Healed At The Source

Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.' ”​ 2 Kings 2:21

We are with the prophet Elisha in the scripture today, and he has come to a place with bad water. At their complaint, Elisha requests a new bowl and some salt in it. He dumps the salt in the water at the source and declares it healed. That's all they needed to do? A bowl of salt? It would be easy to focus on the salt and new bowl, perhaps even on the declaration, and forget the most important part: "Thus says the Lord." Without the word of God, a little salt in the water will make a little of the water salty. With His word, the Lord God heals the source of the water.

There are some salty words flowing from a lot of sources in our day. We need the healing of the Lord God at the source. Pray for that healing.

Bucky

The Night Watch

When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches.
  -- Psalm 63:6

Meditating instead of sleeping? Must be David. Why would the man lay awake at night in place of restful sleep? One reason came to me last night, one of those frightening dreams called a nightmare. By morning I don't even recall what it was that frightened me so, but it did come right at midnight. What words of comfort came to my trembling mind? I may be an empty vessel, but my Lord Jesus is a pouring pitcher of love!

There is something about a nightmare in the dead of night, a worry that awakens us at two, or that thing that just went 'bump!' in the night that brings us fearfully to God in immediate and even urgent prayer. That may be the only thing we can do in such a case as the bump is often never identified, the worry turns out to be worthless, and taking a swing or two at the nightmare is just ridiculous. Praise God that He is there for those who come to Him scared as a little child from the nothing of a nightmare. Of course when we are in a nightmare, it ain't nothing!

Have a peaceful day in Christ Jesus,

Bucky

A Story Too Good

And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob's heart stood still, because he did not believe them. Genesis 45:26

Poor old Jacob's heart stopped from too much good news. It happens throughout the Bible; good news is presented but it is too much for someone to believe. We even have a saying in these latter years about something seeming too good to be true. The problem often starts much further back with the telling of a lie, the old false witness thing. In the case of Joseph, his brothers had put on a little show with some blood and a certain colorful cloak that led Jacob to reach a dreadful conclusion. When years later he was presented with a different story of life, Jacob just couldn't take it in as quickly as he had the false news of death.

We bear a story of eternal life in Christ. Be patient with the unbelievers. For raised in a world of death, the good news of Jesus may sound just too good to be true at first.

Bucky

Ending In Death

They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.  Revelation 20:9

A thousand years of the glorious reign of Christ on this earth have passed and the deceiver is let out for a little time. The result? An attack on the beloved city and the camp of the saints. Of course it ends horribly for them. What did they think would happen? That is the nature of deception though, something else was promised to the deceived and they go forward with the assault. Why did they believe the false promise? Something important was missing in those deceived, and the deceptions of the Enemy seemed to fill up that space with a good feeling. 

From experience we can guess what that feels like - a feeling of power, being in control, deciding for ourselves what is right or wrong, and that we are pretty cool dudes or dudettes just like God. It was in other words just what Adam and Eve were looking for in that forbidden fruit. The deception that worked in Eden will be what works at the end of the thousand years. And it will end in the same death; only that this last time God is done giving the good news of Jesus His Son, and the fire comes immediately. 

Don't try to wait it out, believe in Jesus now and be filled with the Spirit!

Bucky

Shine On The Love

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16

In times of outrage or extreme views it can be tough for us to continue shining the love of Jesus. In a time of gathering darkness, you may fear to light your light that feels in your trembling hand like an old D-cell flashlight, the one with the easily breakable bulb and weak batteries. However, the light Jesus gave to you is much more than that and is connected to an inexhaustible power supply in the Lord. And the darker it gets outside, the brighter that light will shine. Faith also tells us that as weak and breakable as we may feel, the light we shine comes not from us but from the love of Jesus in us. 

So let the love light given to us from Jesus shine on,

Bucky

Dodging Spears

Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
  -- Psalm 54:2

Reading the historical notes at the start of this psalm, we see that David was not writing psalms in a comfy chair by the fireside in a well-guarded palace. The anointed and future king of Israel was in hiding from the current king, Saul. And some people had ratted him out. David turned to the Lord our God in prayer. 

