Not Always the Easy Way

Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.” 1 Samuel 26:21

By this time, the Lord had rejected Saul as king of Israel. Saul did not give up the throne and go into retirement willingly though. David had, just before our verse for today, spared Saul's life a second time. In both cases, the Lord, having left Saul, tested David by delivering up a Saul in a helpless state. Yes, in neither case did the two kings meet in a romantic duel to the death with swords flashing in the morning sun. This last time, David and his men walked into a camp where the Lord had placed a deep sleep on Saul and his soldiers. There was the trial of David, his enemy who sought to end his life laying there deep in sleep. David could not take the life of the Lord's anointed in this way and said as much to those with him who offered the easy solution. "I can end all this right now, just give the word!" (Not an exact quote, I paraphrased.) 

Saul knew that he had been spared a second time and gave his word not to harm David any more. And then came another test for David; to believe Saul's words or not. 

For us there will always be another test in this life, until that great day when our Lord brings us home. No one retires from the Lord's service once we come to Him for salvation. Our rest comes when He brings this world to a conclusion, whether it is in the Great Tribulation or when He brings us to His heavenly home individually according to the span of our years of service. 

This life we have in our Lord Jesus is not always the easy way. However, precious in His eyes is this life we have given to our Lord. 

Bucky

Three Times Life Everlasting

The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”  John 3:35-36

In John 3, Jesus speaks those immortal words that we long for, twice over, in the teaching of Nicodemus (vv. 15, 16). However there is a third time that the good news of everlasting life comes by belief in Jesus, and we read that passage in our scripture for today. 

It is interesting that a dispute arises between the disciples of Jesus and those of John. The Baptizer then sets things straight with the disciples and humbly says that he must decrease while our Lord Jesus increases. The savior of the world must come first and His servant who preceded Him must fall back to second. And for the third time, John tells us even today that the person who believes in the Son has everlasting life. 

Believe in the Son of God = life everlasting. Seems almost too simple for us in this complicated age. 

Bucky

Salvation Clothes

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  Isaiah 61:10

As this is a winter morning, given away by that little horizontal line in front of the temperature outside, I put on warm clothing when I got up. Well, actually the clothing was the same temp as the room, it was not warm of itself and generated no heat. The thicker clothing allows less body heat to escape and so I feel warm faster than in summer weight clothing. Sometimes people do a similar thing in church with their church clothing. Dressing up and acting right for a couple of hours on Sunday morning does not however make anyone righteous or saved. 

The clothing of the saints is given by God; the verse for today tells us that the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness are actions of God and gifts from Him. We cannot purchase these clothes off a rack in a store, and thus they work so much better than what we are accustomed to wearing. However, there is a similarity. For the clothing from God is decoration, like jewels on the bride. She is the bride, jewels or no, and so are the saints already saved and made righteous by God's Holy Spirit from within them. This clothing is going to show off God's work in us when this great day comes and the Bridegroom is wedding His bride. 

The Lord Jesus is so wonderful, and we will be so beautiful in that day in our salvation clothes! 

Bucky

Escape the Tempest

I would hasten my escape
From the windy storm and tempest. Psalm 55:8

We have a bit of a blow going on here and the snow is trying to make it a blizzard. So far it is more blow than snow, but we'll have to see how the rest of the day goes. Our verse for today is part of a contemplation of David, and it sounds like the king is contemplating a tough time in his life. Like David, we want to escape the tempests of life and take it easy. God may have something to teach us in the tempest though and escape may not be the Lord's first lesson for us. We walk in faith that the Lord will bring us through, but for the moment we should rejoice in the lesson of the storm. Oh boy, is that much easier to write than it is to live! 

In the storm, we may not think of much more than prayer and the struggle to take that one more step. We may even despair of life and call on the Lord to save us. Many come to salvation in exactly those sorts of circumstances. With salvation on the line, we certainly would not want the storm to end too early or gain an escape that skips the important parts. Praise God for the divinely managed storms He sends to teach us and to save us in our times of need. 

Have a wonderful tempest this morning! 

