Tag: Jesus

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Christian Living

Needing a Redo. Does God allow us to start over?

There are times we all mess up and wish we could get a redo. A word we’ve spoken that we wish we could unsay. A decision we’ve made where we wish we could yell “Mulligan” and take a second shot. We wish an undo button existed.a photo of an undo button from a computer reminding us of our desire of a redo

That’s one of the reasons that I like reading about the Nazarite Vow and how God allowed for starting over – getting a redo!

The Old Testament book of Numbers gives information about the Nazarite Vow. Typically, the Nazarite Vow was a voluntary vow that a person took for a limited amount of time. During the vow, the person could not drink wine and could not be in the presence of anything dead. After the vow was completed, the person was again able to drink wine and take part in funerals.

But what if you had made a Nazarite vow, and you ended up accidentally encountering something dead before you completed the vow? What if you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that caused your important vow to be broken unintentionally. What a waste! But maybe God gave a chance for a redo?

Numbers 6:9 indicates that if a person in your presence suddenly died, which would unintentionally break your Nazarite vow, that you were then to shave off your hair and start over. This new beginning allowed you another opportunity to fulfill the vow you had made to the Lord.

While we don’t still take Nazarite vows, the reason I point this out is that I am so glad God gives us the chance to start over – to get that redo! (In fact, with God we get multiple redos!)

Warren Wiersbe says it this way

“Believers today need to realize that no failure need be permanent!”

And Pastor Alexander Whyte from the 1800s said:

“The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

photo of newly sprouted plantI’m so glad that our failures are not permanent and that God gives us new beginnings. Here’s a prayer for all of us who are grateful for redos today:

“Thank you Jesus for the chance to start over, for the truth that no failure needs to be permanent, and that each day with You is a new beginning!”

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Christian Living

Being a Light-Bearer for Jesus – Creating Holes in the Darkness

In preparing for a message on God’s light, I ran across this illustration of what it means to be a light-bearer for Christ:

Years ago, a traveler arrived at a village in France on Sunday evening, and found people hurrying through the streets, each carrying a similar looking lamp. As they walked through the streets with these lamps, little pockets of light were poking holes in the darkness.

The traveler stopped someone to ask where they were all going with these lamps and was told, “We have no other way of lighting our church. When the church was built, it was decided that each member should bring his own lamp. Everyone goes there to make it brighter, for he knows that if he stays away, the church will be darker and the service sadder.”

So the traveler followed the people and entered the church, and he saw that on every pew there was a place to hang a lamp; and as the church began filling, what began as individual little pockets of light, slightly piercing the darkness, became a building filled with light by the many lamps brought together to overcome the darkness.

a lantern - reminding you to be a light-bearer for ChristWe are called to do the same today. Jesus calls us the “light of the world,” and as a light-bearer, you carry the light of Christ within you. As a light-bearer, you poke a hole in the darkness individually when you are out in the world. But each of us are also called to bring our individual lights together as the church to make an even larger impact on the world around us as we bring glory to God and overcome the darkness with His Light.

God tells us that people love darkness rather than light. Without Jesus, our hearts are black, bound to sin, with no light within us. But Jesus wants you to receive His light and be transformed. What have you done with His light?

“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Jesus’s light helps us navigate through this dark world – His light helps you find a way through the treacherous paths that Satan and this sin-filled world have placed in front of you.a photo of lampposts in fog reminding us to be a light-bearer for Christ

Have you allowed God’s light to help you on your life journey? Are you sharing His light with others to help light their way? Or have you walked into danger and difficulty, because you were unwilling to accept His light?

