He Smiled, Too
How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
….in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 36:7 NLT
John 1:47-51 (<<click here to read the passage)
I know a gentleman who earlier in life was a pretty tough guy. He worked with young people and from my understanding, it was his way or the highway. He accomplished some pretty amazing things in his time of leadership, but many people were turned off by his leadership style. His temper was pretty fiery, which just added to the whole ambiance of his personality.
I knew of him then but know him by name now. He’s still a tough cookie but he works with children now. At this point in his life, he’s tough when he needs to be tough but even in that, there is a softness…a compassion. His whole persona is tempered by that compassion and in my humble opinion, it makes him a very gifted leader.
The thing is, those who knew him then but don’t really know him now probably would have a skewed opinion of him. They still see him as they saw him then and not as he is now.
When we think about Jesus, how do we picture him? I’m not talking physically but personality wise.
Do we see Him in a perpetual state of sadness? Everything He had created was tainted by the sin that we had allowed into the world. From the beginning, He knew pain, separation, and death were inevitable. It would be hard to fight the sorrow of it all.
Do we see Him angry, railing at the Pharisees? How thick the heads of His disciples were, would they ever learn?
I mean, He was God after all, wouldn’t He at least be stern and serious most of the time? He was all about fulfilling the Law and making sure we were doing it right…right?
It is of utmost importance that we not forget that, yes, Jesus was God…100% God…but He was God in the flesh. And that means he was also 100% human.
He was sad. He was angry. He was stern and serious. He was like us in that He was totally human with just about everything that comes with it! But it just as important for us to remember is the fact is that Jesus was without sin.
He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. 1 Peter 2:22 NLT
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. Hebrews 4:15 NLT
This is all crucial to our understanding of who Jesus is but let me throw one more thing out. I believe with all my heart that Jesus also smiled and laughed. He had a sense of humor and cared for his disciples in so many ways.
In this passage from John 1 after Nathanael proclaimed Jesus being the “Son of God—the King of Israel!” v49 when Jesus said He’d seen him sitting under a fig tree, I can see Jesus replying with a twinkle in His eye and a bit of a chuckle under His words.
“Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” v50
Jesus is everything we ever hoped He would be and far more! May this message today encourage all of us to embrace Jesus for all that He is and all that He can be for each of us!
Mar 17th, 2021, Wed, 7:56 pm
Scurrying to Preserve Our Lives
The first thing that comes to mind as I sit Father is the good night’s sleep I had last night. The older I get the fewer they seem to be. Thank You for gifts such as these.
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Something I notice with being on the road several hours a day is the number of wild animals running across it. I see lots of rabbits and squirrels. I’ve seen raccoons, opossums, and skunks. I’ve seen deer, and mice, as well. Oh, and a fox and a few turkeys to add to the collection.
Some may pause briefly to see me coming their way, but most are doing their very best to get out of my way as quickly as possible. We’ve heard of the rat race, but this is a race of creation to preserve their very lives!
We feel that way at times too! Many days are filled to the brim with all kinds of things. Some of these things we bring upon ourselves and others are thrust upon us not because we choose them but simply because they just happen to be where we are. Sometimes we are just doing the best we can to keep our heads above water and preserve our very lives!
Life can be brutal. This world can certainly be cruel. We can be minding our own business just going through our day when out of the blue some debilitating behemoth comes charging our way. At times we can sidestep quickly enough to avoid pain and injury but other times, we are hit…and we are hurt.
Some days I am just weary. The burden of scurrying through another day is daunting. If I could just find rest beyond it all…how refreshing that would be…
The thing is, this world offers us no comfort but…in the midst of it all, Jesus does!
He said in Matthew 11:28-30,
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” NLT
There is the answer. We cannot escape the world but in Christ, we can stand firm. He gives us His strength to do so. He will preserve us in our trials and if our lives are taken from us, we do not lose…we win – for then we are with Him for all of eternity.
Revelation 21:4 has this to say about that time to come,
“He [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”NLT
Life here may be full of hardships and uncertainties but life enteral with our Father will be full of joy…I guarantee!
Mar 16th, 2021, Tues, 6:55 pm
Acceptance, Plain and Simple
As I sit to write, these simple, yet profound, words came to mind.
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
O how I love Jesus,
because he first loved me!
Father, because of the sacrifice of Your son I am loved!
John 1:47-51 (<<click here to read the passage)
Whether we like to admit it or not, we are all fairly transparent. We may think we hide who we are, or what we think, or the actions we take behind closed doors. But in reality, the essence of who we are is known to anyone who takes the time to notice.
Admittedly there are times when the persona we thrust forth fools some of the people some of the time, but rarely does it fool all of the people all of the time.
Many of us have enough life experience to realize that there are people you can trust to keep secrets and others who you would never share anything that you would not want to be made known to the world.
How many of us would be comfortable standing before Jesus and hearing what he would have to say about who we truly are? I doubt many of us would willingly join the ranks of the religious elite in Jesus’ day. Jesus held nothing back when he called them hypocrites and vipers (examples, Matthew 23:27-28 and Matthew 12:34).
Wouldn’t it be better to join the ranks of individuals like Nathanael? When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, He said of him, “Here is an Israelite indeed [a true descendant of Jacob], in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor duplicity!” v47 AMP
To help in our thought process…
Guile – deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty.
Deceit – an act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.
Duplicity – intentional deceptiveness; double-dealing
I’d like to be seen that way. I try though I’m not sure I succeed as often as I would like
But interestingly enough, we may be closer to Pharisees than to a Nathanael, but God calls us all to follow and be like Him. He sees who we truly are but who also sees who we can truly be!
