Contentment In An Abundant Circumstance

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. Philippians 4:11

Want to state an unpopular thought this morning? Say that Paul had learned to be content in abundant food by eating everything in sight. Verbal torches would be lit and doctrinal pitchforks sharpened before the writer could get out of his house and make his escape to the hills of our Lord's pasture. The context of our verse for today does not support this position, and I agree that Paul would likely not have learned to be content in gluttony. The apostle, like his brothers and sisters in Christ, probably enjoyed a good feast with gratitude to God and his hosts. That Paul had to learn to be content in a state of abundance does speak to the apostle running into some times of discontent with a similar circumstance. In reading the scriptures, we are not always content to learn that our heroes of the faith had to learn anything at all. It is a strange discontent on our part since Paul the writer of that same verse was one of the more extreme examples of our Lord turning a person down an opposite path in life. We may be guilty at times of thinking that Paul became an instant paragon of Christ-like virtue on the dust of the road to Damascus one morning. And then that same Paul goes and writes to us of having learned to be content. Could it be that the Bible is not a, go diet, work fitness, stay healthy, save yourself, and get rich in 40 days and nights sort of book?

Learning here to be content in where Christ Jesus has me now,

Bucky

And She Ran

But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. Matthew 26:56

Mary ran to bring the disciples word of Jesus being alive again. John and Peter ran to check out the empty tomb for themselves. The disciples ran to forsake Jesus in the garden at His arrest. Not all running is good, especially when it is done from fear. Sometimes the running is from a mistake or an accident, as may well be with a certain sign holder and a big crash in the Tour de France this weekend. We can sympathize and empathize with that sign holder who caused a terrible crash simply wanting to say something to someone with a sign in front of a television camera. A powerful government has already spoken to the media about criminal charges and a lawsuit; a good reason to want to run and hide. The disciples would understand that desire to flee and take cover. It is uncomfortable to say the least when a world authority is out to get you.

The desire to flee might be overwhelming when we do not even know what will come of a mistake or accident. Jesus of course had committed no sin, or mistake, or even caused accidental injury or damage. Yet, He knew the terrible things that were to be His to bear, and still He stood for the temple soldiers to arrest Him. Knowing as we do that strong urge to flee and to escape at times in life, we marvel all the more at our Lord's love and devotion to us that held Him there while the world authorities sought to put Him to death. Amazing is our Lord Jesus! He didn't run.

Bucky

Something After?

Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 1 Samuel 31:11-12

Grandma passes upstairs in her bedroom and it is time to pitch her decaying old husk out past the wall of the garden behind the house. On the other side of the world, a family takes the body of their departed matriarch and gives it to the lions for disposal. You and I both know that it isn't like that. There may not be a tribe or culture that does not have some sort of death ceremony and a method of keeping or disposing of the body. Here in the west we tend to try to keep the body forever, - embalming, sealed metal casket, concrete vault, etc. - or we burn it up and keep the ashes in a metal urn as if someone might come along in the future and reconstitute (just add water!) Grandma. 

We also get angry over dishonored corpses and punish our soldiers for doing so, much like the Israelites did in Saul's day. The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead traveled all night to retrieve the bodies of Saul and his sons, and then made sure the Philistines could not do further dishonor to those bodies. So, with all of this concern over our dearly departed, are you sure that everyone believes death is the end? It would appear to be a common opinion at the very least that there is something after death. A common opinion sounds very weak of course. Praise God for the many assurances in the Bible that there is indeed much after we depart this tiny slice of eternity. We are keeping the bodies and ashes ready for our Lord Jesus to return! 

Have a great Friday as I help out by talking death this morning,

Bucky

Taking Advantage of Jesus

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

Throughout your career a message likely comes at times telling you that your employer is taking advantage of you. This is disingenuous as the first and older definition in the dictionary is making good use of. In other words, your employer is supposed to take advantage of you; it might even be said that it is his or her job to do so. What the messenger wants you to leap to is of course that other definition, the one where the advantage is taken unreasonably, unfairly, and without your knowledge. The messenger will then fix this condition for you by the application of your cash to their bank account.  You might see a bit of the old irony there. 

Then, there is our verse today. Jesus invites, even calls, all of us to come to Him and trade our labor and heavy burdens for His rest. And there is not even an address to send money to His bank account. It just makes one wonder how our Lord can win making this sort of trade. Could there be a more unbalanced trade in all taking advantage of deals? Yes, you have the one! Salvation. Jesus  suffered humiliation, late night trials, beatings, a scourging, more humiliation, more trials, and died on the cross to save us from our sins. To gain this remission of sins, we have only to believe in Him. Seems like it is we who are taking advantage of Jesus again. 

Come to Me, He said, and here we live in Him!

