He Was

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8

Not many people, I think, will have a problem with the 'he was' part when speaking of the man who lived in the first century A.D. Jesus is known through the Bible record and by other historical records such as Josephus. However, to some of those people during what we would consider the 'he was' time, Jesus said that he was from a time before their time, way before their time:

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8:58

Properly freaked out by this, they stooped to gather some rocks to make him a 'he was' right there and then. But His time had not yet come.

Rejoice in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

Wait On the Lord

Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!
  -- Psalm 27:14

David, the youth who found the king's army waiting in fear, because of that giant fellow, and acted in courage, would later write psalms of waiting on the Lord. As it was time for him to act in one circumstance, other circumstances taught David the value of waiting on the Lord. Wisdom comes from the Lord to teach us also when it is time to act and when to wait in prayer for the Lord.

Of course to the world around us, it will often look like acting quickly equals rash foolishness and waiting in prayer appears to be doing nothing. And the voice of temptation will be there to help us know how the world sees us in those times too. This is why we need the strengthening of the heart only our Lord can provide!

Have a blessed day in Christ Jesus,

Bucky

New Speech, Please!

He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
  -- 1 Peter 3:10

The verse today looks like a psalm, and it is as Peter wrote from Psalm 34 in his letter. And it still addresses issues we have today. So a psalm of David from about 1,000 years before Jesus, came to a letter from Peter written about 2,000 years before our time, and still we struggle with those two lips and one tongue.

May God grant us mercy, and clean, loving, and encouraging speech.

Bucky

An Unlikely Gospel

As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.  Mark 2:14

Each of us may recall back in those days of our youth when we were caught in that hard place where experience came from jobs, but jobs were closed to us by that same lack of experience. Many of the jobs we ended up taking we would have easily given up to follow a traveling rabbi, if we had  such a thing in our time. However, let's say we each had a job that paid really well, as in destined for great wealth kind of well paid, and there was personal security in that job from the governing authority, and performing well in that job directly benefited our savings accounts. Sounds too good to be true! The tax collectors in Levi's (Matthew's) time had it that way, and they liked their jobs. Their only problem was that their nation and people hated them for doing those jobs. No doubt counting their money in the evening helped them get over their most-hated status. What could be more unlikely then for a travelling rabbi with no money to call one of the most hated men of Galilee to follow him and give up that lucrative job? I guess it would be for the tax collector to drop everything and take off following that same rabbi! And so from a couple of highly unlikely choices, we have the wonders of the Gospel of Matthew. 

Praise Jesus for choosing the unlikely ones,

Bucky

A Prayer For Jesus

Help us, O God of our salvation,
For the glory of Your name;
And deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
For Your name's sake!
  --  Psalm 79:9 

Centuries before the Christ came to Bethlehem, Asaph wrote a psalm praying that the Savior would come and deliver them. This prayer for Jesus asked God for just what His Son did for us as told in the gospels. What an awesome answer to this prayer God gave to us in His Son Jesus!

Bucky

Servant He Is

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. John 13:13

After one of His great examples of serving by doing, Jesus sat down with His disciples having washed their feet like the lowest household slave. And then He acknowledges titles of honor the disciples had used for Jesus the Christ. Rabbi or teacher of us the students and learners, and master or lord, as in we belong to You. It was a strange thing the disciples witnessed: the teacher and master had just taken up the lowest slave position and done the dirtiest job available. And in the next verse, Jesus told them to do the same. Even today we are encouraged to strive for the highest position in the corporation or government. And at some point in life, most of us join in that game with enthusiasm. Imagine achieving that high position of CEO, president, or king, and then going out back to do the lowest and dirtiest job. The disciples were freaked out a bit, I'm sure, just as we would be.

So, are we okay as servants yet?

Bucky

Fearless All Day

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
  -- Psalm 91:5,6 

Night, day, darkness, and noonday, we have the day covered in these two verses. Terror, arrow, pestilence, and destruction covers all our fears as well. But it's that promise from the start that gives the assurance needed to be fearless through every day. "You shall not be afraid..." Of course I seem to be still working on that. Nope, cannot claim to have stood fearless all day of pretty much any day yet. Call it anxiety, PTSD, nervousness, trepidation, or any other term, it remains and has always been plain ol' fear. Even worry has its basis in fear. Worried about that? Then you might be afraid God won't. Worried about this? Then you may be afraid God will. Worried the world will soon be blown up? Then maybe you're afraid God ain't. Read Psalm 91 sometime this weekend and see that God is, and that God loves, and rejoice!

Yours in Christ,

Bucky