Category: Devotion

Imagine this end-times scene:  false messiahs, false messages, lawlessness, death, war and more than we would ever want to face in our lives.  In Matthew 24, the scene is so bad that it says the love of many will grow cold.

So how do we survive?  If we had to face all these things there is one word that possesses our greatest need during the tribulation.  It is not “love,” but love is contained within it.  It is not “strength,” but strength is found in it.  It is not “hope,” but we can find hope in it.

What is the word we are looking for that will see us through a season like this?  The word is “truth.”  This word is dividing because there is one truth:  God’s truth expressed in His Word.  It is in truth that we find the love of God, the strength and reason to make it through and we are given hope, no matter what happens in our lives.

We live in a society that has discarded truth for personal preference.  Society has made personal preference so valuable that we now call it personal truth as if elevating our perspective makes us the authority of the lives God has authored.

The point of making it through is not about coping.  It is about holding to truth and in this, finding yourself holding to Jesus.  Some may cope on their own, but they find themselves lost within everything that is going to happen and all the lies spoken within this season.  At some point, people will either attempt to determine truth or yield to God’s established truth.

For the believer living out the truth, God’s truth, truth now becomes the compass and despite what is happening, a Christian experiences the reality of living for something greater.  You will never be strong enough or informed enough in worldly knowledge to find what you are looking for at the end of this life.  The person who yields to the reality and direction of Jesus finds everything they were hoping for and more.  The promise of the Bible is more than ease or comfort, it is truth.

How you treat your Bible matters.  Everything you have ever needed to know is found in this book.  It is the truth you are looking for.  Your life is what it is intended to be when you know the Word, live by it and as a result, learn what it means to live for God and enjoy His benefits.

At the end of his days, Solomon exhausts every pleasure of this life that he can find.  He observes the world to the fullest and his ending thought is simply this:

 Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

This is how we live.  This is how we find something greater than this life knowing we are in God’s hands.

The great sin of the Pharisees was losing sight of God in the issues of fame, fortune, pleasure and power. They wanted to be recognized.  The gold in the temple became more important than the temple, convenience and living over others was what their religion produced.

The Pharisees were lost in self-promotion.  It was actually required.  Pharisees had to maintain social standing in the community, be seen in the right places, dressed the right way, be recognized for who they are to maintain influence.

Not much has changed.  Social media has fostered this same world of self-promotion where people seem to compete for attention. In the early years of social media, people had to have something to say, whether on a blog or message board, but now you just need the right look or share the right video to be recognized.  You can promote your movies, books and causes, just to show the world that you are relevant.

A pastor and his family took his daughter to Italy for her senior trip.  For a pastor, this was a treasure, to see the Colosseum and the Forum in Rome.  He had been there before, but every time was special. This trip was different.  He hadn’t been in a few years and rather than people taking pictures of sites, people were posing using a selfie stick.  After several minutes of getting the right picture, the volume of people backed up at all the tourist sites.

The out-of-touch pastor didn’t understand why people would be getting glamour shots in front of the arch of Titus missing the significance of the monument, or the Colosseum…  His daughter tried to explain:

“Dad, it’s bragging rights. They’re taking selfies to prove to everyone where they’ve been. That’s far more important these days.”

To which the pastor replied, “It’s all about image, isn’t it?”

She continued to explain the social dynamics of our world to her out-of-touch father, ending her little tutorial with a wry smile and saying, “To be seen is the only thing that matters.” 

The pastor looked back to see the gang of tourists with their selfie sticks, posing in front of the arch of Titus, ignoring the dramatic scene of the aftermath of the destruction of Jewish temple in AD 70 carved in the wall, wondering what the ancient people of Jerusalem who suffered the tragedy would have thought of the charade. 

Then, with the words of Jesus echoing in my ears, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matt 23:12) (Reeves)1

Maybe we are not as different from Pharisees as we think…  Maybe God is calling us beyond our own fame to live for His glory. Maybe this is not about Mark Zuckerberg changing Facebook.  Social media is successful because it caters to our hearts.  Maybe it’s time for us to take a moment and look at who we really are.

1. Matthew, Story of God, Bible Commentary, Rodney Reeves

Let us look at what was written by Robert Murray McCheyne to the Rev. Dan Edwards on 2 October 1840 after his ordination as a missionary to the Jews: 

‘I trust you will have a pleasant and profitable time in Germany. I know you will apply hard to German; but do not forget the culture of the inner man,—I mean of the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. 

‘Remember you are God’s sword,—His instrument,—I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.’ – Robert McCheyne to Dan Edwards, 1840

This idea of holiness is something that escapes us. We see it as something God is, but we don’t see it as something we are.  