Bucky

The Cost Of Shipping

 For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  1 Corinthians 15:52-53

A big auction concludes tomorrow evening out west in La Salle, and I will watch some of it. Watch, because it is already apparent that the arena is too wealthy for me this time around. I have yet to win any auctions from this auction house and part of the reason for that is the cost of shipping. The distance to go fetch the stuff in my truck means a considerable cost, so the alternative is shipping and you may have noticed an increase in that cost during the Covid days of 2020-2021.

As I thought about that this morning, it came to me to wonder what the cost of shipping us might be in the resurrection and rapture that will take place sometime soon. What might be the cost of raising the cremated body of the saints who have gone to sleep? What might it cost God to raise the living bodies of His saints when the time of the Rapture comes? A measurement in dollars will likely not fit the cost, and I would have no idea where to start that calculation in any case. We have launched persons into orbit, to space stations, and to the moon. And no doubt there are some accountants who could tell us how much per pound of person is required. To my knowledge, not one of those space travelers have reported being in Heaven as Paul, John, and Isaiah did back in the day. Throw out those cost figures, all are useless to us for this calculation. It seems that we cannot know the cost of shipping us to Heaven to be with our Lord Jesus! And praise God we do not need to save up some incalculable amount to book passage from here to there. 

What a joy to trust our Lord Jesus with that future journey!

Bucky

Just Like That

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  Matthew 12:40

We had a new holiday come by on Saturday, in case you missed the news on it. Even the post office could not respond quickly enough to implement it though. It was signed into law Thursday with the observance scheduled for Friday and the holiday falling on Saturday. I wonder if anyone thought of Jesus on Sunday morning? Of course many people did as Sunday is our usual day of worship. In about the same time that we have heard about and watched this new holiday go by, that same Jesus died and got up alive again. Last Tuesday we had a regular week, Thursday we had a new federal holiday scheduled for Saturday. Quick action indeed for our government! 

Now, with that schedule in mind, imagine you are walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee in about 33AD. A man is walking toward you from some distance away but he looks kind of familiar. Just then a friend runs up to you with the news that Jesus of Nazareth has been executed in Jerusalem by the chief priests and elders, right before the Passover last Friday evening. Now you understand what is familiar about that man coming along the shore. "You mean Him?" as your friend looks at the holes in our Lord's hands and, just like that, passes out beside you. 

He is risen!

Bucky

Serving Lips With Love

And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.  Exodus 1:14

Service at hard labor we might think, from prior experience or just plain ignorance, that we have a handle on. What ought to frighten us, but may not have, in our reading through the Exodus story is that bit about all manner of service in the field. That sounds like one of those biblical  understatements we run into in the scriptures. Wait, all manner of service? What do they mean by all manner? Probably all that our imagination can come up with and worse. And even with that, the more difficult service to give may have been those lips. Yes, those annoying, irritating, fast-running lips speaking words the owner thought were funny, even hilarious, when they thought them up the night before. While we may not have service in hard labor in our lives today, we probably still have those lips to contend with. And, to serve the owner of those lips in love can be tough. It being so much easier and more satisfying to tell the offender just how unfunny he or she is to you in that moment. 

Some scripture that may help us in this is to memorize what Paul writes about love in 1 Corinthians 13. Quickly we find that love is not those things we want to do in response to the annoyance. Who can help us to respond in what love is? The One who loved us at the cross and rose again to be with us forever. May our Lord Jesus lead us to give the loving response to those lips demanding service in the most unfunny, unkind, and even unbelieving ways we will run into in this life. 

And have faith, He is coming soon!

Bucky

Seek The Lord And Live

He made the Pleiades and Orion;
He turns the shadow of death into morning
And makes the day dark as night;
He calls for the waters of the sea
And pours them out on the face of the earth;
The LORD is His name.   Amos 5:8

The Lord issued a call to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live." (v4). It seems that Israel had some problems in the Lord's view, including turning justice to wormwood and burying righteousness in the earth (v7). Reading Matthew 27 shows us the fulfillment of that prophecy as the chief priests and elders of Israel worked out that very thing on God's Son. In our verse for today, Amos shares with Israel some of who God is and His capabilities. Reading this verse, it would not seem wise to bring injustice to His Son and then bury Him in the earth, but they did. And yet, the invitation from the Lord goes out through His prophet: Seek the Lord and live (v6). If Israel can do that to God's Son and still receive that invitation, we too are invited to seek the Lord and live in spite of what we may have done in our sin.

Have a great day in Christ the Lord!

Bucky

Timing in Sorrow

Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather,
And like vinegar on soda,
Is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.  Proverbs 25:20

This morning due to circumstances beyond our control I sought out a verse about cooling (there wasn't one) and then about cold. The bonus was in the vinegar and soda. Who hasn't played at least a little with vinegar and soda as a child? Most grow up and leave it in childhood, but some of us maintain the facade of adulthood by only using it on slow drains. If I had a wife she would likely snatch the vinegar away from me over my protests. 