Our transitions of power from one president to the next, noisy as they are in the media and social media, are tame by comparison to ancient Israel. David's anointing by the prophet Samuel did not place the big chair in Jerusalem under his young buttocks. Years of fighting, running, dodging spears, and going hungry would come before David could sit on the throne of Israel. Although God had rejected Saul as king, He didn't remove him from the throne and the power that came with it. David would have to wait for quite some time for his triumphal entry. 

We await the return of the King of kings and Lord of lords. But be ready for some opposition to Him, even though He too has been anointed already. 

May the love of the Lord Jesus Christ be always on your mind,

Bucky

Both Sides Need Him

Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. Luke 3:3 NIV

Okay, now that both sides have wielded the presidential pardon, can we give the rhetoric a rest on social media? No? After this last election season I wasn't sure it was possible, but now I see the effect of the word redouble on political social media posts. Since that won't go away, time to change to a quieter subject, John the Baptizer. Heh, heh, John, had he lived in our age, would have shown us the meaning of torrent when it came to social media posts. He was not quiet about King Herod's indiscretions. John did not hold back on the scribes and Pharisees either. I'm going to guess that people were not being baptized to show repentance because John told them how nice and righteous they had been living. John the Baptizer from the descriptions of him in the scriptures would I think have been melting keyboards with his posting in our time. So, if ya gotta post your politics, post 'em! But let us all remember that there is someone greater than the United States President, and we need to be posting the good news of Jesus the Christ.

In your heated emotions over politics, don't let us forget the Savior!

Bucky

A Visit To The Hometown

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”  Luke 4:22

Although several places rejected Jesus en masse, one of the more startling comes from His hometown of Nazareth. In our verse today the hometown folks first bear witness of His reading and marvel at His gracious words. But then, doubt begins to creep in as they ask each other, "Is this not Joseph's son?" After a few more words, our Lord's own hometown tries to toss their prophet off a cliff. The murderous rage of a mob is not the sort of thing we look for when visiting the old hometown. One can imagine the day of judgment as God asks Nazareth, "You would toss My Son off a cliff?" Yikes! Wouldn't want to be in their place on that day. 

We are privileged to believe in Jesus, not everyone did or does. 

Bucky

A Little Trip To The Farthest Star

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

During the three years or so of His ministry, the One present at the creation of the universe could certainly have explained a few things about it. How old, how far, what is that glowing thing out there? That and many other things that we wonder about today as the big space telescopes gaze into the heavens He could have told but He didn't. With but a short time, Jesus focused on our needs of salvation and redemption. The good news of the kingdom came to those dying of sin. After all, what good are the secrets of the universe to one who will not live to see it? However, if the love of God through faith in Jesus brings eternal life, then suddenly a trip of 15 billion light years to see a far galaxy doesn't seem quite so long anymore.

Eternity is plenty of time to see the farthest star.

Bucky

Happy Mourning?

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Matthew 5:4

Thank you for the kind words of comfort yesterday. Today I was met with the contradiction of feeling blessed by mourning. Years ago a preacher said that we could substitute blessed with the word happy in the Beatitudes. This would change it to 'Happy are those who mourn...' which is just more contradiction than I can feel even on a good day. No doubt that preacher long ago thought himself quite clever. While emotions are complex, I think most of us could tell the difference between a happy person and a person in mourning. The blessing would seem to come from the comforting, and not from a clever word switcheroo. One mourning person can bring many together to comfort him. That's a blessing. While it is nice to be around a happy person, one cannot simply point a magic word wand at him and say, "Make it so!" 

Therefore, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!

Bucky

One Called Home

“Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Acts 7:56

Steve, one of our small Tuesday Bible study group, was called home by Jesus on Monday evening. We rejoice over him with a touch of sadness. We are glad he has gone to be with the Lord Jesus, but we also miss his presence. It is a conundrum among followers of Jesus whether we should mourn or celebrate the passing of a brother in Christ. We can of course do both as we do miss those we love and we are also glad they have ended this journey of sorrows and pain. So maybe not such a conundrum as we thought.

As for Steve, perhaps named after the martyr Stephen who spoke our verse for today, I shall miss his lovely, drawn out "Amen", and his quick response each morning as I published this little message. I have met few who carried such a load of infirmities across the finish line as Steve did with His Savior. Every time I felt a bit sorry for myself, I could think of Steve's faith and know some encouragement.

