Was He a Hopeless Cause?
Father, it’s just not happening tonight. I’m not up for it. Please, bless what You shared with me a few years back. May it touch someone today. Amen.
Matthew 26:14 -16 (<<click to read the passage)
Judas. One of the twelve. Chosen by Jesus. Thief. Betrayer. Universally despised. Embodiment of evil.
I’m sure if you had asked any one of the remaining eleven about him, they would have most assuredly spit his name out as if it were something putrid in their mouths. He would definitely not rank on anyone’s top 10 list of favorite Bible characters…but…
Was he a hopeless cause? …let me rephrase that… Is there anyone that is a hopeless cause? How did Jesus see him? He knew what he would do, but did that affect how he interacted with him?
Just think about it for a moment. When Jesus interacted with the teachers of the Law, he wasted no time setting them straight. But here is someone who he knew was going to be the instrument through which his path to the cross would begin. Yet he never once directly confronted him, though He referred to His betrayer many times throughout their time in the upper room as they observed the Passover Meal.
Honestly, I don’t believe Jesus ever gave up on Judas. Judas gave up on himself. Judas ended his own life believing that he was beyond forgiveness. He alone thought his sin was unpardonable.
“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.”
John 3:16 NKJV
Let me ask: is there any translation of the Bible that reads
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever – except Judas Iscariot – believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Nope. No one, not even the betrayer of Christ himself, was excluded from the possibility of forgiveness.
I genuinely believe that if Judas had not ended his own life but had instead found himself before Christ and if he had humbly bowed before Him, begging forgiveness for his horrific act, Jesus would have forgiven him.
We all, at one time or another, though chosen by Christ, have betrayed Him. I, for one, am grateful that He extends his forgiveness to everyone and forgives all of our dastardly deeds. His mercy, though incomprehensible on so many levels, is truly wonderful! Praise His holy name!
(Nov 5th, 2018, Mon, 4:47 pm)
Nov 7th, 2023, Tues, 6:47 pm
Needed: Rest
Father, I would ask that You bless our time together. May the words I hear from You resonate with my heart and come forth through my fingers so that they may fall impactfully on the ears of all who read and hear. Amen.
********
My life in recent history has lacked sufficient rest. I sleep, but often, it is restless, and I wake up more weary than when my head hits the pillows. There’s much on my plate, and the burden of responsibilities I shoulder truly seems unending.
One could say, “Just say no!” But that is much easier said than done. Many things cannot simply be laid aside – my job and responsibilities at home, and I certainly don’t carry the bulk of that burden, but they all take time and energy.
Here are things – important things – that require my attention. My full-time job driving a school bus – there are morning and afternoon routes, but I also must keep my bus clean. I must maintain my route sheets because they change frequently – who gets picked up, when, and where. Families move in. Families move out. Online training needs to be completed. I take extra-curricular trips to bring in more income, etc.
I pastor three churches. Yes, they all get the same essential components of worship – sermons, hymns, scripture reading, and so on, but individuals from each congregation need ministering to. Some I can interact with on any given Sunday. Others I can text or call. Others need face-to-face interaction outside of our services. There are meetings on a local level and a fair number of things that need to be accomplished on a denominational level.
I sit and write five days a week, ministering to all kinds of people from across the globe. I’ve considered setting it aside, but I cannot escape that so many are impacted by what God gives me. In my first full year of posting on the More Than Useless blog (2016), I had 6,367 views and 3,002 visitors. My best year to date, 2020, I had 15,036 views by 9,171 visitors. I’m sure COVID factored in as there was a decline in 2021 and again in 2022. But this year, I’ve already had more visitors than any given year – 9,438 to date, and am trending to surpass 2020’s views, with 14,294 to date and the rest of November and December to go. (God continues to amaze me with what He can produce through me in all the circumstances in life!)
So, what do I say “no” to?
But honestly, I need rest. We are called to keep the Sabbath. The word sabbath comes from the Hebrew shabbat, meaning “to cease” or “desist.” The primary meaning is that of cessation from all work.
Especially from a ministerial perspective, it isn’t easy to do that. The Sabbath day for others is a necessary workday for me. I realize that I have chosen the life I live. I’ve chosen to be a bi-vocational pastor. To me, the benefits of keeping my finger on the pulse of humanity make a huge difference! I don’t work out of some ivory tower but strive to know and love those around me.
I try to get time away from things. I would pray that when those times of rest come, they will positively impact me and that my rest will be deep and refreshing. May God continue to impact the world through the gifts He has blessed me with. I truly find my rest in Him, and He will surely provide!
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT
Nov 6th, 2023, Mon, 7:37 pm
Knowledge Is Not What Is Ultimately Important
Well, Father, it has been a crazy full week, but these are the last hours of it. With a little less on my plate, may this next week be profitable in other ways You deem essential. Amen.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13 (<<click here to read the passage)
This whole chapter speaks of food sacrificed to idols, which may cause many of us to ask, “What in the world does that have to do with me?” The act itself is not a part of our culture and really has nothing to do with us…but…the attitudes surrounding these events most assuredly do!
I think a majority of us would agree that knowledge is important. It helps us accomplish what needs to be accomplished in our world. And we must acknowledge the fact that we can obtain knowledge in many different ways on many different fronts. College degrees enable us to acquire knowledge, but knowledge can also be acquired in trades and blue-collar positions. You can’t be a good farmer without knowledge. You can’t be a good jeweler, nurse, or diesel mechanic without knowledge. Insert any vocation in that blank, and it will require knowledge. In fact, you can’t play a good ol’ game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with the kids on my bus without knowing the rules of the game.
