Of The Past

Do not remember the former things,
Nor carefully consider things of the past.
-- Isaiah 43:18

Taken out of context, this verse might be telling us to forget the entire Bible! That would of course mean forgetting the verse itself which comes to us from Isaiah, one of God's prophets in the Bible. People will at times fantasize about time travel, and Isaiah gives us an opportunity to work on that with prophecies of his 'now', of his near future but still way back in time for us, and of the distant future we have not seen yet more than 2,700 years down the line. The new thing God promised began with the birth of Christ about 700 years from Isaiah's time, but Jesus preached the old scriptures frequently - obviously not forgetting the things of the past. Therefore, we study the Old Testament as well, and look ahead to that time when we are to not remember the things of the past. Does that mean the Bible too? It may well be, but only because then the Word of God, Jesus the Christ, will be right there with us.

To God be the glory, forever and ever, amen!

Bucky

In Quietness And Trust

For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
“In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your might.”
But you were not willing,
   -- Isaiah 30:15

Good heavens! Why would they not be willing? We ask from our safe perch a few centuries down the road. And yet, if we look around a bit, there seems to be a lot going on. There is an achievement orientation to the life around us. People are named great by their awards, completed deals, businesses built, net worth (real or estimated), times seen on the monitor screen, and so on. How many people are called out in the media for their quietness and trust? Speak of rest and see how fast you are called lazy. Would any high achievers set their resume aside to live a life of repentance, rest, quietness, and trust in God? How about after the world has named them 'great' in some way? The busyness of the world can be addictive, and it can be risky in the light of eternity too!

Beware the noisy busyness of the world that loves its business!

Bucky

P.S. And a Happy Birthday wish to my mom today!

Where Was Jesus Today?

This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.  John 15:12-14

Resurrection Day is celebrated four weeks from next Sunday, so our Lord Jesus probably wasn't in Jerusalem yet in that year of His death and resurrection. As about half of John's gospel concerns those events just before, during, and just after the Passover, this verse for today does not answer the question.  However, the passage does give to us what Jesus our Lord would have us to do while we await His return: love one another. Oh, and lay down our lives one for another. Jesus is of course our best example of laying down His life for His beloved ones, but we probably won't be called to do that this day. So, how can one go about laying down a life for the love of others? Social media provides one arena for this. In place of what we may want to do in this life, that is bullying, criticizing, judging, condemning, mocking, and even demonizing one another, we might strive to understand and love one another. Yes, whoever your 'they' is, they likely have some views that are strange to you, but Jesus made it your job and mine to love them too. 

Have that loving day online and in Christ today!

Bucky

Faithfulness To The Skies

Your lovingkindness, O Yahweh, is in the heavens,
Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Psalm 36:5

Reach out to the heavens and grasp the sky. Try to extend a hand to the stars and touch one of those shining lights in the night expanse. We cannot do such a thing of course, but we love the Lord God and along with King David we seek to get our minds around the extent of the Lord's lovingkindness and grasp a little of His enduring faithfulness. Our reach proves far too short, our minds limited, and neither can we understand the great quantity of our Lord's lovingkindness and faithfulness. With David we may raise comparisons, only to fail in measuring the Lord's abundance. And how do we begin to thank Him when all that lovingkindness and faithfulness was born in His Son in order to save each of us? 

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!  Psalm 36:7

Bucky

Without Fear

Now if Timothy comes, take care that he is with you without fear, for he is doing the Lord's work, as I also am.  1 Corinthians 16:10

We don't know from this verse what Timothy had to fear - change, crowds, travel, or just everything - but Paul made sure to tell others to be careful for him.  In the next verse they are told to let no one despise Timothy. Perhaps the man didn't hold up well against the mocking that can happen when a group comes together. It may be that like Timothy, you and I do not know what it is to serve the Lord without fear. Maybe we don't know what it might be like to walk in this life fearlessly at all! 

Be of good faith! The Lord knew Timothy and his fears, and accepted the man into His kingdom of workers just as He did Paul. Timothy was apparently of that first generation of believers who did not get to meet Jesus our Lord in person in this small portion of life. Faith and fear constantly battle for our attention, but as always - we will have good help in this fight, plus armor and a sword! 