1 Peter 2:9 ESV But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

However, we look in the mirror and we say, “I’m not holy.”  

And to be honest, if the mirror is all you have, then you are right.  You and I are NOT holy because of what is in the mirror.

To really understand this idea of holiness, we must go back to the Old Testament.  Israel was chosen by God as a holy nation or a “set apart” nation.  

God gives Israel specific instructions in how to live and in these instructions regarding the temple, there were specific cleansing procedures to set items apart for sacred use. The holiness of God was intended to be on display in the lives of the people He had chosen.

Leviticus 19:2 ESV “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

Holiness is something given to us by God.  It is maintained in us by His grace and we are called to walk in the ways commanded us as believers. Just as instruments were cleansed in the Old Testament for holy use, believers were cleansed by the cross for holy use.

We are not holy because we are great.  We are made holy because God is great.  Jesus is the sacrifice that made us holy and it is this that will allow us to enter a holy city before a holy God for all eternity.  In declaring our holiness, it is not declaring our goodness.  It is declaring God’s hand in our life.

Lord Byron’s lines in The Countess of Blessington:

I am ashes where once I was fire,
And the soul in my bosom is dead;
What I loved I now merely admire,
And my heart is as gray as my head.

This is a lament. The danger of life is that it can rob you of life. It is almost an oxymoron in a sense, that as we live, we can often wonder if we are actually alive. 

As we process life, even the Christian life, sometimes our obligations in life weaken our will. 

There are three “to do’s” in life:

• “have to do:” things that we must do: pay bills, taxes, maybe church, traffic, dentist, doctor and more.
• “want to do:” things we may enjoy like vacation, recreation, stuff, pleasures or rest.
• “meant to do:” these fall for the believer in the lines of faith, what you are made for, willing to sacrifice for.

The positive of this list is that these are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have a job you want to do, or you enjoy what you were made to do. When all three of these “to do’s” are active in a person’s life, it is often that a Christian finds the greatest purpose in living for God.

In Jeremiah, he is a prophet of God, but he gets so frustrated that he almost “quits.” He had enough of all the sin in his day, being mocked and was tired of people not listening, but there was a problem: He found what he was meant for and he had to keep speaking.

Jeremiah 20:9 ESV If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

Jeremiah does not quit and though his life is difficult, he cannot stop. He must be the prophet he is called to be. The Christian life is intended to be challenging, fulfilling and marked by purpose and the presence of God, but today, we merely attend church, not truly believing Christianity would change us!

Have we lost the true intentions of following Jesus? The last thing I want to do is invite people to an empty religious life! Consider your heart for just one minute. Has it faded as Lord Byron states? Is Christianity your “have to,” or is it your “meant to?” Is there an unquenchable fire shut up in your bones when you are not where you should be or has the fire within you become ashes?

Don’t settle for admiring something you once were willing to live and die for.

John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

To understand such a statement, we need to understand Jewish culture.  In America, when a young couple gets married, they find their own place and start their own lives. In Jewish culture, it was not so.  The bridegroom would go and prepare a room for his soon-to-be bride.

During this period, they would be apart as the room was prepared and the bridegroom would come by night to take his bride.  When he arrived, she would be watching, waiting and ready to go with her beloved. The bridegroom would take his bride to a wedding feast and they would celebrate the beginning of their marriage. 

What does that mean for us?  See the grand romance in the Christian narrative.  There is a warning, an invitation and then a return.  We are living in the midst of the invitation.  Many have already accepted but some have rejected the invitation despite the warning, but for those who wait for the return, we live with hope.

What it means for us is that there is something greater than the pleasures of life to live for.  Those who ignore the warning and get lost in the convenience and gratification of this life will only find the destination of meaninglessness that is the results of momentary happiness.

What it means for us is that there is a reason to live beyond our own interests.  That we are living in an engagement period as we wait for the return of our bridegroom.  Life is no longer about what we want for ourselves.  Life is no longer devoid of purpose.  We are living for someone greater and in this relationship, we are not alone.  We have a bridegroom.

What it means is that the bridegroom has changed everything about us and for us.  Our ending is not death but eternity.  Not only did Jesus redeem death, but He redeemed life.  We are waiting, but because of Him, we are alive.  No matter the challenge or the moment, we are loved, and we have hope because a day will come when the bridegroom returns, and we will be with Him forever.  What it means for us is life changing and despite life’s challenges, we face them knowing who we are living for and who gives us a real reason to live at all.