Jesus – the Light of men – want to share His light with you today – the light that pierces the darkness, the light that will show you the path to His righteousness and allow you to be a light-bearer for Him. Let His Word and the Holy Spirit be your light, and then bring your light together with other light-bearers – to be even more effective at poking holes in the darkness and pointing people back to Jesus.photo of many lamps together - reminding us to come together as light-bearers for Christ

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Categories
Bible

God Is A Great Story-Teller

We all love stories. And God is great at providing amazing stories. And He has even written you into the story!photo of old books - reminding us that we love a good story

By calling God a story-teller, I’m not indicating the Bible is fiction. Too often, we’ve said something like “that person is telling stories” to indicate that they are lying. But a good story-teller is able to make a true account into a great story – not by embellishing it with fiction, but with tying the story together in a masterful way. Some are better at this than others. And God is simply the best!

As we read the true accounts of history in the Bible, we become amazed with how God unfolds His story of love and redemption and rescue. For example, we can see masterful story-telling in the story of Moses. In the story of the birth of Moses, we see that God is in control. And this should teach us that our great God is sovereign, and we can trust Him completely.

In the opening chapters of Exodus we find that the reigning Pharaoh has commanded that every Hebrew boy that is born is to be thrown into the Nile River and drowned. But Moses’s family places him in a basket in the river. The command of Pharaoh caused the family to try to hide Moses, and the best place they could come up with is the very river that was supposed to be the place of his death.a picture of the story of Moses in a basket in the Nile River

When Pharaoh’s daughter comes down to the river to bathe, she catches a glimpse of the basket, and she pulls the baby out of the river to raise him in the luxury of the palace. The family that had ordered the death of all the baby boys in the river pulls a baby boy out of the river and saves him from death. In a sense, Moses is resurrected to life. And this baby boy will be the one God will use to rescue His people from their bondage and slavery in Egypt.

How ironic that the ruler who says “drown all the infant boys in the river,” has his own daughter rescue God’s chosen spokesperson from the very same river! And on top of that, she then gives Moses back to his mother to wean him before bringing him to the palace to be raised. This shows how God is sovereign and is actively at work in so many ways.

Later on, God will tell us the story of another baby boy born (in Bethlehem) who a new king (Herod) orders to be killed. But instead of dying in infancy, God rescues this infant too, and He is the one God uses to rescue His people from their bondage and slavery to sin.a picture of the story of the birth of Jesus in the manger

This rescuing of His people occurs through Jesus’s death on the cross. And then Jesus is resurrected to life, proving to us all that He is the Savior of the world.

God’s story of love for us is remarkable. So why don’t we trust Him more completely?

Whatever you are worrying about today, turn it over to the sovereign control of God. If we trust the heart of God, then we can leave every worry behind. He is the master story-teller, and you have been written into this beautiful story!

Thank Him for rescuing you today and including you in His story of love and grace and redemption!

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Categories
Christian Living

Follow Up Thoughts on Persecution from Albert Barnes

In my previous post, I asked the question – If I’m not persecuted can I be a “good” Christian? Today, I want to have a short follow-up on this idea of persecution.
two goats butting heads - symbolizing standing against persecution
Albert Barnes helpful definition of persecution indicated that it comes in many forms, including ridicule, insults, or even simple exclusion from a group due to your Christian beliefs or behavior. Not only did he provide a defintion of persecution, but he also provided some practical thoughts about the issue:

(1.) Christians should prepare to be persecuted. One of the proper qualifications for membership in the church should be our willingness to bear persecution and to resolve not to shrink from any duty in order to avoid persecution (which included ridicule, insults, or even simple exclusion).
 
(2.) They who are persecuted for their opinions should consider that this may be an evidence that they have the Spirit of Christ, and are his true friends. They should remember that, in this respect, they are treated as the Master was, and are in the good company of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; for they were all persecuted.

However,
(3.) If we are persecuted, we should carefully inquire, before we avail ourselves of this consolation, whether we are persecuted because we “live godly in Christ Jesus,” or for some other reason.
      For example, a man may embrace some absurd opinion and call it religion; he may adopt some mode of dress that is unbelievably ludicrous, and may call it conscience; or he may be lacking in his manners, and rude in his demeanor with others, outraging all the laws of social life, and may call this “standing against the world.” For these types of behaviors, he may be condemned, ridiculed, and despised. But let him not believe that he is to be enrolled among the list of martyrs for this exclusion. The persecution which will properly furnish the evidence that we are the friends of Christ must only be that which is “for righteousness’ sake.”
 
