Life Here and There

Light has the amazing ability to pierce the darkness around it. It doesn’t take much. I read of a team of skiers who were lost in the Alps of Switzerland. They were rescued because a helicopter was able to spot the light coming from the display of an mp3 player.

ONE GREAT TRUTH: The whole world has been lost and condemned in sin, but Jesus came to pierce the darkness, to the the light of God’s salvation, leading us back into a saving relationship with our Creator.

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These are tough times in many respects, but for the believer, they are also really good times in terms of some of the great opportunities God has brought our way. With our entering the holiday season, approaching the celebration of the birth of Christ, I wanted to present the really good news of Christmas in the midst of a world of scrooges. While most people are saying “Bah! Humbug!,” Christians ought to be saying, “Thank you God for being so good!”

So here is the series…

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I love the way Jesus takes a very abstract concept and puts it in ultra-simple terms. In John 15, Jesus is telling us that He is the Vine, the Father is the Vinedresser, and if we wish to live a fruitful life, we must abide (live or remain) in Him. Then He introduces the idea of “abiding in His love.” This, to me, seems abstract. What does it mean and how do I do it? Thankfully, Jesus spells it out…

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” – John 15:9-11 ESV

As John R. Rice used to say, that’s “simplicity, wrapped in profundity,” which is characteristic of Jesus. I can’t possibly explain what it means to abide in His love, but He explains it for us – keep my commandments and your joy will be full. How do you abide in His love? Obey. And when you obey… joy!

Do you lack joy today? There may be other concerns, but first ask, “Am I living in obedience to Jesus’ will for my life?”

photo credit: ravik694

Jesus: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil (one)… Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” –John 17:15, 17

The church is a movement started by Jesus consisting of people who are “called out” together into one body in a single locality charged with the assignment of bringing the glory of God to all peoples in their community and in their world. Elsewhere the Bible calls God’s people “peculiar,” signifying that we are God’s alone and therefore are to be different and distinct in some way from the world.

There are basically three strategies when it comes to living up to our role as a “called out” people. One is isolation whereby we disconnect ourselves from the world around us and move into a spiritual ivory tower. We do this when we establish rules of righteousness that we can easily live by and use to assign others to a notch lower than ourselves.

The second strategy is imitation whereby we become like the world in order to reach the world. This seems to be a very popular approach today and it certainly builds large churches, but it fails to enable us to live up to the full potential of our calling as separate and distinct from the world.

The third strategy is insulation and infiltration in which we insulate ourselves with the truth of God’s Word and then carry that truth into the world with us. God calls very few into full-time ministry. He leaves the rest in their lives as His newly-called missionaries. Your workplace is a mission field, as well as your family and your neighborhood. If you isolate yourself from the world, you’ll never reach it. If you imitate the world, you might “reach” some but you’ll never bear lasting fruit. But if you insulate your life with God’s Word, then infiltrate the world with that truth, God will receive the glory!

“Jesus wept…” -John 11:35

I found out this morning that a couple who belong to my church lost their son in an untimely death. I can’t imagine their pain or their loss and what they will be facing in the coming days. I only pray God’s Spirit will remind them moment-by-moment of God’s steadfast love for them and for their son who is now safe in His arms in heaven.

When I received the call, I was over three hundred miles away on a weekend vacation. On the drive home, my mind was overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness. I so wanted to be there for this family, but circumstances did not allow it. Jesus waited until Lazarus had died and arrived on the scene to find his dear loved ones weeping. Jesus’ reaction? He hung His head and wept with them. Then He showed them that He really is the resurrection and the life.

In my absence, some dear members of the Bethel family surrounded this hurting couple and I’m so thankful to belong to a church like that! But I’m even more thankful that in their time of hurting, Jesus is there. He is there as the resurrection and the life with a promise that their son will rise again and they will live together with Him in heaven for all of eternity.

The harsh truth of life is that we cannot always be in all of the places we’d like to be at all times. Unfortunately, we won’t be available everytime a loved one is hurting, as much as we’d like to be. But Jesus is there in our stead. His presence is overwhelming. This truth does not make loss easy to deal with for loss will always be difficult for human beings. Rather, His presence unveils the light at the end of the darkness of death.

It was Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life who rose again from the grave as a demonstration of the power of God to do the same for everyone who ever repents and believes on His precious name. Thank Jesus for His presence with the hurting today!