The Kindness and Sternness of God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 14:23-24,

"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'"

This statement comes at the end of the parable of the "great banquet". Jesus told this parable of a master who prepared a great banquet in Luke 14:15-24. Jesus provided it in response to the beatitude expressed by someone at the table with Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Luke 14:15.

In the parable, the intended guests that had been invited to the master's banquet made excuses and didn't attend. They rejected the master's invitation. This angered the master and so he sent his servant to invite others, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame." Luke 14:21. The response of the master of the banquet, who represents God in Jesus' parable here, is instructive of God.

The master tells his servant to invite and bring in folks who are far off, but those who were invited and rejected the invitation will not be allowed in, "not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet." This calls to mind Paul's sobering admonition, "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God…" Romans 11:22. God is kind to those who respond to his invitation in faith, and stern toward those who reject him.

In Jeremiah 9:23-24, the Lord says, "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight". God is not one or the other. He is both full of mercy and full of judgment, he is both loving and just. As he told Moses, when he revealed himself to him, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7.

The Lord is both forgiving and punishing, compassionate as well as intolerant of sin. He wants us to know these two sides of him as he repeatedly presents himself in Scripture in just this way. Which side will we see? As those who were initially invited in Jesus' parable and subsequently locked out because of their rejection of his invitation, so we, likewise will see the "sternness of God" represented in being locked out of God's kingdom in the resurrection and cast into a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8.

On the other hand, as those who were far off, but responded to the master's invitation in Jesus' parable, we too will find ourselves embraced by God, at his banquet, in his kingdom in the resurrection! The side we see of God depends on our response of faith and trust to his invitation.

"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Wheeling and Dealing with God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 13:2,

"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?"

Here is the comment Jesus made when he was told of Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate. Jesus also related his comment to another report of eighteen who were killed when a tower in Siloam had collapsed.

Why did Jesus respond in this way? If I may be permitted to speculate a bit, I suspect Jesus was addressing some faulty thinking that continues even today. That faulty thinking is that I can determine or control my fate by being a do-gooder. The thinking would be, since something bad happened to these Galileans, they must have been more sinful. If I make certain choices, then I can manipulate my future by calling for God's control of things through the choices I make. Bad things should happen to bad people and good things should happen to good people. Hence, Jesus asks the question. He doesn't leave the answer to them, however, and goes on to say, "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke 13:3.

Even a casual reading of Job and Foxe's Book of Martyrs should disabuse ourselves of the notion that bad things only happen to bad people and good things only happen to good people. Yet many feel if they make certain choices, they quite possibly can effect certain outcomes for themselves. While that may seem to happen at times, it is simply faulty thinking. Nevertheless, the pursuit goes on and many put in the effort as a result of faulty thinking. When good things come to us, we need simply express our thankfulness to our gracious God's expression of love to us.

What does Jesus mean, unless we repent we will perish? Does it mean we can avoid physical death if we repent? No, he is speaking of a more profound death. Eternal death in the judgment of God following our physical death and later resurrection. "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15. This is the death Jesus was speaking of. He used an account of physical death to relate truth about eternal death. Jesus taught that, opposed to eternal death in the judgment of God, we can have eternal life if we repent, turn our hearts to him, embrace him in trust and faith.

Faulty thinking leads us into thinking we have control over things we can't control. Jesus said those who suffered untimely and violent deaths were not worse sinners. We all exist on the wrong side of the threshold of God's judgment as we are all sinners. And, although we can make some choices that can impact our health, life expectancy and other things (we can commit suicide, smoke, etc… I am reminded of "we reap what we sow".) we can't manipulate God over how long we might live or what we may experience with our health, etc.  Some of the very best athletes on the best of diets get cancer or die in a car accident and it may not have anything to do with God's judgment. We simply cannot control our fate, and to think so is simply faulty thinking. Yet, the wheeling and dealing with God through do-gooder effort continues.

We do, however, have one very important determination we can make. "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." The most important determination of all is determining our destination after physical death: eternal life or eternal death? Eternity in God's kingdom, sharing in his glories and pleasures, or suffering miserably in a fiery lake of burning sulfur? That we do have a choice over and can determine and that was the point Jesus made in a very insightful observation he caught folks in.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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God's Great Love in Spite of My Shortcomings - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 12:2-3,

"There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs."

