A Valentine from God

John 3:16 (New King James Version).

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

In 1965 I was an aspiring third grader at Ivanhoe Elementary School. I was aspiring with the goal of making it to the fourth grade in order to get away from old Miss Rash. She made us do dumb things as boys. She would make us learn to do some kind of old dance with the girls and stuff like that. Then on Valentine’s Day, we had to give out Valentines. My parents would buy me a bag of them from Prices Store which had about fifty in it. I hated to go through them and pick which one I would give to whom. It just did not seem right to have to give another boy a valentine. I would pick one with a football on it or something to keep the masculine image intact. Now it was not an issue when it came to the girls. Girls liked to get valentines. No football cards for them, only the cute little hearts or puppy dogs. I finally got out of the third grade only to have old Miss Rash move up to the fourth.

Over a billion Valentine cards will be sent over the next few days making it the second most card sending holiday. Christmas of course is number one in this country. We have come to assimilate the day with love. Flowers, candy, and jewelry are commonly given to our sweethearts in our attempts to express our love for them, and oh yes, the valentine card. I could not find one with Southern lingo to express my feelings. You know, something like, “You have got the softest hide I ever felt.” I might be a redneck.

When it comes to expressing love it has never been done better than how God did it. For Him to take upon Himself the body of a human and sacrifice that body in order that He might show me how much He loves me just blows me away. It is not only to be interpreted that once He so loved the world that He did that, but rather He still so loves us. One sacrifice, one time, for one and all. What would God say in His Valentine to you? I love you. Not that you are sweet or pretty, handsome or smart. Not that you have soft hide or a cute smile. No, His Valentine simply says, “I love you.” Jesus said I love you this much as He stretched out His arms and died. This Valentine’s Day give your heart to Jesus.

Who Cleans Up Your Mess?

John 8: 4 (New International Version NIV).

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.”

I was at a local garage the other day having my car serviced and there was a mom in the customer lounge with her three kids. She had a two year old girl, a four year old girl, and their eight year old brother. I eventually struck up a conversation with all of them and made friends with the four year old. I told her that because she was the big sister, even though she was in the middle, I bet she took good care of her little sister. “I sure do. I have to clean up all her messes” she said. I told her that was very nice of her to do that for her little sister and to help her mom out. I then asked her, “Do you make any messes that have to be cleaned up?” She said, “Oh yeah, and mom usually cleans my messes up.” Then she asked, “Who cleans up your messes?”

That is why Jesus said of little children; “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these!” At the age of four she has been around long enough to know that everyone makes messes sometimes. Take the woman that was caught living with a man that was not her husband. We think she may have been dragged right out of bed and brought before Christ. The motives of those who brought her to Him were to try and put Jesus in a fix. They wanted to see if He would tell them to stone her or not. The Law ordered it, but would Jesus carry it out? Read the chapter and see how He handled it.

The woman had made a mess of her life. In that culture people did not live together unless they were married. Women never held public jobs either so men usually kept them up. She was breaking the Law and stood to be condemned to death. Jesus cleaned up her mess that day. He said the same thing to the men there as the little girl said to me. “Which of you standing here are perfect?” He asked. None of them were so they left being convicted by their own messes. Then Jesus told her, “I am not condemning you to death for this but will forgive you if you will leave this life of sin.”

Are you in a mess today? Have you got one you need Jesus to clean up for you? He cleaned up my mess and He will clean up yours too if you will let Him.

Discussion About Belief

1 Timothy 4:10

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

Did you know there are over 700 established religions in the world today and they are divided into over 3,500 sects? With all these teachings and doctrines how do we know what to believe?  The question the philosophers ask is did God create man, or did man create God? The question the scientists ask is if God created all things, including man, who or what created God? Then we have the dreamers; those who think that our existence is just a dream. I have no idea who they think is dreaming it. This entire question asking and thinking can cause one to throw their hands up in the air in disillusionment. I guess that may be why over one billion people do not claim to believe in any theory!

What do you believe? Even the atheist has a belief. They believe there is no need to believe as there is nothing to believe in; that’s a belief. With so many choices we may fear of choosing the wrong one. What I have seen religions do is try to control people through this fear. Breaking rules or not doing enough will land you in a very unpleasant afterlife. The only way to have a secure eternity is to follow their teachings. Each one has a founder and a leader. So why choose to believe in Jesus? How is He any different and His followers any different than the rest?