"It's just vinegar and soda, dear!" 

"I'm not worried about the vinegar, it's that odd laugh you do while pouring it that concerns me." 

Yes, that's me, guilty of the occasional odd laugh when enjoying childish things. However, the verse for today is about timing, especially timing in sorrow. The boss and I have noted that this year appears to be one of departures from this earth. While we did lose many to the Covid as expected in 2020, it seems to us that many more have departed this year due to various other causes. This has given us an opportunity to reflect on mourning, both by first hand experience and also by observation. Proverbs brings us the wisdom of not singing a song to one of a heavy heart. This does not mean that we should not sing a hymn at a funeral, but rather that certain happy songs at a moment of mourning are not welcome. Recall that Sunday School song with the verses, If you're happy and you know it... take some physical action? Singing that one to a brother or sister in mourning might cause a physical action that you both come to regret!

A morning salute to loving one another enough to mourn with each other,

Bucky

That Final Checklist

 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Surgeons have them, pilots do also, and most folks will have at least the odd grocery or bucket list. They are the checklists we use to help with an overwhelmed mind in this busy age of information overload. We like checklists; they help us remember to buy the mayo the cook wants for that special recipe and also help the surgeon to not utter those infamous words, "Oops, where does this part go?" Of course no airplane passenger wants to see the pilot doing the ol' trial and error on a critical procedure when things have gone sideways or upside down. So, let us get our checklist ready for that quick trip we are anticipating with such joy: the Rapture. 

You may see a problem with that. How much checking can we get done in the time it takes to say, 'twinkling', much less in the actual time span for a tiny flash of light? Yes, the Rapture Paul writes of in our verses for today has no checklist. One is ready, as Jesus told us to be, or one is not and gets left behind. If that twinkling time comes and you are reading a list that goes something like, "1. Go outside and find a space with a clear view of the sky overhead." That checklist is for your GPS and you are already left behind. 

Salvation is about being ready for Him!

Bucky

That Illusory Safety

For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.  1 Thessalonians 5:3

Safety is sought after the world over. Many, perhaps even most organizations have safety officers, risk management departments, and even entire bureaucracies (Lord, forgive me for trying to spell that word this early in the morning!) to promote, legislate, and enforce safety. The issue of safety as a political football or weapon is for another day; those of you with political enthusiasms take some deep breaths! Calm restored? Okay. Safety is a bit of an illusion though. The safest and most defensive of drivers can get caught up and die in accidents. The most passionate diet and exercise gurus may fall to ol' Morty in the most mundane of ailments. All of us are facing the end of this life as we know it. Thinking about death will cause some to run an extra mile this morning, skip their Friday donut, or pop an extra vitamin. Others might write out a check to the church or a charity, or drop a few bucks into the hat of a homeless person. Sorry, ol' Morty Skullface is still stalking about the land for that next victim. Seems rather depressing when we don't have control over our departure date from this place. Run away from death? I can't outrun most humans! 

Then, there is the Lord. Waiting on His throne for death to bring us to His place in the heavenly realm. Telling us many times in His word to not worry, to not be afraid, and to leave it to Him. Assuring us that He has gone to prepare a place for us with Him in His Father's house. Even to the criminal beside Him on the cross He gave the assurance of paradise on the day of that man's death. Why try to run from death when we can just believe the Lord? 

My safety is in the Lord!

Bucky

We Have His Assurance

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  John 5:24

John's gospel contains several words of assurance from our Lord Jesus, including amongst 'em that famous verse, 3:16, and this one we read for today. The actions required of us do not appear to be the religious mountain some would have us climb: hear the word and believe. That's it? It seems too simple for those who want to earn their right to the kingdom of Heaven and march in as conquerors of the paragon way. It is a strange operation of our faith that we present ourselves to the Lord as the worst, when we would much rather come to Him showing our best. Even the bodies we plant in the ground are cleaned and dressed as if the Lord might need a hand with getting the dearly departed ready for His kingdom. Praise God we have the assurance of His Son! 

When I enter into God's Heaven it will be a sign of His glory and not my own. 

Love in Christ,  Bucky

She Saw Something More

And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.  John 20:12

A remarkable sighting to be sure, and yet it becomes more so with the rest of the story. Peter and John had been there and gone into the tomb before Mary. John had seen the linen graveclothes lying there. Peter had gone in and seen the graveclothes and the head cloth folded, and both had gone in and seen the place where the body should have been. But neither disciple had seen any angels in the tomb. And Peter and John did not turn to see... a gardener! Wait, no, it was not the gardener as she thought, but the Lord Himself. As we read the story in the comfort of our homes so many years later, we might pause to wonder why it was that Mary of Magdala was privileged to see so much more than Peter and John. We may never know why one and not another in the miracles all around us. 