He accepted Nathanael and, if they would have turned from their wicked ways and wholeheartedly followed Him, Jesus would have accepted the Pharisees, as well.
Who you are now, has no bearing on Jesus’ acceptance of you. He loves you, plain and simple. There’s nothing complicated about His love. It cost Him everything but you are worth it…
Mar 15th, 2021, Mon, 7:44 pm
Pound into the Same Mold
A much fuller day than I expected, Father, but it was all good! It is a great comfort to know that You are a part of it all, that You never leave my side. Your love is made evident every day!
John 1:43-46 (<<click here to read the passage)
(I sit and read, often wondering what in the world I’m going to write about. As I do so, You always bring something to mind! Thank You, Father, for Your inspiration!)
I majored in Church Music in college and my first position out of college was as a full-time minister of music at a very nice-sized church in the St. Louis, Missouri metro area – specifically, Webster Groves. I was so excited to be blessed with the opportunity! I had a wonderful choir, a goodly amount of music from which to choose, and a reasonable budget with which to work.
One of the first conversations that I had – and honestly, I do not recall with whom – regarded the church organist. I was told she was a handful and would be a challenge to work with. If I remember correctly, she was in her early 60s and supposedly she was pretty set in her ways and was not shy about voicing her opinions.
I am very pleased to say that I never had one problem with her. She was a fine organist, and we had a wonderful working relationship. She was a beautiful lady inside and out, and I am so glad that I didn’t just assume that she was going to be a problem.
As Jesus continued to move forward in His earthly ministry, He continued to pull others close to himself. One of those men was Philip, another resident of Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown. v44
As soon as Philip found out who Jesus was, he ran to tell his friend, Nathaniel who was from Cana. He excitedly told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.” v45
You’d think that Nathaniel would have been excided, too, but his initial reaction was, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Nazareth had a bad reputation due to the fact that a Roman garrison was there, too. Other things may have factored in but regardless people from Nazareth were not looked upon fondly.
We all know people that assume things due to association. Another word that can be applied is prejudice. Unfortunately, it’s not always other people who think those thoughts…we can be guilty of prejudice, as well.
Like Nathaniel, if someone is from a certain community or area, we can label them along with everything we’ve ever heard about “those” people. But geography is not our only denominator. We can use all kinds of things to make assumptions about others – clothing, hairstyles (or if they color it funky colors!), race, gender, religious persuasions, the number of tattoos they have, political affiliations, and the list goes on and on.
We can throw others in the pot with what we assume will be their thoughts or personalities and we never even give them a chance to show us who they are and what they think. Thankfully, though Nathaniel had his assumptions, it didn’t stop him from going to see for himself, as Philip had encouraged him. v46
Lord Jesus, help us to keep open hearts and minds when we interact with others. Help us not assume and pound them into the same mold everyone else does. May we see with Your eyes and love with Your heart! Amen.
Mar 14th, 2021, Sun, 8:15 pm
Less Rock, More Rocky
Thank You, Father, for a good night’s rest. May today be all that You want it to be for me and those who cross my path. Amen.
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My apologies for not posting yesterday. I got my second COVID vaccine
on Tuesday and it totally took the wind out of my sails yesterday.
I just didn’t have it in me to get off the couch. Feeling much better today!
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John 1:40-42 (<<click here to read the passage)
I don’t know about you, but I love Peter! It is probably for the same reason that I love David, Israel’s greatest king from of old. They both were great men, but Scripture doesn’t hold back one bit on their humanity, nothing is glossed over.
When Jesus first met Peter, he wasn’t known as Peter…yet. His name was Simon, a run-of-the-mill, hardworking fisherman on the Sea of Galilea. But the very first thing Jesus said to Peter was, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”. v42
Of course, as many of you know, the names Cephas (from Aramaic) and Peter (from Greek) both mean “rock.” Eventually, Peter would live up to the intentions that Jesus had when He gave him his new name. He would be foundational in God’s Kingdom in the establishment of His church. He would be solid and immovable…but not yet. In the beginning, he was less rock and more rocky.
If you’ve ever walked through a deposit of shale rock, you quickly realize that you have to be careful. Smooth loose rock on top of smooth rock can be slippery. It is not necessarily stable. It is most definitely movable.
How about a canoe? As a novice would it be wise to stand in one? If you wanted to get wet I suppose. It makes me think of that old song, Rock the Boat, by The Hues Corporation from the early 1970s.
So I’d like to know where you got the notion…
….to rock the boat…
Don’t rock the boat, baby
….Rock the boat
Don’t tip the boat over
….Rock the boat
Don’t rock the boat, baby
….Rock the boat
Peter excelled at inserting his foot in his mouth. He got some things right, but he got a lot wrong. He was quick to react. He didn’t always think before he spoke.
Be we never have that problem…do we? We always take plenty of time to speak…to respond to situations…right?
Peter was very much human, just like we are. Peter was not perfect, any more than we are perfect. But…Jesus didn’t give up on Peter…and He won’t give up on us either.
Before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter denied he even knew Jesus – something he swore he would never do. He fell and he fell hard, but Jesus wouldn’t leave him there. He restored Peter. He put Peter – the rock! – into his rightful place of leadership, despite his failings…and He will do the same for us.
Lord Jesus, may we not be able to forget that You hold tightly to us, regardless of our many issues. We fall again and again and again, but You are always poised ready to pick us up. You love us beyond anything we could ever imagine. May we always cling to the overwhelming truth! Amen.
Mar 11th, 2021, Thurs, 8:22 am