Just At The Point of Interesting

Good morning! We might adjust that saying to 'just at the point where we are about to bear fruit'. What we are looking for today is that point that comes right after we want to give it up and tell God what a failure we are. I read in a photography magazine a couple of years ago that most aspiring photographers give up just at the point their photographs become interesting. In Christ, we have a similar point, the point just before we are going to bear some serious fruit for our Lord. It is at that point that most of us want to give up. We have seen no fruit borne in our efforts, we may be poor in the way of the world, and the enjoyment that we expected doing Christ's work seems far off.

The training period God places on our little shoulders may last for years. Patience may be exhausted as the effort goes on and on with little reward or sign of fruit-bearing. Prayer in this area appears to go up in the air and we may be fully convinced that God is off taking in someone else's prayer incense. Whatever the reason, the prayer, the toil, the learning, and our little bit of faith seems wasted. The little flame of our mission is about to go out forever. Maybe, just maybe we were on the wrong path to begin with and God is not blessing our mission because this one ain't it. That little creeping doubt begins to take hold and strangle our faith. But, and there is always a moment of time when the Spirit gets His say.

Isaiah, whom we call the prince of prophets, had this to say, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax He will not quench." in speaking of our Lord and Savior. That last tiny flicker of flame on the end of your flax will not be quenched by Christ. We can snuff it out through giving up, but let us not give up on our mission before Christ gives up on us. You may identify wholly with the bruised reed, but Jesus will not break you, little reed. Trust in God, bring your concerns - okay, maybe they are more than concerns at this point - bring your pleading and crying to the Lord. Let Him know all about your feeling of doubt and your desire to give it all up. Remind Jesus that the darkness threatens to overwhelm your soul. Come in prayer to our Lord and tell Him that your patience and faith seems to be at the point of the bruised reed and smoking flax. Then, listen! The Word of the Lord will come to you through the Bible, a voice in your spirit, a statement made by a brother in Christ, in some way the Lord will make Himself known to you in your moment of despair. The spirit in you that is redeemed by Christ will hold communion with the Spirit of God whom Jesus gave to those who believe in Him, and you will know and I will know that God has spoken. Then, "He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the Earth." (Isaiah 42:3-4)

Trust in God, and be ready to hear His voice,
Bucky

Breakfast in the BooHoo Valley, Again

Good morning! I heard thunder late in the night. Could it be that spring is here to stay now? Speaking of spring, I guess I won't be sowing my wild oats again this spring. It seems that my old oats are stale. Boohoo. A hip hurts today, a throat hurt yesterday, and I can hardly wait for what will hurt later on. Boohoo. I was supposed to have bacon and eggs this morning, but I forgot and put the water on for oatmeal. I guess my old memory just isn't what it used to be, or maybe it's exactly what it used to be and I just forgot. Boohoo. God's provision hasn't arrived yet to make me as wealthy as King Midas, I guess it's just another day of scraping by. Boohoo. Even the whistle on the tea kettle seems weak and sick today, just like poor, pitiful me. Boohoo.

Do you ever get up on a day and feel like that? Everything is against me, God doesn't care anymore, and I'm just going to have breakfast in the Boohoo Valley! We most certainly know that God doesn't have apathy in His heart for us, so there may be a problem with the rest of our moaning as well. If God does care for us, and we know from His word that He does, then looking at the day in a new light may be more appropriate. The birds are back from wherever they spend the winter. The trees are showing signs of life after their long winter. I walked many blocks this morning and we enjoyed a wonderful Bible study yesterday. I have food to eat, clothing to wear, shelter from the thunder, and a garden to plant. Hmm, perhaps it's time to transport my breakfast onto the Peak of Blessing.

Often we fall into a deep inspection of all that appears wrong in our lives. Instead, we should look to our Savior and Lord. Eternal life, what would we endure in the here and now in exchange for eternal life, if we could save ourselves that is? Too late, Jesus endured what needed to be done to save us. Such love we do not deserve, yet we have it in Christ. That doesn't sound so bad. This grace is available every day in every trial. I don't think that is something to boohoo over at all. Trust says that all we need will come from God at just the right time. That doesn't sound so bad either. I don't have to keep and be responsible for something that I don't have yet, because God is taking care of it for now. Let God's grace, mercy, and lovingkindness raise me up to the Peak of Blessing today, I don't need to breakfast down here in the Boohoo Valley again.

God bless and keep you on this great day in Christ!
Bucky

P.S. I caught myself fist bumping the truck and reassuring it that we would drive again. Is this a small expression of faith, or do I need to have my head examined? I'll let you decide that one. :-)

I'm Glad When I Agree With The Lord

Good Tuesday morning! Not that long ago, I wanted the Lord to agree with me. I'm going to do this, Lord, please bless it and make me successful. My prayers varied a little, but that is basically the line I used repeatedly. I guess I had the persistence part down right, but was a little hazy on whose will should be done in my life. Now, I worry less about the Lord agreeing with me, and work a lot more on my will lining up with the Lord's will so that His name is glorified in my life. But even that is only a step in the right direction. Better still would be to be in complete agreement with the Lord and jump to obedience with His will in my life. I'm glad when I agree with the Lord. That is a sign of my heart moving closer to God's heart.

