Walls Of Water

So the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.  Exodus 14:22

Dry land ahead of them, the army of Pharaoh behind them, and those walls of water to the right and to the left, talk about having only one way to go! Imagine the terror of the briny deep staring back at them from either side, and probably a few curious fishes too. We often pray to the Lord in a difficult situation, "Lord, show me the way!" Well, there it was for the Israelites, are sure you want the Lord to show you the way? His one way out might be frightening to the max! What a metaphor for the way through life we have in this story. Death by diseases and health failures on the one hand, death by terrorists, thugs, and accidents on the other, and an army of regrets and mistakes chasing us from behind. Yet, we have that one Way through to a blessed and promised land straight ahead, but just far enough away that we cannot quite see it. 

Walk on little frightened sheep to the home the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for you!

Bucky

Lazarus, The Public Spectacle

Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. John 12:9

Four days in the tomb and a short mummy walk later, Lazarus the friend of Jesus has now become a public attraction. The man likely had dreamed of a bit of fame now and again as most of us have done. However, the way to fame in his dreams probably didn't include the way he got it. We do not then have to wonder why it seems that Lazarus had nothing to say after rising from the grave at His Lord's command. We can imagine the questions spoken or shouted at the man for the remainder of his life. Wait, what remainder, he was dead, he already had his remainder? Did Lazarus the new celebrity now have to face death again? Well so much for celebrity immortality.

Rejoice in Jesus, and trust Him for life!

Bucky

We Do Not Forgive?

But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  Matthew 6:15

It might sound a bit tough for a character in a movie to state that he or she does not forgive, but gets even, or some line like that. The character does not have to go through this life bearing such a terrible burden. Jesus treated forgiveness seriously in His great sermon both in the positive and, as we read in the verse above, in the negative as well. Forgiveness is for your benefit and mine, but it works best in the reverse direction. That is to say, that when a person sins against you, your forgiveness may help the repentant one a lot, but letting go of that sin by forgiveness helps you so much more than we can know. Not the least of which is what our verse for today refers to, God's forgiveness of you and me as we forgive those who have trespassed against each of us. 

Not one of us, I think, wants to live without our dear Father's forgiveness! 

Bucky

A Story To Tell

Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. John 12:17

Sitting quietly in chapter 12 of John's gospel is our verse for today. One of those sort of read-over verses that may not get noticed as often as others. And yet there was a mortal danger in bearing witness of this type as the religious authorities in Judea under Rome wanted to put to death both Jesus and Lazarus. Could this story be kept quiet by those who had been there outside that tomb? A man they knew had raised his friend from a fourth day of decomposing in a dark tomb. Bearing witness of great and amazing works may not be so easily withheld. Each of us has been in a place where we had something ready to burst out of the gates of our lips but for those darn blabbers who wouldn't shut up for just a bloomin' second or two. I don't know about you, but I have never had any news quite so jaw-dropping as those folks there who had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the grave. However, I do understand how much they would want to tell that story.

Bearing witness: a desire to tell of our great Lord Jesus.

Bucky

That's A Big If

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  Romans 4:2

Indeed if we take that big 'if' and run with it, it changes everything in this life and reduces our hope of eternal life. For the first, our life becomes one of chasing good works for the purpose of justifying ourselves alone and refusing to accept the salvation of Christ. Sounds a lot like what they had under the old covenant. Second, without that salvation, we only have a hope based on each one's strength to do those good works. As most of us know by now, strength fades with age, patience can be harder to come by, and love a little colder as the difficulties of life accumulate. It would be a great shame to come to the end of this life with no strength left for the good works that we had hoped to use as justification. However, we know that Paul goes on from this verse to show that salvation and justification are in Christ alone, by faith and not by works. Our hope of eternal life remains safely in the Lord's Christ.

No big if, just faith in Jesus!

Bucky

Doing It Perfectly

And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” John 2:10

This miracle brings out many a sermon for the seeming carnal nature of it. For us these many years later it becomes easy to judge this turning of water into wine as unnecessary, almost sinful even, if you come from one of those no-drinky Pentecostal churches of the 70's. I'm not going to argue the alcohol thing today, instead let us see the perfection in quality and quantity that came from that miracle of our Lord Jesus.

In our verse for today, the master of the feast had to comment on the unexpected quality of this wine. And being for a wedding feast, this does not mean that the former wine was bad or of terrible quality itself, only that the wine Jesus made was so far superior. Then there were six waterpots of up to 30 gallons in volume. Did they really need 180 gallons of wine after having already drunk all that they had? Perhaps that does not matter so much as that the Son of God provided more than enough and of far greater quality than was normal for such an event.

In His great love, perhaps our Lord cannot just provide a little thing of normal quality, but must instead do it perfectly, greatly, and magnificently. What is your need today? Praise and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

P.S. Internet service here was restored yesterday afternoon (4/17) after going down last Friday morning. It was a strange time.

A Very Great Forgiveness

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14

Last night in my reading, I came to the story of an incident of very great forgiveness. This forgiveness did not come easily to the woman, as she bore the weight of years of extreme hardship caused by an entire nation. It also did not come easily as there were others of her kind who endured that same period of distress and deprivation. As this woman forgave one of the chief perpetrators of the indignity, those other sufferers turned on her.

A very great forgiveness can come after a very great trespass by the hand of the Spirit of God within us. However, this forgiveness may alienate us from those who suffered with us and who want to maintain their lust for vengeance. In the act of a very great forgiveness, one may be left standing alone with the Savior, who also did a very great forgiveness.

Let us forgive one another,

Bucky