In this particular passage of Scripture, believers had acquired knowledge that enabled them to be at liberty not to be concerned with where the meat came from that they ate. To them, it made no difference if it had been offered to idols. They knew that idols represented gods that really were not gods at all – so that gave them the liberty to eat what they wanted.
But it wasn’t so simple for inexperienced believers; they still struggled to separate from their old ways. They struggled with the mixed feelings and guilt of doing something they thought was wrong, or at least a little too close to wrong.
So, here is where their knowledge had to be tempered. There is power acquired with knowledge, but knowledge and the power that comes with it are not what is ultimately important to God. What is ultimately important to God…is love.
The Apostle Paul, at the end of verse 1, states,
But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.
Exerting our knowledge may lift us up, but if we aren’t conscientiously careful, it could easily tear someone else down. Thinking along those lines in love is what makes the difference. Paul continues in verses 2-3.
Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. NLT
We can obtain all the knowledge, even of Godly things, but without love, it equals nothing. I’m skipping ahead a few chapters, but a portion of 1 Corinthians 13:2 reads,
And if I…[possess] all knowledge; and if I have all [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love [reaching out to others], I am nothing. AMP
As followers of Jesus, love has to be at the heart of everything. Love must be at the center of the world, and if that is the case, we can’t be. Amen.
Nov 5th, 2023, Sun, 8:29 pm
Stand Solid and Firm
And the week continues with multiple elements! Thank You, Father, for enabling me to accomplish so much. Your focus and direction have gotten me to where I am! All praise to You!
********
This morning, on one of the many rural roads of my elementary route, I crested a rise, and as I glanced to my right, there stood a fantastic sight – a beautiful 8- or 10-point buck! I just caught a quick look in that a doe was behind him and another doe on the left side of the road. The buck didn’t seem the least bit disturbed by the presence of my bus, but the does took off almost immediately.
How do you handle stressors in your life? Do they set you off to running and worrying and stressing? Or do you even notice most of them? When those stressors come zooming up beside you, do you fall apart, or do you stand solid and firm in the presence and strength of your Heavenly Father?
I want to stress here, too, that gender has absolutely nothing to do with where we stand in relation to our God. It has no bearing. Our personal relationship with Him is all that matters.
You hear me say frequently that it’s important to pray. For clarity, that’s not just rattling off a list of what we want or think we need. Corporately praying the Lord’s Prayer in a worship setting is essential, but that cannot be our only communication with God. We can use it as a basis for communication, but that alone will not suffice.
A couple of weekends ago, on the way back from a band competition an hour plus away from home, I was having a hard time making sure I was on my side of the road. It was freshly paved for several miles. Initially, there were yellow lines down the middle and no white lines at all. Then, for quite a while, there were just yellow hash marks down the middle of the road and nothing else. I tell you, I prayed that whole time – “Lord, watch over us! Lord, keep us safe! Lord, help me!”
The Lord’s Prayer would have provided me no comfort, but the Lord Himself sure did!
We must talk to Him about all the many aspects of our lives. He is there to listen and to respond – but we have to communicate to understand that He’s responding.
The Bible is not just a dusty old book of stories. He is the living, breathing Word of God. To know His will for our lives, we need to read it, ponder it, discuss it, study it, and, yes, pray over it. It provides sustenance for our malnourished lives!
Again, hearing it read on Sundays is important, but we need more than that. It is not a “let someone else do it for us” thing. It has to be a “do it yourself” thing!
Build that relationship with God, for when we invest in that, we can stand solid and firm in the presence and strength of our Heavenly Father no matter what comes zooming up beside us in our life journey.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1 NKJV
Nov 2nd, 2023, Thurs, 3:33 pm
Questions Anyone?
Father, I pray for peace of mind. This week has had many out-of-the-norm pieces and parts, and I am only halfway through it. There are more pieces to come. I would ask that You guide me in Your way through it all. Amen.
1 Corinthians 7:12-40 (<<click here to read the passage)
I regularly step into Karen’s 1st-grade classroom in between my afternoon routes. One undeniable thing is that her kids always have lots and lots of questions. There are different kids every year, but they always ask questions. I get a fair amount on the bus, too.
It’s our nature, especially when we are young and still experiencing new things. We can struggle knowing what to do and how to do it. But honestly, we would rather be bombarded with questions for direction instead of children running full steam ahead, not knowing what they are doing! Often, that results in all kinds of problems and predicaments!
In today’s verses, the Apostle Paul is answering numerous questions for most dealing with marriage, specifically in the areas of believers in relationship with unbelievers. I’m not going to get into all that, but the point that needs to be made is that they wisely sought out someone who could give them sound, godly advice. The Holy Spirit guided Paul in how he replied so they could be confident in the advice given.
I occasionally get questions of a spiritual nature at church. I don’t really with my kids, but I do get questions from adult friends (co-workers). I am certainly not an all-knowing guru or trained biblical scholar, but as they say, “This is not my first rodeo” and “I have been around the block a few times,” so yes, I do have some knowledge and experience, but…my source of wisdom is just as accessible to those with questions as it is to me. The Holy Spirit should be our end-all go-to, but He uses all who will listen to pass along the truth. I genuinely strive to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through me. And if I’m unsure of an answer, I will seek one out, again under the Spirit’s guidance.
The statement may be a little worn, but truly, there are no dumb questions. We learn by asking, and as I said earlier, I would rather be bombarded with questions for direction instead of others running full steam ahead, not knowing what they are doing or where they are going! Far too many times, problems and predicaments could have been avoided if questions had just been asked.
Seek out knowledgeable friends, pastors, or other spiritually grounded individuals for direction. But most importantly, seek out the Lord’s direction.
James, the brother of Jesus, put it very well,
If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 AMP
Amen!
Nov 1st, 2023, Wed, 6:35 pm