Tag Archives: Salvation

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The Good Stuff

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Wine decanter and glasses.
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Chapter-a-Day 1 Corinthians 6

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

Wendy and I like to entertain. We don’t do it as often as we’d like and, while we don’t go to extremes, there are evenings when we choose to get out “the good stuff.” Paper napkins are replaced by cloth. Plates are put on gold chargers. Because we are going to bring out the good wine, the nice wine glasses are placed on the table along with a special wine decanter for pouring, aerating and serving the wine. We recognize that our guests are honored when we make the effort to break out “the good stuff” for our dinner together.

Let me be honest. The verses above have haunted me for most of my journey. I have never been uber athletic. Running marathons, competing in triathlons, or getting involved in recreational athletics have never held much appeal for me. Okay, they’ve never held any appeal for me whatsoever. Like most Americans, I like to eat. While I have given regular and serious thought to my diet and to exercise (e.g. I think about eating better, I think about exercising, I contemplate the benefits of doing so), an honest audit of my behavior over time would reveal that I have had little or no discipline in this area. This past year has been one of two periods of my life in which I’ve dropped some serious weight. And yet, the verses still haunt me.

God’s Message clearly teaches that following Jesus means inviting Him into our hearts and our lives. There is something simple and mystical yet powerfully in the act of sincerely saying to Jesus “Come into my heart. Come into my life. Save me.” Elsewhere in God’s Message, Jesus says:

“Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you.” [emphasis added] Revelation 3:20 (MSG)

The night Jesus gave Himself up for us, He took wine and blessed it and said, “this is my blood.” When I read these verses from today’s chapter, what haunts me is this: when Jesus is invited into our hearts and our lives, our very own bodies become the decanter for creation’s most precious wine. Yet, the way I’ve treated my body most of my life is no different than welcoming my most honored guest and His gift of precious wine by grabbing a dirty, used styrofoam cup off the counter and telling Him to “fill ‘er up.”

Lord, have mercy on me.

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Spiritual Home Improvement

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shack at the landfill
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Chapter-a-Day 1 Corinthians 3

Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. I Corinthians 3:12-13 (NLT)

Down in Missouri, on the lot next to our Playhouse there sits a house on a poured foundation. Years ago the owners poured a nice concrete foundation and began to build on top of it. They enclosed the house, furnished the inside and added a patio door that opened toward the lake. Then, they abandoned it.

No one has been to the house on the lot next to ours for decades. The roof collapsed. The furniture and walls are covered in black mold. Local wildlife have lived on the inside and caused more destruction to the contents. The house is a health hazard and an eye sore. But, the foundation is still solid. We have more than one friend who has eyed the property and come to the conclusion that you could bulldoze the house, clean off the foundation, and start building a new home on it.

That house (or what’s left of it) is the perfect word picture of exactly what today’s chapter is trying to communicate. When we come to the point of decision and choose to follow Jesus, the Spirit of God indwells us and pours a rock-solid spiritual foundation in our hearts. From that point on our motivations, our thoughts, our words, and our actions are the construction materials with which we build our spiritual “house” on that foundation. As we live day-to-day, the quality of our choices and lives determine the quality of the spiritual house we’re building. Some of us throw up a shack and are content to live in spiritual squalor. Others take the time, develop the discipline, and make the sacrificial investment to build a spiritual mansion. Like our neighbors at the lake, some of us abandon our spiritual building and its foundation altogether.

Today, I’m meditating on this simple word picture and considering the quality of the spiritual house I’m building on the foundation of salvation Jesus poured in my heart 30 years ago. As all homeowners know, the work is never finished. I have sections of the house I’m proud of. I have other sections that need to be gutted and renovated from the ground up. As one company reminds us: “never stop improving.” As long as there is life and breath, the building and renovation of my spiritual house will continue.

 

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Chapter-a-Day

The Point of Decision

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from creativelenna via Flickr
from creativelenna via Flickr

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NLT)

 

I recently read about a centerfold model who decided to follow Jesus and announced to her fans that she was leaving the industry, inviting them to join her in her decision to strike out on a new path of following Christ. I can only imagine the reaction she faced from those who could not understand her decision. When you read her heart-felt message to her fans and co-workers, there is no doubt that she had made a decision and that her life had changed.