Bucky

The End Is Not Yet

And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. Mark 13:5-7

There are those times in reading the news from around the world that it may seem as though the judgment of Revelation, in one instance or another has already come to pass. Jesus had an answer for that, the end is not yet. This may seem at odds with some when every natural disaster brings out the 'end is near' preachers. Well, yes, they are correct too. The end is near, just not yet. 

It may seem that I am playing with words, and while I do enjoy that activity, we also live in interesting times in that signs abound of the impending Tribulation, and yet it is not yet. We can take comfort in scriptural study by seeing that certain events must happen first, and we see in that our Lord God's careful management of all that leads up to the end He has revealed to His prophets. 

Please do not weary of faithful watching for the Lord. He is coming soon!

Bucky

His Parables of Teaching

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  Matthew 22:1

Jesus used parables to teach the multitudes, His disciples, and us so many years later. Even now you may be wanting to know which parable this was. Is it a familiar one such as the Good Samaritan or a less familiar and probably harder to understand story? I'm not telling;  you may look it up any time you like. 

Our Lord used the story so well and unlike most storytellers, I think our Lord's parables were all fact. As in there was a man who found a treasure in a field, then gave everything to purchase that field. There was a man named Lazarus who had dogs licking his sores and a rich man who ignored him until after they both died. There was a king who arranged a marriage for his son, and then nobody showed up and even murdered his messengers. Oops, gave it away. Yes, that last parable follows the verse for today. 

Our Lord's stories had teeth to them though and they could bite hard as the Pharisees and others could tell us. Our Lord's stories also had the gentle lovingkindness for which He is famous among those who believe in Him. For we know that Jesus was the man who found a treasure hidden in a field and gave His all to redeem us. 

Have a great Friday in the Lord!
Bucky

No Teachers Where?

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12

Teachers of the word, in small groups or large, in classrooms or in homes, on Sunday or on any other day of the week, one day soon we will be out of a job. Quoting the prophet Jeremiah, the writer of Hebrews brought to mind for those of the new branch grafted into the tree that the time will come when we will not teach one another any more. God's people will know God and we will have no reason to teach or preach to each other. But that isn't the best part.

That last line seems to me the promise to seize upon this day, sins and lawless deeds remembered by the Lord no more. Nevermore! Heaven and nature will sing on that day, but I think the redeemed of the Lord will out sing them for the mercy of the Lord in their hearts. 

Have a rejoicing day in Jesus!
Bucky

Honoring Fools

As snow in summer and rain in harvest,
So honor is not fitting for a fool.   Proverbs 26:1

If you think our nation honors fools in this age, you probably have a point well made. This is not to say that every person who receives an honor is a fool, but we do seem to have at least our fair share, and maybe a bit more, of fools gaining fame and fortune or media attention. You will decide for  yourself which ones are the fools of whom I speak! It would seem by the proverb Solomon collected that this happened in his time as well. Fools tend to stand out in any age, and sometimes they gain honor. The Preacher of old reminded us that this is not fitting; that this is as wrong as snow in the summer. 

We have some small snow on the ground this morning, but February in much of North America is the proper time for snow. While rain at wheat harvest time is common around here, that does not mean that it is welcome. The proverb speaks not only of things out of season but of things that are not wanted when they arrive. Honoring a fool therefore would seem rather foolish.

However, fools and honor are not the only things that are not fitting in this world. In our fallen state, the world has a great many things at odds with how they should be. We might well be here all day and into the next week should I try to list all that is wrong in the world. Or, you might just read the Bible, the word of God and then we don't have to reprint it here. Praise God that along with all that is wrong, the Lord tells in His word how He is going to make it right and new again through His Son, Jesus! 

Let the fools go their way, we believe in Jesus!

Bucky

Every Regulation

I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. Galatians 5:3

Paul spent years in school learning all of those regulations in the Word. As a Pharisee, he discussed his work with colleagues and continued to learn. One would think that he of all people would send young students through the millstones of the Law in order to impress them with its burden, but he didn't. Why not? Could it be that a thorough knowledge of the Law could not save a sinner?

I'm no genius to propose such a radical thought, Paul lays it out in his letter to the Romans quite well. The Law does not save anyone, Paul concludes. There must be a better way, perhaps an only way. 