King David was known as a man after God's own heart. This was not some idle opinion or a good guess. In 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel tells Saul that he has done foolishly (Pick a king and say that, I dare you!) and that "the Lord has sought for himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people..." In Acts 13:22, Paul confirms that this was David. When David committed terrible sins, he agreed with God that it was sin (Psalm 51) and that God alone was the answer to his iniquity. We are not in agreement with God when we sin, but we can agree with God by repenting - thus acknowledging with Him that it is sin - and seeking His mercy. To obtain God's mercy, we first agree with God that we need it.

The same goes for our salvation. We first agree with God that we are sinners, and then we agree with God that Jesus is the only way to be saved. After that, God begins our training in earnest and we find ourselves agreeing with God more and more. In fact, when we arrive in Heaven, we will have been made in full agreement with the Lord that we belong there. Seems a bit of a stretch now, I'll admit, but God is in charge of this operation, not me. Think about it though, could any of us face God on His throne if we had the slightest doubt about our wedding garments? Nope, God will make sure the bride of His Son is ready.

Praise God for the new day!
Bucky

My Salvation Was So Boring

Good Monday morning! Last night, a bit late I'll admit, I finished my second reading of Frank E. Peretti's two darkness novels. I like to reread books sometimes and these are good enough for a second viewing. Near the end of the second novel, Piercing The Darkness, a woman gets saved with one of those glorious experiences that we hear about, maybe not quite so much as this fictional account, but nevertheless a very moving experience. The problem is that by comparison my salvation was so boring. I didn't experience trumpets, get to feel the wood of the cross, or see Christ in person, was my salvation real?

You and I have asked that question at times, but the problem with a very grand experience in a book or a movie is that it is in a book or movie. Each gift of salvation that comes with our repentance and acknowledgment of Christ as our Lord is personal. It's between me and Jesus, or between you and Jesus, but not all of our experiences must be the same. And who says that either of our salvations was boring? Look in the Gospels, read what Jesus endured for you and for me, do those accounts seem boring? I think not. Did Jesus fall asleep during the trial? Kinda hard to do that when someone is smacking you around. Did the disciples groan and seek entertainment elsewhere? Nope, they fled in terror, not exactly a boring experience. Did those who loved Jesus yawn and go home to bed? Hardly, I suspect many of them found each other in the darkness and trembled in fear. We may never know all that Jesus endured for us, but boredom was not part of it. If my salvation seems boring, then I'm not looking at my Savior, the one who did all the saving.

Rejoice in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Bucky

I Made a Mistake

Eeek, Gasp, Alert the media! Not that kind of mistake, nor is it my first by any means. No, my mistake this morning was a simple matter of precedence. Instead of coming in from my walk full of ideas, then choosing one to write a devotional, I did the awful thing. Yes, I opened a news website and read a few articles. Worse, after one of them I read some of the ever-present parade of opinions regarding the state of our nation. Next thing ya know, all those ideas God gave me during our morning stroll had left me as the pain and despair of the world washed over my thoughts. My fault, no one to blame but myself. Now, I struggle to come up with a good idea for a devotional.

Dark thoughts are so very easy to come by in this world. The pain and suffering in every nation and state is too much for us to take in every day. We must use our God-given discretion to know when to watch the news and when to leave it alone. Certainly any writing given in honor of God should come before the news of tragedies. There must be a lesson in that somewhere. Pray and walk with God, lots of ideas for devotional writing come to me. Read the news and eat corn flakes, the good thoughts are blown out by the sin and pain and tragedy and hurting and suffering and... Hmm, maybe I'm on to something here. My mind belongs to God now, perhaps my watching must be done with more wisdom.

In our guard duties during military service, we rotated shifts. No one was allowed to guard all night without rest and officers of the watch were tasked with making sure that did not happen without a very good cause. That does not always happen in the corporate world, because, well, we might as well face it, corporations staffed with smart people can still act very stupidly. In our walk with Christ, it may very well be that we need to rotate watches. I don't mean that you should trade timepieces with someone else, but that we may want prevent a brother in Christ from watching too much news. And it can be quite addictive to watch news web sites and shows every day, several times a day, or even constantly. All of this news can be overwhelmingly depressing. To maintain our watchfulness, we may want to share this duty between us. Should something important happen, such as the two witnesses from Revelation 11 arriving outside the temple in Jerusalem, we can tell each other quickly enough.