While God is continually at work, there does come a point in one’s journey when you make a decision about Jesus. In fact, as you read his followers first-hand accounts of Jesus’ life they chronicle time and time again when Jesus called people to a point of decision: Leave you own way of doing things and follow me. Some did. Some did not. It is no different today.

Most followers of Jesus can point to a moment in time, or a period of time, when that decision was made in their lives. Talk to those who follow Jesus and they can usually tell you about a “before” and “after.” Slowly or quickly, things change for those who truly make the decision to believe. For me, the decision came on a cold February evening in 1981. I remember it like it was yesterday. In a quiet prayer I told Jesus I was sorry for my shortcomings, I acknowledged that I believed that He was the Son of God who died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sin, and I asked Him to come into my heart and life. Then, things began to change.

It sounds so simple. It seems so foolish. Yet those who have experienced it know the difference that the “very power of God” can bring to a person’s life. I’ve been following for  over 30 years. No turning back. I’d love to have you join me. Here’s the gist of the prayer that started my faith journey. It’s a good one, and simple. Feel free to make it your own.

God, I’m so sorry for the things I’ve done and the person I’ve been. I think I get it now. I can’t do this on my own. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me. Please, forgive me. Come into my heart. Come into my life. I give myself to you.

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Chapter-a-Day 1 Peter 3

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Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. 1 Peter 3:18a (NLT)

Wendy and I are sports fans. We follow our teams and enjoy watching them through the seasons. This means it’s been busy the past few weeks as baseball season is winding down, but football season is in full swing. The result is that we’re watching a lot of sports on television and the DVR is working overtime recording shows and movies that we likely won’t get to until after the fall classic.

Though we love watching many different sports, my love of baseball has grown over the years while my love of other sports has waned. There are a number of reasons for this. Baseball, more than any other sport, is a metaphor for life. It is a day-by-day journey that starts with the promise of life each spring and ends (especially for Cubs fans) with the harsh realities of death and disappointment each fall leaving hope of resurrection “next year.” Within the long journey there are highs and lows. Even the worst of teams pull together a few winning streaks and the best of teams are going to experience a host of disappointing losses. The best of the best hitters fail seven out of ten times at the plate. The greatest of pitchers give up a home run now and then.

While I love all these things about baseball, the one thing that I’ve come to appreciate most is the simple object of the game: making it home safely. It is the same objective that this wayfaring stranger has as I day-by-day walk my journey through this world of woe. You’ll even find it in the banner of my blog. It is the same way Peter summarizes the message of Jesus in today’s chapter: Jesus died on a cross and suffered as a sacrifice for ours sins once for all and did so in order to bring we sinners safely home.

Those who’ve walked with me for a long time have watched me hit a few home runs but have more often seen me strike out swinging. I’ve been hit by pitches and have stolen a few bases. I’ve also dropped some easy pop flies. Nevertheless, I get up early each morning with the promise that it’s a new day. I can’t do anything about yesterday’s bitter loss. I can only do my best in today’s game as I make my way toward the inevitable winter that slowly approaches.

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Chapter-a-Day Hosea 13

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46 is the earliest (nearly) complete manuscrip...
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“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
    I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
    Where, O grave, is your destruction?”
Hosea 13:14 (NIV)

One of the cool things about God’s Message is that no matter how many times you wander through it and no matter how well you think you know it, you always stumble upon something new.

I read this verse of prophetic judgment from Hosea this morning, and it struck me that it was reminiscent of a verse from Paul’s letter to those following Jesus in the city of Corinth. So, I did a little exploration. Sure enough, in the Greek translation of the original Hebrew  version of Hosea (which Paul would have studied and read) this verse would have read:

O death, where is your punishment?
O grave, where is your sting?

So, I flipped over to Paul’s letter and read:

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul actually quoted two prophetic texts. The first line was from the prophet Isaiah, and the second two lines was our verse from today’s chapter. What I found really inspiring this morning is that the words from the prophet Hosea were harbingers of doom. There was no hope in them in the context of Hosea’s message. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, they become words of hope and assurance to those who follow. This very verse is a word picture of God’s story. The assurance of doom and death is transformed into the assurance of hope and life.

