Praise, Honor, and Glory!

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. 1 Peter 1:6, 7, 8a

If I were to unpack everything from this long sentence, we could be here for a day or two. What I was led to this morning was the part about praise, honor, and glory. What does Peter mean by 'may be found to'? Well there is this prophecy from our Lord Jesus found in Matthew 24:30 where all the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. Now, we do not want to be mourning our Lord's return, so Peter tells of our current trials and how they prove the genuineness of our faith, and we gain the result you can read in the words of our verses today. Therefore!

Praise, honor, and glory to our Lord Jesus who returns to us on the clouds of heaven!

Amen,

Bucky

Hard Working Hypocrite

And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.  Matthew 12:10

Their legal eyes watchful as they gathered in the synagogue, the group of legalists known as Pharisees saw him there. Yes, it was this new rabbi and his disciples. The watchmen of God's law stared intently, plans forming in their minds to test yet another man of whom the people asked, "Could this be the One?" Their record of success in this regard was perfect, as sooner or later the victim would be tripped up by a point of the law, a transgression. Their duty to the law would be served, another victory to celebrate. And here was the Sabbath where even the hint of working could be the violation to be exposed! 

In his place by the back wall, one young Pharisee started at a niggling little thought in his mind. Duty, keeping watch, forming plans, testing... sounds like a lot of work. Guys, we're working on the Sabbath! He almost blurted it out, but was stopped for fear of the tongue lashing the senior Pharisees would use in their anger. Being a Pharisee was a good job too, one his mother wanted to see him succeed at for her sake. Job? There it was again! 

Told that way, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees seems a charming amusement. We mourn for those long ago hypocrites though, and we strive to deny hypocrisy a place in our lives by the strength of our Lord's Holy Spirit. 

May the love of the Lord Jesus bear you up this week,

Bucky

Who Is In Control Here?

Pul, king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his control. 2 Kings 15:19

According to the notes, that's Tiglath-Pileser III to you, mister! Meanwhile in Israel, it was just Pul, as in, go pull another thousand out of the rich people by taxation. So, while one might think the king in control by virtue of his position, one would be surprised to see the king making a payoff to increase his control. That is moot though since this was the king of Israel and he needed God, not payola.

Who is in control here? If you or I decide we want control today at work, but the boss decides he or she wants control too, there is going to be a clash. We have all seen married couples who both want control of all things and the rather spectacular clashes that situation can produce. It is interesting that the One who by sovereign rank, creation, and ultimate authority could maintain strict control over us, does not fight us for that control. Insert whatever metaphor you like, but God will let us drive our ship onto the rocks, fall flat on our faces, or control our lives right into the trash heap, if we desire control so much. However, a little humility before the throne of God, a bit of asking in place of telling, and a giving up of pride, and we will receive good help, guidance, and the loving blessing of our Lord God.

Trust in the One who loves you!

Bucky

Impressed By Quantity?

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10

Are you impressed by quantity? I'm impressed by the quantity of cash it takes to purchase a new diesel pickup these days. If I am so easily impressed, imagine this prophecy of a quantity that cannot be numbered. Does that mean too many to count? It may well be, and with a number such as 200 millions foretold in the Apocalypse, that could mean quite a crowd. Yet the thing even more impressive than the quantity here is the quality. That is the multitude comes out of every nation, tribe, people, and tongue! Think of some peoples, nations, and tribes in the past or of today, see any way someone could be saved out of that? And yet, Jesus promises every and all of those groups will have sheep there telling of His salvation. Let us join in!

Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb!

Bucky

Watching To The Miss

Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.  Mark 13:33

Jesus told us to watch and pray. It is a divine command from our Lord Jesus. There was a thing going on in town this past year which I watched with some steadfast effort. There was a delay, and then on the day I was watching for, I took a different route to work, then came home late and finally the weekend arrived. On Monday, back on the usual route, I saw that I had missed the event entirely. So much for my skills and effort as a watchman. 