For those who thought that to impress the Lord God was to be saved, Paul reminds them that every regulation must be obeyed in the whole law of Moses. There is an entire army of laws to obey should you decide to attempt to impress God in this way. And then you might run into those pesky prophets and Micah with his thousands of rams and rivers of oil. Few among us, maybe none among us could buy one river of oil to give to the Lord much less a plurality of them. 

The widow impressed Him by giving all she had; the rich man didn't impress the Lord at all. Why is it that we strive so hard to be rich again? Could that be related to impressing the Lord by way of the Law? 

Ow, my Monday brain hurts! Rejoice in the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord,

Bucky

Service and Sacrifice for Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her.  Genesis 29:20

Edmund St. Valentine, for whom the town is named, lived in the north Sandhills region of Nebraska, serving the final 43 years of his life ministering to the far flung ranch families in that area. The Church recognized his years of faithful service and sacrifice with canonization in 1948, making him St. Edmund St. Valentine...wait for it! I may have had a few going until that bit.

 

Love is of course not making a fictional character a saint but service and sacrifice, for which this ancestor of Israel, Jacob, is famous. The burden however was light upon him as his love sustained him through seven years of work for Rachel. Seven years seeming a few days is some powerful emotional propulsion too! Jacob apparently had not reached that age where several years seems like a few days because we cannot remember most of it. 

The story in this verse sounds familiar somehow... Let's see, service to the father of the bride-to-be, sacrifice for the bride, sounds a lot like the story of our Lord Jesus! Of course it does, because love is what brought the Son of God down here to save us. 

Have a loving Valentine's Day!

Bucky

Love Opens

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Romans 5:5

It seems that the heart of man is like an old broom closet where foul mops were put away wet and never allowed to dry. We open the door of the heart and out drops some rusty tin cans, a few mouse carcasses, and the overpowering stench of rot rolls over us in a nasal assault. Or, so we fear when the preacher tells us to open up to the love of the Lord. 

Uh, have we not given to the Lord the credit due His name? So many years ago the salvation of the Lord came into us and still we are afraid to open up the door to the heart? Yes, our love is not all it should be just yet, but His love is good and perfect. Open up the heart door and show off the love of the Lord Jesus there! We cannot show the changed life of the beloved of the Lord if we do not open up to show His love in us. His love is going to open the door to the saved heart whether we are ready or not, so might as well get ready. Will a few skeletons of old sin be exposed? Yeah, most likely, but better to get 'em out in the light! 

Love to you in Christ Jesus!

Bucky

Long Gone, Far Away

Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O LORD, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!” - Lamentations 1:9

The southern kingdom of Judah is long gone and far away from us as we live today, but the lessons from her collapse come down to us through the word of God. It may seem like crude imagery, the uncleanness and skirts thing, but we should not relent from describing sin in the crude terms it deserves. It was and is the watering down of sin that allowed sin words such as adultery to become an affair. Don't see anything about affairs in the ten commandments? That would of course be the point for those who want to love the darkness of sin. 

If we do not want our nation to be one of those among the long gone, far away cautionary stories of fallen man and sin we must be among those who believe in Jesus and call sin what it is. Uh, oh, he's getting preachy on us! Yes, and it is probably overdue. I fear that we do not oppose sin enough in this age, allowing everyone to go his or her own way without so much as a warning that time is short and the end near. While we look to the sky anticipating the return of our Lord Jesus, do we love those neighbors enough to say a word of warning before the time of sin's reign when the abomination of desolation stands in the holy place? 

We probably cannot imagine the horror of knowing of the Rapture but missing it to be left behind.

Bucky

The Lord's Magnificent Day

Now David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.” So David made abundant preparations before his death. 1 Chronicles 22:5

I asked the Lord, "How is your day, Lord?" And the answer was, "Magnificent!" That answer just does not seem like many of my days at all. We look around at the news reports, hear from our family and friends, and see what is going on in our life, and magnificent seems like a few and far between sort of description to use. Perhaps the person who won the lottery last week used it a few times. Maybe that starlet in Hollywood who won the big part over 200 rivals got to use it for that one day. It may well be that back a few years you or I was able to use magnificent to describe one day out of hundreds, perhaps thousands. Yet, it seems to me that the Lord our God would use it every day and all day. 