God so loved you and me that He sent His only Son Jesus, so that those who believe will not experience the doom in the words of Hosea’s prophecy, but the life, hope and assurance that – with the same words – Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 15

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Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?    
     Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,    
     speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Psalm 115:1-2 (NLT)

In my daily vocation I help assess the quality of customer service being delivered on the phone by the individual sales and service agents of our clients. Our methodology is to drive our clients to be the absolute best that they can be. We don’t want them just to appease the customer, but to provide memorable, positive experiences. Therefore, our assessment scales tend to measure against a high standard. It is hard to get 100% on an assessment because it requires most agents to step out of their comfort zone, go the extra mile, break old habits, and develop new service skills that make them stand out in the customer’s mind.

I’ve been surprised over time how much push back we get, not so much from front-line agents who don’t want to change, but also from supervisors and managers who believe in low standards. Many managers start with the premise that everyone should score 100% on every assessment and build their assessments to make that happen.

As I read today’s chapter it read like a Quality Assessment form for life. Who is going to make it onto God’s Holy Hill and into heaven? At first reading it’s easy to think, “Oh yeah, I do that for the most part.” But, thinking back to my post yesterday I realize that you can find plenty of examples of me blowing it on every piece of criteria outlined on Psalm 15’s assessment form. God sets an impossibly high standard – moral perfection, in fact – for entrance to His Holy Hill.

Our customer service QA forms set a high customer service standard, but even we don’t expect perfection. How can I possibly measure up to God’s standard of perfection?

I can’t, and I never will.

That’s one of the biggest misconceptions about God’s Message. It’s not about what we do. It’s about what God did when He sent Jesus to bear the penalty for our shortcomings, to forgive us, and to pay the way for our entrance to God’s Holy Hill. My daily striving to live up to God’s standard continues, not because I’ve got to earn my entrance to heaven, but because I want to please the One who paid the ultimate price for my entry fee with His own blood.

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Chapter-a-Day Acts 17

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“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.” Acts 17:27-28a (NLT)

According to a survey cited in the Washington Post, 92 percent of Americans believe in God, a Universal Spirit, or Higher Power.

This isn’t a shock to me. It fits with my own experience through life’s journey. I have come to realize that most people, if not all people, have an inherent awareness of God’s existence and presence around them, even when they can’t quite understand it or wrap any kind of definition around it. Even when I talk to one of the eight percent who profess not to believe in God, I often sense that their unbelief springs out of a rebellion or reaction rooted in spiritual pain or injury caused by religion or misguided religious zealots.

Paul was tapping into this same awareness as he stood in Athens and observed the diverse religious activity around him. He realized that with all of their religion the people of Athens were feeling their way towards God, acting on the awareness of God’s presence all around them. Even today churches are filled with those who are feeling around, trying to find God and grab on.

Jesus said that we will find Him if we seek after Him with all of our heart. I’ve come to understand that the crucial question is not if we believe in the existence of a Higher Power. Most, if not all of us do in one form or another. The more crucial question is: “For what (or whom) are our hearts truly seeking?”

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Chapter-a-Day Acts 5

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Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
Acts 5:3-4 (NLT)

I have found that most of the world views their own eternal standing in terms of balance:

“I do some good things, and I also do some bad things. I therefore look at life like a set of Justice’s scales. I weigh my good against my bad and try to maintain a good to bad ratio that favors the good. If, at the end of my life, the scale tips to the good then I’m golden. God’s going to let me in to heaven.”

The premise of this thinking, is that our salvation is ultimately determined by what we do and that God will ultimately judge us based on how the scale reads at the end of our life. God’s Message, however, reveals a completely different picture.

Jesus said that the little bit of bad we do is like yeast in bread dough. It’s the smallest of ingredients, yet it taints the entire loaf. Once the yeast is in the dough you can’t reverse its effect. In the same way, even the “little white lies” that we tell, like Ananias and Sapphira in today’s chapter, taint our entire soul. There is no amount of good that we can do to negate and purify us from the effects of the bad that we have done. Salvation is not determined by what we do because no amount of effort can eradicate it from our hearts and lives. Sin is a lethal, spiritual super virus. Once it’s in our system (and it’s in all of us) there is no regimen, no matter how rigorous, that can flush it out.

