is one with him.

So in the case of God; f you the Son then indeed you do know the Father.

Jesus came to do the will of the Father...

The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.

he came down and became one of us to save us...

to secure eternal salvation for us.

 

The mind and heart of the Father is also the mind and heart of the Son.

If you know one then you do really know the other.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me

We have this human drive to understand coupled with curiosity.

The human side of us questions how can you really know one person

 if you only know someone closely related to them?

 

It is not the same as the saying,

'tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.'

 

 

We want to believe, because Jesus himself made this statement.

 

I do find it easier to relate to Jesus than God the Father.

For me, it is easier because we have so many wonderful examples of Jesus

during his public ministry.

He was a real person...flesh and blood.

The Father is 'up there' somewhere in heaven,

which makes it more challenging to connect on a personal level.

 

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.

 

Jesus leaves us with a challenge to continue his works

 and even greater things.

Jesus wants to aspire to be even better then he was.

How can we meet that kind of a challenge?

 

Whatever we are doing with our life it is fitting for us to always

be seeking the direction God wants us to pursue.

He is the way and the truth and the life.

The Blessing of Easter is God allowing us to know him

through our knowing his Son.