Have a great day in Christ Jesus. Enjoy the Saturday, and go easy on the news,
Bucky

Peace For The Moment

Today I cannot take credit for the title. The glory belongs to God in this one. If you listen to Christian radio, you may have heard the latest song by the Sidewalk Prophets. This one comes at what can only be described as a God arranged time or timing. The song is titled Help Me Find It and I think you will hear Christians talking about this one a lot. We all run into those moments when we just are not sure which way God wants us to go. Often we fail to ask, other times there seems to be no answer to our prayer, and then we may be in the will of God and not realize it. The chorus or hook of the song goes like this, "If there's a road I should walk, help me find it. If I need to be still, give me peace for the moment. Whatever Your will, can you help me find it?"

This describes my feeling in this time of my life so very accurately, and I am sure the song was not written with only me in mind. All of us who believe in Christ and have given our lives to Jesus want to know the will of the Father. Jesus prayed, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done." (Luke 22:42) I have one fulfilled promise to bear witness to in this time, I am in a time of tribulation. I too would like this cup to be taken away from me, but following the example of my Lord Jesus, not my will, Father, but Yours, be done.

I'll admit it; I don't like tribulation. Jesus didn't want His great tribulation, but He did it because it was the Father's will. You don't want your tribulations either. However, for each of us finding the will of the Father probably leads right directly through this current tribulation and all the ones yet to come. Our time of non-ending forever green valleys and still waters will come, but it is not yet. One day we will start forever, forever, and ever with our Lord Jesus, but for now we have tribulations. Some tribulations require our action, others require our waiting upon the Lord. For those times, we must ask God to grant us peace for the moment.

Bucky

Phoomf! It's Here

The day has arrived in all its glory! Yes, I have reached the tender age of 5-oy, uh, fifzy, um, it's hard to say now that it's here. Half a century of living on this earth and there is still so much to learn about God and His ways. Fifty years apparently is not quite enough to know God as well as I want to. Of course, you can point to the many years that I didn't actively search to know God. I am rather behind in terms of actual study in the Bible, but there is much experience in which I can look back and see God's hand of providence keeping me even in those years when my mind looked in other directions. Many a person has turned to seek Jesus later in life to find our Lord already present in his life.

We tend to think that as long as the sheep pretends he is a wolf, then the shepherd leaves him alone. However, God cannot be unfaithful simply because we refuse to look for Him. If God says, "sheep", we is sheeps no matter what our worldly mind may think. When the day comes that we look down with honesty and see the fluffy wool, though it be stained by the sin from our time in the world, and hear the sheepish sound of our cries, we finally acknowledge our sheephood, and lo and behold, the Shepherd was there all the time. The Good Shepherd welcomes us to His flock, and it does not matter how old we are or how long we have been wandering lost in the world.

What do I know from fifty years of sheeping around in this world? (Hmm, careful there!) Today is still just today. I cannot bring tomorrow or worry it into any better shape. I cannot erase the past or shame it into a better memory in those times when I did things that caused me humiliation. What God has set down in His words of prophecy is what will happen in the due time. Jesus will return for us, but now is the time to plant seeds and attend to the harvest. People need me, and I need my brothers and sisters in Christ. Fear the deceitfulness of worldly riches, but remember that even in poverty we are rich in Christ Jesus. It is easy to say "Take me now, Lord. I am ready to go home!" when times of tribulation come, but much better to say, "I stand ready to live for my Lord Jesus, no matter what comes this day!"

God bless you on this auspicious day! Bucky

Dear Lord, Let Me Not Give Them My Time

Good morning for snow and chilly weather! Yes, May begins with more winter. As winter makes continued assaults on our spring, we are reminded that you and I are not in charge of much when it comes to the weather. I cannot make spring arrive and stay, and you cannot keep winter from making comeback tours each week it seems. So, who is this 'them' that I pray to not give of my time? Not a group of people, but a group of thoughts.

I pray this morning that I will no longer give of my time to anxious, depressed, fearful, or worrisome thoughts. I do it much too often, and not once has a meditation on what might come to destroy me done me a bit of good. Yes, the world is full of dangers and it hates those who declare for Jesus. Dwelling on the thoughts of darkness though is a waste of my time and harmful to me as well. Meditation on God's Word and His Son, however, is full of comfort, joy, peace, and learning.

God's love shines through His great Word. The love of our Lord is proven by the cross at Calvary. The promises of holy communion with our Lord Jesus forever on the new Earth bring a hopeful anticipation much like a childhood Christmas but much more filling and satisfying. After all a Christmas back in the day didn't last forever. Time spent thinking on death and destruction just doesn't do it for me anymore. Let us instead give our time to Jesus. Amen!

Bucky

God Rises Up

Good morning, a little late, but coming on strong. I taught the Bible study class this morning, then went to Ovid to help with a house measuring, and stopped at the grocery store for cat food. Busy, busy! I have been assured many times that God will act in the due time. The due time has arrived and God rises up to act in my behalf. The blessings are pouring in daily! What can a person do to prevent this gathering of God's provision and His lovingkindness? (I love that word in combination with God's actions.) Easy, we can be too proud to accept help.

