Spiritual Hunger
Father, I am grateful for Your presence, regardless of where I find myself – on my bus, at home, on the road. There is great comfort having You by my side throughout each and every day.
Luke 3:10-14 (<<click to read the passage)
It would be interesting to see comparative geographic maps of population numbers where people were hungry physically…and spiritually. I would really not be able to venture any guess as to how it would look specifically but I am sure that there would be areas where people would be well fed in both areas and malnourished in both areas. What may be most surprising is where we would find people who are well-nourished physically but emaciated spiritually – nothing but “skin and bones” And vice versa for people who barely get enough sustenance to keep them alive physically but are robust spiritually.
Reading these few verses about John the Baptist’s public ministry, it is thought-provoking to see, especially tax collectors and Roman soldiers, asking, “What should we do?” to get themselves right before God.
These two groups probably lacked for nothing. Each made their own way and could easily have done so by taking advantage of the less fortunate. They each could easily have eaten their fill any time they desired but were very much starving spiritually speaking. And, interestingly enough, they realized they were malnourished and were aggressively seeking out what they must do to correct that imbalance. Nobody guilted them. Nobody had to drag them kicking and screaming to see what John was up to – they were drawn and acted upon their need.
It makes one wonder, did any of this motley crew ever reach out to those associated with faith, asking for spiritual nourishment? It is not surprising that they probably both would have been turned away – rejected by those who could have offered hope – spiritual sustenance – because of who they were, how they lived and where life found them.
But take note, John did not reject them but challenged them to change. He didn’t say that where they found themselves was acceptable but strongly encouraged them all to repent of their many sins and then seek to live exemplary lives – sharing with those who needed it, working hard and doing it with the best of ability and the utmost fairness, and being content with what you had.
John most definitely set them on the straight and narrow. He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by preparing for the Lord’s coming, clearing the road for Him, filling valleys, leveling mountains, straightening curves and smoothing out the rough places! Everyone was seeing clearly the salvation sent from God! (Luke 3:4-6)
Lord Jesus, may we be as accepting, challenging and diligent as John was. May we be filled with Your compassion, love, and strength. Amen!
Nov 18th, 2019, Mon, 1:11 pm
The Missing Piece
Sundays are always full days, Father. They are full of You and full of many things. At this point, the day is fading and so am I. May this time be filled with You so it is rich and full, as well. Amen.
Luke 3:7-9 (<<click to read the passage)
So, when last we were together, Lord, we spoke of how important it is to …produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with our] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness].
If we are going to be a part of You impacting the world then we have to bring ourselves alongside You. We must diligently seek to look at the world through Your eyes…with Your heart. And, what we all really need is an overwhelming outpouring of Your Holy Spirit!
Often, I think we overthink what we need to be for You to use us. We think we have to be super Christians and have it all together. But if we look at the disciples pre-Pentecost and post-Pentecost – after the Holy Spirit had come upon them in power! – they were the same people but all the barriers they had had been dropped! They didn’t question, they just did! And lives were impacted – 3,000 on the first day alone! (Acts 2:41)
The world today looks different today but people are the same as they have always been. Some have found Jesus and are living in the freedom that He brings us but many, many others have not. They are missing something in their lives and each day they try to find that “something”.
There is a space in their lives that can only be filled with Jesus and everything else that is put it that space doesn’t fit. It leaves us wanting more. Oh, it may satisfy for a time but over time we begin to search for that “something” all over again – it’s a vicious, never-ending cycle!
We have a responsibility. We must share what we know about that “something” and in reality, it is a “Someone”! But we fear rejection. We fear retaliation. Those fears are not necessarily unfounded but many times they are totally unfounded!
People are literally dying to know Jesus! I know people who don’t know Him…we all do.
An old hymn comes to mind and it states something that seems to have gone by the wayside in our reaching the lost. People are lost…they are perishing…they are dying and Jesus uses us to bring them to safety. Fanny Crosby wrote this in 1869 and the message still rings clear!