What about that day, we might ask of the Lord, as we recall from the Bible a day when something happened that would seem to shake the Lord's hold on magnificence just a bit. Well, it certainly was a bad day for Adam and Eve when they disobeyed for that first time. A certain day was bad for Moses when he... And on it goes as we discover bad days for everyone but the Lord. "I know," we say with earthly superiority, "what about the day Your Son died on the cross?" Uh, huh, the day of His greatest victory over sin and death. And we get emotional at this point. 

I don't know how You do it, Lord!

Bucky

Start It Simple

Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? John 3:10

The Bible is a big un' among books holding so many words that to keep it in a portable form the use of onionskin paper is required. Imagine facing this tome with no idea of where to start! Many come to a church or a Christian with a conviction of their need for the Lord Jesus, but then are handed this library of old books with tales of remote beginnings and falls into sin and terrifying prophecies. What is the simple and quick part before the cares of the world return with reinforcements and the powers of the world bring their insurgents?

If one verse sums up the Bible well it must be John 3:16. 

Many a Christian can quote the rules of the religious road to us, chapter and verse. No doubt, Nicodemus could do it better. Yet, before the trust and obedience of the Christian life, there is belief in Jesus the Christ. Before we can learn to love the unlovely, we must believe in His great love for us. And when we believe in Him, we begin to understand His love so great that mercy and forgiveness of our sin is possible in Christ. 

For God so loved you and me... Amen! 

Bucky

Called Unto Him

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9

Fellowship, a meeting and a concept; a joy and a delight. We may not know it until we miss it, but fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ is in all of us through God's own Spirit. However, there is a deeper and stronger need for the reborn believers - we want fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We want to run to our Lord Jesus and be welcomed by Him. The prophecy He spoke about those He never knew is one of our deep fears that the Spirit assures us against so very often. That is also one of the most common doubts thrown at us by the enemy. Yet, throughout the scriptures, especially in the words of Jesus Himself, there are the words of welcome, commands even to come to Him directly, reassurances of His constant faithfulness, and the love He bore for us even to the cross at Calvary. 

Yes, you and me, the ones we see filthy with sin and so easily fallen to temptation. We, the sick and the lame both emotionally and physically, are called to fellowship in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who would call ones such as we? Paul said it was God. 

There ya go!
 Bucky

Deeply Divided

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. Matthew 12:25

It is a public event and many are watching when one leader refuses a handshake from the other and in response that other tears up the speech for all to see. Anyone can see there is a leadership problem when this happens, and you do not need me to point it out to you. I just did anyway, but you still didn't need it. 

Our nation has seen deep divides before, and the cure in a couple of cases was deeply ugly with war and suffering all around. Might we who believe in our Lord Jesus suggest a different strategy this time? Might we suggest prayer to the Lord Jesus as a way to heal this divide? This will only point out another deep divide? You are so smart today, and you are correct. The left-right, Republican-Democrat and other political divides are almost nothing compared to the divide between the powers of this world and our Lord Jesus. It is so divided we know, that one day the enemies of our Lord will gather at a place called Armageddon. 

Our political divide is serious, and sometimes a bit childish on both sides, but we know of a divide much more serious and it has eternal consequences. 

In Christ we pray for healing of our nation, and in Christ we pray that all will believe in Him,

Bucky

Help Us Stay Awake

l“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Revelation 3:10

Kept is one of those seemingly easy words that come up in the Bible. For example, we want to have kept watch as the Lord says to do for when He returns. However, day by day life goes on and it can be easy to let our watch sleep as the world wears us down. Much of what the world offers up to us in the news these days is distraction. And we recognize that so many things are completely unimportant, that includes about any news pertaining to celebrities, and then our guard comes down. We look for the signs our Lord gave us to watch for and the months and years go by without anything happening.

Persevere in the Lord, because the world powers are aligning toward the things we are to keep watch for, and signs are imminent once the players are in their places. Stay awake, for the next sign may be the bridegroom claiming His own from this world, suddenly and quickly! Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

Bucky