It happens; we want to be in control in everything. We want to have the freezer fully stocked, the pantry well-provisioned, and the money rolling in. We want this in response to our fear of the future famine, whether it actually happens or not. However, a time may come in life when you turn out your empty pockets, shake the purse or wallet and nothing falls out, and look around at the food storage and see little or nothing. God first told me to give Him my shame.

We have more than enough to be ashamed of with our years of sin and the tendency toward more sin in our carnal flesh. Shame in a circumstance that we have little or no control over is not going to help. We pile it on though, don't we? We want to hide in the wine press like Gideon, cower in the baggage train like Saul, or just plain flee to the hills, but we keep piling that shame on the old self. Like Job though, we are blameless. Not innocent, not sinless, but blameless in Christ Jesus. Made righteous by the blood of the Lamb, we have nothing to be ashamed of when the circumstance plants a tough tribulation right on our household. When the shame and control and pride are given up to God in the tough time, that is when He rises up.

Gideon triumphed over impossible (for men) odds, Saul became Israel's first king, and the hills cannot provide comfort without God. Job was restored twice over. Samson messed up good, but the Lord granted his final request. David came back to his kingdom after suffering betrayal. We want to be the rich one called to give to others in need, but God may call us to spend some time as the one in need first. This gives us understanding where we may have needed it most.

Few times in my life have I learned so much, so quickly from God and His Word than right now. I begin, just begin to understand how God's wisdom is far more valuable than gold or silver. The salvation of Christ is beyond price. The provision of God through my brothers and sisters in Christ is a privilege and an honor. God loves you and so do I.

Your brother in Christ Jesus,
Bucky

Ol' Brimstone

Good Monday as you face the new work this day. Only this day? Yes, none of us are facing tomorrow yet. The date of disaster promised in the mailing is not yet here. Why worry about that date before it arrives? Jesus told us that one day's troubles are enough for that day. He also said that He has overcome the world.(John 16:33) Does it seem to you like Jesus has overcome the world? No, from my limited point of view I must admit that the world seems ready to pounce on me and tear me apart. But, "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28) Therefore, Jesus uses the world for our good because He has overcome it? Yes, I think that is a good way to put it. Imagine the frustration and consternation of our enemies when they find that in the end all of their plots and snares only worked to strengthen and renew our faith in God!

How does overcoming work? For we are overcomers in Christ, we should learn how this thing goes. Let us try it in story form. Imagine that you and I have never operated a tractor before this and we need to plant a field. And not just any field, this is 1600 acres of dirt and rocks, hills and gullies, just the kind of thing that even working together we could not get planted before the spring rains arrive. The first thing we must do is attend a safety lecture, complete with the slide show or horror movie. A man from the Dept. of Agriculture swoops in, runs through the safety commandments and then shows us the horrors of farm injuries in all their gory detail, and then he is gone.

Now we are frightened. Some students in the class take off out the door and never come back. Their field will never get planted. The remaining students band together a little, there's nothing quite like a little adversity to bring us closer. We look up and an old farmer walks in to the class. "The farming authority likes to lay down the fear," he says, "but I'm here to teach you the right reasons to plant this field. The old farmer proceeds to teach us the parts of a tractor from the main manual of farming. We are beginning under the farmer's discipleship to overcome our ignorance and fear of farming. Then, the easy part is over, and the farmer leads those few remaining students - more left the class when things seemed a bit boring - out to the field.

In the field sits a smoke-breathing monster. The farmer turns to the class and introduces Ol' Brimstone, a tractor from some previous age of mechanical monstrosities. Once we know how to operate Ol' Brimstone, we are assured, we will have no trouble operating any tractor out on the farm. He pats the beast affectionately, "She's kind of like the world, turn your back on 'er and she'll give you a good bite," the old farmer warns. The tractor pops its exhaust loudly and spits a chunk of glowing hot metal right at the iron seat in what appears to be an iron cage, probably welded there to make sure the student farmer doesn't make an escape should Ol' Brimstone decide to plunge off a cliff.

Then, to your horror, the old farmer points to you, yes, you, and tells you to climb up on Ol' Brimstone and start plowing. The beast's chugging changes tone, sounding a bit like a smoky sort of evil chuckling. Trembling, and trying not to show it, you climb up into the hot-metal target zone. Looking around you see levers, pedals, a cracked and rusted old steering wheel, and some gauges that may have worked once, but surely don't seem to have much to say right now. The beast seems to lean forward. Did the gears just slip a little? You can feel the power of the engine in every joint and bone. Suddenly, the farmer has climbed up beside you. He speaks in your ear. "Didn't think I would let you take Ol' Brimstone out alone, did you?" He cackles a little at his own wit, but now you find it charming in a way.