Let me ask another question; why would a man put his life on the line unless he was assured of what he taught? Jesus was either a liar or a lunatic if you approach it from that angle. He testified that the One who created the world and man had now come into His creation to show one part of Himself to His creatures. Jesus explained to them that He was the human manifestation of the Creator. His message was simple; God has created us to live forever with Him. Rejection of this truth brought about alienation between the Creator and the creature. God called this rejection; sin. Did you know that you cannot choose salvation? Salvation was made available to you without you having any say so. Paul told Timothy, “He is the Savior of ALL men, especially those who believe.” Jesus died that we may be saved and if we are to be saved then we cannot reject His sacrifice. Now you can believe whatever you choose, God will allow that. What He will not allow, if you expect to be saved, is not believing in Christ.

If Only You Knew

“He (Jesus) told me all that I ever did” (John 4:39 New King James Version).

Look down the road. You see that woman coming carrying that bucket on her head? She is coming to Jacobs well to draw some water out to cook and clean with. She is all alone and as she makes her way to the well you can imagine some of the town’s folk seeing her pass by and they whisper to one another, “That’s her.” Tales of intrigue and rumors follow her everywhere she goes. She goes on looking straight ahead and focuses on her mission and not on what they are saying about her. She has heard it all before. Men have used her and left her only to survive as best she could once they were through with her. She is living with a man now and hopes that maybe he is the one that will not leave her. As she gets closer she sees a man sitting there propped up with his back against it. She never lets on like she sees Him. “Ma’am, could you draw me up some water, I am thirsty?” She is shocked that he would even speak to her as she could tell by his characteristics He is a Jew. Jews, especially the men, have nothing to do with Samaritans considering them to be outcasts. “You are asking me to get you a drink? Me?" She thinks if He only knew who she was. "Don’t you know I am not just a woman, but a Samaritan woman?” Jesus says, “If you knew who I was you would have asked Me to give you some water; water that will not only quench your thirst but you will live forever if you drink it.” She studies Him just a moment and says, “How are you planning on getting it out? This well is deep; and you have no rope or bucket. Just where are you going to get this water you say will give me everlasting life? This cannot be it because our forefather Jacob dug this well and he and his sons and their families along with all his livestock, all drank from this well: and they are all dead.” Jesus smiles and says, “Oh, not this water dear. See this water is temporary and it will quench your physical thirst and help your physical body; but the water I am talking about comes from Me only. When you drink it, it goes into your soul and will nourish it forever.” She thinks about it and says, “Then give me this soul water.” There it is; the revelation of her heart. She wants to live with Him forever. Finally she has found a man that wants her not for just a little while but for forever! Jesus then lets her know He is not just a man by calling her attention to all the other men in her life. She then treats Him as a Rabbi by asking Him some doctrinal questions and He lets her know He is more than a Rabbi. She finally concludes with “Well, when the Messiah comes He will come to all of us and not cast us out like the rest of the Jews but will tell us everything too.” Then Jesus drops the bomb: “I am the Messiah.” Then she sees some other men coming toward them and gets scared and leaves.

Her famous words that caused many to come to believe in Christ were simply: “He told me all I ever did.” He will tell you all you ever did too. No one else knows you like Jesus does and yet He is willing to put Himself in your path and tell you just as He told her. “I know who you are and what all you have done but I still offer you everlasting life if you will only receive it.” Jesus never forsook that woman and He will never forsake you. Ask Him for a drink of that soul water today.

Got Ears? Then Don't Judge.

“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37 New King James Version NKJV).

A guy is waiting to be interviewed for a job when he hears someone yell, “Get out of my office!” A fellow comes out of the office quickly and says to him; “Whatever you do when you go in, don’t make any comments about the fact she has no ears” the man says. When the receptionist invites him into the office the guy sits nervously in a chair waiting on the interviewer. When the lady doing the interviewing enters the first thing he notices is the fact she does not have any ears. Remembering the advice the other man gave him he focuses on her eyes. “You have very pretty eyes,” he says to her trying to get some brownie points. “Why thank you, I just got these new contacts last week,” she says. He then says, “I should have known they were contacts.” She then asks, “How would you have known that?” He says, “Because you don’t have any ears to hold glasses on.” He did not get the job either.