(4.) Let those who have never been persecuted in any way inquire whether it is not an evidence that they have no religion. It is easy for a professed Christian to avoid persecution, if he yields to others at every point in which his religion is opposed to the world. But he needs to consider that if he finds himself yielding at every single point, then he may not be entitled to the Christian name.

—Albert Barnes (from the mid-1800’s)

Are you standing strong for Christ where others would have you bend?

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Categories
Christian Living

What are you watching? And should you be watching that?

Like everyone else, Paige & I enjoy watching Television and Movies. But we all need to ask ourselves: Should I watch this?

Below I want to provide you with six questions for you to consider regarding movie watching. These questions were drawn from two articles:
3 Questions to Ask Before Watching A Movie, and
5 Questions to Ask when Watching Movies.

If you want more than just the brief summary below, I recommend you read both of those articles in their entirety – They are helpful.

1. Should I really watch this movie?
This is a good starting question.
Why are you wanting to see this movie?
What are other people saying about it?
Read some reviews such as pluggedin.com, commonsensemedia.org, and the parent’s guides for the movie at imdb.com.
There are some movies that you do not need to see. Some that you know will trip you up. Some that you know have material in them that isn’t healthy for your mind, your language, and your purity.

2. Where are the true and false depictions of reality?
Because movies are made for our entertainment, every movie has some true depictions of reality and some false ones. Let’s make sure that we can identify these. Often the morality that is presented by Hollywood is problematic. And they like to sneak stuff in on us. For example, because the ending of the movie The Notebook was so sweet and touching, we easily forget that the relationship started by a girl cheating on her fiancé. Are we willing for the person who makes a commitment to marry us to go enjoy sex with someone else to find out if that person is their “soulmate”? Of course not.

So we must be careful that Hollywood’s depictions don’t lead us down paths that have us holding to false beliefs about life or romance.
What themes or ideas within the movie are God-honoring, and which ones are unbiblical? What qualities in the characters imitate God and vice-versa?

3. What kind of hero does this movie really need?
Every movie has a hero. But the hero won’t be Jesus. The question is how can we use the hero in the movie to think more clearly about Jesus? In what ways is the hero flawed? In what ways is he like our great Hero?

4. How is this movie trying to teach me something?
There’s no such thing as a movie without a message. So what is the main point of the movie?
Similar to question 2 above, this question is about trying to determine what the main message of the movie is and whether or not you agree with it. To help determine the main message, Listen for key lines & Determine the main character’s goal.

5. How is this movie affecting me spiritually?
Usually the most important aspect of the movie is not the rating, but the message of the movie and how it will affect me spiritually.
Movies can and will affect your walk with Jesus. If, after checking the reviews, you think a movie will likely hurt your walk with Christ, then it’s probably wise to remove it from your “to see” list.

6. How can I use this movie to talk to my friends about Jesus?
Not everyone is a critical thinker when it comes to movies. But almost everyone watches movies. Therefore conversations about movies will take place all around you. So be willing to talk about movies and use them to change the conversations toward spiritual ideas that arise from the movies you see.

“Many non-believers won’t accept an invitation to come to church, but they will talk about a movie they’ve seen recently, so we want to turn that conversation into an eternally significant discussion.”

Part of disciplemaking is helping each other process information using a God-focused worldview instead of a secular worldview. Discuss movies and other media (TV, music, books, even commercials) with your family, children, grandchildren. Use every opportunity available as a disciplemaking moment. Ask your children some engaging questions after watching a movie or TV show together, such as:

  • What is it trying to teach us?
  • What was the main point?
  • Was there anything in it that reminds us of God – His character, word, or commands?
  • Was there anything in it that directly goes against God’s character or His word or His commands?
  • How can we use this film to talk to others about Jesus?

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