The farmer takes you around the field, telling you every detail that you need to know, right when you need to know it. Your ignorance of the beast is overcome and your fear fades. At times you seem to be headed for disaster, but the old farmer says to be patient, turn when he says, trust in him. Ol' Brimstone spits out another chunk of metal right at your face, but, quick as a cat the old farmer grabs it out of the air and tosses it overboard. You see that his hands are burn scarred; that explains the roughness you felt as he guided your hand to the right levers at just the right time. Before you realize it, the ride is over and the farmer has patted you on the back and pointed at another student.

Immediately, you begin telling me about the ride and especially the farmer. Before you took the ride, you trembled with me at the sight of Ol' Brimstone, now you are a witness to the strength and self-sacrificing grace of the farmer. He has overcome Ol' Brimstone and showed you the way as well. When my turn comes to mount, your witness has soothed my fears and I learn much more quickly. Ol' Brimstone takes us through some dark gullies, some rough patches with many rocks, but the old farmer is always there, grabbing the blazing chunks spat back at us. The old farmer uses all of this for our training, for our good. One day, he tells the class as Ol' Brimstone pants behind him, a new Earth with limitless fields will be ours to plant, and Ol' Brimstone will be retired forever. That, we agree, sounds like the best thing we could ever imagine.

God bless you today as you face those rough patches with Christ Jesus,
Bucky

Sometimes We Jump Around a Little

Good Saturday morning! If I am wrong to one side, I sometimes jump far to the other side in an attempt to correct myself. In directing my path, God has at times or on certain issues had me jump back and forth a bit until I get back into the narrow way. It is not that I desire to waver or waffle on some decisions, but that in my desire to please God I may jump too far. God says come back, meet Me halfway, but in my overzealous way I jump all the way over the midpoint.

Think of it like the prodigal son coming back, but instead of going directly to his father's house, he tries to impress the father by trudging 50 miles past the house first. Of course the father isn't impressed by all that wasted effort. He wants his son at the house to receive the father's joy and forgiveness. The father doesn't run out to grab the cheapest duck at the poulterer's shop, he slaughters the fatted calf. Meeting God at His house is to find joy. Walking an extra 100 miles in an effort to somehow make up for past mistakes is waste a lot of time and strength.

Walking the narrow way is difficult enough with the enemies we have in this world. Jumping back and forth over the walls of the narrow way only makes the journey that much more arduous. The most difficult time to be still and wait on the Lord may be when the attack of the enemy is at its peak. The soldier on the front line may not understand the orders from the Commander of Heaven's army, but to disobey is to bring far more trouble than we like to bear.

In a former job, we're going way back now, I computed firing data for a Marine artillery battery. The guns fired from miles behind the front lines and the shells even at a goodly velocity took several seconds to arrive on target. Now, suppose on the front lines a boot lieutenant does not quite understand the concept of indirect fire. He seeks glory above the safety of his men, and places valor above discretion. Ignoring the order to 'stand', he hears the artillery fire over the tactical radio and gives the order to charge. With the infantry engaged at close range, it is quite possible for our inexperienced lieutenant to lead his men right into the destruction meant for the enemy during those precious few seconds when he was ordered to hold position.

We face the same danger in our fight as a soldier of Christ. God may order one, a group, or all of His soldiers to stand. God may not explain why, or give us a time limit. By faith, we know that the order is for our good. Though the dogs and demons of the world may snarl and snap at us, God is acting and we need to obey when our Lord gives the order to stand.

Trust Him,
Bucky

Melodrama Won't Work With God

So, if we cannot come to God by padding our situation a bit, what should we come to Him with? Perhaps an honest need? If you happen to be surrounded by four grizzly bears arguing over which are the best parts of a human to eat, you might be more than justified in stating to God, "I'm doomed if you don't act right now, Lord!" However, most of our situations are not quite so immediately dooming as we might make them out to be in prayer. God sets the due time for His actions and we learn to wait with patience while having faith in His providence. While we are waiting, we often run into an age old question - Which way do I go from here?

I imagine that all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps especially pastors, have heard this question voiced or asked of them about as much as any. Which way do I go, Lord? I'm sure is often a prayer that goes up to God many times each day. Discerning the will of God in every decision we make is one of the more difficult skills to learn in our walk with Jesus. Why doesn't God simply give us marching orders in all these things? Because it didn't work, that's why!

A reading of the law and the instructions for temple worship in the Bible is an exhausting read through excruciating detail. God specified the priests garments, what stones went where, and many other exacting specifications. Yet, those same people with their exact marching orders strayed from God's will almost before the ink was dry on the ol' parchment. King David loved the Law, yet he could not keep it. The Word of the Lord is a light unto our paths, but sometimes that light doesn't seem to illuminate as much as we might like.