To form an opinion after careful observation or consideration is the definition of the word judge. We do it on a regular basis without even realizing it. When Jesus told the people not to do it He was putting it in the context of our opinion about other people. We form opinions about people as we observe them. We judge them by age, size, hair color, gender, dress, looks, facial expressions, and even smell. We also judge them by their actions or inactions, by what they say or do not say. Then Jesus says not to condemn them once we judge them. Then Jesus said if we do find ourselves condemning them then repent and seek forgiveness for it. Jesus says it is better not to form opinions to begin with and we will not have to worry about seeking forgiveness for condemning them. It does not come naturally; just like the guy seeing the woman with no ears and wearing contacts. Judging comes naturally, forming opinions come by choice. Let’s work on forming opinions and let Jesus do the judging. He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Sorry, just could not resist it).

 

Another Monday

[Hebrews 4:14-16 The Message] Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.

(Tom’s) alarm clock wakes him up as his mind tells him “Another Monday.”  He had rather not have to get up but feels like going back to sleep. He is worn out from this past weekend. He considers calling in to work sick but his conscious would dog him. Then there are the bills and the groceries he needs the money for. His wife will get up and then get the kids off to school and go to her job. He wishes he had won the Saturday night lottery drawing as that ten million would rescue him and his family from this daily grind. After showering and saying good bye to his wife and kids he is off to work. The twenty minute drive on the freeway can be enjoyable or unbearable; depending on the traffic he shares it with. Listening to the radio his mind remembers something the preacher said yesterday morning. He had not really wanted to go to church but his kids love it so he and his wife go for their sakes. The preacher said something to the effect that Jesus understood how we feel all the time. He begins to wonder how that could possibly be. Jesus never had a wife, or kids, or a job for that matter. He never faced the daily ho-hum of life of paying bills and mowing grass. He went around healing people and preaching to them all day and the main point, He was God according to the preacher. “God living life as a man, yeah right” he thought. Arriving at work and punching the clock he heads to the coffee machine for a quick shot of caffeine. (Jim) is there getting coffee too. (Jim) is a big religious dude. If you talk to him long he will preach you a sermon. He is a nice guy though and seems to have a good outlook on life. “Hey Jim, how’s it going?” Jim answers, “Good Tom, how about you?” “Okay”, Tom says. “Let me ask you something Jim; the preacher said yesterday God knows how we feel all the time. How could He possibly know what it’s like to go to work every day when He never had a job or a family?” Jim smiles, takes a sip of his coffee and answers; “I think the preacher was saying that God was human, just like us. Regardless of who we are or what we do, God knows how humans feel.” Tom then asks, “So how does that help me? Knowing He knows how I feel?” Jim says, “Because He knows you as you know you Tom! He doesn’t have to ask us how we are doing; He knows! No other human can actually know how another human truly feels.” Tom asks again, “Yeah, but how does that help me Jim?” Jim pats him on the back as he walks away and says, “It won’t help you Tom, until you care about how He feels about you.” As the coffee machine drops the cup and fills it, Tom gazes up.

What Awaits In 2013?

Ecclesiastes 7:14 [New International Version NIV]

 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

Would you really like to know what lies ahead for you in the year 2013?  If it were all good I am sure you would. Suppose for just one moment that God sent Gabriel to hand you a calendar of events for your life in 2013. You would scan the pages with apprehension and fear. I would count the pages first to see if there were 12 of them. Scanning them quickly I may see days with a list of events and other days with only a few lines. Just imagining being able to do that causes an unsettling feeling.

God has such a calendar. He has our calendar from start to finish. I would rather have it that way. He knows my human mind and emotions are not capable of handling such things. I would be so depressed if I knew up front what sorrow may await me. The happy times would not be happy if I knew the sorrow first. Every time I would try to look forward to the happiness the sorrow would dampen the joy. What a miserable state to live in until the events unfolded. One more thing, I would try to somehow change the circumstances that I may not experience the sorrow. If I could I would cancel all the sorrowful events and fill my year with nothing but happiness and joy! You and I both know that is not humanly possible, don’t we?

Therefore I end this year with memories of sorrowful days and happy days. Fun filled vacation days with my family and sad times having to conduct funerals for friends but during both events, Jesus was with me.  I have come to the close of my 55^th year on earth and enter my 56^th one. What lies ahead? I have no idea but I know who does, and He will be there in good or bad times. Because He has my life in His hands I can enter 2013 with faith. So can you if you will put your faith and trust in Christ. When making your New Year resolutions, resolve to give your life to Jesus and then enter each day in His power and embrace each day and each moment as He has intended for you.