Here is a sobering reality... God knows it all! He knows everything about me: my thoughts, my feelings, the things I have ever said and done. He knows it all! I can't begin to express the consternation this brings to me! You may have been well-behaved over the years, but I can't say the same for myself.

I am reminded of a couple of other passages that touch on this same theme. "He [the Lord] will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God." 1 Corinthians 4:5. The Lord can only do this if he knows it all. Also, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13. There simply is no escaping it. Someone knows absolutely everything about us - and that someone is God himself!

In spite of knowing all of my faults, my weaknesses, my shortcomings, the Lord loves me anyway. This is an amazing thing! The very impulse to feel consternation at anyone knowing everything about me is the fear of disapproval, rejection, condemnation… maybe even disgust! But the Lord loves me in spite of my shortcomings, in spite of those things I am not proud of, in spite of poor decisions on my part, in spite of the many ways I have disappointed him and treated him other than my Creator, the God of my life!

How can he love me? This is the one aspect of our God that I find so astonishing! Whether I read John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he sent his Son…" or Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Titus 3:4-5 also comes to mind, "When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." So, how do I know these verses apply to me? I know they do because they constitute God's invitation to us all. "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…" John 1:12. He loves us all and he invites us all to himself, regardless of how unlovely we might be!

David, who had his own faults knew something of this as he confided in the Lord in Psalm 139, "O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

Here is the confession of a murderer and an adulterer. David knew God was aware of everything about him. And, yet, David knew of God's love for him, the same love he has for each of us, in spite of our faults, "I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." Psalm 13:5-6. This will be the song we will all sing on that wonderful day as we reflect on God's love for us that brought us into his kingdom.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.  

The Lord takes what he wants! - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 11:21-22,

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils."

When Jesus was accused of casting demons out of afflicted people by Beelzebub, "the prince of demons", in this case a man who was mute from a demonic presence, he responded, "a house divided against itself will fall." He went on to say that if he drove out demons by "the finger of God", then the kingdom of God had come to them. It was a sobering observation of the Lord that God was moving and the presence of God's kingdom had come to them as evidenced by the things Jesus was doing.

It is this further observation of the Lord that captures my heart. In it, Satan is pictured as a "strong man" attempting to keep his possessions to himself. But now that the Lord is here, as a much stronger opponent, he attacks and overpowers the devil, crushes his defenses, and takes what he wants.

And he wants us! "For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3.

There is nothing in the cosmos that can keep the Lord from what he wants. His disposition of love for us makes this reality something to behold in wonder and excitement! His intentions for us is what life has always been designed to be in the perfection of beauty, satisfaction and fulfillment that could only be designed by God himself!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.

Choosing What is Better - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 10:38-42,

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to what he said. Her sister, Martha, was concerned and distracted by all those "preparations that had to be made." Martha had opened their home to the Lord and his disciples and the picture we see here is that while Martha was focused on the many practical concerns of hosting the Lord and his disciples, Mary was focused on one thing - listening to the Lord, sitting at his feet and listening to what he had to say.

Where Martha asked Jesus to tell Mary to help with the preparations, the Lord told her that Mary had chosen what was best - to sit at his feet and listen to what he had to say. Left unsaid, it could be assumed the thought was that the preparations could take care of themselves - something far more important was going on.

This certainly brings to mind the 168 hours each week we are given here in this life. There are many concerns, many things that distract us, many responsibilities that call for our attention. While not suggesting that many of these things are unimportant, Jesus expresses here that there is a priority of importance. That priority is to sit at his feet and listen to what he has to say. We do that by picking up our Bibles and listening to him speak.

At the end of any week, we should be able to look back at those 168 hours and be able to say we had "chosen what is better" for some of them. What did your week and my week look like last week?
 
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Service In the Lord's Kingdom - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 9:13,

"You give them something to eat."

One time, when Jesus and his disciples had gone to a remote place near Bethsaida, his disciples came to Jesus with a concern about the folks that had followed them there. After the crowd listened to Jesus speak of the kingdom of God, when the afternoon arrived, his disciples asked Jesus to send them away to get food and lodging as evening was drawing near. Jesus responded by telling the disciples to feed the people themselves.

What transpires next in the account is the miraculous feeding of the five thousand from five loaves of bread and two fish. It is an amazing account of a true miracle. As I read it a number of thoughts come to mind. The feeding of these folks with what the disciples had is an obvious metaphor for what the apostles would be doing later as they took the gospel to the world and is yet still an assignment for all of us today.