I don't have all the answers in this, I am looking for a few myself. However, we are promised guidance from the Lord. We may well not realize, even as we make a decision, the gentle hand of the Lord guiding us in all things. I think that as I arrive to see Jesus in Heaven, He will explain much to me of moments I thought that He left me alone to make a decision that seemed to have no correct path. I held up the light of the Word, and all ways appeared dark to me. Yet, I believe that Jesus will show me then how He gently guided me in this moment.

Grace and love from our Lord Jesus Christ to you on this blessed day,
Bucky

But, What Does It Mean To You?

Last night the space station, today a lunar eclipse... at least for those over yonder and across the waters. We don't get to see the eclipse here in the States. What does today's lunar event mean to us? Not a bloomin' thing. For some folks, even a total lunar eclipse in full view would not mean anything. To those people the events in the sky hold no interest. Their concerns are entirely down below. To some of us, the name of Jesus Christ holds special meaning. To others, our Lord's name is one to insert in casual conversation to show their displeasure with something.

What the name of Christ means to you or me is a critical question we must answer at some point in our lives. I would rather not have that question sprung on me for the first time standing before God's judgment seat as the books are opened. At that point, it will be too late to attempt a clever explanation for misusing the name of God's Son. To those who believe in Him, the name of Jesus holds a special place in our hearts.

Our salvation, honor, respect, reverence, obedience, trust, and love we place in the name of Jesus. We give God glory by honoring the sacrifice His Son made for us on the cross at Calvary. Peter said that there is no other name by which we may be saved. Paul wrote that one day every knee would bow and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. The name of the Son is on our hearts, sealed on our foreheads, and given to us as a promise. A rose may smell as sweet under any other name, but the name of Jesus Christ is holy.

Bucky

Post Script: Okay, fess up! Who thought for just a moment yesterday that ol' Buck had slipped a cog? I had another devotional in me and I just couldn't let it sit. Perhaps someone needed that message, but ya got two for the show! Have a wonderful day in Christ!

Sometimes I Feel Unworthy

The admission of the failure to always feel like a child of God may be one of the more sure signs that you and I are one. I look up to Heaven in prayer and then quickly look down because the unworthy feeling causes me to duck away. Why do I feel that way? Is it my perceived lack of success in leading persons to Christ? I may not be a harvester but a planter of the seed. Do you feel unworthy because you think God wants you to be the CEO of your company by this age of the life you gave to Him? You gave your life to Christ, isn't your position His responsibility now?

I can tell you that CEO is a relative title. Being the CEO of a company that isn't quite sure what he,,,er, I mean, it is doing is not an ego-stroking position. I think that we feel unworthy because we look at those around us and measure our position relative to theirs, or worse, what we think that fellow's position is. We don't know what is in the heart, only God knows that. You or I may be correct and we may be the least of God's children. Paul thought he was. But I suspect that Paul and you and I are all incorrect. God alone keeps the measure of our value relative to His kingdom, and He stated that value rather emphatically on the cross.

You and I are children of the Most High God because God brought us into His family through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I am worthy because Jesus gave me worth on the cross, not because I have a well-known position or mission in God's kingdom. My best position for God is what HE calls me to do, even or perhaps especially if that job seems humble by our world's standards.

God's grace and peace to you on this fine morning!
Bucky

Joy, Joy, Joy Unspeakable

Good morning on this joyful day. Now that I have made the title unspeakable, I will attempt to write about it. Seems a bit like stating that a brick is hard, and then bashing it upside my head to prove the point. Ah, but I have God's Word and His Holy Spirit to help me out in this. Nothing that I attempt for God is ever done on my own. Things done by me for me may sometimes be attempted alone, usually I know this by the splat sound I make when I fall right after tripping over my own feets, spiritual or physical as the case may be. What happens when I fall into the fowler's snare?

Who walked into it? I did, you did, at some point the world will fool us or humiliate us in some way that is a 'fowler's snare' for us. Psalm 91:3 promises us: "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence." Why did early Christians care for plague victims when all others fled? This promise. How do we know that unspeakable joy follows a time spent struggling in the fowler's snare? God's promise to us. We may walk around the snare by virtue of God's warning, or He may allow us to fall straight into it. As we struggle, the world may stop by to laugh at us. "Where is your God now?" They ask with derision.

We know where our Lord is, right where He was as Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Our Lord God is on His throne, sovereign and waiting to deliver us. Our delivery may be to Heaven, so tight is the fowler's snare about us. Yet, whose joy is unspeakable when one of His sons or daughters arrives in Heaven? Ours certainly, but is not God's joy also unspeakable in that moment? What about the celebration of the saints and angels? Maybe, we will not know until our time has come.

What I know is that I want some of that unspeakable joy, and today I realize that God wants it too. Not just in Heaven above, but right here on Earth with me and you. For if God feels my sorrow and pain, would He not want to share in my joy and happiness too? I think so. Wait for it; God's joy is coming!