When we do not know the hour and day, as no one knows that for our Lord's return, it is  therefore nearly impossible for us to make the appointment. Yet, we have been commanded to watch. Well, maybe the next part will help, pray. As we cannot know the time and date, and will likely be surprised, we might as well do what we can do in Christ our Lord until that great day, and pray! However, if this missing of the day and hour is a foregone conclusion, what good will the second part do? Ah, but we know that part works so well! Not by our effort or talent does prayer work, but by the faithfulness and love of our Lord Jesus. We may falter much in prayer and watchfulness, but He will be there for the great return and will gather us to Himself. 

As with every day, In Christ Alone!

Bucky

Made Manifest By Faith

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” John 14:22

Manifest: evident, apparent or clear to the senses. Judas had a good question there since the man had traveled with Jesus for some time and clearly lots of people could see and hear our Lord. So, Judas had to ask, what is this manifesting you speak of? We know it as the time of faith between our Lord's death on the cross and His return, often known as the Second Coming. What is interesting in this is that little word 'in'. The manifesting will not be of the five senses, but a knowledge borne of faith that Jesus is in us by His Holy Spirit. Judas had trouble understanding because it was a new way of manifesting; one done by faith and not by seeing. The world by unbelief will not know Him.

By faith in Him!

Bucky

The Fruitlessness Of Our Expectation

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23

It's a lovely day on the New Earth as your party reaches the great city of the Lord, Jerusalem. Coming in through the gate made of a single pearl, all of you pass a gathering in a small coffee shop of what look like cleaning persons with brooms and dustbins. Can there be dust in the city with the streets of gold? You begin the climb to the top to present yourselves to the King of kings in the great palace far above. After weeks of climbing, you arrive exhausted before the throne to find King David there. One of you dares to ask the great king where in the world Jesus might be after that lengthy climb. David tells that he would gladly give up the throne to Jesus, but that our Lord doesn't go in much for the celebrity king sort of thing, and that you are more likely to find Him in a coffee shop on the first level gathering with the working folks He loves. The fruitlessness of your expectation comes home to you at that moment.

After that great victory of His at the end with His white horse and all, we might kind of expect Jesus to be forever the superest of superhumans on a high and mighty throne. Will that be the case though? Is there a fruitless expectation rolling about the deck of our little ship like a loose cannonball? Will He be known as Immanuel - God with us - or by some name that means God way over the top of us?

When we believed we gained a very personal Savior... who also happens to be the King of kings,

Bucky

Sometimes A Little Direction

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:5-6

Like Thomas, we sometimes need a little direction. Whether it be for life in general, a job, or just a little offering of praise to our Lord, we may need direction. Jesus covered everything for Thomas by stating that He is the way, the truth, and the life. To turn the other direction from Jesus then is to be lost, deceived, and dead - not really where any of us want to be! Before Jesus, we didn't know the way, to go or to the Father or to eternal life. In Christ all of those are the same direction and we are glad to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Simple directions for the simple, let's follow the Way!

Bucky

Learning The Servanthood

But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Mark 10:42

Once in a while it comes upon me to do an update on my learning the servanthood portion of this journey with Jesus. And it seems there are still some problems along the way. For example: a person comes to me and says, "I need you to do something for me." We're not talking about the boss here, since by way of employment that is what is supposed to be a thing. No, this is that acquaintance or even total stranger who loves that verse we read today and figure they are referenced in the lord or great one part of it. And this is where I fail the test of servanthood since immediately I'm thinking things like: Why do you want to take advantage of my feeble attempt at servanthood? And other things that you can imagine since it has likely happened to you as well. Yes, it is the ready and willing to obey part that still sticks in 1st gear for me. Jesus of course did not say that learning the servanthood would be easy for any of us. We have that old nature that just doesn't want to serve. 

So, in prayer we go to Christ Jesus once again to learn how to serve,

Bucky

All Those Sacrifices

The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.  Isaiah 1:11

We could talk about the cold...  Ah well, winter is here and it's a thing to endure for a while. We could talk about our failure in the area of sacrifice too. However, it can become a temptation if we shovel too much guilt about sacrifice so that someone falls into thinking that we can impress the Lord by the amount of our sacrifices. The Israelites at the time of Isaiah had the quantity part down all too well. What they lacked the Lord spells out in the verses following our one for study this morning. 

