The Best Advocate

But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.
  -- Isaiah 64:6

A man gathered up his righteous good deeds and took them to lay before the throne of Heaven. Immediately a messenger of the Lord swept them up in a dustpan and dumped them in the fires outside the holy city. The man tried to blame the messenger, but in his shock he had failed to note which one it was who had done away with his good deeds. The court looked at him; the man felt a guilty sweat break out on his face as another messenger began reading a list of his charges to the court. His sins, he noted, had begun to pile up rather alarmingly at the very place his righteous deeds had been. If even his good work had been burned like filthy rags, what would his sins look like? What was going to happen to him?

We do not have to enter the judgment like this man. Believe in the One who died to pay for all our sins, and show up to court with an Advocate, Jesus our Lord.

Bucky

According To His Word

Let Your mercies come also to me, O LORD—
Your salvation according to Your word.
  -- Psalm 119:41

Ah, a tube of biscuits, what a great way to startle the morning. 

A critical component of our faith is that the word of God is absolutely true. If God should renege on even one promise or prophecy, we are lost and leading the most miserable of lives. The psalm writer here calls upon salvation from God according to His word. God speaks by His word, and His word belongs to God. Anything less and we have serious problems with eternity and such. So, be happy that words like Almighty and omniscient belong to God alone. 

Your word is very pure;
Therefore Your servant loves it.
  -- Psalm 119:140

Bucky

A Bit of Thanksgiving

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14

We have for ourselves a peculiar thing where our government shuts down if not funded by money it may not have. Well it's over for this present iteration. We may get another one next February. After that stink in Washington D.C., we could use a better fragrance in the air of this place.

Paul the apostle of Christ Jesus often wrote these amazing little notes of thanksgiving and praise. Paul wrote, "and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." Wonderful! We often think that it is our doing that carries the most weight, but it is the work of our Lord Jesus in us that carries the fragrance. Any triumph we have in this life must be from His leading us in Christ. Without that leading we would tend to go off in any direction of selfish pleasure or inglorious sin. So, let's air out this place by following Jesus our Lord!

Bucky

Looking For The Good News

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
Loving favor rather than silver and gold.
-- Proverbs 22:1

In the pursuit of wealth game, I will admit that others have greater skill than I do. Looks like I'm in a position to take Solomon's advice then. Hmm, in this competitive world, not every person I have met will remember my name as good, or look upon me with loving favor. So what is left for me to present to the Judge when this all comes to a close? Fortunately for me, I have heard good news; a gospel with salvation in it for the lost sheep of the world. Even a person with a bad name, hated by all, and useless in gathering riches can come to the Savior and rejoice in Him. Now that's some good news!

Praise God for the gospel of Jesus!

Bucky

Served Many

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

A respectful Veterans Day to all those who served their country in the armed forces. For many of us the model of our service is Jesus the Christ. Did I fit that model perfectly when I went to the Marine recruiter that day? Sorry, no I was looking out for myself and that seemed like the answer to life, problems, and everything. Others will recall their own reasons for joining the military, but each of us I believe come to appreciate our service more as the years go by. Perhaps it was those years of Sunday School or the sermons we sat through, but somewhere in each of us was the desire to serve. It may be that the Son of Man who came to serve many, had some of us in mind for military service even before we were born. So, praise God for allowing us to serve our nation.

May God bless all those who served!

Bucky

The Beloved Name

Today marks the 250th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. And contrary to what some would have you believe, I have only been around for a small portion of those years. I mean about 25% isn't such a large portion is it? It is rather a larger portion than I would have expected though. Now I'm feeling a bit older. Maybe something further back, King David reigned in Israel around 3,000 years ago, a certain son of David was beginning his ministry in Judea 2,000 years ago, and in 1025 King Cnut of Denmark ruled over England, Denmark, and parts of Norway. If you want to pronounce his name how I want to pronounce it, we would both be in trouble in his royal court. The Cnut ruled over 2 1/2 countries, so let's stop giggling and be serious! Okay, I had to pause for a minute or two there, but I'm back.

Historical names may look funny to us on the written page, or even sound humorous to us in speech. And that, my beloved friend, is why God's name was not spoken and Jesus bears a name only He knows. Once we are fully cleansed by the blood of the Lamb and restored to our Father in Heaven, we will treasure the names of the Lord in a loving way.

In the name of the Lord Jesus,

Bucky

Become Humble Children

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 18:3-4

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision, costs $181.95 on Amazon. I'm not going to purchase one because I think such texts without qualified education can be dangerous.  What I wanted to know was the page count, 1050! And what I learned was that the reading age was 1 year and up. If I find a 1-year old child reading this sort of manual, I might be a bit frightened. Parents will recall the terrible twos; imagine that in a kid with a complete knowledge of mental health disorders! 

While there are precocious children, that might be a bit far fetched. However, perhaps not so far away from our capabilities as what Jesus tells His disciples in our scripture today. Humble yourself as a little child? Become as little children? We worked for decades in schools and careers to become as adults. At least one of us still isn't sure he has made it that far. Now we must turn it about and go the other way? It is of course no different than Jesus telling Nicodemus that he must be born again. It is this work of our Lord's Spirit that we do not understand and must accept in faith. And it might take a bit to reach the full effects. 

Raise a glass of orange juice to becoming as children again!

Bucky