Bucky

The Wrong Yardstick

Good morning! Some of you might have trouble remembering what a yardstick was, we don't see them as much as we once did. Not too many decades ago, hardware stores gave out yardsticks to their customers. Metersticks on the other hand didn't seem to catch on well at all. Perhaps the time to go metric was too soon or the effort by our government not enough, or maybe we are just too rebellious as a people, but the wrong yardstick continued into a sort of oblivion until inexpensive tape measure tools took over. There may be an app for your smart phone soon that will use a laser to measure. However, all of these measuring devices are wrong for measuring the important stuff.

We measure our success by the money in our wallet, or bank account, or brokerage account, or whatever account, but none of our dollars will speak for us at the judgment. We measure the security of our life by the total of the IRA, or 401k, or Roth, or whatever, but the payments of our retirement fund will not secure eternity for us. We measure success in our career by the title on the nameplate, but that too will be left behind, or worse brought up as evidence of how much we were given in this life and how much was then expected of us. Much to the horror of many, that measure will come up short time and time again in the judgment. Perhaps the worst measure of all is to look at our deeds and try to come up with a total that is good enough.

Look at all that I have done, surely the Lord would not condemn someone who is good enough? This sort of statement will be another wrong yardstick that comes up in the judgment. None of us are good enough for the Lord's standard. All are doomed in their own works and condemned to eternal punishment. We have only one hope, one Way to come to the Father and be accepted into His eternal reward: Jesus our Lord and Savior. Any other measure than Jesus is the wrong yardstick.

There is much more to this, but you have work to do. Let us see what tomorrow brings. Have a wonderful day in Christ Jesus!
Bucky

Let The Love Shine Through!

Caught up in the cares of everyday life, we may present a face to the world that is much like their own. The good news of Christ lives in us, but we feel the thorns and show it in our countenance. You and me, we believe in Jesus and therefore we are bought and paid for by Him and His Holy Spirit lives in us. So, let us look again at that thorny bush poking us in the hurtful spots. Is this something Christ cannot overcome? Will our inheritance in the eternal glory of God's Heaven be affected by this current situation? No and No, then let us let the love of Christ shine through.

Your situation may be very current, "Ugh! I cannot get going today. Why do I have to work every Monday?" Or your situation may be a longer term thing. However, the really, really longer term thing is what Jesus has in mind for us. This life is but a boot camp for Heaven. We look at the 50, 70, or 100 years and think it seems so long. But when we get to the time of our going home, the realization of how short that time has been will come upon us quickly. Cheer up! Jesus has overcome the world. This thing of yours will last only as long as God commands it. And make no mistake that God has left the world to its own devices. We are being trained up for eternity.

Every boot camp is by necessity quite short. Like this life it may not seem brief while we endure the thing, but short it is. The term of service after boot camp is much longer. This earthly ratio is so weak when compared to this span of life versus eternity that it cannot be put into words. How do you compare the time spent in the blink of an eye to infinity? Let the love shine through, this present difficulty is not worth worrying over in light of our eternal home with Christ Jesus.

Bucky

Rev Up The Joy Engine

Woop, I'm yawning big this morning and it stretches tears out of my eyes. I will attempt to write about joy while it looks like I'm weeping. Ah, the simple joy of a good night's sleep, evidence shows that I didn't get that last night. But, isn't that a condition? Should we only experience the joy of our Lord when conditions are just right? Oops, can't have any joy today, I didn't get a good night's sleep. No, Paul was not inspired to write a letter to the Philippians that we throw away just because the conditions aren't right.

I write about joy fairly often because I just can't quite seem to get it right in my life. I find myself reviewing the conditions and not looking at the eternal right Jesus has given to me. A child of God? How can I go around depressed? Eternity with Jesus on the New Earth; going to the New Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas with Christ; watching a seed grow to maturity and enjoying the fruit of it for centuries; these are promises that should lift up our countenance. Well, we don't know that much about Heaven, do we? Perhaps the Bible does not specifically put together Christ, Christmas, and the New Jerusalem, but will the joy we felt as children at the approach of Christmas simply go away in eternity? Will the Beastlings celebration at the death of God's two messengers during the Tribulation be the final mockery of our holiday? I think not!

Rev up the joy engine, the Christmas celebration when the Earth is resurrected will be something to enjoy. The heavenly host at the birth of Christ may be but a model for us as we sing at the Nativity pageant where God shows us exactly how it went in Bethlehem. Yup, we'll know once and for all how many wise men showed up. Is that all we will do? Perish the thought. What about that cabin with the mountain view you wanted in this life, but never had the resources to build? We will have plenty of time in Heaven to build it.

Say after a couple thousand years or so, you are not tired of life in the New Jerusalem, but God has given you a few provinces to rule a ways out there, maybe a few million miles away, and you want to finally build that cabin with the great view of your mountains. You approach Jesus and ask for his advice. He thinks its a wonderful idea and creates a few acorns for you right on the spot. Nuts? But wait, you have eternity to work with, why not build from the seed up? An oak cabin is just what you wanted though you weren't sure at the time.