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Lord Jesus, burden our hearts with what burdens Yours. Light the fire in our hearts that we may go out into the world for You and Your Kingdom! Amen!
*If you would can to read it, here is the story of how Fanny came to write this hymn.
Nov 17th, 2019, Sun, 4:55 pm
Be Determined!
Father, I am grateful for Your Comforting Holy Spirit. There is so much pain, suffering, and heartache in the world and You are with us in ways we cannot even begin to fully understand. May we come to You and may we bring others to You, as well. Amen.
Luke 3:7-9 (<<click to read the passage)
Growing up it seemed that there were many examples of people coming to Jesus and having their lives radically changed because of their newfound relationship with Him. Habits and lifestyles of their past were greatly impacted. The Apostle Paul’s proclamation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP) was truly fleshed out!
Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].
Maybe I’m just not mingling in the right circles, but I don’t seem to see that kind of thing anymore. I tend to interact with those who already know Jesus and, like me, they are just trying to follow Him as best they can.
God is most definitely still in the life-changing business! But what do I need to do to be a part of it? Part of the solution is to abide by John’s commands here in the first part of Luke 3:8 (AMP)
…produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with your] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness]
We must first, with the Lord’s help, get ourselves where He needs us to be. Human nature has this nasty tendency to encourage us to live a multiple-personality kind of life. We have our “Christian” selves that we hold forth when we are around other believers. But that part of who we are can easily be shoved down out of sight so as not to embarrass us when we are out in the “real” world.
Our “real world” selves, though not necessarily worldly through and through, has the tendency to go the easiest route possible. It just gets too difficult to use the plumb line of God and His Word every time we want to do something. We just do it and ask for forgiveness later if we need to.
If we are true followers of Jesus, we must be determined to live changed lives all the time, not just when it is convenient to do so.
Instead of yielding occasionally to the many temptations around us and then asking for God’s forgiveness again…and again…and again, we must be determined to turn from sin. We must pray that God will make us uncomfortable with it anywhere in our lives. We should avoid letting sin get its toe in the door of our lives at all costs!
And one of the most important actions on our part is to seek God and His righteousness. It might be a challenge, but we must be determined to use the plumb line of God and His Word every time we want to do something. That is the only way we will find God and the more time we spend with Him the more like Him we will become.
Well, that’s a start but, Lord Jesus, I feel that this line of thought needs to be delved into quite a bit more. Help us to grasp the importance of our relationship with You in every aspect of our lives and then we can honestly pursue sharing You with others. Amen.
Nov 14th, 2019, Thurs, 7:46 pm
Remove the Obstacles
Father, what a full day of blessings! Good runs on my routes today with Your hedge of protection around me. A wonderful time of fellowship with new friends. And some quality time with my favorite girl! Thank you, Father, for all that You are to me!
Luke 3:1-6 (<<click to read the passage)
Fast forward 20+ years and neither Zechariah’s son, John, nor Jesus are children any longer. Their miraculous beginnings have not been forgotten by those close to them, but the world has moved on. Rome is still “in charge” and if anything, the corruption of politics and religious structure has only deepened.
And then, out of the wilderness, steps John. He will come to be known as John the Baptist. He is fulfilling God’s call on his life by being the precursor of the Messiah – Jesus – who is close on his heels.
Luke quotes a passage from the writings of Isaiah to introduce John’s mission, which ultimately is just one more piece of the puzzle of God’s ultimate mission – the salvation of the world!
Luke actually quotes of the Greek version of this Old Testament passage,
He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!
Clear a road for our God!
Fill in the valleys,
and level the mountains and hills.
And then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see the salvation sent from God.
The Lord has spoken!”
I love what the Amplified Bible interjects in regard to the preparation – remove the obstacles! Prepare…clear…fill in…level…their dreams were finally coming to fruition and they had to be ready! For that matter, we have to be ready, too! Jesus came as much for us as He did for them!