In the passage today, this is basically a prayer.  The nation of Israel is facing difficulty after difficulty.  They are crying out to God to be saved.  But the problem would soon be revealed that more than they needed rescue, they needed revival.

You see, we must make the distinction here in those dark and hopeless moments.  In many ways, what we long for is rescue, but what God really wants to give us is revival.  Revival is greater than rescue.  A rescue changes your circumstance, but revival changes both your circumstance and your heart.  Rescue may end your outward battle, but for many, all the symptoms that put you in the battle in the first place remain.  Revival places you in God’s favor, your heart turns towards Him and in His response, God not only rescues but he revives.

We rarely understand the entire picture when we ask God to save us.  To truly be saved from circumstances usually requires a change and most times, requires a change of heart.  When we ask God to save us, God never intends to leave us the way we were found.  He has specifically designed our walk with Christ to transform us. A rescue alone could never do that for us. We need revival. 

Revival is critical because revival leads to a greater faith.  God has called us to a faith that can change the world, but it must first change us.  Jesus speaks in Matthew of a faith that can move mountains.  As we walk this journey of faith, what we discover is that often, the mountains that need to move are us.  The seemingly impossible task that faith accomplishes is the movement of ourselves.

Rescue will never accomplish what revival can because revival is the flame to the fires of faith in our lives. If revival comes in us and through us, it will take a faith burning in the fires of revival to change the world.  Never settle for rescue when God offers so much more.

In reading this chapter what we learn is that Judah has become lost in its sin.  They have turned their backs on God so greatly that even the land has responded and not produced food.  They are believing false prophets, false truths, false idols and the covenant people of God are hardly keeping to their part of the deal.  The condition of Judah is bleak and not many take notice.

Today we must ask ourselves:  What is the condition of our country?  With all the education and convenient morality, we have imagined we could do life better without God. We have our idols and pleasures that we so readily let into our lives with very little room for faith.

The question really is for the Church (Capital C).  Where is our anguish?  Jeremiah weeps for God’s people.  He has a burden to reach them in order that they would change and turn to the God of their ancestors. This burden carries him to people ignoring their covenant with God .

Jeremiah has anguish and a burden for his people.  To be blunt, often the Church doesn’t seem to have a burden for anyone but the saved, but we are called beyond ourselves to have anguish and a burden for those lost without Christ.  Listen to Nehemiah’s cry when he hears that Jerusalem is in ruins:

Nehemiah 1:4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.

Where is our weeping?  Where is our mourning?  Where are our prayers for those hopelessly lost without Jesus?  You see, as we become more and more like Christ as we follow Him, we should take on the burdens that He has for mankind.

Having a burden for the lost is when our lives become less lived for our will and we find ourselves living more for His.  This burden should be present in us to share the Gospel with those God loves.  This is one of many ways that Christianity is no longer about us but about Christ.

We must look within the walls of our church buildings and see if God’s people are carrying God’s burden.  I would dare say, we by large overlook this part of our faith.

Let us turn again to anguish, having a heart like Jesus longing greatly for the lost to be found.  Let our hearts break for those separated from Christ.

When we look at the New Testament, I personally believe that Jesus gives us a glimpse of what this new Kingdom will be like with Him as judge.  Let us look at one of His healings.  As the paralytic is lowered through the roof, Jesus takes the time to heal the man but says something interesting. He says, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Many people, rightfully so, see this as a miracle as the man is healed, and while this is correct, there is more to this passage.  What did Jesus really do here?  I believe we get a glimpse of Jesus as judge.  He looks at the man on the mat and as the righteous Judge sent by God, Jesus forgives the paralytic man’s sins.  Not only that, what is the result of Jesus’ judgment?  The answer: complete restoration.  Yes, it is a miracle, but I believe we get this glimpse of Jesus and His Kingdom coming.  I can only imagine what it will be like, but we get this idea of how Jesus will judge.   

Look at how Jesus handles the woman caught in adultery.  The people brought her to Him, and they ask Him what to do with her (They ask Him to judge her).  To their surprise, He first judges those prepared to stone her, and after they drop their rocks and walk away, He restores the condemned woman and tells her to “go and sin no more.”  We have this beautiful picture, not only of Jesus who will condemn evil ultimately, but this picture of Jesus as one who will as Isaiah states, “judge not by what His eyes see or His ears hear.”  In these instances, God’s judgment is beautiful.  His judgment is glorious! 

Here’s the thing: People look at God as some angry old man in the sky, but honestly, we are the angry ones.  This perception of God seems to reflect more of our nature than it does His.  The Christian can rest assured that God’s judgments are good, and we can trust them.  We can trust Him.