John later reports that he saw and believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. He did not seem to know what to do about it though, for both he and Peter went to their respective homes with this great knowledge. Mary, meanwhile, gets to meet the risen Lord Jesus first. Did Peter and John rush right by that Gardener? We may never know. 

Let us not rush through life so that we miss the Lord standing there waiting to greet us in His word, or in a song of praise, or perhaps one day in person. 

Bucky

Hello, Can You Understand Me?

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." John 16:12

An admission of old geekness: When the message from the Colson Center asked, "Are CRT bans a good idea?" I thought of some environmental regulation and wondered how many folks are still using the old computer monitors. Another case of two talking the same language but being unable to communicate. For their part, they asked if banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory was a good idea. Had they gone on to propose theories named (acronymed?) LED or LCD as alternatives, we might have diverged far down separate roads of conversation and never returned to the point of communication! 

In a similar vein, Jesus spoke to His disciples and to us, and so often it is like we are talking the same language but not communicating. Jesus said such extraordinary things in the gospels that we are left wondering over the things He said that they could not bear. I, for one, believe that Jesus did say them through Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude, and then the many sermons, songs, and books we have to this day from our Lord's ministers and messengers of the Word. Do we have a complete understanding of our Lord's words now? There is this unveiling of the Revelation thing that continues to bring us back to the word, as just one example of the many extraordinary things Jesus said that we still do not have a complete understanding with Him on the things of the end. 

Thank You, dear Lord, for the puzzling things You said to bring us back to Your word! 

Bucky

Searching For You

and He who is searching the hearts hath known what is the mind of the Spirit, because according to God he doth intercede for saints.  Romans 8:27 YLT

He who is searching the hearts is of course searching for YOU! (And me.) This is the first time I have used something called Young's Literal Translation of the Bible. It sounds a little Shakespearean, "He hath known." Our usual NKJV did not use  the 'ing' version of search, and so it did not come up in my text search. There is a lot of searching going on today. 

It is perhaps my early religious training or maybe the time spent in military service, but when I read of the Lord searching hearts, I tend to think of an inspection. Watch out! The Lord is looking through the files of your heart to find all that is wrong! While that does seem to be the job of the Lord's Spirit in order to root out all evil, did I ever stop to think that the Lord is searching  hearts for those who will believe in Him? Could it be that the Lord is not interested in finding fault, since according to His word that is a foregone conclusion, but instead would find each heart ready for Him and bring it to His Son for salvation. Yes, you might say the Good Shepherd is bringing His sheep home as the Father finds them. So, for all those lost sheep who do not yet believe, today may be the day for our Lord to find you. Get ready for a new life in Christ!

A joyous Friday to you in Jesus our Lord!

Bucky

When A Stand Is Not A Stand

Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.”  John 19:6

Why does Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, get such a bad reputation? Did he not take his stand against the crucifixion of our Lord? Well, his stand was more of a sit, and he didn't exercise his authority from Rome to stop this thing. Pilate made a couple of verbal protests, but in the end he caved to the will of the mob. Pilate's stand was hardly a stand. 

We see in this verse that the leaders of the Jews had made their choice with great firmness and unity of mind. How is it that so often the worldly ones have such great faith and conviction and we who believe in Jesus feel shaky and doubtful? As many have proven over the years, including myself, it is quite possible to be firmly and convincingly wrong while believing in one's rightness. It is perhaps one of the great ironies of the age that those Jesus receives into His kingdom are so often convinced of our unworthiness, while those who refuse to believe their need for the salvation of Christ are firm in their estimation of their worthiness to enter heaven. 

Praise God that our worth is found in the Lamb of God, Who took away our sin by His blood. 

Bucky

They Cannot Know

They do not know nor understand;
For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see,
And their hearts, so that they cannot understand.  Isaiah 44:18

Throughout the world it happens: the Bible, the word of our Lord, gets blamed for some perceived symptom of fallen humans living on a cursed earth. We rush to the defense of the Word of our Lord, and ask them what seems to be the problem. And then comes the statement; that one, the one we know immediately is not correct. Staggered, we open the Word to read the passages and be sure, but there it is, they got it wrong and are using that reason to blame the Bible for the problem as they see it. One might be tempted to argue with them, and some apologists have done so throughout the years, but the chances of their understanding are not good until the Lord acts. 

We read in our verse for today that some have a reason for their strange interpretation of the Bible. With shut eyes and heart, they cannot see or understand until the Lord opens those closed organs of theirs. What by the Lord's mercy seems obvious to us, is closed to those who walk the earth with shut up eyes and heart. No need for us to gripe and moan about them, use the words instead for prayers of mercy and understanding; that they might one day soon see and understand the mercy, grace, and love of the Word. And then let us thank the Lord for sight and understanding in the Word when we brought nothing particularly deserving of such a great gift ourselves!

In the love of Christ,

Bucky