Trust in Jesus!

Bucky

Together In Christ

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household. Ephesians 2:19

Paul wrote many things that we may not feel just yet. While he writes that we are no longer strangers, it surely feels like it in this world. And though we may not be sojourners, we may have another place that we would rather be, that place being close to Jesus and where He is right now. The apostle does not write of how we feel of course, but the assurance we have in Christ Jesus of where we belong. Our sight of what is may be rather earth-bound right this moment, but we have that assurance of how things really are in the grace of our Lord.

So, look with Paul through the eyes of faith!

Bucky

The Sword Of Reproof

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 LSB

From Oxford Languages we have: reproof, an expression of blame or disapproval. Mirriam-Webster tells us reproof is: criticism for a fault, rebuke. We tend to like this passage for that very reason, the sword of reproof makes us feel knowledgeable and powerful in the Word.

As with any sword placed in our hands, we must learn to use it well. Otherwise, we may find it cutting us and those we love. Ah, yes, love, is that not the first and second most important commands of our Savior, known in the first part of John as the Word? If one has not learned to love well, first and second, then perhaps the sword of reproof can wait for another time.

There! Consider yourselves reproofed. Wait, what? Oh no, where's the love first? Or second?

May the love of God and for each other come first in us always,

Bucky

The Springtime Of Our Lord Jesus

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.  Philippians 3:1

When I set out on a morning to write to you of rejoicing, it comes to mind that at this time of the year it is a struggle to rejoice always in the Lord. It isn't the Lord's fault of course and I hesitate to blame myself for it, but it is there in February. Winter has been going on for a while now, and it has not been particularly bad this year except for a brief ten days or so back in January. However, we have experienced a lot of cloudy weather this year and that begins to wear on a person at this time of the season. So, maybe you and I can rejoice in a bit of co-suffering, and together we can wait on the springtime of joy to come in the person of our Lord Jesus. 

The most difficult waiting comes just before the thing happens!

Bucky

The Law And The Prophets

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12 ESV

We can easily get lost and overwhelmed in the Old Testament law, and then come the prophets with lengthy Isaiah, almost as long Jeremiah, and plenty of Ezekiel, not to mention all the little guys. But what if we had a one-sentence summary of how to obey all that law and those prophets too? Jesus as the originator of all that law and prophetic word gives just that to us in His great sermon. We call it the Golden Rule sometimes, but it gives us guidance on dealing with other people. And a quick perusal of the news media today shows that some of us really need that guidance!

For those of us who believe in Jesus and long to follow Him better, this is the kind of rule to apply constantly. Plus - Bonus! - it fulfills the law and the prophets too.

Have a loving day in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

To My Beloved

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11

Slow as I am, even I have noticed the resurgence of the word beloved on social media. And it's about time too! Jesus only commanded us to love one another about 2,000 years ago. Love is a great subject for that day of love, Valentine's Day, or Saint Valentine's Day if you are among those who honor persons with that title. And love had better be the subject as there is some doubt over which Valentine was the man who lived just some of the many stories associated with that name. Therefore, love it is, and our first love in this new life would be the love for our Lord Jesus that He begins to grow in us from that first moment we believed in Him. Then, we begin our journey into that second love - one another.

And so, to my beloved, Have a great and happy Valentine's Day!

Bucky

The Spirit Comes

And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit."  John 20:22

A significant event occurs in our verse for today, and yet in the recording by John there seems to be little change in the disciples, a certain doubter isn't even present. What was it about those actions of Jesus that seems so significant to us? He breathed on them, an action that might normally be rude, here it is dryly reported to us in later generations, but...did anything happen? And that wasn't all our Lord did, for He also spoke His word, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Yet, at this point in the scriptures, nothing seems to have happened. We are left to wonder what process began in the hearts of those present that would burst forth to such glorious effect at Pentecost some days later?  

So many questions for us, and so much room for faith!