I am reminded of what Jesus told the devil when he tempted the Lord while he was hungry, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus' answer was, "Man does not live on bread alone." Luke 4:3-4. The allusion of consumption of the gospel as with food is a common theme.

Jesus said in John's gospel, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." John 6:32-33. "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35 "I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." John 6:47-51.

Just as folks need food to live, so they need Jesus Christ for eternal life. Deprivation of either results in death. The one a physical death, the other an eternal death.

Just as Jesus empowered his twelve disciples to perform the miraculous, so he continues to empower his disciples to do the miraculous today. Just as Jesus provided necessary food for the disciples to distribute to others, so he provides the necessary gospel for us to take to others.

Jesus could have fed these five thousand himself in some miraculous way without involving his disciples ("you give them something to eat") and, likewise, he could build his kingdom without using us. But he has chosen to use us, to engage us in his grand enterprise. Through this he has provided us the most noble of all purposes life has to offer: service in the Lord's kingdom.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Misery With a Purpose - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 8:4,

"A large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town..."

This comment was made by Luke as he sets the stage for his account of Jesus' Parable of the Sower. Why were people coming to Jesus from town after town? In Luke 5:15 we are told, "Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses." People were suffering from sickness. They suffered from demon possession. Jesus spoke to their poverty and hunger in Luke 6:20-21. Lepers, paralytics, Peter's mother-in-law with a high fever, folks were suffering and looking for relief. As news of Jesus Christ spread, people flocked to him for that relief. Even dead people were raised back to life, providing relief for the grieving, as in the case of the raising of the dead son of a widow in Luke 7:11-17. To be sure, there must have been many who came, simply to hear of the hope Jesus Christ offered, to hear someone speak from God, as say, Nicodemus, in John 3. But many came to seek relief from the things they struggled with.

What misery! The gospels are full of accounts of misery folks lived in. A common thread throughout is the relief folks sought for their frustrations, their misery. We likewise see it today as nothing has changed. We may have technological advances available to us. We may have much improved healthcare. We may have a much higher standard of living than the folks we read of in the gospels. But one thing that has not changed is that we all face our frustrations, our miseries, whether real or imagined, whether life-threatening or simply inconveniences. And, as the folks in Jesus' day, we seek relief from them.

A guaranteed bestseller for any author down at the Christian book store is a convincing volume on how to find relief from the things that break our hearts, the frustrations, the failures, the misery - in other words, how to have a happy and fulfilled life. The greatest scam in our day are the religious broadcasters who promise relief from our miseries if we simply send in our "faith-promise pledge" of so and so dollars. Many have gotten rich in our day by preying on the misery of others. Folks in the worst poverty, sending in what little they have with a promise they will receive tenfold. Why would they do such a thing? Desperation to find relief from poverty, misery or illness.

Why does such misery abound? Surely much of it is caused by our own poor choices. The account of man's fall in the garden of Eden begins the story of the misery mankind has brought on himself. Life comes with misery built in. We all get sick and eventually die. We all suffer the grief that the death of a loved one brings. Misery in this life is inescapable. If God loves us why doesn't he just remove those things from us that we struggle with? Even Paul spoke of something he suffered that the Lord would not bring relief for. He tells us of "a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me." 2 Corinthians 12:7. There he speaks of his prayers, that the Lord would bring him relief, prayers that were answered in a way other than removing the torment. He was told the Lord had a purpose for what Paul suffered.

So, is there a purpose for all the misery and suffering that afflict us all, at one time or another? If so, what is the Lord's purpose in it? I can't help but notice that in Luke's gospel, the very things that folks suffered from provided them the motivation to seek the Lord. As then, often it is the frustrations we struggle with today that drive us to the Lord. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:20-21, "The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."

As in Jesus' day, our frustrations, our sufferings drive us to the Lord. How often I have prayed to God for relief from one thing or another to the One who took pains to bring it into my life for my own good in the first place! I have labored under the false notion that it is God's job to answer my prayers so that I can lead a successful and fulfilling life, a life filled with happiness through the absence of frustration, suffering and pain. After all, isn't it all about my happiness in this life?

It turns out this life is not all about me. God is building his kingdom. God loves me and I have my part in it as we all do, and a part of that involves God drawing us to himself, even if some desperation, frustration and misery may be required. As Paul goes on to quote Psalm 44:22, "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

I wonder how many books this message might sell… I suspect not many…

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.