From here we might think that the ancient Israelite worship system was all about the blood and guts of animal sacrifices. And like Israel had done in Isaiah's day, that would be to forget the worship bit of the whole thing. One can just see their priests preaching about more sacrifice to please the Lord... And then the Lord sent His prophet to say that He has more than enough of that stuff. Worship of the Lord would include listening to His prophet and doing what the Lord desired. Things such as learning to do right, defending the oppressed or correcting the oppressor, pleading the case of the widow, and others. The Lord even wanted to reason with them about it in that great eighteenth verse. 

How great is it that the Lord Himself would reason with us? 

Bucky

We Look Up With Hope In Him!

Now King David was old, advanced in years; and they put covers on him, but he could not get warm.  1 Kings 1:1

There he is, the great king of Israel, old and advanced in years, freezing with many blankets piled on him. The verse reminds us that the Bible is not a superhero comic book, nor is it a fantasy novel. Even the king gets old and cold at a time when Israel could provide much to warm him.  Soon King David will relinquish the throne and sleep the sleep that we call death. So, why did you or I want to be king, president, or ruler again? 

We are encouraged by the world to strive for the top spot in whatever organization we find ourselves in this day. Yet, like David, we are going to grow old and get cold. One day another blanket will not be enough to cut the chill. Wow, as far as comfort goes, I'm a wet blanket on a frozen lake this morning. The cold start has left my thermometer too low. How great it is that with David and Job we know our Redeemer lives! It isn't another blanket that warms our hearts but the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We may sleep in this world, but we look to awaken with our Lord Jesus. Our faith is in the Lord, we look up with hope in Him!

Yes, it's cold today, but we don't have to be,

Bucky

Revelations Of The Day

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  John 14:26

This morning I saw for the first time a pickup priced over $100,000. Yes, a 1-ton pickup that requires a ton of cash. Actually a little over 220 pounds of $1 bills according to that infernal information resource we can hardly live without these days. But my revelations prior to 0600 were not done yet! An article on the Blue Letter Bible home page told of a translation that:

"required a strict adherence to the Textus Receptus of Hahn's Greek Testament."

Without further research, what does that even mean? Is it good or bad, happy or sad? Yes, it was revealed that I do not know my Textus Receptus from my Titus Andronicus. What a dreadful ignorance! I could go down, down, the Internet information rabbit hole to find out, but I think not. 

With all that being said, how did the disciples write all they did about Jesus years after He had ascended from the mountain? Without the Internet or even a decent library, how did so much survive in their memory? John wrote to tell us how in our verse for today, one often overshadowed by the next verse in that chapter. This verse also gives us a vital bit of knowledge on how to sort out the eternally relevant from the enormous amount of information available to us in this age: go to the One who can bring all Jesus said to our remembrance too, God's Holy Spirit! 

Go in prayer, my friends!

Bucky

Blasting Away With A Dull Axe

If the ax is dull,
And one does not sharpen the edge,
Then he must use more strength;
But wisdom brings success.
  -- Ecclesiastes 10:10

Get ready for a brute-strength message, for I feel kind of dull this morning. Welp, took a shower and still the only words I got are some silly song lyrics. It is days such as this one that I am reminded that God does not need me specifically to spread His good news. Today it may come to a lost sheep by way of a preacher on the radio or a personal friend who has been found by the Good Shepherd. This day might be one where a proclaiming angel crosses the sky with the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't have to be me today, but it always must be Him!

Jesus is the Way back to the Father our God!

Love to you from Bucky, your dull axe writer for this morning.

The Name Is ~.#

And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.  Revelation 15:2

Decent Earth revolution to you! The name is ~.#, pronounced squiggle dot flash, and I write to you from not so far away as you might think...