Bucky

Supper With The King

Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. John 12:1-2

You and I may have a little difficulty in leaving the subject of Lazarus' miracle alone for a time (and John the writer does too), but here let us see the supper table. Mary as we know has a certain mission at this time, and has her perfume ready. Martha lives to serve the Lord and does her service here in the verses. Lazarus may have been an accountant, or a tent maker, or whatever before, but now he is known by that miracle, and he sits at the table with the King. But, Jesus does not act like we think kings would act in such a time and place. He doesn't even act as we think the God of Abraham and Moses would act. Immanuel, God with us, sits down to a meal with those who believe in Him.

For all the great works we think we must accomplish for Him, maybe He would have us to just be with Him in the simple everyday tasks at hand.

Bucky

With Great Joy

And all the people went up after him; and the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split with their sound.  1 Kings 1:40

So, as you can read in our verse for today, we did not invent loud music with the coming of rock n' roll. And, what is this? Flutes?! Brass instruments or big drums one might understand, but seeming to split the earth with flutes? Did someone sneak in a bass guitar and a couple of big  amps? Of course the volume is not so much in the instruments but the rejoicing with great joy. Their voices of rejoicing seemed to split the earth. With great joy they marched together and made this great noise of rejoicing. 

Today we seem to be in an age where the big marches are about protest, not rejoicing.  When was the last time someone organized a march on Washington DC to rejoice over something? After the big game on Sunday? I'm not sure it's all rejoicing if a city needs police in riot gear ready to go. May we all look to our Savior and learn what rejoicing is all about. As Paul tells us:

Rejoice in the Lord always!

Bucky

Many Wonderful Works

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
  -- Psalm 40:5

There are those times when we simply need a reminder such as this one from the psalms. If you read this verse today and think, "Gotta be David." Correct, and it shows to us the mind of the man after God's own heart. When we think of all our problems in this life, David had more of them. And yet, he brought to us this comfort when he stopped to think of God and His wonderful works. Do we have worries? Sure, but David had his own plus an entire kingdom's worth. And still, we all stop to think, "Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works." As we also go down our list of thanksgivings to offer up to the Lord, we too can see there are more than can be numbered. A difficult day might take a bit more effort or time, but gratitude is there in the Spirit of God!

Have a grateful day in God's loving Spirit!

Bucky

We Still Want To Know

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”  Matthew 24:3

The disciples wanted to know about the end times, and so do we a long time down the road. And we still have the same answer to read that the disciples received on the Mount of Olives. To this day, no one can put an hour, day, month and year on the Lord's return, just as He said back then in His answer. So, take a little comfort that as Peter did in his day, and Paul, Simon, Timothy, Augustine, and many other believers through the years, we wait in a state of expectancy for the return of Jesus the Christ. We may sleep as they did in the 18th Century, or we may get to see the glorious return. He is risen and He returns any day now.

Have a great week in faith!

Bucky

Not Too Fast, Please

“Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. John 21:12

Happy Groundhog Day to you. An advertisement e-mail also wishes me a Happy Working Naked Day. I think a majority of us are not quite ready for that sort of change, at least not that quickly, and it would pose a great risk to some precious body parts to do that in some jobs. Speaking of working naked, or in undergarments, one particular fisherman of our acquaintance was doing just that on a lovely day in Galilee when a change walked up along the seashore. Now this man had changed very quickly from stone-cold dead to alive and walking about. His disciples were having trouble processing that quick change, and there was something about His appearance that left even close associates struggling to recognize Him, er, the risen Him. It is not stated in the Gospel just what about the risen Savior was so different, but it shows in every meeting with Him from Mary Magdalene just outside the tomb, to the believers on the way to Emmaus, to the fishing disciples on the Sea of Galilee. The fishermen knew it was Him from the actions, but His appearance left them not daring to ask. What was it about Him? I guess we'll just have to dare to ask when we see Him!

Love and patience in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Life In His Name

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:30-31

John witnessed a great many miraculous works of our Lord, and he didn't write them all down for us. What, a withholding? Who gave him the right to hold these back from us? Of course we understand that for John to write all of the miracles of Jesus would be for him to still be writing to this day. Even simply those works done in our Lord's brief ministry, as John writes in verse 25 of the next chapter, would overwhelm the book capacity of this world. By the ones written down in John's gospel though we have this great opportunity: take this the testimony of John as eye witness and believe in the Lord Jesus, and then we have life in His name.

A simple formula for us simple people,

Bucky