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Chapter-a-Day Hebrews 8

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Magnetic compass.

And I will forgive their wickedness,
and I will never again remember their sins.
Hebrews 8:12 (NLT)

When I embrace a subtle misunderstanding of a core spiritual truth, my compass moves a degree or two off True North. It may not matter as I’m standing in place or for short distances, but over life’s journey it can result in me being completely off course.

I have observed in myself and in others a subtle misunderstanding of God’s teaching on forgiveness that makes a huge difference in the course of our spiritual trajectory. Without noticing it, we reject, misunderstand and ignore God’s truth about forgiveness.

God’s Message makes it clear that Jesus died once for all in sacrificial payment for our sins. In doing so He freely offers forgiveness for our sins past, present and future. As stated in today’s chapter, God remembers our sins no more. However, rather than embrace this forgiveness which was dearly bought and freely offered, we often choose to cling to the deep feelings of shame and guilt which have woven themselves into our thoughts, words and actions. We shackle ourselves to the shame of our wrongs past and present. We live under the dark cloud it spreads over our souls.

Having quietly rejected the gift of forgiveness Jesus paid for and offers, still living under the cloud of guilt and shame,  we set about to do something about it ourselves. We do good deeds, we clean ourselves up, we do nice things for others, and we give a little money to a good cause. We even go to church. The motivation for all of these altruistic actions, however, are not gratitude at what Jesus did in forgiving us (past tense) but in the subtle hope that they might eventually earn His forgiveness (it’s therefore not what Jesus did, but we are doing that makes forgiveness possible). I’m not motivated out of gratitude of what has been done for me but by hope that what I’m doing might pay off in the end. Any actor worth his salt knows that the motivation behind the action makes all the difference in the world.

We are now quietly going about to try to be good and earn our forgiveness on a set of internal scales we’ve created for ourselves. On these scales we weigh our sins and wrong doing against all of the good things we’ve been trying to do. This, in turn, affects how we deal with forgiving others who’ve wronged us. If my sins are freely and completely forgiven by Jesus and He is not holding any of my wrongs against me, how can I in good conscience turn and refuse to forgive another person for perpetrating an injury of some kind on me? I can’t. If, however, I am daily operating under the notion that I am working hard to be good and earn God’s forgiveness then the rules for how I treat others completely change. Now I can look at the perpetrator and weigh them out on the same scale I’m using for myself. I know that I’m working hard at being good and making God happy, but the only thing I see in them is that they have done bad and injured me. The scale is clearly tipped in my favor. I’m doing good and they have done bad. My resolute anger, my seething hatred, and my deep-set grudge are all perfectly justified when weighed out on my own internal scale of justice.

I refused to embrace the truth that I am truly and completely forgiven by God, not because of what I’ve done but because of what Jesus did for me. I’ve continued to try to overcome my feelings of guilt and shame with an endless stream of good deeds in the mistaken notion that I can somehow earn some kind of spiritual Eagle Scout badge and receive the accompanying reward of forgiveness. I’ve leveraged this false spiritual economy into justifying my own anger, hatred and grudges toward others.

How quickly being a degree or two off in my understanding of forgiveness can lead me far afield from where I should be in my relationship with God, myself and others.

Today, I’m embracing God’s forgiveness and giving up my mistaken notion that it has anything to do with what I have done, am doing, or will do. I’m re-evaluating my relationships with others and choosing to give up my self-righteous internal scales of justice… and forgive.

 

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Jonah 2

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I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
      I was imprisoned in the earth,
      whose gates lock shut forever.
   But you, O LORD my God,
      snatched me from the jaws of death!
Jonah 2:6 (NLT)

I don’t care how low we’ve sunk, how far we’ve fallen, or how deep into it we find ourselves. There is no pit in this life so deep that God’s love and mercy are not deeper still.

God is in the business of snatching people from the depths and raising them up.

Reach out. Grab hold. Believe.