Until we meet again, rest with Jesus our Lord, my dear brother in Christ!

Bucky

Two Gathered

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.  Matthew 18:20

Therefore did they limit all church activities to the required two or three persons... Nope, that isn't the context of this verse. The number of witness, two or three, came from the law where a sinner was not to be convicted (and thus lose his life) on the word of but one witness. You and I can see how the word of but one witness could be abused for evil purposes. We have likely seen it in person or in the media when an allegation from one person has gone out to destroy an innocent life. Two or three brothers and sisters in Christ can help us avoid personal error in our scripture reading as well. It is easy to tweak a scripture to what I want it to say, and the old flesh is ever looking out for an advantage. No one around you right now? Jesus gave to us His Spirit so that we are always gathered with Him. 

Rejoice in the Spirit every moment!

Bucky

P.S. Phew! I have written and deleted a great many things this morning. Being out sick most of last week shows in a writing that just isn't flowing forth well this morning. 

Believe Me

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. John 14:11

"Believe Me," Jesus calls from the disciples, hoping that here even near the end they will believe like children all He said to them. Pure faith remains difficult for them, as it does for us, and so they have a second choice. A starting point, if you will. Believe in Him because of the works the disciples had seen Him perform many times. Of course Jesus does not want either them or us to remain in an 'or else' sort of faith. Later in the chapter, Jesus will tell His disciples that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, would teach them all things. That is a nice way of letting them know they need more training. Are we any different? Our faith will be trained and tested until it is the pure faith our Lord wants for us.

Let us together learn to believe His every word,

Bucky

Let That Other Thing Go

My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go;
​​My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.
  -- Job 27:6

So I was thinking of an anxious time from a few years ago and those same anxious feelings began to rise up within me. Time to put that historical volume back on the old shelf and let it go! Reading from Job in our verse for today, we might ask, did Job truly live a life without sin? God said that Job was righteous, so perhaps he did have a clean past. It is also possible that when Job made his sin, guilt, or atonement offerings, he truly let go of the past and did not bring it up again. Job also knew that his Redeemer lives (19:25), which makes all the difference to us as well. Job may not have known the name of Jesus, but we do. And we hold fast our righteousness, which is Christ Jesus, and He does not let us go. What must we let go? Those forgiven sins and anxious dreads of the past. So, hold fast your righteousness and let that other thing go!

In Christ we live,

Bucky

A Gap Of Years

And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. Luke 2:42

The young boy told His parents in v49 that He must be about His Father's business, but a gap of some eighteen years comes between our verse today and His appearance at John's baptism. Readers of Luke will of course wonder what went on in those years and search the other three gospels to find... nothing. This incident in Jerusalem also gives us our last glimpse of Joseph, where we can again scan the other gospels to find nothing. In an age when we have perhaps too many details of well-known persons, this can be a bit frustrating to us. But that gap of about 18 years belongs to Jesus and His family, and we respect their privacy. Yes, I want to know more about Jesus! Fortunately, His words are more than enough to keep me occupied until our meeting with Him.

Have a wonderful day in Christ!

Bucky

Check With Scripture, Ask In Prayer

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  Galatians 1:6-7

The Right Honorable Reverend Doctor Hermal Herferdshire, PhD, DVD, ESP, PDQ stepped up to the podium of the Most Gracious Savior of Potowatamiee Church in New Salem and gave a rousing sermon on the requirements of salvation by lifetime labor for the perfecting of the penitent soul. He needn't have bothered, the simple folks of the congregation had solid scriptural foundation from Paul's letters of the free gift of grace by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. The Rev. HH was not invited to stay for dinner. 

In Galatia, Paul's little band of Christ followers had fallen to a perverse message, one not of Christ. Paul did not marvel as Jesus did over the understanding of faith and authority that a Roman officer had, but marveled the other way, over how easily his flock of believers had fallen. Now the rather silly example I gave before points out that the person or people who came to Galatia with this false gospel probably sported some education or position that caused these new Christians to believe them without checking with Paul or their scriptures. Perhaps they did not even take that basic step we all have available to us, asking God in prayer. 

Prayer and scripture, still great ways to stay on the path!

Bucky