Your God-given duties are a joy and you find the time as always in Heaven to check on your little oaks over a century or so and, lo and behold, you now have quite a grove of mature trees. One problem, you kind of like those trees, they are a further joy in this land of greater and greater joy. in fact, a little ordering of your grove is in order. Those two trees are too close to each other. You tell one to move and it sings a happy little song as it transplants itself. (Cuz trees in Heaven do that when they move, of course.)

Jesus stops by to see how the cabin project is going and you tell him your reservations about destroying the oaks just to make boards for a cabin.

"No problem", our Lord says with a light in his eyes, "simply teach your trees to grow boards for you"

Eh? The Lord loves to teach and over a few centuries or so shows you how to do this. By now you have an oak forest in your province with squirrels happily chasing each other and raising their young through the trees. Donkeys arrive to bear burdens of boards happily to your building site, lions carefully take the finished boards from the trees to load the donkeys, and The Carpenter himself returns to help with the building. The construction has barely begun, and your joy grows with each passing day. You pause a moment and decide to have a few of your trees start growing firewood for the great fireplace; this will be some cabin!

I don't do this enough in this life. Why do we work up a good dread for tomorrow, when we can spend some time imagining life on the New Earth where we will spend eternity? There are cares and responsibilities here and now, but we are only to worry about today. Once your worries for today are brought to God in prayer and well sorted, think about eternity. Talk to God about your plans, or are you just trying to 'get there'? Shouldn't we glorify God by enjoying the thought of spending eternity with Him? Jesus already took care of the getting there bit.

Bucky

You Are Forgiven, Live Like It

Shame, we like to pile the shame on the sinful self hoping to subdue it through an accumulation of guilt. It's no wonder the mind gets so messed up. The law given to Moses did a real good job of pointing out our sin. Any of us can go to the books of the law in our Bible and find out that we are the filth at the bottom of the earth. In deeds or thoughts, in what we read or watch on a screen, we find sin rampant in this life. Trying to avoid sin, we find it pursuing us like a depressed high-school sweetheart. How will any of us be saved?

Of course, we have some knowledge of that answer, and it is good news! We know it from the Gospels in those same Bibles. With men it was not possible to be saved by our own effort. Earning our salvation by keeping the law caused more rebellion in the sinful flesh and concentrated our efforts on the self. Turning to the Christ, the one who never sinned and was born in grace, gives us a way that any can keep. Why can we keep this way? We are kept by the Way!

Shame exists in the failure of our efforts to reform. We look at God's perfect law and we cannot measure up to His standard. Jesus didn't free us from the law of sin and death for us to wallow in shame. Shame is the giant club the Devil uses to beat us down. We have sinned, but we are forgiven in Christ. We will sin in this life, but we are forgiven. This is not to say that we are not sorry and repent of our sin. Resist the Devil and his club of shame. Swing the sword of the Word of God, even if, like Bunyan's poor Christian you must swing while laid out on the ground. Get up! Hold up the shield of faith and swing the sword with your all. Jesus will come to your aid! Whatever the situation, don't let the shame continue to beat on you, And for goodness' sake and your own sake, quit helping the Devil beat on your poor self with the club of shame!

David wrote, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:6) Let them come into your home in place of shame and sin.

Bucky

Is The Battle Close?

Good morning! A snowflake just floated back up by the window as though to greet me this morning. Wait, it's April 18, why are snowflakes still hanging around? Isn't it spring yet? Snowflakes in the air, ice on the streets, the thermometer shows mid-20's...seems more like winter this morning. Yet, there is the promise of warmer days to come, as quickly as tomorrow in fact. The return of Jesus is coming in much the same way. The world will appear lost to us one day, then suddenly, Jesus will be here. Before that great day we may suffer much tribulation in this world. How close does the battle seem to you on this day?

Your situation may call for the intervention of the prayer warriors today, and then all too quickly a brother in Christ falls at your side. His situation is worse even than your own. More prayer is needed. Oh, when will Jesus come for us?! Your situation may be one of rest at this time, but families to either side are dealing with terrible blows. A neighbor breathes his last and the funeral will be held next Tuesday. Did you say enough to him? His family went to church, but might you have done more? You may never know. The emotional pain strikes closer to home. The battle rages on, sometimes closer, at other times farther away.

Every day in Christ is the fight of our lives, but those lives are spoken and paid for. We may seem to be losing on some days, but Jesus cannot lose! The situation appears grave, with possibilities limited to dire and grievous, but in Christ we are already saved. Did you think Jesus died to pay the penalty of our sin, and then left the fight to each of us to stand alone? An army of sheep needs our Shepherd, and He is always with us. Though we are pressed on all sides by the enemy, our Lord is victorious! Trust in the saving and sanctifying power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bucky