Two points need to be made here.
First, as my Life Application Study Bible puts it, “To prepare the way means clearing aside the baggage of the past and doubts of the present in order to let the King come into your life.” We cannot fix ourselves. We are incapable of ridding ourselves of the sin in our lives. Jesus, and only Jesus, has the power to do that but preparing the way means that we must open ourselves to His work in our lives.
Second, when it says all people will see the salvation sent from God, it opens the doors wide! It says all people, no one is left out. No one is excluded. Let that sink in. Absolutely, positively, irrevocably no one is left on the outside looking in.
We in our humanity like to be divisive. We like to be a part of the “haves” and delight in sticking it to the “have nots”. No matter where you go, every culture, every schoolyard, every office…and unfortunately, many churches have this mentality. And let me be very clear, that kind of mindset is not – I repeat not – God’s mentality. It’s not even close!
John 3:16 underscores God’s mindset,
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (NLT) – emphasis mine
What an awesome offer! What an indescribable gift from our Heavenly Father! We – every single one of us – is cherished! We are chosen! And all we have to do is accept what He extends to us! Lord Jesus, may we do so!
Nov 13th, 2019, Wed, 7:59 pm
Mentality of Gratefulness
It was a challenging day with all the ice and snow, Father, but thank You for Your watchcare over all the bus drivers and others driving to and from school today. Keep us in the hollow of Your hand.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
From a very early age, gratitude is one of those things that our parents drill into us. Saying “please” and “thank you” is a great foundational lesson for one and all.
But, if you really think about it, there are many different ways that “thank you” is communicated. As a bus driver, many teachers/coaches want their students to be polite and encourage them to thank us as they exit the bus. We get paid to transport them but it is also a volunteer service for them. We could say “no”. There are most definitely many heartfelt “thank yous”. But there are also, the I-have-to-say-this-because-my-teacher/coach-said-so “thank yous”, as well. They’re not mean or disrespectful – they’re just sort of shallow and for sure not genuine.
When we’re learning to be grateful as kids, we are not always good at it. I remember when I was in upper-elementary I received a gift from my grandmother (whom I loved dearly – and more so, as I got older). That was when Legos started to gain popularity and that is what I wanted but my grandmother – as many grandparents will be – had no real grasp as to what I wanted and thought toy blocks are toy blocks and bought me a Mega Blok set. I felt they were not up to snuff for my standards and was quick to express my dissatisfaction.
My ingratitude stung. I might have gotten the same result if I had slapped her across the face. I was reprimanded, and she forgave me for my insolence but it bothers me to this day how I hurt her.
We are just a couple of weeks out from Thanksgiving, when – hopefully – we will have the opportunity to gather with friends and family to celebrate the many things for which we should be thankful. Some family traditions are full of opportunities to express said gratitude but for many others, it’s just about stuffing ourselves like the turkeys before us and watching sports on TV for the rest of the afternoon. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks and all that, but where are the rolls!?”
A lot of it is a mentality of gratefulness. Do we just take things for granted? Do we just expect to have clean laundry and food available whenever we are hungry? Again, some are better at being grateful than others and it is probably something that all of us could improve upon.
But here is the big question, how often do we thank the Provider and Sustainer of all of life’s many blessings? Many of us may say a quick prayer as we bow our heads before we eat…but what about our lives beyond that?
If you are reading this, you woke up today? Are you grateful?
More than likely one of the first things you did today was to shuffle to the bathroom and flip the light switch on. Were you grateful for electricity and running water?
And on and on our days go – food, friends, shelter, love – there is a never-ending list. …but do we say a heart-felt thank You to the One who has given us everything?
The psalmist wrote,
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever! Psalm 106:1 (AMP)
Let’s strive to not just be occasionally grateful and, too, may we do so with truly grateful hearts – not just because someone told us that’s what we were supposed to do.