We have seen a great many changes in our time from the days when a series of punctuation marks as a name might have seemed as far out there as that number of the Beast in the book of Revelation. Prophecies such as that one seem distant and remote until the day comes when they are not far at all, even on the doorstep. Today it does not seem futuristic to us that a person might protect their identity by having it placed securely in or on the body by a device or marking. Even the prophetic right hand or forehead (Rev 13:16) seemed oddly specific, until we saw the photos of Covid-masked people by the thousand going across the news media just a couple of years ago. Body art has become commonplace where it once was the sign of having lived a rough or even outlaw life. The world may well be ready to receive that dreadful mark.  

We, on the other hand (Ow!),  have a promise of victory in our verse for today. No doubt it is Jesus our Lord who has won that victory for us.

Bucky

Through The Ice Ridges

By the breath of God ice is given,
And the broad waters are frozen.
  Elihu in Job 37:10

Early this morning I looked out and saw a SUV carefully driving through the ice ridges of our town streets. We had them last year as well, and driving into one of these things without the proper caution will wake a person right up. How to make the ridges worse, one might ask? Oh, just have a little snow fall down on top during the night so that the icy devils cannot be seen, and you have a recipe for a driving adventure. After striking one of these things going just a bit too fast, you might speak a kindly prayer for young Elihu. Kindly, that is, after you edit out the, uh, salty words you used at first to describe him. It seems that God might have a question about the actual source of ice for the Mr. Elihu too:

From whose womb comes the ice
And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
  -- Job 38:29

God had lots of questions for those of us who, like Elihu, get caught out relying on what we think we know in place of trusting in the Lord. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Starting in chapter 38 of the Book of Job, we can all learn a bit of the ol' humility by answering just a few of those questions from the Lord. Or even just one of the questions...maybe?

Have a delightful day in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

No Night's Rest For Him?

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. John 18:1

The first question to arise from this verse is: what words? We didn't get the words! That is of course the beauty of studying the Bible on your own. You get to go back and read those words in chapter 17. However, here in our verse for today we get one of those moments that drive the constant-toil bosses a little crazy. A break? They took a break? What happened to all that harvest is ripe stuff? Jesus we know from the scriptures worked more at prayer than anyone else. The weary disciples will fall asleep as Jesus prays, but our Lord kept at it until the soldiers came to take Him. The brook and the garden sound like the start of a peaceful rest, but it was not to be for Jesus that night. We advise one another to get a good night's rest before a difficult task, probably because our Lord didn't get one there in that garden by the brook.

Cherish your night of rest, each is given by God as a gift to you,

Bucky

Now What?

Moreover the LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man's pen concerning Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.  Isaiah 8:1

At Christmas the time seems right to write about the birth of Christ and at Thanksgiving it seems good to give some gratitude to God, but after the New Year thing, what do we write about now? Let me think on this out loud for a bit. There are 31,102 verses in the Bible according to several sources, so at about 225 used per year as our verse of the day, I should be good to go for 130 years or so. And, let's see, take off the 17 years I have written this devotional message, add the remainder to my present age, and if I start repeating verses at the ripe old age of 173, no one is likely to notice! Least of all myself, who probably won't have to endure quite that long before the Master calls us home. 

No worries, beloved! As long as the Lord provides the words about His word, we will continue this for a while to come. 

Love in Christ Jesus to you and yours, 

Bucky

Choose Life!

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. Deuteronomy 30:19

To the beast in the field it may not seem like anything special today, just another winter day. To other peoples and nations our tradition of calling a day 1o days or so past the winter solstice the start of a new year may appear random and odd. To a hurting person this new day may not appear at all different from yesterday. However, as the Lord points out a thing we have in our verse for today, this new year beginning today gives us one more opportunity to choose. We can one and all choose to look upon the new year with hope in our hearts, no matter what circumstance has come down upon us in and from the preceding year. We also have a great hope that Israel did not know much about back in Deuteronomy, we can literally choose the way, the truth and the life by faith in Christ Jesus, God's beloved Son.

It's a great new year because you and I choose to believe in our Lord Jesus!

Bucky