As the Lightning Flashes!
I need this time with You this evening, Father. Draw me close, clear my mind of everything but You and Your word. Amen.
Matthew 24:26-35 (<<click to read the passage)
To my recollection, one of the most intense experiences of lightning was riding with a group of men in a passenger van as we were returning from a Promise Keepers’ event in Pittsburg several years ago. I don’t know how the driver could even see where he was going, the rain was torrential and it seemed, to me at least, that the lightening just didn’t let up! It lit up the night sky with great ferocity and with its accompanying thunder it was quite the experience!
If you are in even close proximity to a thunderstorm, you have no question at all of what is happening!
In reading some of the commentary on this portion of Scripture in my study Bible*, I read a sentence that is just great! In regard to Christ’s return, it says, “If you have to be told that the Messiah has come, then he hasn’t.” It then refers back to verse 27,
“For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.”
[“Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.]
Jesus Himself said,
“So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it!”
When Jesus returns – and He most assuredly will – we will all know. And ready…or not…that’s where we will find ourselves. May we all make our decisions now, while there is still time. When He returns, time will be up.
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Oct 24th, 2018, Wed, 6:10 pm
The Real Deal!
Good morning, Father! Thank You for encouraging me to join You this morning – there is no better way to start my day! May I hear You clearly in our time together. Amen.
Matthew 24:1-25 (<<click to read the passage)
Lord, Your word is replete with warnings of what the future will hold –in Old Testament and New. It’s interesting to read that, much like us, Your disciples wanted particulars, asking, “Tell us, when will all this happen?” And then they asked another question with which many in our day have become obsessed, “What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?”
Jesus’ reply? “Don’t let anyone mislead you…”
I have seen it happen, many are so intrigued with “knowing” what will take place and all the many particulars that they easily become misled. Quite often it is not so much that they are renouncing the truth of Christ but they become so consumed with their searching that they put little time or effort into what is truly important, following Christ!
One of the things in retail that we are on the lookout for constantly is counterfeit currency. Over the years it has been stressed to me that the best way to recognize counterfeit bills is to thoroughly know what genuine bills look and feel like. We can be easily deceived! One of the big problems not too long ago was counterfeiters bleaching $5 bills and then printing $20 bills on the paper. They would “look” real, and they surely felt real but just holding it up to the light, the watermark of the president’s face gave it away – Lincoln’s face was not Jackson’s!
Our focus and time and attention should always be on the real deal. We must always be about seeking the face of Jesus Christ! We mustn’t waste our time trying to figure out who the imposter is or will be. Look to Christ!
Oct 23rd, 2018, Tues, 6:28 am
Little Red Hen
Father, my heart is heavy this afternoon. A wonderful woman from one of my churches is in the midst of her last days with us. You will be welcoming her home soon. Watch over the family and hold them close. Amen.
Matthew 23:37-39 (<<click to read the passage)
As a child, I remember a series of books that were meant to communicate a theological message to children. They had big full-color pictures which I loved.
One I have thought of off and on over the years was called The Little Red Hen. The story is about a little red hen that, sensing danger from an onrushing prairie fire, gathers her chicks beneath her, losing her own life in the fire, but protects her brood from harm. One little chick that did not come to the mother is lost.
Of course, the lesson that is communicated is that Christ did the same for us, giving His very life that we might be saved.
Reading these verses brought it to mind again. The header over this passage in the New Living Translation is Jesus Grieves over Jerusalem. The Amplified Bible’s header reads Lament over Jerusalem. Lament is defined as a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Jesus’ heart breaks for us. He longs (can I emphasize that word any more?) to gather us together under His protective wings. He loves us more than we can even begin to comprehend but so, so many refuse to find comfort there. But, truly, who knows us better than He?
Once again Ephesians 1:4 speaks volumes,
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
Lord, help us to be drawn to You. May we understand that the greatest of comfort and protection is found in Your loving embrace. Amen.
Oct 22nd, 2018, Mon, 3:29 pm
Rightly Rebuked!
Father, I am grateful for Your presence throughout this day, in both worship services and in our time with family, as well as, traveling to and fro. As I quiet my heart this evening, may I hear what You have for me. Amen.
Matthew 23:13-36 (<<click to read the passage)
Lord, reading through these verses it is obvious that You held absolutely nothing back! The words You used were biting but totally appropriate! Words like hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools, snakes, sons of vipers! But…but You are love! How could You say such things?
Again I will stress, who You were talking to here. You weren’t talking to the lost, as such. You weren’t talking to those who didn’t really know any better. You blasted those who supposedly knew Your Law inside and out, from top to bottom! Those who intellectually knew all there was to know but spiritually were a parched dry land!
Yes, You most assuredly are love but there are times when tough love is the only means possible to get through to us. We have thick heads and hard hearts and soft, polite little niceties just won’t cut it!
My study Bible* lists Seven Sorrows,
23:13…………Not letting others enter the Kingdom of Heaven
and not entering yourselves
23:15…………Converting people away for God to be like
yourselves
23:16-22……Blindly leading God’s people to follow man-made
traditions instead of God’s Word
23:23-24……Involving yourself in every last detail and ignoring
what is really important: just mercy, and faith
23:25-26……Keeping up appearances while your private world
is corrupt
23:27-28……Acting spiritual to cover up sin
23:29-36……Pretending to have learned from past history, but
your present behavior show you have learned
nothing
It goes on to say that these are “still applicable anytime we become so involved in perfecting the practice of religion that we forget that God is also concerned with mercy, real love, and forgiveness.”
Lord, this list had to sting the religious leaders of Your day and if we are guilty of them Your words should sting us into repentance, as well. May we be attuned to Your will and hold nothing back in following Your direction – rebukes included. Amen.
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Oct 21st, 2018, Sun, 9:02 pm
Where Is My Heart?
I seem to be doing nothing but tossing and turning in bed, Father, so I may as well come sit with You for a bit. It surely will be a much better use of my time. I love our times together!
Matthew 23:5-12 (<<click to read the passage)
Lord, after reading through this passage several times the question that comes to mind is, “Where is my heart?”
I love music! I listen to all kinds of it when I work and travel and there are very few genres that I won’t listen to. My original vocational direction was to become a Minister of Music and for that, I went to school. Harmony is a beautiful thing and I can remember enjoying singing congregational hymns by singing first the melody line, then singing the tenor, then alto and then, not quite as successfully, bass. I enjoyed using the talents that God gave me. What a blessing!
But then a few years ago, I was listening to one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer books, entitled Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community originally published in 1939. (Bonhoeffer was the German Lutheran minister martyred in World War II for his blatant opposition to Hitler.)
Anyway, it is a wonderful book but one thing he said in it struck me and has stuck with me. Here is a quote,
Unison singing, difficult as it is, is less of a musical than a spiritual matter. Only where everybody in the group is disposed to an attitude of worship and discipleship can unison singing, even though it may lack much musically, give us the joy which is peculiar to it alone.
His assertion was that we must be careful of why we sing harmony in worship – where is our heart? Do we sing to lift up the name and attributes of our God…or is our desire to lift ourselves up? I am by no means condemning the singing of harmony but I think we should closely examine our motives.
Lord, may we be careful of not following the Pharisees’ example of just looking holy but may it be our goal to be holy as You are holy. May we be about giving praise to You and not seeking it for ourselves. Amen.
Oct 19th, 2018, Fri, 2:36 am